Poetry in the Hebrew Bible: Selected Studies from Vetus Testamentum (Brill's Readers in Biblical Studies)

266 Pages·1999·11.75 MB·English

by  David E. Orton

P O E T RY IN T HE H E B R EW BIBLE
BRILL'S READERS
IN BIBLICAL STUDIES
V O L U ME 6
' 6 8 ׳V
POETRY IN THE
HEBREW BIBLE
Selected. Studies from Vetus Testamentum
COMPILED BY
D A V ID E. O R T ON
' '6 8 ל '
B R I LL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KÖLN
2000
Cover design: BEELDVORM, Leidschendam
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheit s aufnähme
Poetry in the Hebrew Bible: selected studies from Vetus Testamentum /
comp, by David E. Orton. - Leiden ; Boston ; Köln : Brill, 2000
(Brill s readers in biblical studies ; Vol. 6)
ISBN 90-04-11161-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available
ISSN 1389-1170
ISBN 90 04 111611
© Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill .w, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Places of Original Publications ix
Form and Structure in Ancient Hebrew Poetry
H. Kosmala 1
Form and Structure in Ancient Hebrew Poetry (continued)
H. Kosmala 24
Form and Word-play in David's Lament over Saul and
Jonathan
W.L. Holladay 53
Α-B Pairs and Oral Composition in Hebrew Poetry
P.B. Yoder 90
Psalm XXIX in the Hebrew Poetic Tradition
P.C. Craigie 110
Jeremiah's Poem in III 1-IV 2
D. Jobling 119
The Literary Structure of the First Two Poems of Balaam
(Num. xxiii 7-10, 18-24)
A. Tosato 130
Prose Ambiguity and Balance in Psalm xv
P.D. Miller 139
The Unity of the Song of Songs
R.E. Murphy 148
The Juxtaposition of Synonymous and Chiastic Parallelism
in Tricola in Old Testament Hebrew Psalm Poetry
J.T. Willis 156
Pausal Forms and the Structure of Biblical Poetry
Ε J. Revell 172
Proverbs xxxi 10-31 as Heroic Hymn: a Form-critical
Analysis
A. Wolters 186
Internal or Half-line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew
Poetry
W.G.E. Watson 198
Problems and Solutions in Hebrew Verse: a Survey
of Recent Work
W.G.E. Watson 221
Index of Modern Authors 235
Index of Biblical References 239
PREFACE
Poetry in the Hebrew Bible is the second collection of articles from the
pages of Vettis Testamentum to appear in the new series of Brill's Readers
in Biblical Studies, the first of which was Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible.
The general series, which began successfully with a number of selec-
tions from Novum Testamentum, is designed to provide convenient and
useful selections in a handy format, affordable for classroom use and
by individual students of the Bible.
The present volume presents a broad range of scholarly insights into
biblical poetry published in the last third of the twentieth century. In
this period Vetus Testamentum has published scores of articles and short
notes on the poetic texts of the Bible. The majority of these have been
exegetical readings of individual texts. The present collection contains
some of these (e.g. the studies of individual psalms, and of the poetic
sections of other books), where they demonstrate approaches to poetic
biblical texts that have more general implications for the interpreta-
tion of the Hebrew Bible. The primary focus of the selection, how-
ever, is on the features of the Bible as poetic literature—on the study
of the form and structure of biblical poetry in its own right and in its
literary context.
The essays collected here represent the insights of some of the world's
leading Hebrew scholars of the past three decades, and are presented,
appropriately enough, in a sort of inclusio formed by the dual essays of
Kosmala and Watson.
The hope is that this collection will prove genuinely useful to all
students of biblical poetry.
In accordance with the ethos of Vetus Testamentum, no editorial com-
ment is made on the articles published here, except, by implication,
with regard to their suitability for republication in this form. The arti-
cle by J. Lundbom, "Poetic Structure and Prophetic Rhetoric in Hosea"
(VT 29 [1979] 300ff.) is not included here because of its reprinting
in the volume on Hebrew Prophecy in this series. The articles are
arranged in chronological order of appearance in the journal.
Thanks are due to Arie van der Kooij, current editor of Vetus
Testamentum, for his friendly advice in connection with the selection.
Students and scholars interested in other studies of biblical poetry,
and in articles in German and French, which could not be included
here, are referred to Vetus Testamentum itself. The Index to Volumes I-XLV
published in 1996 is useful for this purpose.
DEO Leiden, October 1999
PLACES OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS
The articles of this collection first appeared in Vetus Testamentum
H. Kosmala, 'Form and Structure in Ancient Hebrew Poetry' FT XIV
(1964), pp. 423-445
H. Kosmala, 'Form and Structure in Ancient Hebrew Poetry' (continued)
FT XVI (1966), pp. 152-180
W.L. Holladay, 'Form and Word-play in David's Lament over Saul
and Jonathan' VT XX (1970), pp. 153-189
P.B. Yoder, Α-B Pairs and Oral Composition in Hebrew Poetry' VT
XXI (1971), pp. 470-489
P.C. Craigie, 'Psalm XXIX in the Hebrew Poetic Tradition' FT XXII
(1972), pp. 143-151
D. Jobling, 'Jeremiah's Poem in III 1־IV 2' FT XXVIII (1978), pp.
45-55 "
A. Tosato, 'The Literary Structure of the First Two Poems of Balaam
(Num. xxiii 7-10, 18-24)' IT XXIX (1979), pp. 98-106
P.D. Miller, 'Prose Ambiguity and Balance in Psalm xv' VT XXIX
(1979), pp. 416-424
R.E. Murphy, 'The Unity of the Song of Songs' IT XXIX (1979),
pp. 436-443
J.T. Willis, 'The Juxtaposition of Synonymous and Chiastic Parallelism
in Tricola in Old Testament Hebrew Psalm Poetry' IT XXIX
(1979), pp. 465-480
E.J. Revell, 'Pausal Forms and the Structure of Biblical Poetry' IT
XXXI (1981), pp. 186-199