Counting the Jeremiahs: Machine Learning and the Jeremiah Narratives

Nicholas J Campbell

doi:10.17159/2312-3621/2021/v34n3a5

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scholars have long debated the redactional history of the prose sections of Jeremiah (chapters 26-45) but no consensus has been reached on the number of redactional layers in the text, the verses that comprise these layers or their sources. This study used a machine learning method to organise the chapters into sections based upon authorial word choices. The method used pairs of synonyms in a hierarchical clustering algorithm in the statistical program R. The goal of the study was two-fold. First, the division of the text by computerised model was used to analyse the divisions made by three other more traditional critical methods. Second, the validity of the method used in this study and previous synonym-based studies was analysed and critiqued. The conclusion is that this type of analysis can validate findings from other methods but some of the inherent biases and linguistic ambiguities make it dubious as a primary method of investigation for the Hebrew Bible. Keywords: Computerised learning, Jeremiah, Synonyms, Source criticism, Redaction criticism

Highlights

Scholars have long debated the redactional history of the prose sections of Jeremiah but no consensus has been reached on the number of redactional layers in the text, the verses that comprise these layers or their sources
The field of computerised learning algorithms in linguistics is still expanding as the software and processing power of computers are growing
The question is where does this type of analysis fit within traditional textual criticism?

Summary

Introduction

Scholars have long debated the redactional history of the prose sections of Jeremiah (chapters 26–45) but no consensus has been reached on the number of redactional layers in the text, the verses that comprise these layers or their sources. Each scholar uses a method that is widely accepted as valid even if the results are not always agreed upon (Deuteronomist language and Classical versus Late Hebrew) Each of these authors treat features in all the chapters in Jer 26–45 whereas many other scholars only discuss some of the chapters. Composition and theology are similar to the Deuteronomistic Historian (DH).[2] The early edition of the text travelled to Babylon and was combined with chapters 2–6 and 37–44 to create a second edition with a frame provided by chapters 1 and 45.3 This second section strongly criticises the Egyptian diaspora, unlike chapters 7–35, and is dated to the end of the exilic period or beginning of the Persian period.[4] The third piece of the redaction history is chapter 36 which is the legitimising linkage of the new portion (37– 45) with the earlier edition (7–35).[5] According to Römer, the linguistic evidence of this redactional structure is that 55% of Stulman’s dtr diction not attested in the DH is found in chapters 1–6 and 36–45.6. For Stulman, the objective was not to develop a general theory on the structure of Jeremiah but rather to catalogue and classify

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion