08 - On the Repetitions in the Pentateuch

On the Repetitions in the Pentateuch.

People repeat themselves for various reasons. The compiler of the Pentateuch need not have had only a single reason for his repetitions. If, because of the presence of repetition, the conclusion is drawn that later compilers of the present text had before them two sources, two versions, then why not assume that at times Moses had before his eyes parallel, frag­mentary one, two or even three sources of Canaanite or Chaldean origin, since at that time ancient Chaldea, like Egypt, had its own writing? This is one possible reason for the repetitions indicated. Another reason could be the difficult technique of ancient writing: inscriptions on individual clay or wood tablets, on sheets of papyrus, which could later be transferred twice to parchment scrolls; then also the slowness of writing, during which the continuity of the narrative was broken, necessitating the return to details of an event already recorded. It is essential also to consider the psychological bases for repetition. The ancient writer, not having at his disposal either a sufficient variety of terms or force of expression due to the meager content of the vocabulary of an ancient language, resorted to the device of repetition to concentrate attention on his thought or on the importance of an event, emphasizing thereby the importance of the given statement. But the scrupulous critic, failing to take this into account, could possibly infer, for instance, while reading the title of the Russian Primary Chronicle, “This is the chronicle of past years, from whence came the Russian land, who first began to rule in Kiev, and from whence the Russian land came to be,” that two versions are hidden in this heading, since it contains two subordinate clauses, of one and the same content. Repetitions for expressing the importance of an action are frequent in the Bible. Such are “And God said” in the descrip­tion of the creation of the world; in the Psalms, With patience I waited patiently for the Lord (Psalms 39:2), and others. Let us here benefit from the thoughts of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, written more than one hundred years ago concerning the very same arguments which criticism uses today. He writes: “In it [the Penta­teuch] repetitions of the same thought and sometimes seeming contradic­tions are encountered… very frequently narratives are interrupted by long speeches and other digressions; laws are laid down in the context of events, and not at all with the order and strictness that is found in exact codices. In general, no purposeful attention to the skillful arrangement and exposition of subjects is in evidence. And all of this should be in the Pentateuch if its author is Moses. He has described events as the events occurred. Therefore, it is natural, that when narrating something, he sud­denly breaks off the story and inserts his speech to the people, as it was in reality; in the book he makes the same repetitions which really took place and, speaking about some event, then and there sets forth the law to which that event gave rise. Moses had no need to set down skillful transitions in his book… Frequent repetitions of the same statements, forceful dis­courses with the people, fatherly admonitions, reproaches and threats - all of this was in actuality quite characteristic of Moses in his relations with the Hebrews and, naturally, in his books as well” (Introduction to Ortho­doxy Theology, Macarius, Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilno, DD, 4th ed. [St. Petersburg, 1871], p. 365).