Bible Review

This article is based on a previous study: Rendsburg, “Biblical Literature as Politics: The Case of Genesis,” in Adele Berlin, ed., Religion and Politics in the Ancient Near East (Bethesda, MD: Univ. Press of Maryland, 1996), pp. 47–70, which, in turn, is greatly indebted to a seminal article by the late doyen of Israeli biblical scholars, Benjamin Mazar: “The Historical Background of the Book of Genesis,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 28 (1969), pp. 73–83.

The typology of literary style established by Frank Polak, based on a detailed analysis of the biblical narrative corpus, also indicates that the Torah is essentially an early work. See Polak, “Development and Periodization of Biblical Prose Narrative,” Bet Miqra 43 (1997), pp. 30–52, 142–160 (in Hebrew); and “The Oral and the Written: Syntax, Stylistics, and the Development of Biblical Prose Narrative,” JANES 26 (1998), pp. 59–105.

The use of the phrase “the Agagite” in Esther (3:1, 10, 8:3, 5, 9:24) as an epithet of Haman is a literary construct used to set Haman against Mordecai, for the latter is introduced as a descendant of Kish (like Saul!) (Esther 2:5).

See further Jon D. Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1985), pp. 129–131.

See Meir Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative (Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1985).

See Gary A. Rendsburg, The Redaction of Genesis (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1986); and Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1982), chap. 7.

For a detailed survey, see Gordon J. Wenham, “Pondering the Pentateuch: The Search for a New Paradigm,” in David W. Baker and Bill T. Arnold, eds., The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), pp. 116–144.