Sandy d brent ronald l giese cracking ol

The central chapters of this book, based on ten literary forms inthe Old Testament, introduce readers to the unique characteristics of the forms, to literature from the ancient world tha

R O N A L D L

G I E S E , J R

A Guide to Interpreting the Literary Genres of the Old Testament

BROADMAN

&HOLMAN

Printed in the United States of America

4210-930-8054-1093-7

Dewey Decimal Classification: 221Subject Heading: Bible O.T.—Criticism, Interpretation, Etc.Library of Congress Card Catalog Number:94-39677

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible,

New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society; the New American Standard Bible © The Lockman Foun-

dation, I960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,1973, 1975, 1977 Used by

per-mission; New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by

the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches

of Christ in the United States of America Used by permission All rightsreserved

Interior design by Leslie Joslin

Cover design by Steve Diggs & Friends

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cracking Old Testament codes: a guide to interpreting Old Testament erary forms / D Brent Sandy and Ronald L Giese, Jr., editors

lit-p cm

Includes bibliographical references

ISBN 0-8054-1093-7I.Bible O.T.—Criticism, Form 2.Bible O T.—Criticism,interpretation, etc 3 Bible as literature

I Sandy, D Brent, 1947- II Giese, Ronald L., I960—

BS1182.C7 1995

221.6'6—dc-20 94-39677

CIP

2 3 4 5 6 00 99 98

Abbreviations ix

Contributors xiIntroduction 1

1 Literary Forms of the Old Testament 5

Ronald L Giese, Jr.

2 Literary Forms and Interpretation 29

Branson L Woodard, Jr and Michael E Travers

3 Literary Forms and Inspiration 45

14 Literary Forms in the Hands of

Preachers and Teachers 281

Walter B Russell, I I IGlossary 299Scripture Index 303Names Index 315Subject Index 320

ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary

AJBI Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute

AnBib Analecta biblica

ARM Archives royales de Mari

BJS Brown Judaic Studies

BO Bibliotheca orientalis

BSac Bibliotheca Sacra

BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW

CahRB Cahiers de la Revue biblique

El Eretz Israel

FOTL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature

GTJ Grace Theological Journal

HDR Harvard Dissertations in Religion

HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs

HTR Harvard Theological Review

IBT Interpreting Biblical Texts

Int Interpretation

JANES Journal of the A ncient Near Eastern

Society of Columbia University

JA OS Journal of the A merican Oriental Society

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament—

Supplement Series

JSS Journal of Semitic Studies

NAC New American Commentary

NICOT New International Commentary on the Old

TestamentOTL Old Testament Library

RGG Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart

SBLDS SBL Dissertation Series

SBLMS SBL Monograph Series

TDOT G J Botterweck and H Ringgren, eds.,

Theological Dictionary of the Old

Testament

TJ Trinity Journal

TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentary

TynBul Tyndale Bulletin

UF Ugarit-Forschungen

VT Vetus Testamentum

WHJP World History of the Jewish People

WTJ Westminster Theological Journal

ZA W Zeitschriftfiir die alttestamentliche

Wissenschaft

Walter C Kaiser, Jr.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Tremper Longman III

Westminster Theological Seminary

Eugene H Merrill

Dallas Theological Seminary

Walter B Russell III

Talbot Theological Seminary

The morning newspaper contains a diversity of forms of writing,from news reporting to commentary, from classifieds to comic

strips These different forms are almost unnoticed by most readers,who unconsciously adjust their expectations when reading the dif-ferent content, ways of expression, and purpose of what is written.For example, classified ads have a distinct content, form, and pur-pose The meaning of the words "steel sinks" in that context is un-mistakable But in a column reporting on the work of scientists,the content, form, and purpose is very different There the words

"steel sinks" will refer to the density of metal in comparison to

wa-ter Will readers two thousand years from now—if someone earths some "ancient" newspapers—recognize the differences

un-between a classified ad and a column on scientific facts? Will theysee that "steel sinks" means two completely different things, de-pending on the form, content, and function of the context wherethose words appear in our newspapers? In the same way, do read-ers of the Bible—a document written more than two thousandyears ago—recognize the differences in form, content, and func-tion of the diversity of forms of expression in it? Do they realize

that to understand the Bible correctly, they cannot treat every tion of Scripture the same, as if it all were created equal?

por-This hook exists to help Christians understand their Bibles ter, in particular the Old Testament Though the original readersintuitively recognized the diversity of forms in the Bible and thedifferences of meaning of words and phrases in those forms, read-

bet-ers today are often unprepared for some of the ancient ways ofexpressing things Ways of thinking and writing have changedthrough the millennia

Fortunately, it is possible to identify the different forms used bythe authors of Scripture Even as a newspaper has certain codesimplicit in the variety of sections within it that guide us in reading

it correctly, so the Bible has literary codes that reveal how authors

\\ere expressing the word of the Lotm and what they intended to

communicate Understanding what these codes are and the icance of them will help keep readers from misinterpreting Scrip-

signif-ture and will guide them into correct interpretation andapplication

Because the literary forms of the Old Testament are so diverseand sometimes complicated, a team of scholars was selected towrite the chapters in this book Each an expert in his individualfield of study, the contributors to this volume represent leading

evangelical scholarship on the Bible The intent of this book is notfor individual scholars to present positions and ideas that areunique to themselves, but rather to reflect a consensus of howChristians can better read and study their Bibles

The central chapters of this book, based on ten literary forms inthe Old Testament, introduce readers to the unique characteristics

of the forms, to literature from the ancient world that is similar tothe Bible, to guidelines for interpretation, to a sample text wherethe guidelines are applied, and to recommended reading for addi-tional insight In addition to the chapters on the literary forms ofthe Old Testament, three introductory chapters treat important is-sues related to the diverse ways in which the Bible was written Afinal chapter applies the material in the book to proclamation ofthe truths of the Bible

Though this book is written by scholars, it is not written forscholars, though some of them may find it helpful in certain ways

The goal of these chapters is to make available to students, tors, and a more general audience the results of the work of schol-ars on the text of Scripture This has meant more than usualamounts of editing, rewriting, and supplementing the chapterssubmitted by the contributors, in order to ensure unity and read-ability throughout the chapters Though each contributor was

pas-asked to revise his chapter one time, second and third revisionswere done by the editors We express our deep thanks to each ofthe contributors for their excellent work and cooperation

This is the first book to be devoted specifically to the literaryforms of the Old Testament, with the purpose of providing clearprinciples of interpretation for Bible readers and for teachers andpreachers The emerging consensus that the codes embedded inthe literary forms of the Old Testament are indispensable to correctinterpretation makes this book an important contribution to thestudy of the Bible The closest book in print to the purpose and

content of the present volume is the veiy helpful How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding theBibleby Gor-

don D Fee and Douglas Stuart, 2cl ed (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,

1993)- In addition to the literary forms in the New Testament, theydiscuss five forms for the Old Testament Though Fee and Stuart'sbook is still highly recommended, the present volume puts thestudy of the Old Testament on even surer footing, by treating tenliterary forms and by rooting those forms in similar literature fromthe biblical world

The specific occasion for this book is the desire of the editorsand contributors to honor an esteemed colleague, teacher, friend,and gentleman This book is dedicated to Richard D Patterson,

on the occasion of his retirement after more than thirty years of

outstanding teaching and publishing A graduate of Wheaton lege, Los Angeles Baptist Seminary, Talbot Theological Seminary,and University of California at Los Angeles (M.A and Ph.D.), Dickhas been Professor of Old Testament at four seminaries and a de-partment chair in two of those He has published important essaysspanning such topics as "The Widow, the Orphan, and the Poor inthe Old Testament and the Extra-Biblical Literature," "SpecialGuests at the First Christmas," and "Of Bookends, Hinges, andHooks: Literary Clues to the Arrangement of Jeremiah's Prophe-

Col-cies." He lias contributed numerous articles and notes to Bible cyclopedias, dictionaries, and study Bibles He has been involved

en-in editen-ing two commentary series He has written commentaries

on Joel, 1 and 2 Kings, Nahum, Hahakkuk, and Zephaniah.Dick Fatterson is especially known for his research on the OldTestament as literature and his commitment to rooting the study ofScripture in the ancient world He has often told his students thatthe stool on which rests the study of God's Word has four legs, notthree In addition to the legs of historical, grammatical, and theo-logical interpretation, the fourth leg is interpretation according tothe literary forms in which the text was written May this hook be

a f i t t i n g tribute to the legacy that Dr Patterson leaves in the lives

of students, colleagues, and friends

of interpretation is failing to recognize the context Proverbs 9:1"7

says, "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!" Sodoes the Bible mean that water will taste better if we steal it from

a neighbor, and food will taste better if we eat it alone rather thanwith someone? Not if we consider the context Matthew 7:7-8 says

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock andthe door will be opened to you For everyone who asks receives;

he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be

opened." So does the Bible mean that we can have absolutely thing we want if we simply ask for it? Not if we consider context.Anyone who wants to understand Scripture correctly must besensitive to three levels of written context:

any-• Every word and phrase of Scripture belongs to the context of

the sentence and paragraph where they appear What thegrammatical form of a word is, or what the role of a word orphrase is in relation to the sentence as a whole (syntax), are

important considerations in determining meaning This is

» Every statement in Scripture is expressed in a certain way,whether it is giving praise to God as in the psalms, proclaim-ing God's judgment as in the prophets, predicting the expect-

ed outcome of certain conduct as in the proverbs, or tellingthe story of God's chosen people as in the historical b(x)ks.This middle level of context is that of //^nxry /bmz&

» Every statement in Scripture is part of the total context of thecanon of Scripture Since no single statement can completelyreveal all of divine truth on any topic, the whole counsel ofthe Word of God is important for understanding the individ-ual statements in the Uible This is ;//y/m;/ cw;/p.%t (sometimes

called theological context).^

The middle level of context, that of literary forms or categories

of literature, has been recognized since people began to study erature Prose and poetry are the most easily distinguished forms,

lit-for instance Within these two broad categories there are many

subdivisions, which encompass all the different ways in which we

express ourselves Literary form is commonly referred to as ge?zre,

a French term that means "kind." It is extremely important to thosewho study English literature to identify the genre of a piece of writ-ing and to understand the significance or use of that particulargenre during the time when it was written The same could be said

of those who study French literature, German literature, or any

written legacy of a modern language

Unfortunately, many who study the Uible are unaware of genre

as a critical step in interpretation Rather, the first and third levels

of context receive the majority of attention, though in the last twodecades the context of literary forms has begun to be discussed inthe scholarly literature Even with this beginning, little has beenwritten for a more general audience, and that is especially unfortu-nate." Ignorance of this level of context leads to some of the worst

1 There is another level of context: the context outside of the hihlicaltext, that is, the cultural world of the author and the hearers The meaning

of words and the significance of ideas, for instance, hinges in part on thehistorical and cultural framework where they appear

2 An exception to this is the very helpful work by Fee and Stuart, /Aw

fo Akw/ /^p g/b/f/br X// 7/S M?brrA (see "Recommended Reading" at theend of this chapter)

mistakes of interpretation On the other hand, familiarity with thiscontext provides a window through which we can greatly increaseour understanding of what the biblical authors were trying to say.This middle level of context, that of literary forms, should be

considered the most important stage in the interpretive process

Let's say I have a friend named Otto who, when I give him a ride,

feels compelled to tell me how to drive, park, and navigate cuts One day he asks me, "What would you do if I ever stopped

short-telling you how to drive?" and I reply, "I would give you a sand dollars." Otto's application of this statement depends entirelyupon his understanding of its genre It is not the immediate con-

thou-text that matters Looking up words like give or thousand in a

dic-tionary does not help, and any syntactical analysis (likediagramming the two sentences) is of no value in discovering theway the statement functions (and hence how the receptor shouldapply it) It is the middle level of context, that of literary forms, that

is determinative The sentence "I would give a thousand dollars"

is couched within a larger genre which is the conversation ever label is given to the kind of statement, it is given in jest as

What-part of the give-and-take banter and discussion of superficial ics between friends that sometimes characterizes car rides, shortwalks, or conversations in hallways or lounges

top-If, on the other hand, the same words are used ("I" as the ject, "give" as the verb, and "thousand dollars" as the object) in adifferent genre, a legal one, the way that the statement functionsand the way that the receptor applies it changes completely Ifthese words are in response to the question, "What will you do

sub-with your assets when you die?" it is the genre of "will and ment" that is paramount in interpretation No amount of syntactical

testa-or lexical study (immediate context), and no amount of study onthe concept of financial matters in the life of the author (distantcontext) will crack this code It is only the deciphering of genrethat enables readers to see not only what an author desired to

communicate but what an author desired his readers to do with his

communication—how he wanted them to respond.

Almost any passage of Scripture can illustrate the perils of trying

to understand the Bible apart from literary context

• "The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of struction overwhelmed me." Without knowing the context

de-we might think of" Jonah after his deliverance from neardrowning at sea, for these words could describe his plight offloundering in the waves of a terrible storm

• "Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from hismouth, burning coals blazed out of it." Deprived of its con-text, this statement might raise several questions Is it describ-ing real smoke and fire? Is it describing a terrible creature,and the smoke, fire, and coals are simply pictorial language

to add to the terrifying appearance of the creature? Is it scribing a dragon? Or Satan?

de-• "He reached clown from on high and took hold of me; hedrew me out of deep waters." These words might call to mindPeter's experience of trying to walk on the water in his ownstrength when Jesus had to rescue him

But all three of these verses come from one passage in 2 Samuel

22 (vv 5 9 and 17; cf Ps 18) It is one of David's psalms of praise

for God's deliverance As a psalm it is poetry, hence David presses his thanksgiving in very vivid language He was not threat-ened with drowning, though his life was in danger like that ofdrowning His description of almighty God in terms of smoke, fire,coals, and even nostrils and mouth are not literal descriptions of adragon-like creature: it is a poetic way of underscoring how awe-

ex-some God is What Scripture says needs to be carefully understood

in light of the genres in which the authors wrote Failure to do soresults in a mishandling of God's communication to us

What Literary Form Does Not Mean

Genre criticism works with the canonical form of the text and

not any form before that Searching for an oral stage for forms and ultimately an original "setting in life" (German, Sitz im Leben) be-

fore the written stage is an unnecessary pursuit, in part becausethe exercise is all too often a biased one.^ Furthermore, genre may

3 Such a pursuit could be helpful, but not necessary, to understand a

literary genre (see Rolf Knierim, "Old Testament Form Criticism

Recon-sidered," Interrelation 27 [19731: 435-68) C S Lewis' criticisms

concern-ing scholarly musconcern-ings on the pre-written stage of biblical texts, though a bit too harsh, hold true to this day ("Fern-Seed and Elephants," in C S.

Lewis, Fern-Seed and Hlephants and Other Essays on Christianity, eel.

Walter Hooper [Glasgow: Collins, 1975], 113-22).'

(and often does) change when a piece of communication passesfrom an oral, isolated stage to that of a written, contextual one.4

Genre criticism also works with the canonical form of the text

and not any form after that "Which text do we read?" is a

conun-drum that plagues other literatures where multiple copies or

gen-erational editing is involved For instance, R S Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1895 in a different form than

that written by the author (the publisher deleted parts of the inal) A restored version that included all of the original text started

orig-appearing in the 1979 edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature In studying this novel, a description of the genre differs

depending upon which version is read The story may be seen as

a war novel in which the hero matures into quiet bravery (the lisher's 1895 scaled-clown version) or a tale of egotism that themain character never outgrows (the author's original and the 1979restored version) With the Old Testament, different literary formsare not encountered when we move from one manuscript to an-other, which is simply to say that any standard English translationwill reflect, as much as can be clone in translation, the unique char-acteristics of the genre at hand Therefore, genre study does notfocus on pre- or post-canonical shapings of a text

pub-There is one other thing that literary form does not mean minology within a statement does not determine the literary form

Ter-of the statement Take the question "Will you be playing basketballtomorrow?" to which an answer comes, "I'll be there." As with thequestion and statement about the gift of a thousand dollars, with-out information about the genre we have no idea what kinds ofconventions, or shared understandings about such statements, are

at work between the two individuals The reponse "I'll be there,"

by itself, in this limited context, does not help For instance, the

reply to the question could be a promise, in which case the

speak-er of the reply has an obligation—a failure to fulfill the ment would result in harm to the friendship On the other hand,

commit-the reply could be an optimistic prediction, in which case commit-there is

4 A point perhaps best made by Muilenburg, the name most

common-ly associated with rhetorical criticism in biblical studies (see, e.g.,

Tho-mas F Best, ed., Hearing and Speaking the Word: Selections from the

Works of James Muilenburg [Missoula: Scholars Press, 1984], 18-19).

no serious expectation on the part of the questioner, and a failure

to show the next day would not harm the friendship In this casethe genre of the relationship between the two speakers, specifical-

ly the genre of the relationship during participatory sportingevents, is as important (perhaps more so) than the genre of the

conversation This is evident since there might not be a larger text of conversation between the two within which the above

con-statement can be interpreted

Two points can be related from this illustration to the genres ofthe Bible First, though vocabulary and grammar can play impor-

tant parts in genre, neither is a defining mark of genres in the

Bi-ble Kven in brief, statement-oriented genres like certain kinds oflaws and proverbs—where one might expect vocabulary or gram-

mar to he important—such aspects alone cannot be guarantors of

the presence of particular genres, ft is tempting, for example, tosay that case law by definition uses the Hebrew particle ki "if/when." and that a case law cannot be constructed without this par-

ticle The problem with this is that case law cm/ be presented

us-ing alternate forms

Second, in certain genres efforts must be made to read betweenthe lines and make some postulation as to the social context thatwas concurrent with the spoken context, though this is not thesame as the original oral setting (see above) For instance, Isaiahmay issue a statement of judgment against a king of Tudah The

deviance that elicited the prophetic intervention may not be

known The location where the statement was delivered may ilarly be unknown, as well as who was present aside from theprophet and the king (perhaps not even the king was present but

sim-an intermediary) Perhaps even the identity of the king is in tion Based on the genre of other passages in Isaiah, however,ones in which more background information is available, a reader

ques-could put forth a reason (or reasons) for the inclusion of this ment by whomever compiled Isaiah's oracles For instance, a read-

state-er could ask "To whom is the collection of prophecies (thecanonical form) addressed?" It may still be a king of Juclah (orkings of Judah in general), or it may be both the court and the peo-

ple of Israel The point is that readers need to use a broader ten context to formulate reasonable conclusions alx)ut the social

writ-setting of a particular written text in question (in the same way that

if we had more written record of various conversations betweenthe two basketball players, we could draw conclusions about therelationship of the two that would help greatly in determining thegenre of the one statement above) In sum, genre as defined heredoes not refer to stages before or after canonical inclusion, nor can

it be determined by vocabulary (though this may help)

What Literary Form Does Mean

If literary forms, or genres, are not defined by vocabulary orgrammar, then what does define them? The three marks of genre

are form, content, and function (or intentionality) Often forms or structures mark, genre immediately, as with verse (in contradistinc-

tion to prose) Though there is debate about the well-known ment, "Verse is language in lines" (whether phrases such as "withmeter" should be added), the definition remains a good one ~" Linelength matters in poetry, or better yet a regularity or system of linelength matters in poetry, whereas it is given minor attention in

state-prose composition In terms of literary structures, a lament psalm

must have a request or petition that follows a description; a

narra-tive must have a plot One should keep in mind that the word must

is usually too strong a word for genre studies A lament psalm mayconclude with a praise section, and usually does Using the NewTestament for illustration, a Pauline letter may include an openingthanksgiving, and usually does But this does not mean that once

an opening thanksgiving is found, one is necessarily in a Paulineletter, nor does it mean that the lack of such a section negates an

identification with the genre of the Pauline letter To take this astep further, producing a composite of a Pauline letter is possible,

even desirable Such a composite would include an introductorygreeting, an opening thanksgiving, transitional formulas through-out the body, an autobiographical section, parenesis (exhortation).and closing formulas, with several of these sections containingsubpoints (such as vice or virtue lists under parenesis) However

it may well be that, when turning to the Pauline corpus, not one

5 The statement comes from C O Hartman, Free Verse: An Essav on Prosody (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 11.

letter would fit this composite point for point ^ The idea of ducing and using a composite is not flawed, though, since it alone

pro-is not used to determine genre, and in fact does help to identify

Pauline letters Furthermore, it helps to note what is unique within

any given letter in comparison to other letters/

Knowing the genre that a passage belongs to may or may notreveal something significant about content However, coyzZew^ isstill the second mark in determining genre Though "psalm" tells

us practically nothing about what specific topics will be tered (suffering, joy, friendship, romance, etc.), once formal fea-tures lead us into a guess of psalm, a read for content helps greatly

encoun-in confirmencoun-ing this, sencoun-ince psalms deal with brief, personal ence This necessarily excludes narrative and epic poems as well

experi-as contrived or imagined experiences

The third mark is /zmcY/w; (how the text is intended to function,therefore sometimes called intentionality) Just as with the briefstatement "I'll be there," pericopes rely on surrounding contextsfor their proper interpretation Setting the parable of Nathan andits interpretation (see 2 Sam 12:1-14) within the context of all of

2 Samuel 11-12 and even the larger context of the Succession rative of 2 Samuel 9—20 is of paramount importance.^ The /)&xce-wtv;/ of the passage, as well as ^^//!) of the events surroundingthe adultery and resultant confrontation by Nathan (in contrastwith less-detailed pericopes within 2 Samuel), set the stage for oth-

Nar-er disgraces expNar-erienced by David Function is vNar-ery diffNar-erent from

6 For a biblical example of a composite, see the structure of a solicited business letter attempting to sell a service to businesses in Vijay

non-K Hhatia "A Genre-Based Approach to FSP Materials," W^r&//:rzg/»&^10(1991): 157

7 Form is used, in part, to identify Galatians as a letter, and then aPauline letter When unique traits are observed, such as the lack of anopening thanksgiving, labels for subgenres come into play, sucli as call-ing Galatians an "apologetic" letter or "deliberative" letter (see David E.Aune 7%f Akw Ttv/^fw;^;// /;; /As ZfY^mry A'wzwM/WM/ [Philadelphia:Westminster 19H7], 20(S-H)

H Woodard and Travers in this book discuss the intcrrclatedness ofform and content (as docs the article by Devitt they refer to, in contradis-tinction to many studies in the mid-twentieth century in which form wasthe only consideration)

9 This is Kugene Merrill's case study in chapter 5

form or content For most pericopes, one can take the same formand topic, even the same words, that comprise the passage, yetchange the function by placing this same passage in a differentbroader literary context; and a different function usually means adifferent genre.

The broad genre of "junk" mail is a good example of the relatedness of form, content, and function There is a minimumamount of information that I need before I will thrqw a piece ofjunk mail away Sometimes there is enough information on the en-velope to tell me this, and the piece can be discarded unopened.But more often I end up opening the mailing At this stage I donot read through the cover letter, but look for several telltale signswhich will help identify the genre and help formulate a response

inter-to the genre Signs such as a reproduced signature and highlightedwords and phrases in the letter (through bold, italics, colored ink.etc.) are formal features of a mass mailing I also skim the letter or.more usually, the brochure or glossy promotional that accompa-nies it, for content (e.g., a credit card offer) Finally, I read a fewsentences to determine function Knowing that the form is a massmailing and that the content is an offer from a long-distance phonecompany still falls short of the minimal amount of information I

need to form a response If the function or intention of the genre

is to steal customers away from their present long-distance phonecompany, for instance, I am willing to read the letter in greater de-tail to wreigh the strengths and weaknesses (of dollars and cents aswell as services) of each company

How Different Genres Are Recognized

Recognizing genres generally begins with an unconscious tification with the kinds of literature that readers are already famil-iar with When we read for the first time a sample of prose orpoetry in English literature, we intuitively pick up on certain marksthat gradually inform our subconscious thoughts about the literaryform we are reading Because of previous exposure to the variousgenres common in English literature, we are prepared to accept anew piece of literature into one of the genre categories already ex-isting in our minds, even if we do not realize we are doing so

iden-Some people, however, who are especially interested in thespecific marks of certain genres may consciously note the genre ofany literature they read Editors of anthologies of English literature,for example, often group the pieces of literature in their antholo-gies together by genre, including an introduction to each of thegroupings describing the marks of the genres They do this be-cause they know that the better their readers grasp the distinguish-ing characteristics of genres the more they will appreciate and

understand the significance of what they read With some

guid-ance these readers begin to recognize different genres more sciously, even taking note of new genres not encountered before

con-or the uniqueness of a blending of genres

Similarly, Bible readers unconsciously identify what they counter in the Old Testament with literary categories already inplace in their minds The problem is that our preparation for thegenres of Scripture is largely limited to our exposure to genres inEnglish literature Readers can handle some of the differences be-tween poetry and prose, and are familiar with the general purpos-

en-es of historical writing But when they turn to the genre of wisdom

in Proverbs, or law in Exodus, or apocalyptic in Daniel, they arefaced with a common form of communication in the biblical worldthat is very uncommon in today's world For instance, the prophet-

ic genre is a category for which modern readers are quite pared Readers struggle to find a plot in a genre that is really notmeant to be a story; they often struggle to find an immediate bless-ing in what is really not meant to be a praise psalm Even moreperplexing than prophecy is the narrower genre of apocalyptic.How many Christians report being baffled by the books of Danieland Revelation! Rather than wait to discover how forms like

unpre-prophecy, apocalyptic, and proverbs work, many Christians moveright on to interpretation and application Since such a move gives

priority to the readers' opinions over a contextual meaning ofScripture, unhealthy results can usually be expected

Accurate interpretation hinges then on recognizing the genresused in the Bible to communicate God's revelation There is noth-ing wrong with readers taking advantage of the genre distinctionsthey are already familiar with; this in fact should be encouraged.Readers should seek to grow in their knowledge of contemporary

literature, literatures of other cultures, and literatures of the ancient world (annals from Assyria, mythologies from Canaan, love poetry from Egypt, heroic tales from Greece, or histories from Rome) But readers must not depend solely on previous exposure and present occasional reading in ancient literature to give them the frame- work for understanding the genres of Scripture Since correct in- terpretation hinges on context, especially the middle level of context, interpreters must begin to compile a working knowledge

of the genres in the Bible.

The process of overcoming the differences in time and culture has been descril^ed with different metaphors: building a bridge, filling a gap, meeting a horizon, looking through a window into another world, and learning rules to play a game But the skill of interpretation is perhaps best illustrated by a tool belt The belt has many slots, some of which are already filled by common sense t(X)ls such as a general knowledge of when to take expressions as figurative or literal (we know that God is not literally a "rock") Ev- ery time an interpreter comes to a basic understanding of how a biblical genre works, an important tool is added to the belt When several of these tools hang comfortably in the belt, the builder is enabled to use them to work on various projects (developing a proper view of God, deepening relationships with others, etc.) Without a knowledge of genres, an interpreter looks at a proverb and reaches for what? There is no tool waiting in the correct holder Which in turn forces the interpreter, consciously or sub- consciously, to reach for a different tool, one not designed to deal with a proverb Perhaps it is the tool for how to analyze the parts

of speech of a sentence, or the tool which describes how to do a topical study using all of Scripture Whatever the tool is the inter- preter's work will be parallel to the work of a carpenter without a saw, or a roofer without a hammer.

How do interpreters go about compiling this working edge? Insight into the genres of the Bible comes from internal data and from external parallels The most important information about biblical genres comes from the Bible itself Noting differences in content, form, and function, as well as what such differences mean, is the best guide for readers to understand correctly the var- ious genres of Scripture Also important are the many examples of

knowl-parallel genres preserved in writings from the ancient Near Eastand from the writings of the Jews that were not considered canon-ical (see "Recommended Reading" at the end of the chapter) Suchwritings help to determine aspects of form, content, and function.They also help determine the uniqueness of the biblical genres,that is, when a biblical author is departing from or modifying agenre that was common in his world.

Though identification of biblical genres with their distinctivefeatures is indispensable to interpretation, genres are not absolute,mutually exclusive categories Genres are distinguishable, but asliteraryr groupings there will be some pieces of literature that havethe marks of more than one genre Therefore, the process of dis-tinguishing literary genres is not a hard science:

The most important fact about genre is that genres are

generaliza-tions As such they are both true and false They are not natural

ob-jects like animals, vegetables, or minerals They are made by humans out of the mind's penchant for observing similarities and differences in things, to provide order to understanding (italicshis).10

We are familiar with this qualification Any public library is vided into genres such as fiction/nonfiction, with numerousgroupings under each of these categories: novels, history, chil-dren's books, business books Some books, even if only one inten, fit more than one category of topic An autobiography canalso be a part of history, poems can also be put to music and calledlyrics

di-But the existence of works which cross generic lines would

nev-er cause a librarian to say, "Forget about the groupings, from now

on put books back on the shelves wherever you want." Such a

re-sponse treats all books as if they were the same genre, when we

know this is not true Great harm would result from this kind ofresponse: Library patrons desiring guidance for a particular con-cern would not know where to look, and would end up receivinginformation from books which really do not address the subject

10 Walter R Fisher, "Genre: Concepts and Applications in Rhetorical

Criticism," Western Journal of Speech Communication 44 (1980): 290 See

also Tremper Longman III, "Form Criticism, Recent Developments in

Genre Theory, and the Evangelical," W7J47 (1985): 57.

In the same way users of the collection of genres called "the ble" must be careful not to treat all passages in Scripture as if theywere the same genre To avoid doing this, readers must constantly

Bi-be developing and fine-tuning their skills of distinguishing, fying, and describing different genres

identi-Listing the Literary Forms

Though the walls between genres may not be rock solid, it ispossible to talk intelligently about specific literary forms in the OldTestament The most basic forms are prose and poetry ( t h e term

I'erse is also used as an antonym for prose) Prose is well known

to us as a means of communicating information Histories, phies, contracts, letters, and announcements fall within this cute-gory, even the more entertaining movement through a plot found

biograin novels or even many children's stories Poetry, or verse, is d i f ferent It can be distinguished by its form, content, and function

-One definition of form is that verse is "language written in lines."1'

Definitions of content such as "experience related by the use of imagery" and definitions ^function such as "to transfuse emo-

tion—not to transmit thought but to set up in the reader's sense avibration corresponding to what was felt by the writer"1" —joinwith definitions of form to help distinguish verse But within bothprose and poetry, the diversity of form, content, and function callsfor subdivisions of these two broad genres into more precise liter-ary forms

11 I would add "language written in lines with rhythm." rhythm which may or may not be metrical, that is, observable on the level of the line

(Ronald L Giese ]r "Strophic Hebrew Verse as Free Verse." /SO7" 61

[1994]: 29-38).

12 A K HoLisman, TheMcinu'cttulMature of Po(.'tiy(y^\\ York:

Mucmill-an 1933) <"> Combining topic and intentionality later, Housman cautions

against overreading poetry (a caution not necessary tor prose): "Kven when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out 'Poetry gives most pleasure.' said Coleridge 'when only gen- erally and not perfectly understood'; and perfect understanding will al-

most extinguish pleasure" (p 36 [for similar cautions about overreading,

see chapter 9 on apocalyptic]) Such a caution is similar to Robert Frost's

well-known definition that poetry is what gets left out in a translation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS OFJUDGMENTAPOCALYPTICi

The Old Testament is often divided up into five genres Prose isdivided into narrative and law, poetry into psalm and wisdom,with prophecy falling somewhere in the middle sinee it is often amix of prose and poetry These categories are certainly helpful,but there is still an immense amount of diversity within any one ofthese five forms It is difficult to formulate a rule or guideline forunderstanding prophecy when, even within the same hook, thereare different genres of prophecy used for very different purposes.Hence, a further division is necessary to make genre analysis more

of a user-friendly tool that will adjust to different kinds of passageseven within the same biblical book

The categories of genres necessary to function effectively in thetext of the Old Testament are ten Prose is best seen as three differ-ent genres: narrative, history, and law Prophecy, which typically is

a combination of prose and poetry, is best seen as three differentgenres: oracles of salvation, announcements of judgment, andapocalyptic Poetry is best divided into psalms of lament andpsalms of praise And wisdom is divided into proverbial and non-proverbial wisdom The chart on page 18 shows how these genresrelate to one another While it is possible to subdivide these tengenres even further, the list of literary forms appears almost endlessthe further one travels clown the hierarchy of forms Less frequentgenres would include genealogy, love poetry, court tales, conquestaccounts, and various kinds of non-prophetic speeches But thelarger the list the more unmanageable the Old Testament becomes.The primary goal in genre criticism is to grasp different principles

of interpretation for each genre within a given set of genres If thatlist of genres is too long, it is unrealistic to expect students of theBible to internalize all of the unique principles at work in each ofthe genres, especially when some of the genres are very foreign tobegin with Furthermore, many of the subgenres do not have sep-arate guidelines for interpretation, whereas there are significant dif-ferences between all of the ten genres listed here

Genres of the Old Testament

The ten genres discussed in this book can be briefly guished as follows.1-^

distin-13 Some of the wording is summarized from the wording of the authors

\amitive Studying narrative as a genre involves examining

fea-tures of/brw as the layout of scenes (the dividing of the action intosequences) and the development of plot Issues of coM^H/ includehow characters are portrayed (often with God himself as one ofthe characters) This is often seen in what the narrator relates oftheir words and actions, as well as what he relates of their thoughtsand emotions A key issue in content analysis is the critique, directand indirect, that an author places within the text As with storiestoday, narrative can serve a variety of primary /imcf/o».!< such asteaching kinship obligation or personal morality

77/^on' Narrative (sometimes called regular narrative) and tory (sometimes called historical narrative) need to he distin-guished Narrative always involves individual characters, whereashistory, because of its nature as a blend of genres, can easily move

his-in and out between groups and various his-individuals who are onlysuperficially described History /on;; is a unique genre in that it is

a collection and organization of other genres The coMfeM/ of tory in the Old Testament focuses on the nation of Israel and not

his-on a specific individual, family, or tribe History often includes ratives, but unlike narrative, history's primary /imcf/oM as a genre

nar-is to present a chronicle of Israel's relationship with God, oftenseen through Israel's relations with its pagan neighbors as well asthrough the response that her kings gave to the word of the LORD

as uttered through the prophets

Zmr Legal portions of the Bible include covenant, law and ual legislation Covenant was the establishment and expression of

rit-a relrit-ationship (more frit-ar-rerit-aching thrit-an rit-a mere contrrit-act) Covenrit-antwas the basis for law in the Old Testament, since law provided thestipulations for the covenantal relationship The covenant's ybincluded a proposal, stipulations, and a solemnization The/?»/ was not based in emotion as with much of poetry but in prac-tical outworkings of the covenantal relationship: defining ofinterpersonal relations, rights and responsibilities, and ceremonies.The /fmcfz'oo was thus to have a real-life, everyday effect on per-sonal and community life Covenant was not static, but alive,something to be reaffirmed daily

Omc/e? q/"&;/MMoM Prophecy in the Old Testament utilizes amix of prose and poetry, but the prose sections mostly set the

stage for the poetical sections It is important to distinguish tween the poetry of prophecy and that of psalms Whereas the mu-sic of the psalms can he read as poetry by either a community or

hc-an individual, hc-and generally read with hc-an ignorhc-ance of historical

background (occasion for writing) and authorship, such is not the

case for the prophets The prophets addressed nations, not

indi-viduals, though often the nation was addressed through ing the court In addition, the prophets also must be understood

address-in their historical context Though we may not have address-informationabout the original oral setting, gathering all that we can discernabout any given prophet as well as the spiritual, economic, and

social environment in which he lived is paramount in reading hiswork An oracle of salvation, the first genre of prophecy, is a wordfrom God that assures the people of the validity of God's promise

and often of his deliverance from crisis The /on;; contains a wordfrom the LoRn (oracle), reassurance that God has heard the cries

of his people, and an affirmation of God's commitment to his

promises This is often framed in a messenger formula at the ginning ("Thus says the LORD") and a concrete point of fulfillment

be-at the close In terms of cm;ftvz/, the meaning of these promises,which begin in the book of Genesis, overlaps heavily with thesense of terms such as <M/;M/;rm and M/\smg The /JmcY/w; is es-

chatological, to produce a knowledge of God's victor}' at the end

of time as well as to produce hope based on the final tion and present extension of blessing

consumma-/lymom/cfwcMAs o//?/^wozf Judgment is often a visual

expe-rience for readers since it is usually this genre that includes "sign

acts" that often supplement the spoken word such as the wearing

of sackcloth, the shaving of one's heard, or the wearing of a yoke.Whereas the poetry of the psalms is highly personal, the prophetsproclaim a message that is not their own but is rather a messagefrom God that they are called and compelled to share, even ifcounter to their own goals and lifestyle Similar to the /on?? of theoracle of salvation, announcements of judgment often begin with

a messenger formula ("Thus says the LORD"), but differ in that theycontain an accusation followed by an announcement of judgment

In terms of c«»^M/, just as salvation can be described in very crete terms with the oracle of salvation, here the judgment is often

con-very specific The function of announcements is either to inform

the king or people of the impending wrath of God (where the kinghas stepped over the line) or to warn him in an effort to producerepentance (he is stepping over the line and must withdraw hisfoot immediately) Included in the function of this form is its ne-cessity: God must speak through a prophet if a king is breakingthe covenant since there is no natural judicial process against a

king

Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic is part of prophecy but a distinct form

within it Prophecy presents God's message in bold and explicitterms, calling people to change their ways and do what Godwants; apocalyptic presents God's perspective in graphic visionsfilled with unexpected and often mysterious scenes of heaven and

the future The content of prophecy focuses on immediate,

im-pending judgment, which can be averted if the people of God willsimply return to following the LORD The primary focus of apoca-lyptic is distant judgment and restoration: The final solution for theproblems of this age is in the age to come, when God will reign

and be recognized as the LORD of all Though for prophecy the

function of pronouncing God's hatred of disobedience and harsh

judgment of those who disobey is a call to repentance, in lyptic the coming judgment is written to encourage the saints whoare caught up in the crises of living in an evil world; they are en-couraged to persevere and not give up hope, for Gocl is truly incontrol and will "soon" intervene into world events in the person

apoca-of the Son apoca-of Man

Lament Laments include as part of their form an invocation and

plea to God, a complaint, a request or petition, and a statement of

confidence in God's response Lament refers to sorrow or grief,

hence telling us something about the content of this genre A

la-ment psalm seeks to convey a response to a crisis Though manyChristians think that the Book of Psalms is filled with praise anduplifting emotions, there are more lament psalms than there arepraise psalms Lament can be directed toward the enemy of the la-

menter, the lamenter himself, or God Hence the function can be

a call for God's justice, or a cry for help, or repentance on the part

of the author

Praise Most psalms are either psalms of praise (security, tation) or lament (distress, clisorientation) The forms of praise

orien-psalms vary since there are several suhgenres: hymn, ment psalm, song of Zion, and royal psalm, for instance In terms

enthrone-of content, praise psalms, instead enthrone-of asking for deliverance, seek

to share primarily one emotion or experience, one response to a

celebratory event, act of deliverance, or truth The function is to

complement God for who he is (sometimes called descriptivepraise or hymns) as well as what he has done (sometimes calleddeclarative praise or thanksgiving)

Proverb Proverbs in form are brief, usually timeless pieces of

advice which commonly have some literary devices to aid in

mem-ory Content includes morality, finances, work ethic, interpersonal

relations, conduct for leadership, and treatment of the poor

Ad-vice that focuses on these areas functions to help devotees of

wis-dom develop the skill of handling everyday decisions Many ofthese kinds of decisions are not clear-cut as in the legal forms ofthe Old Testament and thus require skill versus simple obedience.With many kinds of proverbs, what proverb fits in what social con-text is paramount, a skill that cannot be easily taught Due to theform of a proverb, which is a statement often without a clearly re-lated context, the kind of authority that each proverb exercises is

a key issue

Non-Proi'erbial Wisdom In form non-proverbial wisdom

en-compasses units longer than single-statement proverbs such asparables, wisdom poems, and dialogues, as well as shorter u n i t ssuch as riddles Not all of these need be in the form of poetry, anexample of why the chart in this chapter is in some cases a gener-

alization In content, though many of the topics are similar,

pro-verbial literature is often more direct and practical, non-propro-verbialforms are more reflective or speculative, sometimes even called

"counter-wisdom." The function is similar to proverbial literature

but again more reflective in that help is offered to the perplexingquestions of life

ConclusionGenre, though often ignored completely, is actually the level ofcontext to which an interpreter should give the most attention

Everyone engages in genre criticism, or classification, at some

lev-el Audiences simply cannot help but classify communications;even if they deem a speech or writing as unworthy of attention,they are classifying it Though we bring a knowledge of Englishliterary forms with us to the biblical text, and this is helpful, insome cases this will mislead us, and in other cases it is simply not

enough since the modern forms are so different from the ancientones It is therefore of primary importance that we understand themajor literary forms of the Old Testament We must understandwhat makes them unique and how they relate to parallel forms

outside of the biblical literature Only then can we formulate

prin-ciples or guidelines for each genre These prinprin-ciples will serve us

again and again, for it is impossible to read the Bible without ing a literary form

read-To take us back to the way genres functioned for the biblical

authors and audiences, and to bring these genres up through timefor present-day application, is the reason for this volume

Recommended Reading Introductions to Form Criticism

Hayes, John J Old Testament Form Criticism San Antonio:

Trin-ity UniversTrin-ity Press, 1974 This is the standard introductory work

on the history of research in form criticism up to about 1971 Thereare six chapters: the study of forms, narrative, law, prophecy,

psalms, and wisdom

Knight, Douglas A., and Gene M Tucker, eds The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters Chico: Scholars, 1985 Though this is

not a book on form criticism per se (there are chapters, e.g., on

Israelite religion, archaeology, and theology of the Hebrew Bible),

most of the book deals with genres Seven of the fifteen chaptersdeal with genres proper (titles such as "The Historical Literature,"

"The Wisdom Literature," "The Lyrical Literature"), and some of theremaining chapters deal with form criticism ("The Ancient NearEastern Environment" has headings on law, wisdom, covenant,

love poetry, etc., and a chapter on literary analysis has a ten-page

section on "form")

Tucker, Gene M Form Criticism of the Old Testament

Philadel-phia: Fortress, 1971 This short paperback (less than 100 pages) is

part of Fortress' "Guides to Biblical Scholarship" series (which

cov-ers different hermeneutical methodologies) The book includes a

brief history of form criticism, introduction to broad genres (the

two broad genres included are narrative and prophecy), and resentative texts of such genres with commentary (the two broadgenres included are narrative and prophecy)

rep-Ancient Near Eastern Parallel Literature

Beyerlin, Walter, ed Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the

Old Testament Translated by John Bowden Philadelphia:

West-minster, 1978 This text is set up in the same format as Matthews/Benjamin (below); that is, it is a collection of texts (translations)with brief introductions The difference is that Beyerlin is more

technical: More texts are included and more secondary sources are

cited (though of course key works since this publication are notincluded)

Matthews, Victor H and Don C Benjamin Old Testament

Par-allels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East New York:

Paulist, 1991 This book is intended to get an interpreter into ing parallel texts right away This concept of only the briefestamount of introduction or commentary to each text, combined

read-with the affordability of a paperback, puts Old Testament Parallels within the same genre as the abridged version of Ancient Near Eastern Texts (see below) The chapters are organized around

books and collections of books in the Old Testament rather than

genres (hence titles like "The Book of Genesis" or "The Books ofSamuel and Kings") Before each translation is a helpful introduc-tion to the text, and more than one hundred illustrations are inter-

spersed among the texts If a line from one of these texts is similar

to a verse from the Old Testament, the Old Testament reference isgiven in parentheses right after the corresponding line in the trans-lation (i.e., throughout the translation and not collected at theend)

Walton, John H Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural

Con-text: A Survey of Parallels Between Biblical and Ancient Near

East-em Texts Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991 This is a helpful library

resource tool for students working in biblical studies Chapters areorganized around genres, hence titles such as "Legal Texts," "His-torical Literature." and "Prophetic Literature." Each chapter has: (1)

a "materials" section, which includes a listing of manuscripts.translations and notes, and a brier description of content; (2) a

"discussion" section, which includes comments on form and

con-tent (with recommended secondary literature in footnotes); andU) one or two pages of bibliography Excurses and sections enti-

tled "cases of alleged borrowing" appear where applicable Thebook is both an introduction to parallel genres and a bibliography.Since it does not include examples of parallel literature, as doesMatthews/Benjamin, its usefulness depends upon one's access to

a research library

Pritchard James /iMcVtv;/ MY(r.&;/.sYfrv/ 71/.\Vj) A?6V«/mg fo //7f OAY7kMm;f/;A ^d eel Princeton: Princeton LTniversity Press, 1969 Of-ten abbreviated /L\7!% this is found (often in multiple copies) inany library that cares about biblical studies, but the work is too ex-pensive for students to purchase for themselves (it totals more

than ^00 pages) A/VAT includes translations with brief

introduc-tions and bibliographies /4YVAThas been abridged (in a combinedformat with ylA'AT* ^^//c/^M/Mw'/^/mf/c/mr.!;) in an afford-able two-volume paperback version (both volumes total about

"00 pages, but the size is much smaller)

Hermeneutics Books that Include Sections on GenreFee Goi'don D and Douglas Stuart

.4///^ Wb/Y/7 Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 19M2 After two tory chapters, every chapter covers a different genre

introduc-Greidanus Sidney 7?)e'Mo^/v;frtYfc/)e'/v;/^///)C'yl/;c&'/^ TexY.//;/<^p/tYmg m/c/ fr(Y<c/7mg E/A/zcY// Z//?mMfr Grand Rapids/Leicester: Eerdmans InterVarsity 198H This book combines inter-

pretation with sermon preparation, and contains chapters onpreaching Hebrew narratives and preaching prophetic literature.Klein William W Craig L Blomberg and Robert L Hubbard

//f/mc/acY/o/; /o Z?//?/;'cY// /M^/]Orf^/;'m; Dallas: Word, 199J Two

chapters are devoted to genre criticism: One deals with general

rules for prose and poetry, and the other works through variousgenres such as narrative, law prophecy, and wisdom

Longman, Tremper III Literary Approaches to Biblical tation Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987 After a section on the the-

Interpre-ory of literary analysis, there are two additional sections, one onprose analysis and one on poetic analysis (each with examples)

Osborne, Grant R The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation Downers Grove:

InterVar-sity, 1991 Part II of the book is on genre analysis, with chapters

on narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, and apocalyptic

Ryken, Leland Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the

Bible 2d ed Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992 Part I of the book is on

biblical narrative, part II is on biblical poetry, and part III coversother literary forms such as proverb, drama, and satire

Ryken, Leland, and Tremper Longman III, eds A Complete erary Guide to the Bible Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993 This

Lit-book is largely an evangelical response to Alter and Kermode's

(editors) The Literary Guide to the Bible (Harvard University Press,

1987) The chapters work through most of the biblical books,hence chapter headings like "Genesis" and "Ruth." There are moregeneral chapters on the Bible as literature, the value of a literaryapproach for preaching, and also chapters on narrative, poetry,and prophecy as broad genres (Richard Patterson, in whose honorthe present volume is dedicated, contributed the chapter onprophecy)

The commentary series entitled The Forms of Old Testament erature (Eerdmans) should be mentioned Various commentaries

Lit-in this series contaLit-in Lit-introductions to literary forms (e.g., Genesishas an introduction to narrative literature) that can be very helpful

The multivolume Anchor Bible Dictionary also has helpful articles

on various literary forms

AND INTERPRETATION

Branson L Woodard, Jr and Michael E Travers

Long ago as the Israelites prepared to enter the promised land,

they heard a pointed reminder: "I am setting before you today ablessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands ofthe LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you dis-obey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the waythat I command you today by following other gods, which youhave not known" (Deut 11:26-28) All the repetition aside, here

Moses cautions that if God's words are acknowledged as lent: as

commands to be obeyed, the Hebrews will enjoy God's favor But

if the congregation ignores what God said to Moses on Mount

Si-nai—treating God's words simply as advice, a sort of nice idea—

chastisement will come The difference between law and advice is

partly a matter of genre

A genre is a group of things with common characteristics Like ner at a fine restaurant (hors d' oeuvres, salads, entrees, desserts), thethings that people write can be categorized Genre criticism is theprocess of identifying in a text the range of literary-rhetorical featuresthat make the text one type of writing and not another—that deter-mine where on the literary "menu" a text should be listed A personalletter is not a business letter, and a novel is not a short story, though

din-each pair of these examples has internal similarities Genre is an portant aspect of how an author creates meaning in a text, and genrecriticism is a vital part of interpreting that text afterward Effective use

im-of genre criticism depends upon two primary factors: (1) ing clearly between genre criticism and other critical theories, and (2)recognizing generic analysis for its advantages, its limitations, and itsrelationship to hermeneutics

distinguish-A Strange Word, distinguish-A Familiar Idea

\Vhy should anyone be concerned about determining thegenre(s) of an Old Testament text as a part of biblical interpreta-tion? What does genre have to do with the meaning of a verse orpassage? These and other questions continue to create suspicionamong some students of Scripture While genres are as old as timeitself, only since the 1970s have biblical scholars returned to a se-rious consideration of the subject Much productive research hasbeen done in this short time, though literary criticism—and genrecriticism in particular—continues to be refined Various pitfalls doawait the unwary critic, as has been noted in the larger context ofliterary criticism and biblical studies

Nevertheless, genres inform our everyday lives They are theform-ancl-content models by which we understand differentthings, literature being only one of them Our nation's labor force

is sometimes classified as white-collar, blue-collar, salaried,

hour-ly, self-employed, professional, technical, and unskilled Genresare everywhere, used each clay in different settings, often perhapsunconsciously, and they enable us to recognize patterns or groups

of things and to communicate about them The word genre still

may "stick out in an English sentence as the unpronounceable andalien thing that it is," as the leading critic Northrop Frye said yearsago, complaining about the lack of a consistent theory of genre."Nevertheless, we know the concept well

1 See Tremper Longman III, Literary Approaches to Biblical lion (Grand Rapids: Zonclervan, 1987), 47—62.

Interpreta-1 "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" (1954), in Literary Criticism and Tbeoiy, eel Robert Con Davis and Laurie Finke (New York

and London: Longmans, 1989), 662 This volume is a handy collection ofworks on literarv criticism

Discussions about genre must consider how form and contentinterrelate Obviously, ideas in communication differ from the ve-hicle The thoughts of a preacher or a novelist are not the same aseither the sermon or the written narrative Moreover, certain con-tent is expected within a particular form Good sermons may con-tain a humorous word occasionally, but they consist mainly ofexegeted passages and related principles from Scripture—not at all

the material in a Saturday morning cartoon on television Contentand form are different

Still, communication cannot be discussed in depth according toneat and simplistic dichotomies of ideas and words or of messagesand methods Shakespeare wrote some tragi-comedies, mixing se-riousness with humor, and Saturday morning cartoons conveysome serious principles for living Further, effective communica-tors are sensitive to such matters as their medium, their audience,and how best to express their ideas The medium may be writing

a chapter for a book or for a magazine or acting on stage or in

front of a television camera, or speaking before a large audience

or face-to-face The audience may be educated or general, affluent

or poor, teens or retired people The best way to express ideas volves what to say, what to imply, and when These dynamics of

in-form and content must be kept together—an idea and a in-form

sup-port a genre Accordingly, genre criticism is the process of relating

a literary form-and-content model with a text

What Genre Criticism Does

The best way to understand genre criticism is to relate it to other

ways of studying a text Genres have a historical dimension, butgenre criticism is not the same as historical background Epic, lyric-poetry, and tragedy are ancient forms, and each has contributed in

different ways to historiography: The historian approaches the Iliad

seeking to recover a sense of the Homeric world as a context forunderstanding the poem That is essential, but the genre critic fo-cuses more on the different features of the poem, looking for cor-respondence to one or more genres, and eventually uses thegenre(s) to describe the poem

Literary criticism, a broad discipline, encompasses such issues

as plot, theme, structure, characters, word choice, point of view

and tone Here the text is treated as an artifact; the analysis focusesupon specific parts, both in isolation and in relation to the text as

a whole The genre critic goes beyond this to seek authors'

intend-ed meanings through their choice of literary features

Genre criticism can also be distinguished from the older form icism in biblical studies The genealogy in Genesis 5, for example, is

crit-seen by the form critic as a distinct segment, to be isolated from thesurrounding material, examined on its own terms, and related to ear-lier genealogies in other texts This entire process leads to some gen-eralization about possible influence of the earlier text upon the latter

To the genre critic, the genealogy in Genesis 5 has internal featuresworthy of examination as well as a larger purpose within the entireBook of Genesis Assuming Genesis is a unity, its sections are con-nected either thematically or in some other way For this reason thegenealogy in chapter 5 is significant in the local and global context

In recent years biblical scholars have paid increasing attention

to another theory, rhetorical criticism Rhetoric (as defined by

Ar-istotle) is the art of using all available means of persuasion and isdistinct from genre but related to it Both genre criticism and rhe-torical criticism begin with a written text, but the rhetorical criticpresupposes an earlier spoken discourse, one whose content andformat resemble the written version The written text is examined

as if its audience were listeners to a speech rather than readers of

a scroll or book This oral dimension in the criticism of Genesis orSamuel or Isaiah is all the more appropriate in light of the Israel-ites' oral tradition and the dominance of speech over writing in an-cient rhetoric For the genre critic, interpretation is basedultimately and finally upon the written text and its form, not uponpreceding oral expressions of it

The contrast in focus of genre and rhetorical criticism may beillustrated by a dramatic moment in Flijah's dialogue with theprophets of Baal (see 1 Kings 18) Within that historical account liedetails that must be examined generically and rhetorically, mainlybecause communication occurs in a context and that context is in-formed bv values/

3 The subject of values in the communication process is examined at

length hut in a nontechnical way in Peggy Rosenthal's Words and Values

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).

The exchange between Elijah and the false prophets is tially harsh and confrontational The language may sound civi-lized, but at times Elijah's zeal for the LORD of Hosts isoverpowering At one point the Baal worshipers call out to the idolbut receive no response Then comes Elijah's reaction to theprophets' appeal to their god: "Shout louder! Surely he is a god!Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling Maybe he issleeping and must be awakened" (1 Kings 18:27) Though Elijah

poten-speaks as if he assumes the existence of Baal as a god, to conclude

that a prophet of Yahweh is asserting a personal belief in Baalmisses the whole point of the dialogue The irony here is transpar-ent: Elijah believes the opposite of what he says

The power and intention in this text grab our attention throughthe functions of genre and rhetorical criticism As a genre it is agood example of Hebrew narrative * with its multifaceted nature,characterized by (1) short, pungent sayings, (2) greater emphasisupon the actual dialogue than upon background informationabout it, and (3) clever use of irony and wordplay.^ From a rhe-

torical viewpoint, if we "listen" to the text (as well as read it), it

becomes clear that Elijah's words were a taunt to his immediatehearers They would not have understood Elijah to be admittingbelief in Baal The irony of Elijah's words is confirmed by genreand rhetorical criticism

Though for some students of Scripture there is a hesitancy to amine God's inspired words generically or rhetorically—therefore,any discussion of genre, audience, or artistry (irony, in the case of

ex-1 Kings ex-18) is a threat to biblical authority—the judicious use ofgenre and rhetorical criticism helps to illumine the meaning ofScripture Elijah was fighting to rid Israel of idol worship, and theauthor of Kings—under divine inspiration—is writing Elijah'smocking rebuke of the false prophets to show the folly of their

4 See chapter 4 below Highly readable analyses of Hebrew narrative

appear in Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic

Books, 1981) and in the chapter on narrative in Gordon Fee and Douglas

Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 2d ed (Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 1993), 78-93

5 Helpful explanations about irony in Scripture appear in Edwin Good,

Irony in the Old Testament (Sheffield: Almond, 1965) and Robert olm, Interpreting the Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).