Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law
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JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SUPPLEMENT SERIES 314 Editors David J.A. Clines Philip R. Davies Executive Editor John Jarick Editorial Board Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller Sheffield Academic Press This page intentionally left blank Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law Bernard S. Jackson Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 314 From Edinburgh to Ehrhardt Copyright © 2000 Sheffield Academic Press Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd Mansion House 19KingfieldRoad Sheffield SI 19AS England Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press and Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd Chippenham, Wiltshire British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1-84127-150-0 CONTENTS Abbreviations 8 INTRODUCTION 11 Chapter 1 S OME SEMIOTIC THEORIES 21 1.1 Synchronic Models 21 1.2 Diachronic Models 31 Chapter 2 SPEECH ACTS AND SPEECH BEHAVIOUR 42 2.1 Introduction 42 2.2 Speech Acts in Biblical Law 47 2.3 Speech Acts and Form-Criticism in Biblical Law 55 2.3.1 Apodictic Forms 55 2.3.2 The Casuistic Form 58 2.4 Visual Dimensions of Speech Behaviour 63 Chapter 3 'WISDOM-LAWS' 70 3.1 Introduction 70 3.2 'Literal Meaning': Narrative versus Semantic Models 75 3.3 Self-Executing Laws 82 3.4 Early Adjudication 87 Chapter 4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEGAL DRAFTING 93 4.1 Introduction 93 4.2 Terminology: Concrete to Abstract 93 4.3 Consistency 97 4.4 Increasing Combination of Variables 101 4.5 Increasing Combination of Clauses 103 6 Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law 4.6 Rule Elaboration and Systematization 109 4.7 Reasons for Rules 111 Chapter 5 THE WRITTEN MEDIA OF LAW 114 5.1 Introduction 114 5.2 The Use of Inscriptions 121 5.3 The Uses of the Sefer 129 5.3.1 Archival Uses 130 5.3.2 Didactic Uses 132 5.3.3 Ritual Uses 139 5.4 The Ezra Tradition and the Endurance of Law 141 Chapter 6 THE TEMPORALITY OF THE LAW 144 6.1 Introduction 144 6.2 The Legislative Authority of the King 146 6.3 The Construction of Continuity: Chok Olam 164 Chapter 7 'POSTULATES' AND VALUES 171 7.1 'Postulates' Again 171 7.2 The Oppositional Expression of Values 187 7.2.1 The Injurious Ox 187 7.2.2 Eved and Amah in Exod. 21.2-11 193 7.2.3 The Structure of the Decalogue 197 7.3 Towards a Model of Values in Biblical Law 202 Chapter 8 LAW'S INTERNAL RECOGNITION 208 8.1 Introduction 208 8.2 Chiasmus and Thematic Repetition: From Orality to Literacy 215 8.3 Law and Narrative 225 Chapter 9 'COVENANT RENEWAL' AND NARRATIVE STRUCTURE 231 9.1 Introduction 231 9.2 The Patriarchal Covenants 236 Contents 1 9.3 Covenant Renewal in Exodus 243 9.4 Covenant Renewal in Deuteronomy and Joshua 255 Chapter 10 T ALIGN 271 10.1 Introduction 271 10.2 The Oral Formulae 271 10.3 A 'Wisdom-Law'? 280 10.4 Semantic and Narrative Readings 283 10.5 Developmental Aspects 286 10.6 Literary Reiteration 290 10.7 Talion as a 'Principle' 295 Bibliography 298 Index of References 318 Index of Authors 328 ABBREVIATIONS ANET James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 3rdedn, 1969 [1950]) BA Biblical Archaeologist BO Bibliotheca orientalis BZ Biblische Zeitschrift BZAW Beihefte zur Z4 W CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly HKNT Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament HL Hittite Laws HTR Harvard Theological Review IDB Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962) IEJ Israel Exploration Journal IOS Israel Oriental Studies JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies KAT Kommentar zum alten Testament Lauterbach J.Z. Lauterbach (ed.), Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (3 vols.; Philadelpia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1933-35) LE Laws of Eshnunna LH Laws of Hammurabi MAL Middle Assyrian Laws OS Oudtestamentische Studien Abbreviations 9 PG J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia cursus completa... Series graeca (166 vols.; Paris: Petit-Montrouge, 1857-83) RB Revue biblique RSV Revised Standard Version SBL Society of Biblical Literature SVT Supplements to Vetus Testamentum TDOT G.J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (eds.), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament ThWAT G.J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (eds.), Theologisches Worterbuch zum Allen Testament (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer. 1970-) VT Vetus Testamentum WTJ Westminster Theological Journal 7ABR Zeitschrift fur Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtgeschichte ZAW Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZTK Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche Translations of biblical passages are from the Revised Standard Version, with relevant amendments noted in text or footnotes. This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION When I commenced my research into biblical law, in the 1960s, 1 became increasingly concerned at what I viewed as a lack of theoretical and methodological sophistication prevalent in many studies (including my own). Frequently, one encountered problems where the Bible itself provided insufficient data to come to any strong conclusions. Since the discovery of the Laws of Hammurabi in 1902, and increasingly in the light of the subsequent uncovering of pre-Hammurabi Law Codes, scholars have often resorted to comparative evidence in order both to fill gaps in our knowledge of particular systems of ancient law, and to solve problems of interpretation. Such comparisons have not been restricted to the geographical area of the ancient Near East; Roman and Greek laws were included in a conception which some have described as Antike Rechtsgeschichte. I formed the view that many reconstructions of the history of biblical (and other ancient Near Eastern) legal institutions proceeded from assumptions regarding how law typically develops. These assumptions, I suspected, were based primarily upon nineteenth-century evolutionary views, which were coming increasingly under question.1 I suspected that the prevailing models were not sufficiently informed by the best available interdisciplinary thinking regarding what were typical patterns of development of human thought, and in particular what within it was most likely to generate regularities of development.2 In short, a schol- arly epoch where theory had not been matched by available data was succeeded by one in which data was used with little concern for under- lying theory. I began to look at studies of linguistic and cognitive development, 1. On Maine, see Jackson (1992a), and in the context of the views of Westbrook (1994) see Jackson (1995c: 1750-54). 2. See Jackson (1975a: 8-12); for my developed view, see now Jackson (1995b: Chs. 7-8); (1996a:Ch. 3). 12 Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law particularly in the school of Piaget.3 His interest in (a particular form of) structuralism led me to an interest in other varieties of that approach, including that of Levi-Strauss (Jackson 1979a; 1980b: 5-30; 1982: 147-60; 1982-83: 1-43), who had written about the 'primitive mind' in contexts quite close to the concerns of ancient law. I became increasingly aware that the assumptions that informed contemporary scholarship on biblical law went far beyond those of a particular form of evolutionary anthropology, and encompassed our whole conception of rationality and indeed of the workings of language.4 My main inspi- ration became a structuralist-inspired form of semiotics, that promoted in the school of A.J. Greimas,5 an approach that combined theories of semantics, pragmatics and discourse, and which prompted me to enquire into related questions addressed by linguistics, philosophers and psychologists.6 All such approaches—insofar as they seek to answer different aspects (synchronic and diachronic) of the question: How do we make sense?'—may be termed 'semiotic', even though the term is more narrowly used to denote theories (such as those of Greimas and Peirce) that offer general theories of signification not restricted to language or the functioning of one particular sense. It may seem odd that anyone should pursue an interest in an apparently formal- ist and purely synchronic account of sense construction, when the object was to enrich the methodology of comparative ancient law. I was increasingly convinced, however, that any exercise in making sense of ancient legal texts, both individually and in their historical relation- ships, needed to be based upon some conception of making sense in general. The result, perhaps, is a more radical scepticism than that anticipated at the outset (Jackson 1995b; 1996a). It is not merely models of how 3. My interest—and even more, my resolve—was fortified by the Edinburgh Gifford Lectures of 1972-73, in which the 'quartet' of Anthony Kenny, John Lucas. C.H. Waddington and Christopher Longuet-Higgins debated the development of mind, paying particular attention to the models offered by Chomsky and Piaget (see Kenny era/ 1973). 4. On this intellectual journey, see further Jackson (1997: 127-32). 5. This general semiotic theory had already been applied directly to law: see Greimas and Landowski (1976), now translated (see bibliography). For my account of its implications for jurisprudence, see Jackson (1985b, 1988b). 6. Particularly, Bartlett, Bernstein, Bruner, Chomsky, Ong, Strawson and the later Wittgenstein; see further Jackson (1995b: §§3.2, 5.1, 5.4, 6.1, 6.4-5, 7.1-2, 8.2.