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THE SONG OF (IlIM'.)211-43) . , • ,

SOLOMON ALEXANDER NIGOSIAN, B.A., M.A. ,/

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Ii. Thollill'~

, Submitted to the School ot Graduate Studiell , in Partial Ful!i1JDent ot the Requirements ., - tor the Degree " Dootor ot Philollophy

, ~ ., KcKalltor Univerllity ," l October 1975 ·,. t · , • )' C0 SOLOMON AL EXANOER NIGOS IAN 1976 ..,

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TIlE" sboo OF MOSES (DEll'" )211-4)

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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1975) KcMASTER UN!VERSI'!'Y (Fltlllgion) HuUton'f Ontario.

J' 1TI'!'LE, The.'5ong of Moses (Qeut.)211-43)

AUTHOR. Solomon Aloxandor ~igos1an, B.A. (Univorsity of Toronto)

K. A. (MeMastor ,Univorsity)

SUPERVISORS I Professor A. Baumgarten" A Professor B.F.Meyer C , . NUMBER OF PAGES. viii, 214

SCOPE ANI) COmEmS I . The Song of Moses (Deut.)2,1-43)' purports

" to' be the' words of Moses' but biblieal

seholars' oommonly rejeet Kosaie provenanee.

The purpose or this study, therefore, is to establish .the date of the Son~_jued on

a philologiea~.analysis and a textual .' \ understanding of tho passage.

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ABSTRACT

The Song of Moses (Qeut. 32:1-43) has ,been variously dated

in the critical literature of the p§stl60 years. Scholars have

.proposed dates ranging from, pre-monarchial" Israel to the post-Exilic'

community. The effort 0t?.h present thesis ~ to present a critical review' of the arguments' n ting and, more important, to make a ---' --, positive, concrete proposal for'dating the Song•. This proposal is ~ , , , , based, fiJ;st, on a new phi1olog~cal analysis; second, on the converging

evidence,of other analyses'(genre, structure; style," and historical

allusions). The conclusion is that the date of the Song's original

composition is the late ni~th century,.B.C.

The sequence of. treatment is as follows: a review of the / history of research on dating; presentation of text and translation

with supporting notes; philologica~'~na~ysis (including consider~tion '- . , of. some stylistic as.well as linguistic traits); analysis of .rhetorical' and strophic structure and so, finally, o~ the sense of the Song, in

- , , particular of those elements of the sense which are indicative of the , . da,te of compositipn.

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,The genesis of t.his dissertation goes~ck t.o t.he tear· 1972,

.0 when,my ~nterest. in t.his t.opic vas st.imulated qy Professor Peter . . Craigie, t.owhom I desire t.o express my sincere thanks fo~ his ?elp

and acute sugge~tione. H,y gratit.ude goes also t.o Dr,Ray Hobbs

his-assistanoe during the interim perlod of eu:~rvi$ory vacuum. . ' -, -

.11l>.would be. unpr.ofitable t.o apologize for the'shortcomings of

this thesis, vb1ch experts are apt to deteotall t.oo eaei1,y. And , ' . .vb1le ·any errors and demer1t~s IIlUst. be' soleJ,y my own responsibility, ,/ yet I Wish to reoord ~ dsep indebt.edness t.o my two supervising

professors i to Professor Ben Meyer for his unraili~~>courtesy and

valuable 11terary advice, and to Professor. AI ,Baumgarten for granting

lie t.he benefit. of 'his discerning crit.ioism and insights.

The folloWinS pages will indicate how lllUch I depen:i on the

llOrks of other scholars. Their contribution is appreoiat.ed and

-:aocordingJ,y aoknowledged in the foot.notes • .',' •

This opportunit.y cannot be passed vit.hout. expressing my special

~nkS t.o th! following. t.o Mr. Pat. Tr~nt, who so 1dn:iJ,y read t.he / , ;entire \Il&nuscript and lIl&de suggestions for it.s improvements, to

/' Debbie van Eeken, for her expert typing, an:i t.o my wife for, her r

\ ' 'constant. enoouragement. '. ,.

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TABLE OF CONrENrS '. )

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, Acknowledgements • • • •I• . . 11i • • , , . List'of'Abbreviations .. .., vi ~ ._I • •• •

INrRODUCTION ...... \ ...... •• 1

CHAPTER I ~HE HISTORY OF REsEARCH :. 4 : • • • • I Historical Reference~ 8 I. Fo~'Critical Analysis 23

Philological Evidences •• 31 'J Eva~uation of"' the Results .' . .• !. 34 ) CHAPTER .II TEXT AND TRANSLATIoN •••••••• ~. • 41 -' , i CHAPTER III PHJioLOGICAL EVIDENCE FoR DArINJ THE SONG. i6\. I SyntaX and Morphology_ •. 66 I i Parallel1smand As.sonsnce .' '85 I .... I Metrical Structure • 93 I. ( I Terminology. ••• 99 ~ I • Evaluation 9f" the ~ltll 122

CHAPTER lv THE SONG OF' MOSES 'STRUCTURE. SENSE AND DATING 125

Soho1a%'ship on Strophic Structure.• '. 126 , Scholarship, on Rhetorical Structure •• 134 \ \

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,fw, .. Rhetorical and Stropbic Structure. 145 The Sense or the,Song. •• .' 163 ,Interpretation and Dating J83

, CONCWSION ......

Bibliography r •• • ••• • • • • • • • •• ••• . . 200

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ABBREVIATIONS

AJS American Journal of Semitic La.nguiwes 'll.nd Litel'&tu~e " ANEI' J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts~.(Princeton, Princet~n University Press, 1955)

BA Biblical Archa~ologist

BASOR (13l1lietin of the American Schools of Oriental Res-aarch .

BDB V,. Brown F., Driver S.R.• and Briggs, C. A., A Hebrew and, E~glish Lexicon of t.he'Old Testament, Ox:ford,Clarendon' Press, 1907 ~ (reprinted with corrections, 1959) ,

EWANI' BeitrKee zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament

BZ Biblische Zeitschrift

BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fUr die alttestamentliche Wiss"nschaft The Assyrian Dictionarv of the Oriontal Institute of tho Universitv of ,~ ):, Tho Cambrid~e Bible for Schools and Colleees -/ Cl)Q Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CJ,L Canadian Journal of Linguist.ics o erA Cor us des Tab ett.e-s en cunoiformes alphabetic, ' s •./by A. Herdner Nationale, 19~3

EJ Encyclopaedia Judaica

FGrH F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Hist.oriker .. Q;oiden. 1923-1958). FGrl! i,s cited by author numberand fragment number. .0 HTR Harvard Theological Review

HUCA , Hebrew Union College Annual'

IB . 'The Interpreter's Bible

(vi) f ICC The International Critical Commentary In/InB The Interpreter's 'Dictionary of the Bible

I&J Israel Exploration Journal

JBL Jrn1rna' Qr B1b]1cal Literature aftd Exegesis .~ " . JNES Journal of Near Eastern StudieS JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JThC Journal of Theology and the'Chureh~

lCAI 0 KanaaniHsche und Ararnll.ische Inschriften, by H.' Donner and ~W. Roliig (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1962-64)

KS Kleine Schriften, by O. Eissfeldt (Tubingen, Mohr, 1962-68) " UX The Version of the Old.Testament \ c HI' The Massoretic Text of the Old Testament or Old Testament '-- , '" RB Revue Bibligue , REJ Revue des Etudes Juives RHR Revue d'hi5toire des religions

IlSP L.R •. Fisher (eds;), Has Shamra Parallels, vol. 1, (Rome I Pontificum Institutum Biblicum, 1972) ~ RSPT Revue des sciences philosophigues ettheologigues

IlSV The Rev~slld Standard Version of the Bible RrP RevUe de theologie et philosophie

Sam The Samaritan Text (>f the Pentat\!lU.ch SBL Society'of'Biblical Literature. SJT Scottish Journal'of Th~ology SOOOF Studia Orientalia, !!elsinld

'SPCK Scioiety for the ProIIIotion' of Christ.i&n Knowledge , '

, TLZ Theologlsche L1teraturzeltung ur Ugarltic Text VI(S) Vetus TestaJnentUl1l (S~pplement)

W'MANl' Wissenscha[tliche Monographen ZUI1l Alten und Neuen Testamentum ZAW Zeitschrift fUr die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZThK Zeitschrift'fUr Theologle und Kirche IVQ Fragments from cave 4, Qwnran

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" • INTRODUCTION .: A The Song of Moses (Ileut. :}2.1-43) has had a particular fascina-

tion for ~iblical crit~iSover the.pas~ two centuries. Its authorship, date, structure, and the ogy have been a matter of dispute since the ,.' 1 moment at lJhich Mosaic/authorship was first challenged.

For biblical studies. in the modern, historical-critic~l mode, # the question of dating is crucial. . Thus, the light that the Song· • throws on the history of Israel's faith obviously depends on our exact

dating of its first composition. Our purpose.is to contribute to this

end. Our main effort is to determine critically in lJhat era the Song / .

came into being. We leave it to others, to explore,' the impact which. this dating must have on the reconstruction of the history of Israel's

faith. . • We will adopt the following sequence in treating the question of the date of the Song.

Chapter Onel The History of Research - In this chapter we will survey

the results of re~earch on the dating of the Song since the rise of modern.biblical criticism.

1The first 'person to challenge the was W.M.L. de Wette, Kritik der Israelitischen Geschichte, (1807), , pp. 393ff. •

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'\. Chapter Two I Text arid Translation - A textual analysis is the pre- to ,~ . requisite fO~ a philological diS.~SSi~ ,Hence, a tr.anslation of

Deut. )211-4? with a critical'philological commentary ju/lti~ing the

translation is made in this chapter. ~ textual problems, or any '. divergencies in the Versions, along with differences of sc~rly

oP1n19ns are noted.

Chapter Threel Philological Evidence for Dating the Song - The philo­

logical features in the Song are investigated in this cnapter as a

. criteria for dating•.. The method involves the analysis of the four , following linguistic elementsl (1) Syntax and Morphologyl (2) Parallel­ G ~ology. ism and Ass0"'tncel (3) .Metrical, Structure I (4) Each linguistic element is expla1nlld befo;;e an analysis of the Song is ·made.

o As a general rule we will follow Robertson's differentiation of two

stages in poetic Hebrew I early (10th century or earlier) and latecr 2 standard (8th century' or later). Conse~uently, the presence of

linguistic features in the Song that are typical of' either an. early

or late poetic Hebrew will constitute an evidence of an early or late

date respectively. If, however, the evidence indicate a mixture of

both early and late patterns then the question of either archaizing

or the period of transition.(10th-8th century B.C.) is. considered and

a solution offered;

Chapter Four I The Song of MoseslStructure. Sense, and Dating - In this

chapter we consider, in turnJpast scholarship on strophic and rhetor- , .

2 . . .D•.A.. Robertson, Linguistic Evidence in Dating Early Hebrew Poetry, Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, 1966.

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, . ical structure and offer an analysis of our own. on strueture as a

guide to sense. We thus seek t.o spell ~t the religious sense of the ,

Song as an 'obJeetor inteli?st in itself, to be sure, but also as,

." onee again, a guide t'o dating. The thesis concludes w1t.h a· swift

survey of some of the questions arising from our dat~ng of the ·Song.

Table of Transeription .tJ The analysis throughout this study is governed, for the sake

I . 3 of consistencY. qy Weingreen s table of transcription. which is

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1 , " .' , 3J. Weingreen, !!A-:Pr~a~c""t<:i~c~a~l~Gr=Q.l!llIUl~~r!-=-.-!f~o~r:,....=C:=lo!!.a!!.s!!!!.i~e!:!a:~lWIle~bre~:!!v, ~ (2nd edit.), p. 1. . - l" ."--~ , . o \' ) ( ClW"I'ER I

THE HISTORY'Of RESEARCH

-.., Jew identity DeuteronOll\Y J2, a passage fr01II'the that,-is . read once a year in the Synagogue on a Sabbath, by the war? ha 'adnu,

1drl.oh 1n.tr~Cfls the chapter. Biblical students, hOlnlver, cill it the

·Song of Moses" because from very early times tradition associated the

poem in Deut.J211-43 with Mosea. Two stetementspreceding and 000"---'

immediately following the poem are cited to justity the traditional ~sociation.

/ Nov therefore write this song,and teach it to the people of Taraell put it in their llloutbs, that this song lllAY be a witness for me against the people of Israel. (Deut.31 119)

Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all tbe assembly of Israel. (Deut. 31130) " ,, Moses cue and recited all the words of this song in the bearing of the people••• , (Deut.J2I~)

Tbeearly tradition ascribing authorship of Deut •. J211-43 'to Hosii' and its origin to the Mosaio period _s universally aooepted

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------~-----_._"-,,,.,, until 1eO? when it 1IU 'cb&llinpd by W. M. t. de Wette,1 ae argued

that ,the Song oould not be attributed to the Monl0 perl~ linee it . , . ' ,rere%'2'ed to eventa llh10h oOCNred long atter the death or Mosell llhen

the ten tribes or larael V81'8 already in exile ~r. V't, 7, 13-14, 21, \ ~). He also rejeoted the pouib1lity that Hoau wae antioipating

events I in de \¥etta'lI new, HOSel oould nenr have el'lT1lioned llUoh a lIad destiny ror his people.

W. de Wette's challenge rellUlted in an awakening or hilltorioal oonsciousnesll. For almost two centuries now, the energies or numerOUs

b1b~cal researchers have rocueed on the date or origin or Je Song , , in Dout. 3211-4). Every conddvableperiod in the history or Israel

has been proposed, as the roll~ng tabl~ ind1ci.teIl12

1 ' .' W.K.t. de Wette. !titik d,r Israelitischen Gesohiohte. 1807. pp. 393tr. ;'or the'works or these criUo., ~nsult the bibliography• •

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