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Effaced and Naturalized Modes of Jewish Reading: The Judah and Tamar Story (Genesis 38), the Book of Jubilees, and Robert Alter

  • Matthew Goff
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Understanding Texts in Early Judaism
This chapter is in the book Understanding Texts in Early Judaism

Abstract

Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative (1981) is a stinging critique of the field of biblical studies. It asserts that biblical scholars do not have the requisite literary sensibility to appreciate the narrative art of the Hebrew Bible. He illustrates the literary approach he advocates with a reading of the Judah and Tamar story (Genesis 38). He argues that an “intelligent reading” of the narrative with precise attention to its literary details demonstrates that, whereas most biblical scholars view it as an interruption of the Joseph novella, it makes sense exactly where it is in Genesis. He supports his argument by appealing to Genesis Rabbah, contending that early midrashists were able to discern the same formal or aesthetic elements of Genesis 38 his approach highlights, and thus they reached the same conclusion, that the tale’s location makes sense where it is in Genesis. Alter naturalizes as a straightforward “close reading” nurtured in the secular realm of literature departments an approach that is in continuity with a larger rabbinic exegetical project that affirms the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible. Alter’s approach, while insightful and engaging, occludes and effaces other Jewish modes of reading that are not in line with the canonizing exegesis of midrash. This article explores this issue by juxtaposing Alter’s reading of the Judah and Tamar story with that of the Book of Jubilees, which, unlike Alter or Genesis Rabbah, presumably understood the placement of the story a problem, since in Jubilees the tale has been relocated to just before the famine in Egypt. There is a kind of “intelligent reading” behind this scribal maneuver that cannot be accommodated by Alter’s canonizing “literary approach.”

Abstract

Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative (1981) is a stinging critique of the field of biblical studies. It asserts that biblical scholars do not have the requisite literary sensibility to appreciate the narrative art of the Hebrew Bible. He illustrates the literary approach he advocates with a reading of the Judah and Tamar story (Genesis 38). He argues that an “intelligent reading” of the narrative with precise attention to its literary details demonstrates that, whereas most biblical scholars view it as an interruption of the Joseph novella, it makes sense exactly where it is in Genesis. He supports his argument by appealing to Genesis Rabbah, contending that early midrashists were able to discern the same formal or aesthetic elements of Genesis 38 his approach highlights, and thus they reached the same conclusion, that the tale’s location makes sense where it is in Genesis. Alter naturalizes as a straightforward “close reading” nurtured in the secular realm of literature departments an approach that is in continuity with a larger rabbinic exegetical project that affirms the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible. Alter’s approach, while insightful and engaging, occludes and effaces other Jewish modes of reading that are not in line with the canonizing exegesis of midrash. This article explores this issue by juxtaposing Alter’s reading of the Judah and Tamar story with that of the Book of Jubilees, which, unlike Alter or Genesis Rabbah, presumably understood the placement of the story a problem, since in Jubilees the tale has been relocated to just before the famine in Egypt. There is a kind of “intelligent reading” behind this scribal maneuver that cannot be accommodated by Alter’s canonizing “literary approach.”

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface: In memoriam Géza G. Xeravits (1971–2019) VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. Part 1: Old Testament and Early Judaism
  5. “From the Heavens, From the Earth” 1
  6. Different Texts and Different Interpretations of “Exile” 29
  7. Effaced and Naturalized Modes of Jewish Reading: The Judah and Tamar Story (Genesis 38), the Book of Jubilees, and Robert Alter 45
  8. Part 2: Qumran
  9. The Two Spirits and the Origin of Evil 63
  10. Reading Instruction as a Sectarian Composition 75
  11. Thoughts on the Way towards “Prolegomena” to an Introduction to the Writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls 93
  12. Levi, Levites and Worship in Qumran 107
  13. Children Confined in the House of Darkness 119
  14. Part 3: Deuterocanonica
  15. “Narrate omnia mirabilia eius” (Tob 12:20 Vg) 153
  16. The Rhetorical Function of Burying the Dead in the Book of Tobit 161
  17. Das Wortfeld „Sterben“ im 2. Makkabäerbuch 177
  18. The Topic of Intercession in Second Temple Judaism 189
  19. What’s in a Name? 207
  20. Des Menschen Wohltat und Gottes Wohlwollen 223
  21. “Better”–Proverbs in the Book of Ben Sira 241
  22. “When the Lord created his works from the beginning” (Sir 16:26a) 255
  23. “Pillars of Gold on Plinths of Silver. . .” (Sir 26:18) 265
  24. Ben Sira 36:18–37:15: the Art of Choosing 283
  25. The Enigma of the Judges in Ben Sira 46: 11–12 315
  26. Bethesda in Sirach 50 revised 335
  27. Is Wisdom in Baruch 3:9–4:4 Combined with Torah? 351
  28. Part 4: Cognate Literature
  29. Good and Bad Angels in the Vitae Prophetarum 371
  30. “All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher” 389
  31. Part 5: Antique Synagogue
  32. An Evolutionary Perspective on Temple, Synagogue, and Ekklēsia with Special Focus on Paul 401
  33. Bibliography of Géza G. Xeravits 433
  34. List of Contributors 441
  35. Index of Modern Authors 443
  36. Index of Sources 451
  37. Index of Subjects 477
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110768534-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface: In memoriam Géza G. Xeravits (1971–2019) VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. Part 1: Old Testament and Early Judaism
  5. “From the Heavens, From the Earth” 1
  6. Different Texts and Different Interpretations of “Exile” 29
  7. Effaced and Naturalized Modes of Jewish Reading: The Judah and Tamar Story (Genesis 38), the Book of Jubilees, and Robert Alter 45
  8. Part 2: Qumran
  9. The Two Spirits and the Origin of Evil 63
  10. Reading Instruction as a Sectarian Composition 75
  11. Thoughts on the Way towards “Prolegomena” to an Introduction to the Writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls 93
  12. Levi, Levites and Worship in Qumran 107
  13. Children Confined in the House of Darkness 119
  14. Part 3: Deuterocanonica
  15. “Narrate omnia mirabilia eius” (Tob 12:20 Vg) 153
  16. The Rhetorical Function of Burying the Dead in the Book of Tobit 161
  17. Das Wortfeld „Sterben“ im 2. Makkabäerbuch 177
  18. The Topic of Intercession in Second Temple Judaism 189
  19. What’s in a Name? 207
  20. Des Menschen Wohltat und Gottes Wohlwollen 223
  21. “Better”–Proverbs in the Book of Ben Sira 241
  22. “When the Lord created his works from the beginning” (Sir 16:26a) 255
  23. “Pillars of Gold on Plinths of Silver. . .” (Sir 26:18) 265
  24. Ben Sira 36:18–37:15: the Art of Choosing 283
  25. The Enigma of the Judges in Ben Sira 46: 11–12 315
  26. Bethesda in Sirach 50 revised 335
  27. Is Wisdom in Baruch 3:9–4:4 Combined with Torah? 351
  28. Part 4: Cognate Literature
  29. Good and Bad Angels in the Vitae Prophetarum 371
  30. “All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher” 389
  31. Part 5: Antique Synagogue
  32. An Evolutionary Perspective on Temple, Synagogue, and Ekklēsia with Special Focus on Paul 401
  33. Bibliography of Géza G. Xeravits 433
  34. List of Contributors 441
  35. Index of Modern Authors 443
  36. Index of Sources 451
  37. Index of Subjects 477
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