Orthography, Textual Criticism, And the Poetry of Job (Critical Essay‪)‬

In an article published in Eretz Israel in 1969, David Noel Freedman called attention to the great number of forms in the book of Job that are spelled without internal vowel markers (matres lectionis) where one might expect them. (1) This is particularly remarkable in cases where diphthongs are contracted and unmarked by matres. Thus, we have [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Drawing on the results of his joint dissertation with Frank Moore Cross, which argued in part that such spellings typified epigraphic Hebrew of the preexilic period and generally of the north (Israel as opposed to Judah), (3) a thesis that despite a few rare exceptions has held true, (4) Freedman concluded that the conservative orthography indicates a provenance in the north during the preexilic period. The study has prompted at least one scholar to judge that it is now difficult to maintain a date later than the seventh century B.C.E. (5) Not all are so sanguine about Freedman's approach, to be sure. Yet even James Barr, Freedman's most severe critic, has conceded that the book of Job manifests an unusually high concentration of such forms, indeed, "the highest anywhere in the Bible." (6) The implications of this judgment for the exegesis of Job, however, have not been explored. Such an exploration is the purpose of this essay. Before doing so, though, I would like to expand Freedman's database.