Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Lloyd Barre <barre AT c-zone.net>]

Dear Literary Critics,

Gunkel's genius lay in his perception of the inextricable link between a text 
literary genre as the typical concrete occasion of composition.  All human 
communication is package in literary genre.  The last thing you wrote was 
perhaps an email, or  a post-it note, or an essay, or a poem.  As all human 
beings "package" communications, Genre study allows the perception of the 
living context of these compositions in typical presentation.  What realities 
are reflected by the genre of a letter, or email studied phenomenologically?  
Thus understanding the relationship of Genre and Matrix allows one to pass 
through the genre into the setting of the composition. 

To illustrate, I have offered the Song of Deborah for you to experiment with. 
 We are trying to divine as much information about the poem's matrix:

The song appears to have suffered some disarrangement in the stanzas, which I 
have sought to restore based on thematic progression:

The Invocation

Awake, awake, O Deborah!
Awake, awake, declaim a song!


The Setting

In the days of Shamgar son of Anat,
In the days of Jael every highroad was forsaken;
those who went forth on their travels
through by-paths took their way.
Until I, Deborah, arose,
until I arose as the "Mother of Israel."

Those selected to represent El(ohim) were dumb.
from five cities, not one shield [rallied].
Not one spear from forty thousand in Israel [mustered].
Dead, dead were Israel's villages.


Address to Barak 

Be encouraged, rise up, O Barak,
[you who] captured your captors, son of Abinoam!
That warriors in Israel [came forth and] unbound their hair,
that the people [came] forward with determination,
for this, [O Barak], bless Yahweh!

My heart beats fast for Israel's commanders,
for those of the people who boldly came forth.
For this, [O Barak], bless Yahweh!


Address to the Cultic Singers

You who ride on white she-asses,
you with saddle blankets beneath you,
and you who walk the highways,
Sing to shouts of a rejoicing people
when they gather about the watering places!
Extol there Yahweh's blessings,
the blessings of his reign in Israel!


The Muster

Listen, you kings!  Give ear, you princes!
>From me, from me comes a song of Yahweh.
I will glorify Yahweh, god of Israel.

Yahweh, when you set out from Seir,
as you trod the land of Edom,
earth shook, the heavens quaked,
the clouds dissolved into water.
The mountains melted before Yahweh,
before Yahweh, the god of Israel.

Yahweh's people marched down to the gates,
Israel marched down to the gates,
Yahweh's people, like heroes, 
marched down to fight for him.

The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Naphtali was in the vale with Barak.
Ephraim's princes were in the valley.
Your brother Benjamin joined your ranks.
>From Machir, captains have came down;
from Zebulun, those with the staff of office.
has sped forward to follow him.
The tribe of Zebulun fronted death,
Naphtali too, on the rising ground.

Where the streams of Rueben are,
men hold their long debates.
Why did you linger among the sheepfolds
listening to pipes amid the flocks?
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
Why is Dan in the ship of strangers?
Asher kept by the seacoast,
dwelling at ease within his harbors.


The Battle

The kings came, they stood in the line of battle;
then they fought, those kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by Megiddo's waters,
yet bore away no silver spoils.

From high in heaven fought the stars,
from their orbits against Sisera.
The horses' hoofs beat the ground;
galloping, galloping go his steeds.
The torrents of Kishon swept them away,
the sacred torrent, the torrent of Kishon.
March on, my soul, be strong!


A Curse and a Blessing

"Accursed be Merom," says Yahweh's messenger.
"Greatly accursed be those who dwell there."
For they never came for Yahweh's aid,
Yahweh's help as warriors.

"Blessed be Jael among the women;
among all the women dwelling in tents,
may she be blessed."

He asked for water; she gave him milk;
in a precious bowl she brought him cream.
She stretch out her hand to seize the peg,
her right hand to seize the workman's mallet.

She struck Sisera, crushed his head,
pierced his temple and shattered it.
At her feet he tumbled, he fell, he lay;
at her feet he tumbled, he fell.
Where he tumbled, there he fell dead.


The Ironic Mock

Through her widow she leans and looks, Sisera's mother, through the lattice:
"Why is his chariot long in coming?
Why are the harnessed horse slow?"

Among the princesses the wisest one answers,
and she to herself repeats,
"They are gathering, doubtless, sharing the spoil:
a girl, two girls for each man of war;
a garment, two dyed garment for Sisera;
a scarf, two embroidered scarves for me."


Final Invocation

Thus may all your enemies perish, O Yahweh!
but may those who love you be like the sun,
as it arises in all its strength!


This 12th century song celebrates Deborah, "mother of Israel," through whom 
Israel was reborn following a people of broken spirit due to the cruel 
domination of Hazor of Jabin.  It since of courage, who had it and who did 
not.  With those brief comments, what are your form critical findings and how 
did you arrive at them?

 It is a magnificent piece.  Enjoy and please respond offlist.  Thank you.



L. M. Barre, Ph.D.

barre AT c-zone.net
www.angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael