Literary Forms, Techniques, & Methods of Study

Abstract

Literary Forms, Techniques, & Methods of Study Christopher T. Begg 1837. David M. Carr, "Criteria and Periodization in Dating Biblical Texts in Parts of the Persian Period," Dating Biblical Texts, 11-18 [see #2364]. Employing literary, historical, and linguistic criteria, C.'s programmatic essay distinguishes between biblical texts produced early in the Persian period and those from later in that period. C. observes that literary texts from the beginning of the Persian period would be less likely to feature an emphasis on pentateuchal traditions (particularly Priestly pentateuchal traditions), less inclined to reflect Persian sponsorship (and perhaps more likely to feature extravagant hopes for a return to a sovereign Israel), and more likely to be written in archaic Hebrew. By the end of the Persian period and the beginning of the Hellenistic period, there appear texts with a more explicit emphasis on Persian sponsorship, links to the combined Pentateuch (with an increasing emphasis on Priestly traditions), and the occasional breakdown of archaic Hebrew literary dialect, including more mixing of Aramaic and other (especially Persian) isoglosses. Against this background, C. asks who might have been responsible for the Persian period texts found in the Hebrew Bible and finds it more likely that priests were the authors of most of the Hebrew textual materials in Persian-period Yehud (as opposed to a scenario in which both priests and non-priests shared a transferred control over major normative texts across this period). He concludes that a consistent differentiation feature across the Persian period appears to be the move from remnants of scribal diversity and old literary standards at the outset of the period to some breakdown of those scribal standards with the emergence of Priestly domination over scribalism toward the end of the Persian period. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1838. [Matt 1:1-17, etc.] Bernard Gosse, "The 42 Generations of the Genealogy of Jesus in Matt 1:1-17, and the Symbolism of [the] Number 42, Curse or Blessing in the Bible and in Egypt," StBSlov 10 (2018) 142-51. The genealogy of Jesus given in Matt 1:1-17 features 42 generations, thereby highlighting a number, which in the ANE and in the OT symbolizes a curse which does not [End Page 603] exclude the possibility of blessing. In the OT, the number is so used in the story of the succession of the kings in the Books of Kings and Chronicles (see the 42-year "curse of King Ahaziah" in 2 Chr 22:2), the Psalter (see the 42 psalms making up the Elohistic Psalter in Psalms 42–83, which raise the question of what is to happen thereafter), and the story of Balaam in Numbers 22–24 (where there is mention of 42 sacrifices for purposes of cursing that are ultimately oriented to blessing). This feature has parallels outside the OT as well, particularly in Egypt, in the Book of the Dead and the division of Egypt into 42 nomes. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1839. [Judges 13; 1 Samuel 1–2] Paola Mollo, "Did It Please God to Kill Them?" Hen 36 (2014) 86-105. M.'s article provides a literary comparison of the birth account of two famous and complex characters of the Bible: Samson (Judges 13) and Samuel (1 Samuel 1–2). She analyzes their birth stories in terms of their respective structures, motifs, concepts, and wording. In many cases, the two accounts directly mirror one another, while in others certain shared elements are transformed, or even stand in sharp opposition from one to the other. M. devotes special attention to the literary techniques employed in the two texts, by means of which they play with conventional elements and create intertextual allusions. M.'s final considerations about the narrative logic behind the two stories provides a comprehensive interpretation of the elements of contrast between them. Her article concludes by calling attention to a particularly intriguing parallel between them which she seeks to elucidate in light of the dynamic of similarity and difference at work in and between the two stories. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1840. [Judges 17–18] José Luis Sicre...