Identifying Inner-Biblical Allusions: Psalm 78 As a Test Case‪.‬

Although the task of identifying textual connections is not a new one for biblicists, the study of inner-biblical allusion has enjoyed renewed prominence since the publication of Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel, Michael Fishbane's magnum opus on the subject. (1) In the wake of this study, countless books and articles have appeared, exploring more fully the web of textual connections in the Bible and, more recently, in extrabiblical literature. Despite Fishbane's extensive treatment of the types and techniques of inner-biblical allusion, however, several methodological issues have continued to demand attention. The categories suggested by Fishbane for classifying textual allusions--scribal, legal, aggadic, and mantological--have not been widely accepted. In a review that broadly praises Fishbane and his work, James Kugel nevertheless criticizes him for employing an overly synchronic approach that imposes on the biblical material categories more appropriate for rabbinic exegesis. He suggests that a more helpful approach would have been to write a history of biblical interpretation in ancient Israel, showing the development of exegetical techniques over time. Kugel also questions whether every textual allusion in the Bible need be regarded as exegetical, wondering whether some authors might not evoke earlier texts in ways that fall short of outright exegesis. (2) Scholars following Kugel have continued to wrestle with matters of classification as they determine precisely how connected texts relate to one another. The sustained debates over terminology (intertextuality, allusion, exegesis, discourse, etc.) that characterize the field highlight the challenges in this area. (3)