Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Psalms"
Author(s): Avi Hurvitz
Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 38, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1988), pp. 41-51
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1518121
Accessed: 11-07-2016 05:17 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1518121?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Vetus Testamentum
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
BZAW 135 (Berlin and New York, 1974), which G. E. Bryce has described as
"the most complete treatment of the vocabulary of the wisdom tradition up to the
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
42
AVI HURVITZ
"The excitement of new directions in scholarship has led to exaggerated claims supported by dubious arguments and assumptions,
so that a study of methodology in determining wisdom influence is
imperative at this juncture."8
4 Cf. Whybray, pp. 74, 121; J. L. Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom-An Introduction (Atlanta, 1981), p. 39.
5 The subject is treated at length in a special study in progress, which is due
melte Studien zum Alten Testament (Munich, 1958), pp. 272-80; E. tr. in The Problem
of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (Edinburgh, London and New York, 1966), pp.
481-2.
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
43
Of the main methodological guide lines suggested in this connection, two are of vital importance for the purposes of the present
study:
the Book of Ezekiel-A New Approach to an Old Problem (Paris, 1982), pp. 18-19.
10 Cf. Crenshaw (above, n. 8), p. 132 (= [n. 2], p. 484). It is on the basis of
this approach that the "Wisdom connection" of words such as 'asre and hoy was
rightly challenged. Out of 45 biblical occurrences of 'asre, only 10 appear in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes; hoy is not attested in these three compositions even
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
44
AVI HURVITZ
elements whose usage is typical-exclusively or predominantly"-of the compositions assigned to the "distinctive Wisdom corpus"
(cf. above, n. 1). Words and phrases whose distribution pattern is
not peculiar to those writings will not be included in our "Wisdom
a significant accumulation of linguistic elements attested overwhelmingly in Wisdom writings, that psalm may definitely be
labelled a "Wisdom psalm", i.e. a composition written within a
Wisdom milieu.'2
12 For the three methodological principles proposed above cf. our remarks in
Hebrew Abstracts 14 (1973), pp. 74-9 (where, to be sure, the main concern was
diachronic in nature [early/late phenomena], in contrast to the present discussion
whose focus is strictly synchronic [Wisdom/non-Wisdom features]). Our first and
second criteria suggested in the present article ( = Hebrew Abstracts, p. 76, 1 ["fre-
tion"]) is equivalent to his sixth (p. 75, f). As is readily apparent, Whybray's
linguistic approach and ours have much in common (cf. also above, n. 10). At the
same time, however, there are some significant differences which must not be
overlooked. Note, for instance, that neither of the cases adduced below as
"classical" Wisdom expressions is discussed in Whybray's study at all.
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
45
1. hon
same basic idea. However, on the basis of their distribution patterns, only hon can be singled out as a term whose usage within the
Bible is typical of a specific literary style. Of a total of 26 occurrences, 18 are concentrated in the book of Proverbs; hence we
would agree with the designation of the word hon as an element of
Wisdom vocabulary.13
The sapiential character of hon is indicated not merely by considerations of frequency and statistics. In not a few cases a linguistic
Ps. xv 5: "(He ...) does not put out his money (kaspo) at interest
(benesek)";
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
46i
AVI HUJRVTTZ
Num. xxii 18: "Though Balak were to give me his house (beto) full
of silver and gold (kesep wezdhdb) ...";
Prov. vi 31: "... he will give all the goods (hon) of his house (beto)."
And, finally, this phenomenon may be demonstrated by a com-
In the book of Psalms the word hon appears three times, once
each in chapters xliv, cxii, and cxix:
Ps. xliv 13(12): "Thou hast sold thy people for no fortune16
(hon)"-contrast Jer. xv 13: "Your wealth and your treasures
( )serjtekd)";
Ps.: "demanding no high price for them (bimehzrehem)";
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
47
2. sur + merda
and codes of behaviour. It goes without saying that any "deviation" which involves the breaking of religious and moral commandments is severely criticized, while the abandonment of wicked
Ex. xxxii 8: "they have turned aside (srui) quickly out of the
way which I commanded them";
Deut. xvii 20: "... that he may not turn aside (ulebiltz sur) from the
commandment, either to the right hand or to the
left";
1 Sam. xii 20: "... do not turn aside (aal-tdsuru) from following the
LORD";
Mal. iii 7: "From the days of your fathers you have turned
aside (sartem) from my statutes";
2 Ch. viii 15: "And they did not turn aside (welo) saru) from what
test of "accumulations".
19 For the sapiential nature of Ps. cxix cf., for instance, A. Deissler, Psalm
119(118) und seine Theologie (Munich, 1955), p. 272 (but note that Deissler's list of
"sapientielle Ausdriicke" includes some items whose validity is highly questionable). For Ps. cxii cf., for instance, C. A. Briggs-E. G. Briggs, The Book of
Psalms II (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 385.
20 Cf. BDB, p. 693b; KB, p. 653a.
21 Cf., for instance, Briggs (n. 19), p. 300); R. B. Y. Scott, The Way of Wisdom
in the Old Testament (New York, 1971), p. 195, n. 13 (the expression is "a stock
phrase of the wisdom writers"); M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
48
AVI HURVITZ
Prov. iii 7: "... fear the LORD, and turn away from evil (sur
merda')"- as against
Josh. xxiv 14: "... fear the LORD, and ... put away the gods
(wehdsfru 'et- elohi-m)".
Prov. iv 27: "Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your
foot away from evil (haser ... merad)"-as against
Deut. xvii 20: ... that he may not turn aside from the commandment (sur min-hammiswdh)
Job i 1:22 "... and that man was blameless and upright, one who
feared God"-as against
Ex. xviii 21: "choose able men from all the people, such as fear
God";
Ps. cxxviii 1: "A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the
LORD".
22 It is true that the Prose Tale ofJob does not fall, formally, within the category
of "Wisdom". However, in its extant form the Prose Tale is "fused" with the
gnomic portions of the composition. Hence it is part and parcel of the book of Job
in its entirety, which does definitely belong to "Wisdom Literature" (cf., for in-
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
vi:
-"in
his
generation";
Ps.: "and I kept myself from guilt (wd)estammer meawonz)."
In the book of Psalms the phrase sur + merdc is attested only
twice:
Ps. xxxiv 15(14): "Depart from evil (sur merdc), and do good;
seek peace ...";
Ps. xxxvii 27: "Depart from evil (sur merdC), and do good;
so shall you abide ..."-as against
Isa. vii 15: "... how to refuse the evil (mdaos bdrdc) and choose
the good";
"Amos' geistige Heimat" is grounded in "clan Wisdom"; see his book Amos'
geistige Heimat (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1964), E. tr. Amos the Prophet- The Man and his
Background [Philadelphia, 1973]). The fact that Amos does not employ the distinctive Wisdom phrase sur + mera- lends support to the critics who reject the "Wisdom
connection" of Amos v 15.
stance, W. O. E. Oesterley, The Psalms (London, 1953), p. 214 (though not all the
examples adduced by Oesterley are of equal weight). For Ps. xxxvii cf., for instance, S. Holm-Nielsen, "The Importance of Late Jewish Psalmody for the
Understanding of Old Testament Psalmodic Tradition", Studia Theologica 14
(1960), p. 45 ("Ps. xxxvii makes it justifiable to talk about wisdom psalms in the
O.T.").
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
50
AVI HURVITZ
autonomous discipline. This means that it can be carried out without need of subscribing to any preconceived theory about literary
Gattungen or a sociological or religious Sitz im Leben.29 Second, the
virtue of confining our analysis exclusively to the extant biblical
text is that we reduce hypothetical reconstructions to a minimum.
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
these data in a new way and to show that they constitute a rich
source for further study.
This content downloaded from 200.14.85.85 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:17:08 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms