Writing Commentary on the Life of a Text
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In preparing to construct a new critical edition of Isaiah 1-39, the author argues that textual criticism is not merely preparatory to exegesis and literary criticism, but is best presented in the form of a commentary on the life of the text. Doing so requires eliminating the old divide between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ criticism, only the former of which Eichhorn mentioned in order to commend literary-critical reading over against theological reading, not philological. The later backformation ‘lower criticism’ designated textual criticism practiced on the basis of rules and stemmata that made it a substantially mechanical task. Study of manuscripts from the Judaean desert has already raised questions about the validity of the divide for some books, and Troxel’s analysis of problems in Isaiah 6:13b raises similar skepticism for study of the text of Isaiah. Accordingly, he proposes writing a commentary on the life of Isaiah’s text, without the ‘higher’/‘lower’ divide.
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2
See D. C. Greetham, Textual Scholarship: An Introduction (New York/London: Garland Publishing, 1994), 314-16.
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4
G. J. Brooke, “The Qumran Scrolls and the Demise of the Distinction between Higher and Lower Criticism,” in New Directions in Qumran Studies (T&T Clark, 2005), 41.
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8
Ibid., 7.
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9
Ibid., 7, his italics.
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15
Ibid., 111, his italics.
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16
Ibid., 114.
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18
Timpanaro, Genesis, 65-66. Poliziano (Politian) had made similar observations in the late 15th century (Greetham, Textual Scholarship, 308-09).
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20
See ibid., 88.
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21
Ibid., 115-16. This pursuit of “the scientific foundation of recensio” (ibid., 43) proved problematic in its implementation (ibid., 74), even for Lachmann in both his early work on German texts (ibid., 80-81) and his later edition of Lucretius (ibid., 112-14).
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28
Ibid., 158-59, my italics.
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29
Ibid., 162.
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30
Ibid., 165, his italics.
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32
M. M. Zahn, “ ‘Editing’ and the Composition of Scripture: The Significance of the Qumran Evidence,” HeBAI 3 (2014), 14.
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34
Idem, Rethinking Rewritten Scripture (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2011), 176.
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35
Ibid., 141-43, quotation from 141.
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36
Ibid., 142, including n. 18.
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37
Ibid., 137, my italics.
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38
Ibid., 176.
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39
H. J. Stipp, “A Semi-empirical Example for the Final Touches to a Biblical Book: The Masoretic Sondergut of the Book of Jeremiah,” in Insights into Editing in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Leuven: Peeters, forthcoming).
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40
Idem, “Probleme des redaktionsgeschichtlichen Modells der Entstehung des Jeremiabuches,” in Jeremia und die “deuteronomistische Bewegung ” (Weinheim: Beltz, 1995), 245-46.
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42
S. Talmon, “The Textual Study of the Bible: A New Outlook,” in Text and Canon of the Hebrew Bible (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2010), 26.
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43
E. Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 1999), 52.
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44
A. van der Kooij, “The Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible before and after the Qumran Discoveries,” in The Bible as Book (New Castle, de: Oak Knoll Press, 2002), 175.
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47
J. A. Emerton, “The Translation and Interpretation of Isaiah vi.13,” in Interpreting the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge, 1982), 94.
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54
See H. Wildberger, Isaiah 1-12 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 251, and compare G. B. Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Isaiah I-XXVII, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1912), 111.
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55
Brownlee, “Isaiah VI 13,” 296; cf. Goshen-Gottstein, The Book of Isaiah, כד. Brownlee compared the condensation of ונמליך מלך בתוכה into καὶ βασιλεύσοµεν αὐτῆς in 7:6.
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57
See R. L. Troxel, LXX-Isaiah as Translation and Interpretation (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 138.
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60
Ibid., 104. The homonym בער1, ‘burn’ is always accompanied by a lexeme associated with ‘burning’ in Isaiah 1-39 (נערת and ניצוץ in 1:31; כאשׁ in 9:17; אשׁ and להבה in 10:17; אפו in 30:27; גפרית in 30:33; and זפת in 34:9).
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62
Ibid., 226-30.
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63
Ibid., 238.
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65
Ibid., 240.
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66
Ibid., 238.
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67
Ibid., 244-45.
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68
Ibid., 238.
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69
Ibid., 235 n. 84.
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72
Ibid., 145, my italics.
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74
Ibid., 146.
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77
See Wildberger, Isaiah 1-12, 258, 274; H. G. M. Williamson, The Book Called Isaiah (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 35; Becker, Jesaja, 64-65; Berges, Book of Isaiah, 80; Jörg Barthel, Prophetenwort und Geschichte: Die Jesajaüberlieferung in Jes 6-8 und 28-31 (Mohr Siebeck, 1997), 76; M. J. de Jong, Isaiah among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 73-74.
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78
Williamson, The Book Called Isaiah, 35-36; Becker, Jesaja, 64-65; Berges, Book of Isaiah, 87-88. Wildberger’s proposal (Isaiah 1-12, 274) that v. 12 refers to the depopulation of the north after 721 places the addition within Isaiah’s time, but must underplay the emphasis on the evacuation of the land. For similar reasons, I discount his proposal that עשׂריה in v. 13a refers to Judah (based on “a widely held theory that Judah constituted one tenth of all Israel”), meant to undercut Judah’s presumption that its survival after the fall of the north meant that it would remain unscathed.
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83
A. van der Kooij, “The Septuagint of Isaiah and Priesthood,” in Let Us Go Up to Zion, VTSup 153 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 70.
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85
Ibid., 22.
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92
See R. L. Troxel, “Economic Plunder as a Leitmotif in LXX-Isaiah,” Bib 83 (2002), 375-91.
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93
I. L. Seeligmann, The Septuagint Version of Isaiah (Leuven: Brill, 1948), 49.
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97
Pierre Jay, L’Exégèse de Saint Jérôme d’après son « Commentaire sur Isaïe » (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1985), 66.
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98
Ibid., 92-93. Jerome’s reversion to more traditional renderings may reflect his response to traditionalists’ opposition to his audacious claim that his translation was more authentic than the sacrosanct lxx (ibid., 92).
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99
Ibid., 90-91.
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100
R. Gryson and P.-A. Deproost, eds., Commentaires de Jerome sur le prophete Isaie, Livres I-IV (Freiburg: Herder, 1993), 329. Contrast T’s דבמיתר טרפיהון (‘which, when their leaves fall’).
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101
Ibid., 67.
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102
Ibid., 329-30.
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103
Ibid., 330-31.
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105
N. H. Tur-Sinai, “A Contribution to the Understanding of Isaiah I-XII,” ScrHier 8 (1961), cited by Wildberger, Isaiah 1-12, 251.
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112
M. Dahood, “Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography I,” Bib 44 (1964), 289-303.
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115
Wildberger, Isaiah 1-12, 434. Thus, Ahlström paraphrased 6:13, “instead of the mighty trees there will be on the same spot only a (deformed) stump standing as a remnant of them, בם” (“Isaiah VI. 13,” 171). Although one might posit that this is beth pretii extended to the idea of substitution (‘when [they] are felled, a מצבת stands in their stead’), substitution is more regularly expressed by תחת, and there is no parallel case of beth bearing this meaning.
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118
R. Hendel, “The Idea of a Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible: A Genealogy,” HeBAI 3 (2014), 423.
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Writing Commentary on the Life of a Text
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Ronald L. Troxel in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
In preparing to construct a new critical edition of Isaiah 1-39, the author argues that textual criticism is not merely preparatory to exegesis and literary criticism, but is best presented in the form of a commentary on the life of the text. Doing so requires eliminating the old divide between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ criticism, only the former of which Eichhorn mentioned in order to commend literary-critical reading over against theological reading, not philological. The later backformation ‘lower criticism’ designated textual criticism practiced on the basis of rules and stemmata that made it a substantially mechanical task. Study of manuscripts from the Judaean desert has already raised questions about the validity of the divide for some books, and Troxel’s analysis of problems in Isaiah 6:13b raises similar skepticism for study of the text of Isaiah. Accordingly, he proposes writing a commentary on the life of Isaiah’s text, without the ‘higher’/‘lower’ divide.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 328 | 37 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 192 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 90 | 6 | 1 |