Redactional Processes in the Book of the Twelve

312 Pages·1993·9.483 MB·English

by  James Nogalski

James Nogalski
Redactional Processes in the Book of the Twelve
w
DE
G
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von
Otto Kaiser
Band 218
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1993
James Nogalski
Redactional Processes
in the Book of the Twelve
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1993
® Printed on acid-free paper which falls
within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pubtication Data
Nogalski, James.
Redactional processes in the Book of the Twelve / James Nogalski.
p. cm. — (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft, ISSN 0934-2575 ; Bd. 218)
Revision of part of thesis (Th. D.) — Universität Zurich.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-013767-4 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Minor Prophets—Criticism, Redaction. I. Title.
II. Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft ; Bd. 218.
BS410.Z5 vol. 218
[BS1560]
224'.9066—dc20 93-37633
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging in Publication Data
Nogalski, James:
Redactional processes in the Book of the Twelve / James
Nogalski. — Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter, 1993
(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ; Bd.
218)
Zugl.: Zürich, Univ., Diss., 1991 zusammen mit 1 anderem Werk des
Verf.
ISBN 3-11-013767-4
NE: Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft / Beihefte
ISSN 0934-2575
© Copyright 1993 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Germany
Printing: Werner Hildebrand, Berlin
Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin
Preface
The following study evaluates the implications of catchwords as a
significant factor for understanding the development, literary movement,
and theological intentions of the Book of the Twelve. For reasons of space,
this volume appears independently, but it is integrally related to a previous
work in this series, Literary Precursors to the Book of the Twelve. This
previous study documented the historical evidence for treating the Book of
the Twelve as a single corpus, and it discussed scholarly models which
attempted to explain that unity. It challenged long-standing scholarly
assumptions that the Book of the Twelve arose only via the incorporation
of the final forms of the individual writings. As evidence, it demonstrated
that these writings consistently end with a series of words (and phrases)
which reappear at the beginning of the next writing. Such consistency
demands attempts to explain these catchword associations. Attempting to
divide this extensive exegetical task meaningfully, the first volume examined
individual passages from six writings involved in these links. These six
writings (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zech 1-8) were
selected because evidence suggested that their initial and concluding
passages received minimal adaptations, usually in the form of short
redactional glosses, specifically oriented to the Book of the Twelve. Thus,
the literary form of these writings was substantially fixed prior to
incorporation into the Book of the Twelve. Simultaneously, observations
suggested that the literary forms of these writings prior to their
incorporation into the Book of the Twelve were closely associated with the
transmission of two multi-volume corpora, one which contained Haggai and
Zech 1-8 (the Haggai-Zechariah corpus) and one which contained Hosea,
Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah (the Deuteronomistic corpus).
The current volume evaluates the initial and concluding passages of
the remaining literary sections of the Book of the Twelve (Joel, Obadiah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Malachi, Jonah, and Zech 9-14). It assesses the extent
of editorial and/or compositional activity manifesting awareness of the Book
of the Twelve as a literary corpus. In keeping with the procedure of the
previous volume, the macrostructure of each writing will be discussed, along
with scholarly theories affecting date and unity. Then, a literary-critical
analysis of the pertinent passages focusses on the units and sub-units of the
vi
texts with an eye toward identifying literary tensions, and evaluating those
results in light of the relationship to the catchwords and to other issues
impacting the understanding of the Book of the Twelve. Special attention
is given to models for understanding the writing's final form by entering into
dialogue with recent redactional treatments of each of the writings.
Increasingly, in the course of this investigation, it became obvious that
one could not develop theories about the growth of the Book of the Twelve
without constantly having to make decisions on the intertextual relationships
involved in these prophetic writings. Thus, not only does this volume
provide a scripture index as an aid to locating discussions of particular
passages, and it also provides an appendix of allusions and citations noted
in this study. This appendix lists the texts involved, and it indicates whether
this study presumes a given text is the source text or the receiving text since
this decision necessarily effects the understanding of the development of the
corpus.
As with the first volume, the tentative nature of conclusions reached
in this volume must be acknowledged. Often, a single observation could be
interpreted plausibly in more than one fashion, depending upon larger
subjective criteria. Some attempt has been made to illustrate this
complexity by evaluating alternative explanations in the exegetical
discussions. Nevertheless, so little work has been attempted previously on
the question how the Book of the Twelve came into existence, that an
attempt to provide a systematic treatment of the issue is warranted.
Hopefully, it will provoke scholarly discussion of the issues involved.
Special thanks again go to Prof. Dr. Otto Kaiser and to the staff at De
Gruyter for their assistance in the preparation of these volumes. Their
gracious help and suggestions made this publication possible. The two
volumes represent an edited version of my dissertation submitted to the
theological faculty at the University of Zürich in 1991 under the supervision
of Prof. Dr. O.H. Steck. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to him and
to other mentors, friends, and colleagues who have aided my academic
pilgrimage. My greatest source of strength came from my wife, Melanie,
whose encouragement, support, and interaction during the long process
leading to the fruition of this study motivated, sustained, and influenced its
completion.
Table of Contents
Preface ν
Joel
1. The Macrostructure of Joel 1
2. The Literary Units and Context of Joel 1:1-14 7
3. The Literary Function of Joel 1:1-14 13
3.1. Backward to Hosea 13
3.2. Connections Forward in the Book of the Twelve ... 23
4. Summary of the Hosea - Joel Transition 25
5. Joel 4:1-21: Eschatological Judgment and Promise of
Salvation 26
5.1. Joel 4:1-3: Literary Introduction 26
5.2. Joel 4:4-8: Oracle against Tyre, Sidon, and the
Philistine Regions 28
5.3. Joel 4:9-17: Judgment in the Valley 30
5.4. Joel 4:18-21: Eschatological Promise of Restoration . 37
6. Allusions and Quotes in Joel 4:1-21 42
7. The Date of Joel 4:1-21 48
Obadiah
1. The Macrostructure of Obadiah 58
2. The Interrelationship of Obad 1-9, Jer 49:7ff and Amos
9: Iff 61
3. The Interrelationship of Obad 15-21, Jer 49:7ff; 25:15ff and
Amos 9: Iff 69
4. The Relationship of Obadiah to Isaiah and Ezekiel 74
5. The Relationship of Obadiah to Micah 78
6. The Units in Obad 15-21 79
7. Toward a Synthesis 89
Nahum
1. The Macrostructure of Nahum 93
2. Various Redactional Models 93
3. Dating the Book of Nahum 97
4. Literary Observations on Nah 1:1,2-8,9-11 99
4.1. A Two-Layered Superscription: Nah 1:1 99
4.2. The Acrostic Elements in Nah 1:2-8 101
viii
4.3. A Semi-Acrostic Hymn: Nah 1:2-8 103
4.4. Nah l:9f,11-14; 2:1-3 Ill
5. The Role of Nah 1 in the Book of the Twelve 115
6. The Literary Units in Nah 3:1-19 117
7. The Growth of Nah 3:1-19 123
8. Dating the Layers of Nahum 127
Habakkuk
1. The Macrostructure of Habakkuk 129
2. Dating Habakkuk: Traditional Arguments and Problems . . . 134
3. Literary Observations on Hab 1:1-2:5 136
4. Hab 1:1-17 and the Relationship to Stichwörter in Nah 3:1-
19 146
5. Redactional Summary and Re-evaluation of the Date of Hab
1:1-17 150
6. Cultic Transmission of Hab 3:1-19 154
7. The Literary Units in Hab 3:3-15 159
8. The Literary Frame (Hab 3:2,16-19a) 173
9. Summary of Redactional and Temporal Observations 180
Malachi
1. The Macrostructure of Malachi 182
2. The Date of Malachi 186
3. Literary Observations on Mai 1:1-14 187
4. Contrasting Motifs in Mai 1:1-14 and Zech 8:9-23 197
5. A Haggai-Zechariah-Malachi Corpus? 201
6. Further Indications of a Wider Literary Awareness in
Malachi 204
7. Summary and Reflections on Proto-Zechariah and Malachi . 210
Zech 9-14
1. Zech 9-14 Distinct from Zech 1-8: A Brief Summary of
Research 213
2. Preliminary Observations Concerning Zech 9-14 217
3. The Units within Zech 9:1-17 and Their Literary
Relationships 219
4. The Position and Function of Zion in Zech 9:9-13 229
5. Zech 9-13 as Corpus 232
6. Zech 14:1-21: Positive and Negative Aspects of the Final
Judgment 236
ix
7. Zech 14:1-21 and Its Function in the Book of the Twelve . . 241
Jonah
1. The Macrostructure of Jonah 248
2. Literary Observations on Jonah 1-2 250
3. Theories on the Transmission and Redaction History of
Jonah 255
4. Problems of Genre and Jonah 262
5. Jonah 2:3-10 and the Book of the Twelve 265
6. The Position, Function, and Date of Jonah 270
Summary
1. Pre-existing Multi-volume Corpora 274
2. The Joel-related Layer 275
3. Subsequent Additions 278
4. Provenence for the Book of the Twelve 279
Works Cited 281
Appendix of Allusions and Citations 290
Index 292