Allusive Soundplay in the Hebrew Bible by Jonathan G. Kline

Abstract

Reviewed by: Allusive Soundplay in the Hebrew Bible by Jonathan G. Kline Elaine T. James jonathan g. kline, Allusive Soundplay in the Hebrew Bible (AIL 28; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016). Pp. xxi + 155. Paper $27.95. In this measured and concise volume (a revision of his Harvard University Ph.D. dissertation [2014]), Jonathan G. Kline argues a convincing case for a type of inner-biblical interpretation, "allusive paronomasia." [End Page 121] His argument is that tradents used subtle wordplay to read and transform existing texts to address their own theological concerns. He draws especially on the models of Michael Fishbane (esp. Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel [Oxford: Clarendon, 1985]) and Benjamin D. Sommer (esp. A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40–66 [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998]) to contribute to discussions about the growth of the texts of the Hebrew Bible. The most significant contribution is his methodology for identifying allusive paronomasia. In three subsequent chapters he offers nine examples illustrating how allusive paronomasia is used in the development of ancient Israel's theological traditions. These illustrations are meant to be exemplary, not comprehensive, which leaves the reader with a taste of this artful mechanism of theological discourse and the sense that there is work yet to be done. The most substantial chapter of the volume is chap. 1, "The Role of Soundplay in Innerbiblical Allusion," in which K. brings welcome clarity to the terminology of what has been loosely called "wordplay," or "soundplay" (p. 8), and a methodology for identifying both allusion (pp. 18-23), and allusive paronomasia (pp. 23-31). His principles are (1) similarity of sound; (2) difference in meaning; (3) proximity; and (4) deliberate juxtaposition. Interestingly, one of his criteria is that the allusive element serves a function—it must be shown to differ from the source text as well as to transform its meaning (e.g., pp. 5, 24, 29, 30). The function of the allusive paronomasia is a way plausibly to trace the author's intentional evocation of an earlier tradition (a criterion that is vital, though somewhat circular). K.'s useful framework will spur further thinking and perhaps lead to a more comprehensive typology of paronomastic allusion. The examples are organized by theological theme: theodicy (chap. 2); judgment (chap. 3); and salvation (chap. 4). In chap. 2, K. examines how the Book of Job wrestles with accepted wisdom traditions (Psalm 8; Proverbs 13; 22). His theological sensitivity is apparent. He writes, for example, of the use of the verb דקפ (pāqad) in Ps 8:5 and Job 17:17-18, which in Psalm 8 means "to care for" but in Job 17 means "to scrutinize": "in Ps 8:5-6… humans are highly exalted creatures whom God has established as nothing less than his viceregents on earth … [but] in Job 7:17-18 … God's scrutiny of Job is much more than he, a mere mortal, can bear" (p. 47). He goes on to a lovely summary statement about the use of paronomasia in the Book of Job: Profound engagement with the graphic and oral/aural shapes of received traditions and the diverse potentialities or implications of those shapes—changing a letter here or a word there—was one way the authors of the book of Job wrestled with the tradition and with God on these issues. By refracting old words of wisdom through the prism of their poetic skill, these ancient sages demonstrate that the difference between the exaltation of humanity and its depravity, between being a little lower than the angels or one step away from Sheol, is sometimes no greater than the difference between two similar-sounding words. (p. 52) Here and elsewhere, K. detects reverence in the tradents' attitude toward their source texts. He writes that "the authors of the alluding texts appear to have sought not (primarily) to undermine the tradition they inherited but rather to mine it for incipient meanings that they believed could only be understood in the light of new circumstances" (p. 6; emphasis original; cf. Bernard M. Levinson, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation [End Page 122] [New York: Oxford University Press, 1997]). While K. suggests that his examples illustrate this larger...