The Book of all BooksThe Book of all Books

Dr. Azila (Tzili) Talit ReisenbergerHead of Hebrew

University of Cape Town

Lecture 4:Story vs. History

• Can one establish that things really happened?

• is it a story or history?• is there His-tory vs. Her-story

• Did it happen as it is described?

This lecture distinguishes between what happened

and how it is told

The historyThe narrative

What we hold in our hands is “The Narrative”

The hand that holds the pen rules the world

The saying “there are two sides (at least) to every story” applies also to the Bible:

Most recent research shows the 140% affect. Even when we agree on a fact as each individual sees things from his or her point of view, each is sure of their bigger "contribution" 70%.

Ahab and Jezebel

Background details:

• 7th King in the Northern Kingdom• Ruled 871-851 BCE• Son of Omri (Dynasty of Omri)• Married Jezebel, a Sedonite princess• Their “arch-enemy” was Elijah

Biblical portrayal of Ahab

• 1 Kings chapters 16, 18-22– Married Jezebel– Built altars to Baal and Ashera– Great famine in the land– “battle” between Elijah and Ahab and Jezebel– War with Ben-Hadad (the Aramaian)

• Idiom: אל יתהלל חוגר כמפתח

– Naboth’s vineyard• Idiom: הרצחת וגם ירשת?

Ahab in the Bible

• Evil• Ruled by his wife• Wimp !

• The only positive detail: his repentance.

• Why? On the whole he was not a believer

Who wrote/ edited/ canonized the Bible???

Ahab in archaeological evidence

• Powerful man• Consultative ruler• Mighty king

Kurkh Monolith (of the battle of Qarqar)

out of 4000chariots, 2000were Ahab’s

He put aside local differencesin order to form an alliance

Biblical portrayal of Jezebel

• Question: what would have been written if the author was a Sidonite?

• So: the hand that holds the pen, rules the world

One does not need to lie,only to emphasize certain aspects

in order to instil prejudice

• Judges 19, as an excuse for the change of dynasty. David's scribes hold the pen

When the Hand (i.e. the scribes)and the Head (the King, who employed them)

do not see eye to eye.

An ironic depiction of the king. (2 Samuel 11:11)

Prose vs. poetry‘objective’ vs. ‘emotional’

Exodus 14 vs. Exodus 15

Judges 4 vs. Judges 5

Poetry reflects emotion

• Miriam and the people mock ‘the nations’ and their fear of God’s mighty hand (Exodus 15)

• Deborah mocks Reubenites’ “discussions” if to come and help their brethren (Judges 5)

etc

Prose: the use of subtle hints

The Bible does not use adjectives, unless it is the

cause of something which followsdoes not pass judgmentdoes not express an opinion (not directly...)

Ways of describing without adj.

Building expectations and showing reality

See Genesis 24:

Rebecca’s kindness

Eliezer's wisdom, the first politician in the Bible: not telling the truth without an actual lie.

The Bible does not pass judgement

Jacob disregards to “birth order”

• first, his preferential treatment of Joseph

• then his preferential blessings to Joseph’s sons: Menashe and Ephraim (he prefers Ephraim who was born after Menashe)

If not expressing an opinion directly

How does the Bible transmit “The Message”?

By hints:This is why we have to study and keep studying it,

in order to unearth / discover “The Message”.

It is incumbent upon us to try and find these hintsby reading and re-reading carefully and attentively

(and by coming to Summer School, for example )

Examples of how to find the “hints”

• Careful reading • Sitz im Leben (Hermann Gunkel’s suggestion)

• Intertextuality

…

Examples of

Careful reading

1. Moses and MiriamWhat we are told What we get from "side glimpses“

2. Joseph in Pharaoh’s palace

A modern (and important) method of reading:

Hermeneutic of suspicion:

Michal and David episode (2 Samuel 6: 20-23)

After Michal confronts David, the mighty king, and mocks him, verse 23 reads:

“…And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death. “

Intertextuality

• Type scenes• Key words

unusual terms/ words such as technicolour coat

words that are "corrupt" (misspelled, mispronounced)

vayahamvayetzahek

Acknowledgment:

We only “scratched the surface”….But time does not allow us to have more

examples

• There is so much to learn

This course is a good start

We should have more in the future…

Today we established that we need to read

beyond the words (beyond the narrative)

In search of The Word (the real meaning)

So -see you tomorrow for the final lecture of the course.

Tomorrow’s lecture is about:

The Word

Thank you.

I would like to thank Jutta Schoof for editing these notes