Literary Motifs and Patterns in the Hebrew Bible

Collected Essays

Shemaryahu Talmon

• Publisher: Eisenbrauns
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781575062617
• eBook ISBN: 9781575068541
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This collection gathers together Professor Shemaryahu Talmon's contributions to the literary study of the Bible, and complements his acclaimed Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible: Form and Content: Collected Studies (Jerusalem: Magnes / Leiden: Brill, 1993). The articles included herein span a broad range of topics, closely and comprehensively assessing fundamental themes and stylistic conceits present in biblical literature. Each study picks up one of these motifs or patterns, and traces its meaning and usage throughout the entire Bible. In Talmon's estimation, these literary markers transcend all strata of the Bible, and despite diachronic developments, they retain their basic meanings and connotations throughout, even when employed by different authors over a span of hundreds of years. He demonstrates this convincingly by marshaling dozens of examples, each of which is valuable in its own right, and when taken all together, these building-blocks form a solid edifice that validate his approach. He judiciously employs this synchronic method throughout, frequently invoking an exegetical principle according to which one biblical verse can be employed to interpret the other, if they are found in similar contexts and with overlapping formulation. To use an expression that he coined elsewhere, his hermeneutical method can be described first and foremost as "The World of the Bible from Within." Throughout the articles that appear in this volume, one is repeatedly struck by his sensitivity to the language and style of the biblical authors. He was blessed with a rich literary intuition, and shares with his readers his ability to see, hear, and understand the rhythms and poetics of biblical literature.

In this volume, many of Talmon's contributions are made accessible in fresh form to the benefit of both those who already know his work and to a newer generation of scholars for whom his work continues to prove important.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Copyright Page
• Table of CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Chapter 1: LITERARY PATTERNS AND SPECULATIVE THOUGHT IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
• Chapter 2: CONCEPTUAL PATTERNS OF HISTORY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
• Chapter 3: LITERARY PATTERNS AND MOTIFS IN THE BIBLICAL CREATION TRADITION
• Chapter 4: AND :AN ANTITHETICAL PAIR OF BIBLICAL MOTIFS
• Chapter 5: THE TOPPED TRIAD IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND THE ASCENDING NUMERICAL PATTERN
• “Chapter 6: FOUR HUNDRED YEARS” OR “FOURTH GENERATION”(GENESIS 15:13-15):HISTORICAL TIME DEFINITIONS OR LITERARY MOTIFS?*
• Chapter 7: THE SIGNIFICATION OF , “LATTER DAYS,”IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND IN THE COVENANTERS’ LITERATURE
• Chapter 8: THE BARREN WIFE MOTIF AND ITS SPECULATIVE SIGNIFICATION
• Chapter 9: PROPHETIC RHETORIC AND AGRICULTURAL METAPHORA
• Chapter 10: THE COLLOCATION AND ITS MEANING*
• Chapter 11: A BIBLICAL IDIOMATIC PHRASE AND ITS VARIATIONS
• Chapter 12: THE MEANING OF “LIFE” IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
• Chapter 13: THE SIGNIFICATION OF AND ITS SEMANTIC FIELD IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
• Chapter 14: THE SIGNIFICATION OF JERUSALEM IN BIBLICAL THOUGHT
• Chapter 15: “EXILE” AND “RESTORATION” IN THE CONCEPTUAL WORLD OF ANCIENT JUDAISM
• Chapter 16: EZRA–NEHEMIAH: HISTORIOGRAPHY OR THEOLOGY?
• Chapter17: THE “GOOD SAMARITAN”—A “GOOD ISRAELITE”?*
• Chapter 18: WAS THE BOOK OF ESTHER KNOWN AT QUMRAN?*
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX