Scribes as Sages and Prophets: Scribal Traditions in Biblical Wisdom Literature and in the Book of the Twelve ed. by Jutta Krispenz

Abstract

Reviewed by: Scribes as Sages and Prophets: Scribal Traditions in Biblical Wisdom Literature and in the Book of the Twelve ed. by Jutta Krispenz Elena Di Pede jutta krispenz (ed.), Scribes as Sages and Prophets: Scribal Traditions in Biblical Wisdom Literature and in the Book of the Twelve (BZAW 496; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2021). Pp. viii + 300. $114.99. The articles in this volume focus on the intertextual relationships between the Book of the Twelve and the biblical wisdom literature. From a historical point of view the question is certainly important, although it is probably difficult to give a definitive answer. The book takes up the question of intertextual relationships by initiating a change of perspective in relation to earlier studies. In the past, this issue was explored in terms of the influence of one movement on the other, most often, moreover, in the sense of the influence of wisdom texts on prophetic texts without necessarily asking the opposite and complementary question of the influence of prophetic texts on wisdom texts. This collection, therefore, does not attempt to assess influence but "confluence" (see M. Sneed's article, p. 17: "places where the sapiential and prophetic traditions merge") between these two currents. The question of possible intertextual links between prophetism and wisdom is thus positively renewed. It may have a bearing on the understanding of the formation of the Hebrew Bible itself in the context of the scholarly circles and schools in which these traditions were transmitted. The volume opens with an introduction in which Krispenz lays the methodological [End Page 525] foundations of the whole. She thus seeks first to define whether there is a "school" of wisdom and a category of texts—biblical in particular—that can be defined as "wisdom." Indeed, she writes, "[O]ur perception of and our view on wisdom in the Hebrew Bible has changed dramatically. It has changed in such a way that all the traditional assumptions pertaining to this part of the Bible need to be scrutinized" (p. 5). The change of perspective also applies to prophecy, which is addressed in the second part of the introduction. Today, indeed, the prophetic books, including the Twelve, are considered literature, and the truth of these texts is no longer sought only in their oldest parts. Moreover, the extrabiblical information shows how complex and multifaceted the phenomenon of prophecy is. This double change of approach and perspective forces "a fresh look at the relationship between wisdom texts and prophetic texts" (p. 6). This requires an understanding of scribal activity and the role of tradition (oral and written) in the composition of the Bible. The overall perspective of the whole is to understand how the wisdom texts relate to prophetic thinking. In the background, a culture or a scribal perspective emerges that the twelve contributions that make up the volume seek to illustrate. Mark Sneed ("Inspired Sages: Massa' and the Confluence of Wisdom and Prophecy") examines the question of the "confluence" between prophetic and wisdom thinking from the term maśśāʾ in Proverbs (esp. chaps. 30 and 31) and its use in the prophetic books. Helmut Utzschneider ("Die Mündlichkeit der biblischen Schriftprophetie: Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme") investigates the link between orality and writing in Joel 1 and 2. He shows that the prophetic texts can be understood as dramatic settings whose "naturally" oral form influenced the rhetoric and aesthetics of their written form. As the title of his contribution indicates ("Amos and Wisdom"), Rainer Kessler studies the parallels between Amos and the wisdom texts. These parallels indicate a very important social change in the eighth century, which provoked the harsh criticism of the prophets and the wise men against the powerful. Amos and Proverbs are interested in similar questions but do not provide the same answers. Krispenz ("Hosea – the Wise Prophet?") takes as her starting point the fact that the first of the Twelve is both "prophetic" (Hos 1:1) and "sapiential" (Hos 14:10). She then examines the typical markers of wisdom present in this prophetic book. Thomas Krüger ("Prophetie, Weisheit und religiöse Dichtung im Buch Habakuk") shows the variety of traditions that meet in Habakkuk. This confluence outlines a theodicy in line with the...