Oral World and Written Word

Ancient Israelite Literature

SUSAN NIDITCH

WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

© 1996 Susan Niditch

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

All translations are the author’s unless otherwise noted.

Cover design by Kim Wohlenhaus

First edition

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Niditch, Susan.

Oral world and written word : ancient Israelite literature / Susan Niditch.

p. cm. — (Library of ancient Israel)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-664-21946-2 (alk. paper)

1. Bible as literature. 2. Oral tradition. 3. Folklore in the Bible. 4. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 5. Jews—Social life and customs—To 70 a.d. I. Title. II. Series.

BS535.N53 1996

221.6′7dc20

96-21497

LIBRARY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

Douglas A. Knight, General Editor

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1. Oral Register in the Biblical Libretto: Toward a Biblical Poetic

Repetition

Formulas

Epithets

Longer Formulas

Quotation of a Specific Text or Traditional Referentiality

Patterns of Content

The Victory-Enthronement Pattern

2. Variations in the Oral Register

Genesis 1

Genesis 2–3

Ezekiel 28

Conclusions

3. New Ways of Thinking about Orality and Literacy: Israelite Evidence

What Is Literacy?

Short Texts

Letters

Monumental Evidence

Conclusions

4. Logistics of Literacy: Archives and Libraries, Education, and Writing Materials

Record Keeping: Archives and Libraries

Education

Logistics of Reading and Writing

5. Attitudes to Writing in the Hebrew Bible: The Oral End of the Continuum

The Oral End of the Continuum

God’s Writing

Transformations

Transformative and Testimonial

6. The Literate End of the Continuum

Signatures, Legal Documents

Letters

Records, Annals

Composition in Writing and the Writing Down of Oral Compositions

References to Written Torah

More Specific References to Details of Torah

Conclusions

7. The Interplay between Orality and Literacy: Case Studies

Deuteronomy 6:4–9

Deuteronomy 17:14–20

2 Kings 23

Examples from Jeremiah

Nehemiah 8

Conclusions

8. The Oral Mentality and the Written Bible

Oral Roots

Source Criticism

Oral to Written—Performance Dictated and Copied: Model 1

Oral to Written and Written to Oral—The Pan-Israelite Story: Model 2

Literary Imitation: Model 3

Written Sources for Written Compositions: Model 4

Conclusions

Conclusion

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Index of Ancient Sources...