Collective Memory and Collective Identity

Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History in Their Context

Johannes Unsok Ro, Diana Edelman, Johannes Unsok Ro, Diana Edelman

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9783110715200
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ancient Religion

"Collective memory" has attracted the attention and discussion of scholars internationally across academic disciplines over the past 40?50 years in particular. It and "collective identity" have become important issues within Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies; the role collective memory plays in shaping collective identity links the two organically. Research to date on memory within biblical studies broadly falls under four approaches: 1) lexical studies; 2) discussions of biblical historiography in which memory is considered a contributing element; 3) topical explorations for which memory is an organizing concept; and 4) memory and transmission studies.
The sixteen contributors to this volume provide detailed investigations of the contours of collective memory and collective identity that have crystallized in Martin Noth's "Deuteronomistic History" (Deut-2 Kgs). Together, they yield diverse profiles of collective memory and collective identity that draw comparatively on biblical, ancient Near eastern, and classical Greek material, employing one of more of the four common approaches. This is the first volume devoted to applying memory studies to the "Deuteronomistic History."

Part I The Use of Memory to Reinforce Identity Boundaries

Looking Back in Order to Move Forward: The Use of Deuteronomy 1:22-33 in Joshua 2

Kristin Weingart

Deuteronomy 1:22-33 and Josh 2 have a lot in common: both are stories about the beginning of the conquest of the land; in Deuteronomy, it is led by Moses and in the book of Joshua, by his successor, Joshua. In both cases, scouts are sent out to explore the region the Israelites are about to enter and in both, the reports from the scouts are short but positive. In addition, both stories describe a paralyzing downheartedness in view of the imminent conquest - experienced by the Israelites in Deut 1:18 and by the people of the land in Josh 2:11. Both episodes are highly paradigmatic and theologically charged, but while in Deut 1 everything is played out among the Israelites, i. e. between Moses, the people of Israel, and Yhwh, in Josh 2, the main protagonist is a non-Israelite woman, the Canaanite prostitute Rahab.

This article investigates the two stories as independent units as well as their interplay. Joshua 2 and Deut 1:22-33 are analyzed within their literary contexts and with regard to their respective composition and interpretation. The results pave the way for a more nuanced view of the literary relation between the two stories. It will be argued that Josh 2 is part of a late insertion that builds on deuteronomistic (dtr) traditions, theology and ideology in order to find answers to challenges faced by post-exilic Israelites. The common ground is a shared way of turning to history as a way to understand and interpret the present as well as the future.

In this regard and although dealing with literary processes like the use of one text by another, the discussion offers a glimpse into cultural memories¹ and the intertwined processes of their usage and reshaping.² The interplay of texts represents only a small segment out of much more extensive and more multiform societal discourses. While their textual representation might be overrepresented in the modern exegete’s work, it remains the best - an in many cases - the only access to discourses of the kind in the ancient world.

Deuteronomy 1:22-33: A Lesson in Faith

The short narrative in Deut 1:22-33 is part of a larger speech comprising Deut 1:6-30:20 in which Moses (Deut 1:1, 5) addresses the Israelites and combines recollections of history with exhortations for the future.³ In Deut 1:6-3:29, Moses looks back at experiences on the way from Mount Horeb to the land of Moab. Within his presentation, the time marker in 2:16 highlights a turning point:⁴ here, the actual conquest begins. After the death of the former generation, the path is open to the crossing of the Arnon (2:24) and for a successful conquest of the land - as exemplified by the successive victories over Sihon and Og. The earlier section leading up to this turning point (1:6-2:15) is structured by an itinerary (1:6, 19; 2:1) divided into three stages: in 1:6-18, Israel is at mount Horeb; in 1:19-49, after crossing the desert, they are in Kadesh Barnea; in 2:1-15, Israel is back in the desert, now aimlessly circling the Seir.

The itinerary already makes it obvious: Moses does not describe Israel’s journey as a straightforward passage into the land; the last stage can only be a regression. In 1:19-46, Moses focuses on the reasons for this regression, tracing it back to two failed attempts (1:22-33 and 1:34-46) to conquer the land.⁵ In 1:20, he refers back to the initial order in 1:6-8:⁶ “you have come to the hill country of the Amorites” (באתם עד הר האמרי) takes up 1:7 and “which Yhwh our God is giving us” (אשר יהוה אלוהינו נתן לנו) echoes 1:8.⁷ In 1:22, he recalls the initiative of the people to send out scouts, which he had explicitly endorsed (1:23).⁸ What follows seems like an unproblematic scouting story: after describing their purpose (v. 22), scouts are selected (v. 23), they explore the land (v. 24) and return with good news and fruits which symbolize the land’s fertility.⁹ The way into the land is expressed with עלה (to ascend; 1:22, 24), while the scouts descend (ירד in 1:25) as they return. But in Moses’s presentation, the focus is not on the event itself but rather on the speeches accompanying it; the narrative sections encompass only a few short sentences, while the speeches take up decidedly more space.

- The task of the scouts and their report upon their return frame the short narrative section in vv. 23-25a:

Task		Report
וישבו אתנו דבר את הדרך אשר נעלה בה ואת הערים אשר נבא אליהן	1:22b	וישבו אתנו דבר ויאמרו טובה הארץ אשר יהוה אלהינו נתן לנו	1:25b
And they shall bring us word of the way we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.		They brought us word and said: It is a good land that Yhwh, our God, is giving us.

Although the report reproduces parts of the task verbatim, it obviously does not answer all the questions raised in it (i. e. providing detailed knowledge about the way and the settlements in the land). The missing elements will appear in 1:28 in the people’s own rendition of the scouts’ report. Nevertheless, the report resembles the initial order to conquer the land in 1:6-8 as well as Moses’s recapitulation of it in 1:20. However, it contains decisive, additional information: the land is described as “good” (טובה הארץ). After this report, the conquest of the land could have started without further delay but it did not, due to the refusal of the people.

In an even shorter note (1:26, 27aα), Moses then recollects the people’s refusal to act. The main drama is once again played out in the speeches. The people present their perspective in 1:27-28. Within Moses’s recollection, however, their words are introduced from the outset as an act of disobedience against Yhwh (ותמרו את פי יהוה אלהיכם).¹⁰ The people’s speech is quoted after this negative assessment. It refers back to the task of the scouts and focuses on the specific details they were to observe in their reconnaissance.

Speech of the People		Task of the Scouts
אנא אנחנו עלים אחינו המסו את לבבנו לאמר עם גדול ורם ממנו ערים גדלת ובצורת בשמים וגם בני ענקים ראינו שם	1:28	וישבו אתנו דבר את הדרך אשר נעלה בה ואת הערים אשר נבא אליהן	1:22b
Where are we going up to? Our brothers have made our hearts melt: The people are greater and taller than we, The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. And besides, we have seen giants there.		And they shall bring us word of the way we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.

The differences between Moses’s initial recollection of the scouts’ report (v. 25b, see above) and the way the people quote it (v....