Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Recent humanistic scholarship regards canonization as a common anthropological phenomenon. Comparing religious canons gives insight on their various canonization processes and functions. Apparently, concepts commonly applied in biblical studies are anachronistic, reflecting notions of canonicity brought about by Islamic Scripture as well as by European mass printing technology. Philip Davies in his Scribes and Schools considered ancient Hebrew canonization in its technological, cultural and social framework, and identified the scribal class as a primary focus for the study of biblical canonization. This article argues that there were similarities between the canonization of ancient Hebrew and Confucian literature. The two occurred under comparable technological and cultural conditions. Using implications from Confucian canonization, this essay attempts to evaluate certain models in Scribes and Schools, in particular Davies' view of a `top-down' canonizing process. The Confucian material hints that Hebrew canonization had rather more of a two-way movement of influence.

In the light of recent archaeological finds from Iron Age Philistia and comparative evidence from Aegean and ancient Near Eastern cults, a new interpretation is suggested for the term opalim ( ), mentioned in the `ark narrative' (e.g. 1 Sam. 5.6; 6.5). Although most often interpreted as relating to `haemorrhoids' or the bubonic plague, it is suggested that this, in fact, is a term referring to an affliction of the Philistines' membra virile.

This essay examines the relationship between two features of biblical poetry: (1) verb gapping between lines with matching structures (i.e. identical constituents); and (2) explicit coordination of parallel lines with waw. At first glance, the presence of an explicit conjunction between such cola may appear to be optional and completely within the realm of stylistics, even though it is statistically most frequent. However, a correlation of the precise structural features of elliptical structures with the presence (and absence) of coordination suggests instead that additional syntactic and cognitive factors are at work.

The validity of syllable—word pattern analysis using the chi—square test was rejected in Richard A. O'Keefe's `Critical Remarks on Houk's “Statistical Analysis of Genesis Sources”' (JSOT 29 [2005], pp. 409-37), based on various types of data dependence and multiple comparisons. This article provides a response to O'Keefe's `Critical Remarks', countering each of his claims and showing that independent and distinctive syllable—word patterns in Biblical Hebrew offer a useful tool for the statistical analysis of Old Testament texts.

Job 29—31 carefully portrays the values, lifeways, and patterns of consumption of both economic and social goods by an elite member of society, Job. The character's exploration of social relationships and acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within them allow the book's author to explore the nature of human society within a religious framework. By portraying the ideal nobleman as one who protects the vulnerable, the book seeks to reintegrate the society of his implied audience and to reconstruct a well-functioning hierarchy. Job 29 portrays a well-functioning society, ch. 30 its undoing at multiple levels, and ch. 31 a possible way of reconstructing it. This part of the book also portrays the nobleman Job as one worthy of YHWH's attention, and thus as a potential model for the restoration of Israel itself.

This article argues that Hab. 2.4 should be understood within the historical framework as a political observation rather than a moral paradigm. Minor emendations permit the interpretation of the critical terms and as `court' and `Zedekiah', respectively. This reading allows the natural interpretation of Hab. 2.4 as a real-life situation of political advocacy, akin to that made by Jeremiah (27.12, 17). It is suggested that Habakkuk's political advice to Zedekiah was perhaps later changed by a minor transposition of two letters, turning it into an ethical paradigm suitable for the new political reality.

Recent work on the Book of the Twelve has consistently identified various sections of Haggai—Malachi as a corpus that existed prior to its incorporation into the Book of the Twelve. Many see Haggai/Zechariah 1—8 as an initial collection to which Malachi and Zechariah 9—14 were later added (prior to and/or after inclusion in the Book of the Twelve). This study investigates this corpus by interacting with past research and the text of these prophetic sections to argue that although each section in the corpus (Haggai, Zech. 1—8, Zech. 9—14, Malachi) displays an integrity of its own, the corpus as a whole is witness to a developing tradition, the resulting literature of which has been unified through a `messenger' leitmotif. This leitmotif, however, rather than signalling the end of prophecy (as argued by some), identifies the importance of prophetic, priestly and royal streams to the emerging hope for a heavenly visitation.