How the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of Ancient Israel. By William M. Schniedewind. Pp. xiv + 257. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. isbn 0 521 82946 1. £25/$28

Abstract

Rather than literary style or form, content, or theology, Schniedewind takes the availability and use of writing as his starting point. He argues that ‘biblical literature was written down largely in the eighth through the sixth century B.C.E.’ (p. 17), with exiled Jehoiachin's circle in Babylon preserving that material and influencing the final forms of Kings and Jeremiah. Scribes already worked in administration for David and Solomon, and kept annals, but ‘writing would not have been … used for either the preservation or the dissemination of culture’ then (p. 61). The few and paltry examples of Hebrew writing from the tenth century are cited in support. It was the spread of Assyrian power from 745 bc onwards, provoking urbanism, that created conditions favourable for literary composition. Hezekiah and Josiah are seen as key figures; the late Judaean monarchy was the ‘magical moment’ of biblical Hebrew literature (p. 172). The Pentateuch, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah 1–39, and Solomonic wisdom traditions stem from Hezekiah's reign when writing was tied to palace and temple. Under Josiah ‘Basic literacy became commonplace’ (p. 91), when vowel letters were introduced to aid less able readers and ostraca display a lack of consistent spelling revealing a lack of training. Deuteronomy was a product of this era, when writing became a source of authority independent of the royal court, although Jer. 8:7–8 reveals a tension between oral and written traditions. Many, having been taught to suppose the opposite, will be surprised to read that the Babylonian exile was probably not a period of intense Jewish literary activity (p. 141): it was ‘a period of retrenchment for biblical literature’ (p. 193). Here Schniedewind makes a good case, with Aramaic taking over in Judah and the demoralized exiles producing Lamentations, some Psalms (e.g. 137), and Ezekiel, but no narrative, while the Return brought Isaiah 40–66 and later books into being. He sees editorial processes continuing into the third century bc, but denies that the Hebrew Bible could largely have been a product of the Persian and Hellenistic eras.