14

The Old Testament in the New

Essays in Honour of J.L.North
JSNTSup 189; Sheffield Academic Press, 2000
INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE STUDY OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW
Steve Moyise
Introduction
Julia Kristeva is generally credited as the first to introduce the term
intertextualit into literary discussion in 1969. Drawing on the work
of Bakhtin, Kristeva suggests a dialogical relationship between >texts=,
broadly understood as a system of codes or signs. Moving away from
traditional notions of agency and influence, she suggests that such
relationships are more like an >intersection of textual surfaces rather
than a point (a fixed meaning)=.
1
Even the specific act of embedding
one text inside another (the theme of this volume) does not result in a
single resolution - the two shall become one - but a range of
interpretative possibilities. The embedded text might be a faint echo,
which barely disturbs the primary text, or a clanging symbol, which
demands attention. It is the task of the reader, in his or her pursuit of
meaning and coherence, to somehow configure these different >voices=.
And that involves choice, vested interests, and hence ideology.
The term was brought to the attention of biblical scholars by two
books published in 1989. The first was a collection of essays entitled
Intertextuality in Biblical Writings, which contains both theoretical
discussions and examples of biblical intertextuality. For Vorster,
intertextuality differs from Redaktionsgeschichte in three significant
ways:
1. >Word, Dialogue and Novel= was written in 1966 and appeared in
Smiotik: Recherches pour une smanalyse (Paris: Le Sevil, 1969) in 1969. It
was translated in Desire and Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and
Art (ed. L.S.Roudiez; New York: Columbia University Press, 1980) and is now
conveniently found in T. Moi (ed), The Kristeva Reader (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1986). The quotation is taken from Moi (ed.), Kristeva Reader,
p.36 (emphasis original).
15
First of all it is clear that the phenomenon text has been redefined. It has
become a network of references to other texts (intertexts). Secondly it appears
that more attention is to be given to text as a process of production and not
to the sources and their influences. And thirdly it is apparent that the role of
the reader is not to be neglected in this approach to the phenomenon of text.
2
The other book was Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, by
Richard Hays. Hays does not mention Kristeva but draws on
Hollander=s work, The Figure of Echo: A Mode of Allusion in Milton
and After.
3
Hays is impressed by the subtlety of Hollander=s analysis
and asks why this has not always been the case with biblical scholars.
He attempts to put this right in a number of highly regarded studies on
Paul, claiming that >the most significant elements of intertextual
correspondence between old context and new can be implicit rather
than voiced, perceptible only within the silent space framed by the
juncture of two texts=.
4
Ten years on, the word intertextuality has become common coinage
among biblical scholars. Critics who once spoke of >sources= now
speak of an author=s intertextual use of traditions. In George
Buchanan=s Introduction to Intertextuality,
5
the word covers
traditional source criticism, Jewish midrash, typology and what
Fishbane called >inner biblical exegesis=. Literary critics describing the
complex texture of a work speak of its deep intertextuality (the words
>tapestry= or >mosaic= are sometimes used). Reader-response critics use
it to show that a text does not simply disclose its meaning. What the
reader brings to the text (the reader=s own intertexts) has an effect on
the reading process. Thus first century Christians reading the LXX
were bound to import new meanings into old texts. Imagine what it
must have been like to find ,tce ; and .u a,,.t ,a appearing in the
ancient texts.
All this is good in the sense that scholars now realise that a text
cannot be studied in isolation. It belongs to a web of texts which are
2 W.Vorster, >Intertextuality and Redaktionsgeschichte=, in S.Draisma (ed),
Intertextuality in Biblical Writings (Festschrift B.van Iersel; Kampen: Kok,
1989), p.21.
3 J.Hollander, The Figure of Echo: A Mode of Allusion in Milton and After
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981).
4 R.B.Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1989), p.155.
5 G.W.Buchanan, Introduction to Intertextuality (Lewiston, NY: Edwin
Mellen Press, 1994).
16
(partially) present whenever it is read or studied. And the way that a
text has been interpreted down the ages is not irrelevant. It reveals
something of the potentiality of the text, even if it cannot be shown
that a particular interpretation was present in the mind of the author
(can it ever?). These are positive gains from the use of the term
intertextuality. But there is a down-side. The frequent use of the term
is threatening to blunt the scholarly enterprise by lumping together a
whole variety of approaches and calling them intertextuality. Even
worse, it can sometimes be used to make vague and tenuous >echoes=
sound more credible. As a result, Porter suggests that the term is
unhelpful and is best dropped from scholarly discussion.
6
However,
the same criticisms can be levelled at terms like >midrash=, >typology=
and >exegesis=, all of which have been used to defend >uses= of the Old
Testament which might otherwise appear arbitrary. Indeed, the title of
this volume of essays is quite deliberate. I chose The Old Testament
in the New Testament to avoid the implication that our only interest is
in an author=s >use= of the Old Testament. As Bruns says, >We need to
get out from under the model of methodical solipsism that pictures a
solitary reader exercising strategic power over a text=.
7
The
relationship between texts is never just one way. As Miscall notes, the
relationship between two texts is equivocal. It includes at the same time, both
acceptance and rejection, recognition and denial, understanding and
misunderstanding... To recognize that a text is related to another text is both
to affirm and to deny the earlier text. It is affirmed as a type of model and
source, while it is denied by being made secondary to the later text, precisely
by being regarded as a model and a source that has been superseded.
8
6 S.E.Porter, >The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament: A Brief
Comment on Method and Terminology=, in Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders
(eds.), Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel. Investigations
and Proposals (JSNTSup 148; Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and
Christianity, 5; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), pp.79-96. Vernon
Robbins says that the >current terminology of Aintertextuality@ collapses three
arenas of analysis and interpretation together in a manner that is confusing= (The
Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse. Rhetoric, Society and Ideology [London:
Routledge, 1996], p.33). I discuss his proposals in the final section of this essay.
7 G.L.Bruns, >The Hermeneutics of Midrash=, in R. Schwartz (ed.), The
Book and the Text (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), p.192.
8 P.D.Miscall, >Isaiah: New Heavens, New Earth, New Book=, in
D.N.Fewell (ed.), Reading Between Texts. Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible
(Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), p.44.
17
The value of the term >intertextuality= is that it evokes such
complexity and openness.
9
However, if intertextuality is best used as
an >umbrella= term, then it requires subcategories to indicate the
individual scholar=s particular interest or focus. In this essay, I suggest
three such categories. The first I call Intertextual Echo. It is the bread
and butter of many >Old Testament in the New= studies and aims to
show that a particular allusion or echo can sometimes be more
important than its >volume= might suggest. As I have said elsewhere,
it is not just the loudest instruments in the orchestra that give a piece
its particular character. Sometimes, subtle allusions or echoes,
especially if they are frequent and pervasive, can be more influential
than explicit quotations.
10
The second category I have called Dialogical Intertextuality. This
is where the interaction between text and subtext is seen to operate in
both directions. As Davidson says of Eliot=s The Waste Land, >The
work alluded to reflects upon the present context even as the present
context absorbs and changes the allusion=.
11
One of the frequently
debated topics in >Old Testament in the New= studies is whether the
new authors show respect for the original context of their citations.
12
The issue arises because on the one hand, the early church wants to
claim that J esus= life and death is a fulfilment of Scripture (1 Cor.
15.3-4). On the other hand, it wants to claim that it is only in Christ
that Scripture finds its true meaning (2 Cor. 3.15). Dialogical
Intertextuality tries to do justice to both of these claims.
The third I have called Postmodern Intertextuality. Both of the
above are aiming to secure meaning by defining (controlling) how a
text interacts with a subtext. Dialogical Intertextuality acknowledges
that this is
9 Miscall, >Isaiah=, p.44: >AIntertextuality@ is a covering term for all the
possible relations that can be established between texts=.
10 S.Moyise, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation (J SNTSup 115;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), p.18, and endorsed by R.M.Royalty,
The Streets of Heaven. The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John
(Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998), p.125, n.1.
11 H.Davidson, T.S.Eliot and Hermeneutics: Absence and Interpretation in
the Waste Land (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985), p.117.
12 S.Moyise, >Does the New Testament Quote the Old Testament Out of
Context?=, Anvil 11 (1994), pp.133-43; G.K.Beale (ed), The Right Doctrine from
the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New (Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, 1994).
18
not straightforward but nevertheless endeavours to find ways of
describing the result of such interactions. Postmodern Intertextuality
turns this on its head and shows how the process is inherently
unstable. The fact that a text always points to other texts and a reader
always brings texts they know to every reading, means that there is
never only one way of interpreting a text. Postmodern Intertextuality
aims to show that >meaning= is always bought at a price and explores
what that price is. In other words, meaning can only result if some
interactions are privileged and others are silenced.
It is not the aim of this study to argue that one of these categories
is the correct one. The postmodern variety is closer to what Kristeva
had in mind but as stated above, the term is now used in biblical
studies in a variety of ways. But it is hoped that this analysis might
help authors clarify what sort of intertextuality they have in mind, so
that readers can know what is being claimed and how best to respond
to it.
Intertextual Echo
In his ground-breaking book, Hays speaks of intertextual echo in order
to suggest that echoes can be quite loud if they reverberate in an echo
chamber. Previous studies on the Old Testament in the New have often
divided references into quotations, allusions and echoes. There is no
agreed definitions but generally, a quotation involves a self-conscious
break from the author=s style to introduce words from another context.
There is frequently an introductory formula like -aa; ,.a:at or
\auc ; . ,.t or some grammatical clue such as the use of e t. Next
comes allusions, usually woven into the text rather than >quoted=, and
often rather less precise in terms of wording. Naturally, there is
considerable debate as to how much verbal agreement is necessary to
establish the presence of an allusion.
13
Lastly comes echos, faint traces
of texts
13 Hays proposes seven tests, namely, availability, volume, recurrence,
thematic coherence, historical plausibility, history of interpretation and
satisfaction. These are useful things to bear in mind but it would be wrong to think
that they act as >objective= criteria. Rigorous historical enquiry might clarify
>availability= (could it have been known?) and >historical interpretation= (has it been
seen before?) but most of the others are subjective judgments. Indeed, Hays
recognizes this: >Although the foregoing texts are serviceable rules of thumb to
guide our interpretive work, we must acknowledge that there will be exceptional
occasions when the tests fail to account for the spontaneous power of particular
intertextual conjunctions. Despite all the careful hedges that we plant around...
19
that are probably quite unconscious but emerge from minds soaked in
the scriptural heritage of Israel.
It is not difficult to see why studies on the >Old Testament in the
New= have often focused on quotations. There is not usually much
controversy as to the source text and the author is clearly >intending=
the reader to acknowledge the citation by drawing attention to it.
However, if a subtext is well known, the slightest of allusions is
sometimes sufficient to evoke its presence. A popular game show on
television required contestants to guess the title of a piece of a music
from its opening bars. Sometimes, the winner managed this from just
two notes. Similarly, not many words are necessary to evoke Israel=s
Passover or Exile. The themes are so well known (and repeated
liturgically) that a seemingly innocuous mention of >doorposts= (in the
appropriate language, of course) might well be sufficient. As Hays
says of Paul=s letters,
Echoes linger in the air and lure the reader of Paul=s letters back into the
symbolic world of Scripture. Paul=s allusions gesture toward precursors whose
words are already heavy with tacit implication.
14
Romans 8.20 and Ecclesiastes
In Paul=s description of human depravity in Romans 1, those who did
not acknowledge God >became futile in their thinking= (v.21). The
Greek word is a ate;, which Liddell and Scott define as >vain, empty,
idle, trifling, frivolous, thoughtless, rash, irreverent, profane,
impious=.
15
Paul continues, >Claiming to be wise, they became fools=.
The same thought is found in 1 Cor. 3.20, where Paul quotes Ps. 94.11
in the form, >The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are
futile= (aate;). The wisdom of the world has not led to people
believing in Christ and so from Paul=s point of view, it is >futile=
(NRSV, NIV), >worthless= (GNB), >useless= (J B). Such contrasts
between wise and foolish are of course frequent in the wisdom
literature and appear in some of J esus= parables. However, Paul goes
further than this in Rom.
texts, meaning has a way of leaping over, like sparks.= (Echoes of Scripture,
pp.32-33).
14 Echoes of Scripture, p.155.
15 H.G.Liddell and Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), p.489.
20
8.20, where he claims that >creation itself was subjected to futility=
(aate ;). Lietzmann
16
thinks this is referring to cosmic powers but
the majority of commentators take u:.a,.t to be a divine passive:
Creation was subjected to futility by God. Where did Paul get such a
negative idea from? If we are looking for a text, the most likely is the
book of Ecclesiastes, where the author says:
I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek
and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy
business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the
deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after
wind (1.12-14).
The Hebrew underlying the word >vanity= is -"(, frequently used
for the >futility= or >worthlessness= of idols (Deut. 32.21; 1 Kgs 16.13;
Ps. 31.6). Significantly, the Septuagint renders this with
same word used by Paul in Rom. 8.20. And this is not an isolated
instance. The book of Ecclesiastes continues to survey the activities
of humankind and declares them all to be -"(. Not even wisdom and
righteousness escape his biting analysis. Thus in 2.15-16, he concludes
that >the same fate befalls all... there is no enduring remembrance of
the wise or of fools... So I hated life, because what is done under the
sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.= And
righteousness fares no better. Grieved that >there are righteous people
who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who
prolong their life in their evil-doing= (7.15), the author offers the
following advice: >Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise;
why should you destroy yourself?=
J erome was aware of Rabbinic opposition to the book >for the
reason that it affirms that the creatures of God are Avain@, and
considers the whole (universe) to be as nothing=. Why then, he asks,
was it >included in the number of divine volumes=? Because the last
few verses proclaim that the duty of everyone is to >fear God, and keep
his commandments=. Thus >it has from this one chapter acquired the
merit of being received as authoritative=.
17
In Rabbinic terms, it was a
dispute over whether the book defiled the hands (i.e. regarded as
sacred). Thus Rabbi Simeon
16 Quoted in J.A.Fitzmyer, Romans. A New Translation with Introduction
and Commentary (AB, 33; London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1993), p.507.
17 Quoted in A.P.Hayman >Qohelet, the Rabbis and the Wisdom Text from
the Cairo Geniza=, in A.G.Auld (ed.), Understanding Poets and Prophets
(J SOTSup 152; Sheffield: J SOT Press, 1994), p.161.
21
b.Menasia said, >The Song of Songs defiles the hands because it was
composed under divine inspiration. Ecclesiastes does not defile the
hands because it is only the wisdom of Solomon= (t.Yad.2.14). The
midrash on the book is a late composition but is testimony to the fact
that the debate was not easily settled, observing that the >sages sought
to suppress the Book of Qohelet because they discovered therein
words which savour of heresy= (Qoh. R. 1.3).
Few today would deny its canonical status but opinion about its
fundamental message remains sharply divided. Crenshaw represents
the critical strand when he declares that the author >examines
experience and discovers nothing that will survive death=s arbitrary
blow. He then proceeds to report this discovery of life=s absurdity and
to advise young men on the best option in the light of stark reality.=
18
On the other hand, there has recently been a concerted attempt to
rescue Ecclesiastes from this negative image. Scholars such as
Ogden
19
and Fredericks
20
claim that interpreters have been unduly
influenced by the Septuagint=s use of
-"( and have largely ignored the positive statements in the book. For
example, in 2.24 the claim is made that there is >nothing better for
mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This
also, I saw, is from the hand of God=. True, life is short and holds
many surprises, but that is all the more reason to make the most of it.
Thus 5.18 says, >This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat
and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under
the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot.=
Taking this as their point of departure, Ogden and Fredericks argue
that -"( should not be rendered by words like >futility= or >vanity= but
something like >transitory=. As the epistle of James puts it, life is like
a >mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes= (4.14) but few
have taken this to imply that life is futile. Likewise with Ecclesiastes.
They acknowledge that outside the book, -"( is often associated with
idols and hence >futility= or >vanity= is a suitable translation. But the
positive commands to enjoyment in Ecclesiastes (2.24; 3.12; 3.22;
5.18; 8.15; 9.7; 11.9) make it unsuitable here. Thus Ogden claims that
18 J.L.Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes (OTL; London: SCM Press, 1988), p.28.
19 G.Ogden, Qoheleth (Readings: A New Biblical Commentary; Sheffield:
JSOT Press, 1993).
20 D.C.Fredericks, Coping with Transience. Ecclesiastes on Brevity of Life
(The Biblical Seminar, 18; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993).
22
the term hebel in Qoheleth has a distinctive function and meaning: it conveys
the notion that life is enigmatic, and mysterious; that there are many
unanswered and unanswerable questions. The person of faith recognizes this
fact but moves forward positively to claim and enjoy the life and the work
which God apportions.
21
Returning to Rom. 8.20, it is interesting that Paul=s claim that
>creation was subjected to futility= has not met the resistance with
which Ecclesiastes has had to face. For example, Barrett claims that,
>Paul would doubtless agree that the creation apart from Christ could
have only an unreal existence=.
22
Nygren glosses over the word
>futility= and says that because of the curse of Gen. 3.17, the >whole
existence in which we are involved stands in bondage to corruption.=
23
Dodd draws a contrast to the state of humanity, which is our own
fault, and the state of creation, which is >by the will of God=. He adds
that >we cannot give any further answer to the question, Why?=
24
Dunn
topically illustrates the meaning of aate; as >like an expensive
satellite which has malfunctioned and now spins uselessly in space...
or, more precisely, which has been given a role for which it was not
designed and which is unreal or illusory=.
25
Two factors seem to have led to this acquiescence. The first is that
while there might be some doubt over the meaning of -"(, there is no
such doubt about aate;. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the
word occurs in Eph. 4.17 (>you must no longer live as the Gentiles
live, in the futility of their minds=) and 2 Pet. 2.18 (>uttering loud
boasts of folly= [RSV]). The verb only occurs once in the New
Testament and that is Paul=s statement in Rom. 1.20, that those who
ignored God >became futile in their thinking, and there senseless minds
were darkened=. It is hard to decide whether Paul has been directly
influenced by the aate; of Ecclesiastes for it is generally
recognised that the LXX text is post-Christian. But there is no doubt
about his meaning; creation was subjected to futility (by God).
21 Ogden, Qoheleth, p.22.
22 C.K.Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans (BNTC; London: A. & C. Black,
1962), p.166.
23 A.Nygren, Commentary on Romans (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1949),
p.331.
24 C.H.Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (London: Fontana Books,
1959), p.149.
25 J.D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC, 38, Dallas: Word Books, 1988), p.470.
23
The second factor is that the context of Romans 8 is so
overwhelmingly positive that the negative verdict has been completely
swallowed up by >the glory about to be revealed to us= (8.18). Indeed,
the salvation that Paul is describing is enhanced by his negative verdict
on creation. Creation was not subjected to futility as an end in itself
but so that it might also >obtain the freedom of the glory of the children
of God= (8.21). The catena of Rom. 3.10-18 has a similar role before
the momentous 3.21-26.
Quotation, Allusion or Echo?
There is clearly no question of Paul quoting Ecclesiastes in Rom. 8.20.
Indeed, according to the tables in the back of UBSGNT, there is not a
single quotation of Ecclesiastes in the whole of the New Testament
(though see below). Is it then an allusion? Does Paul=s use of
aate ; >activate= the aate ; of Ecclesiastes (LXX), to use Ben-
Porat=s expression?
26
And if so, with what result? Traditionally, this
question would be asked in terms of the author=s intention. Was Paul
consciously directing the reader to the book of Ecclesiastes? The
article on aate ; in TDNT says that, >R.8:20 is a valid commentary
on Qoh.= It goes on to say that while the >passage does not solve the
metaphysical and logical problems raised by vanitas... it tells us
plainly that the state of aate; (Avanity@) exists, and also that this
has a beginning and end... Paul could speak of . :t ; and ee a with an
authority not found in Qoh.=
27
However, most commentators would
want to see more evidence than Romans 8 can provide before agreeing
that it was a deliberate allusion on Paul=s part.
Is it then an echo or an unconscious allusion? Sanday and Headlam
note that aate ; is the constant refrain of Ecclesiastes and therefore
Paul=s use of the word is >appropriately used of the disappointing
character of present existence, which nowhere reaches the perfection
of which it is capable.=
28
The implication of this appears to be that
while Paul is not consciously alluding to Ecclesiastes, he has
nevertheless chosen a word that is thoroughly appropriate, given its
particular usage
26 Cited in a very useful glossary at the beginning of Fewell (ed), Reading
Between Texts, p.21.
27 TDNT IV, p.523.
28 W.Sanday and A.C.Headlam, The Epistle to the Romans (ICC; Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark, 5th edn, 1902), p.208. Emphasis original.
24
in that book. In terms of a theory of echo, we might say that
Ecclesiastes is the >cave of resonant signification=, to use one of
Hollander=s terms. The reader is not specifically directed to the book
of Ecclesiastes but the haunting prose of that book accompanies a
reading of Romans 8 as >shading of voice=. Or, as Hays puts it, it
>places the reader within a field of whispered or unstated
correspondences.=
29
At any rate, Barratt says that the reader of
Romans 8.20 >recalls at once passages such
as Eccles.i.2'.
30
A further piece of evidence can be added. In the catena of Rom.
3.10-18, Paul strings together a number of quotations (ostensibly) to
show the wickedness of all humankind.
31
Since Rom 3.11-12 is drawn
from Ps.13.2-3 (LXX), most scholars have concluded that Rom. 3.10
must be a paraphrase of Ps.13.1. But as Dunn observes, Paul=s words
are closer to the LXX of Eccles. 7.20 than to Ps. 13.1, and we know
from Sanh. 101a that Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (late first century)
used Ecclesiastes 7.20 to demonstrate the sinfulness of humankind.
eu- . ct| et -ate; eue. .t; (Rom. 3.10b)
et a|a:e; eu- . ct| et -ate; .| , (Eccles. 7.20)
eu- . ct| :eta | ,ce a eu- .ct| . a; . |e; (Ps.13.1)
On the assumption that Paul does not quote from the book of
Ecclesiastes, most scholars opt for Ps. 13.1 as the source of Rom.
3.10b, even though it lacks the key word et -ate;. Stanley, for
example, says that the >introduction here of a word from the dik- group
could hardly be more Pauline.=
32
But if Rom. 8.20 can plausibly be
seen as an allusion to the aate; of Ecclesiastes, then it adds
weight to the possibility that Rom. 3.10 is drawing on Eccles. 7.20
(indeed, a quotation according to Nestle-Aland), especially as it
actually contains the phrase eu - . ct| et -ate;.Thus what began as an
investigation of a minor echo, could have a significant impact on a
reading of Romans. The idea that >no one is righteous= is hardly a
common theme in the Old Testament. Nor is the idea that >creation is
subject to futility=. It could be that
29 Hays, Echoes of Scripture, p.20.
30 The Epistle to the Romans, p.166.
31 S.Moyise, >The Catena of Romans 3:10-18', ExpTim 106 (1995), pp.367-
370.
32 C.D.Stanley, Paul and the Language of Scripture. Citation Technique in
the Pauline Epistles and Contemporary Literature (SNTSM, 74, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992), p.90.
25
the book of Ecclesiastes has been far more influential on Paul=s
thinking than the lack of explicit quotations would suggest.
One further point reinforces this. In Rom. 8.21, Paul says that
creation is in >bondage to decay=. Most commentators take this as an
allusion to Gen. 3.17 (>cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you
shall eat of it all the days of your life.=) But in Eccles. 1.3, the first
example of aate; is toil (>What do people gain from all the toil
under the sun?=) Caution is needed since Ecclesiastes uses a different
word for >toil= than Genesis. But the link between >toil= and >futility= in
Ecclesiastes might be the >transumed text= (Hollander) that lies behind
Rom. 8.20-21. Paul is never explicit about this and so certainty is
impossible. But is there a better explanation of Rom. 8.20-21 than a
background text which says eu- . ct| et -ate;, which says life is
aate; and which links aate; with the story of the Fall?
Dialogical Intertextuality
The previous case study illustrates how a relatively minor echo could
have a big effect on how a text is read. But its parameters are one
dimensional. There is an argument being pursued in Romans and a
decision has to be made as to how much the context in Ecclesiastes (if
at all) is allowed to influence it. But it is often more complicated than
that. As Hays says:
Allusive echo functions to suggest to the reader that text B should be
understood in light of a broad interplay with text A, encompassing aspects of
A beyond those explicitly echoed...(it)...places the reader within a field of
whispered or unstated correspondences.
33
His own exposition of 2 Corinthians 3 offers a good example.
Firstly, Paul introduces the figure of Moses as a >foil against which to
commend the candor and boldness of his own ministry.=
34
The reader
is led to expect a completely negative verdict of religion under the old
covenant but v.16 introduces a turn as dramatic as the one mentioned
in that verse (>but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed=).
Initially, the implication seems clear. The generation of Moses was
unable to see clearly but those who have responded to Paul=s
preaching (i.e. the readers) have had the veil removed. However, the
mention
33 Hays, Echoes of Scripture, p.20.
34 Hays, Echoes of Scripture, p.147.
26
of >veil= reminds Paul that Moses did in fact remove his veil when he
entered God=s presence. Thus Moses is both a contrast to ministry
under the new covenant and a witness to it:
The rhetorical effect of this ambiguous presentation is an unsettling one,
because it simultaneously posits and undercuts the glory of Moses= ministry...
Since Paul is arguing that the ministry of the new covenant outshines the
ministry of the old in glory, it serves his purpose to exalt the glory of Moses;
at the same time, the grand claims that he wants to make for his own ministry
require that the old be denigrated... by distancing his ministry from Moses,
Paul paradoxically appropriates attributes similar to those that he insistently
rejects; connotations bleed over from the denied images to the entity with
which they are discompared.
35
According to Hays, this is achieved by Paul=s allusive use of
scripture, which >leaves enough silence for the voice of Scripture to
answer back.= Paul does not fill in all the >intertextual space with
explanations= but >encourages the reader to listen to more of
Scripture=s message than he himself voices. The word that scripture
speaks where Paul falls silent is a word that still has the power to
contend against him.=
36
Revelation 5.4-5 and Genesis 49.9/Isaiah 11.1,10
Then one of the elders said to me, >Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and
its seven seals.= Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures
and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
all the earth.
There is little dispute that the image of Jesus as the >Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the Root of David= is an allusion to Gen. 49.9 and Isa.
11.1,10. Both texts have a significant interpretative history. A
messianic interpretation of Gen. 49.9 is found in both the Targumic
literature and in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
37
Isa. 11.10 says, >On that day
the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall
inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be righteous.= The prophecy was
important to the Qumran community, who took it to be about the one
who >shall
35 Hays, Echoes of Scripture, pp.132-3
36 Hays, Echoes of Scripture, p.177.
37 Targ. Neof. and Targ. Ps.-J. of Gen. 49.9-12; Tanh. Gen. 12.12; Gen. R
97; 1QSb 5.21-29.
27
arise at the end [of days]... God will uphold him with [the spirit of
might, and will give him] a throne of glory and a crown of [holiness]
and many-coloured garments... and he shall rule over all the [nations].=
(4Q161) However, in Rev. 5.4-5, juxtaposed with these images of
power is the image of a >Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered=.
Aune notes that lambs or sheep are mentioned in the Old Testament
with reference to the burnt offering (Exod. 29.38-46), the Passover
(Exod. 12.1-20), rites of purification (Lev. 12.6), consecration (Num.
7), expiation of unintentional sins (Lev. 4.1-5.13), celebration of first
fruits (Lev. 23.12), Nazirite vows (Num. 6.12) and as a metaphor for
the Servant of God (Isa. 53.10).
38
Beale thinks that it basically boils
down to two backgrounds, the Passover lamb and the Servant of God,
and both are intended. As to the purpose of this juxtaposition, Caird=s
view has been extremely influential,
>Wherever the Old Testament says ALion@, read ALamb@.= Wherever the Old
Testament speaks of the victory of the Messiah or the overthrow of the
enemies of God, we are to remember that the gospel recognizes no other way
of achieving these ends than the way of the Cross.
39
Thus Sweet says:
We may agree, then, with Caird that what John hears, the traditional OT
expectation of military deliverance, is reinterpreted by what he sees, the
historical fact of a sacrificial death, and that the resulting paradox is the key
to all his use of the OT, >as if John were saying to us... AWherever the Old
Testament says Lion, read Lamb@...=
40
In his own words, the >Lion of Judah, the traditional messianic
expectation, is reinterpreted by the slain Lamb: God=s power and
victory lie in self-sacrifice=.
41
Boring says: >It is as though John had
adopted the familiar synagogue practice of Aperpetual Kethib/Qere,@
whereby a word or phrase that appears in the traditional text is read as
another word or phrase=.
42
He then quotes Caird, >wherever the
tradition says
38 D.Aune, Revelation 1-5 (WBC, 52A, Dallas: Word Books, 1997), pp.372-73.
39 G.B.Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (London: A. & C. Black,
2
nd
edn, 1984), p.75.
40 J.P.M.Sweet, Revelation (London: SCM Press, 1990), p.125.
41 Sweet, Revelation, p.125.
42 M.E.Boring, Revelation (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press,
1989), p.110.
28
Alion,@ read ALamb@=. The implication for both Sweet and Boring is that
the apocalyptic violence of chapters 6-19 must be seen in the light of
the slain Lamb, and definitely not vice versa. Bauckham is more
nuanced and recognizes that the >hopes embodied in the messianic
titles of Rev. 5.5 are not dismissed by the vision of the Lamb.=
43
Nevertheless, he also quotes Caird and states that >by juxtaposing
these contrasting images, John forges a symbol of conquest by
sacrificial death, which is essentially a new symbol.=
44
Finally, Beale
says that >John is attempting to emphasize that it was in an ironic
manner that Jesus began to fulfill the OT prophecies= and then
paraphrases Caird, >Wherever the OT predicts the Messiah=s final
victory and reign, John=s readers are to realize that these goals can
begin to be achieved only by the suffering of the cross.=
45
On the other hand, there is a line of interpretation that draws a
contrast between the all-powerful Lamb of Revelation and the Lamb
>who takes away the sin of the world= (John 1.29). Thus Dodd cites 1
Enoch 90 and Test. Joseph 19.8 and concludes that >we have here a
prototype of the militant seven-horned ALamb@ of the Apocalypse of
John.=
46
Barrett looks to passages like Exodus 12, Isaiah 53 and
Leviticus 16 as possible backgrounds for the Lamb of John 1.29 but
discounts Test. Joseph 19.8 since it >recalls the conquering lamb of
Revelation... rather than the present passage.=
47
And Brown concludes
his discussion of John 1.29 with the words, >Thus we suggest that John
the Baptist hailed Jesus as the lamb of Jewish apocalyptic expectation
who was to be raised up by God to destroy evil in the world, a picture
not too far from that of Rev xvii 14.=
48
This line of interpretation
reaches its climax in Ford=s commentary, who considers the book of
Revelation to derive (largely) from followers of John the Baptist. Lion
and Lamb, she says, are not contrasting symbols, as if one represented
raw power while the other is about
43 R.Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993),
p.183.
44 Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy, p.183.
45 G.K.Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1999), p.353.
46 C.H.Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: CUP,
1968), p.232.
47 C.K.Barrett, The Gospel According to St John (London: SPCK, 1978),
p.147.
48 R.Brown, The Gospel According to John (2 vols.; AB, 29, Garden City:
NY: Doubleday, 1966), I. p.60.
29
sacrifice and vulnerability. Jewish apocalyptic texts predicted a
conquering Lamb who will appear in the last days and destroy evil, as
Test. Joseph 19.8 makes clear:
And I saw that a virgin was born from Judah, wearing a linen stole; and from
her was born a spotless lamb. At his left there was something like a lion, and
all the wild animals rushed against him, but the lamb conquered them, and
destroyed them, trampling them underfoot.
49
Ford maintains that there is nothing in the book of Revelation which
compels us to depart from this picture. The Lamb of Revelation 5 has
seven horns, indicating power, and seven eyes, a symbol of
omniscience. In the very next chapter of Revelation, those who suffer
the calamities set loose by the Lamb cry out:
Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from
the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is
able to stand?
And the picture does not change when the confederacy of kings in
Rev. 17.14 confront the Lamb:
they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is
Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and
faithful.
Ford thus concludes that John=s use of the title >Lamb= is thoroughly
consonant with the >apocalyptic, victorious, and destroying lamb=
known to tradition.
50
Few Revelation scholars have agreed with this
but it does highlight the difficulty of accepting the >Caird position=. If
John=s intention was to offer the hermeneutic, >wherever you see
images of power, replace them with images of self-sacrifice=, why does
he continue to use images of power so extensively? As Aune notes,
while it may be a plausible explanation of Revelation 5, it is a
>marginal conception elsewhere in the book=.
51
Indeed, Revelation
comes to an end with the description of Christ as the >root and the
descendant of
49 Though Bauckham thinks this verse >has so evidently been rewritten - if
not entirely composed - by a Christian editor, that it is no longer possible to tell
whether the victorious lamb was already present in a Jewish version.= (Climax of
Prophecy, pp.83-4).
50 J.M.Ford, Revelation (AB,38, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975),
pp.87-95.
51 Aune, Revelation 1-5, p.352.
30
David, the bright morning star= (22.16). There is no suggestion that
this needs replacing or even reinterpreting. Images of sacrifice or
>victory through suffering= are not even in the vicinity.
My suggestion in The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation is
that John does not want his readers to simply replace one set of images
by another. Rather, he wishes to encourage their mutual interpretation.
The images of power inform our understanding of the Lamb and the
image of a >Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered= provides a
new context for the Old Testament messianic texts. I support this by
noting that John uses this technique on other occasions. For example,
in the opening vision, Jesus says to the seer, >Do not be afraid; I am
the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive
for ever and ever= (Rev. 1.17-18). Images of eternal existence from
Isa. 44.6, 48.12 are juxtaposed with the stark, >I was dead=, from
Christian tradition. We are not told how the eternal God could die or
how the crucified Jesus can be the eternal being of Isa. 44.6/48.12.
The ideas are simply juxtaposed and the reader is left to mutually
interpret them.
In Rev. 7.4, John hears the number of those sealed, twelve
thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. But in Rev. 7.9, he
sees >a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation,
from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne=.
Some scholars think that this refers to two different groups (Jews and
Gentiles, martyrs and ordinary Christians) but the majority believe it
is two ways of referring to the same thing. It does not appear to be
John=s intention to replace the image of the 144,000 by the image of
the countless multitude. Nor does it seem to be his intention to
reinterpret it, for he uses it again in chapter 14, this time without any
corresponding reference to a great multitude. And if the image of the
144,000 is not replaced or reinterpreted, the only other option is that
it is allowed to co-exist in creative tension with the image of the
countless multitude. As Resseguie says, >Although he heard 144,000,
he saw a great multitude. The two are not separate, but mutually
interpret each other=.
52
This does not mean that the reader can make these images mean
whatever he or she likes. It is rather that the combination of Lion and
Lamb points to a dynamic reality rather than a static one. Beale seems
to accept this point when he says that
52 J.L. Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed. A Narrative Critical Approach to
John=s Apocalypse (Leiden: Brill, 1998), p.8.
31
the place of the Old Testament in the formation of thought in the Apocalypse
is both that of a servant and a guide: for John the Christ event is the key to
understanding the Old Testament, and yet reflection on the Old Testament
context leads the way to further comprehension of this event and provides the
redemptive-historical background against which the apocalyptic visions are
better understood; the New Testament interprets the Old and the Old
interprets the New.
53
However, his worry over intertextuality (and my approach, in
particular) is the suggestion that readers create meaning. For him, the
juxtaposition of images is a) simply an aspect of John=s overall Semitic
style; and b)does not result in ambiguity but finds a single resolution,
which ultimately resides in John=s intention:
The notion that readers create meaning is likely due in part to a hermeneutical
flaw of confusing original >meaning= with >significance=... By way of
illustration, we can compare an author=s original, unchanging meaning to an
apple in its original context of an apple tree. When someone removes the
apple and puts it into another setting (say, in a basket of various fruits in a
dining room for decorative purposes), the apple does not lose its original
identity as an apple, the fruit of a particular kind of tree, but the apple must
now be understood not in and of itself but in relation to the new context in
which it has been placed... The new context does not annihilate the original
identity of the apple, but now the apple must be understood in its relation to
its new setting.
54
The point of the analogy is that though the apple might now be
viewed in a different way, it never becomes a pear. Readers cannot
make a text mean whatever they like. Old Testament allusions
certainly gain new >significance= by being placed in a new setting but
this does not result in new >meaning=. The distinction comes from
Hirsch.
55
The meaning of an Old Testament text is what the original
author intended and that never changes. It is only the text=s
>significance= that changes. But does this really do justice to the Lion
and Lamb of Revelation 5? Calling Christ >the Lion of the tribe of
Judah= suggests a powerful military leader because that was the
meaning of the phrase in Gen. 49.9 and the tradition that stems from
it. But Beale now wishes to understand the
53 G.K.Beale, John=s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation ( JSNTSup, 166,
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), p.127. Emphasis original.
54 John=s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation, pp.51-2. For a reply, see
my >The Old Testament in the New: A Reply to Greg Beale=, IBS (1999), pp.54-
58.
55 E.D.Hirsch, The Aims of Interpretation (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1976).
32
phrase in the ironic sense of >victory through self-sacrifice=. Thus Jesus
is not a Lion in the Gen. 49.9 sense but only in the new sense of
>victory through self-sacrifice=. Indeed, Beale can speak of John
>offering new understandings of Old Testament texts and fulfilments
of them which may have been surprising to an Old Testament
audience=.
56
It seems to me quite arbitrary to call this a change of
>significance= but not a change of >meaning=.
Dialogical Intertextuality would agree with Beale that the >new
context does not annihilate the original identity of the apple= but would
want to make more of the following phrase, >but the apple must now
be understood not in and of itself but in relation to the new context in
which it has been placed=. It seems to me that Beale wants to have his
cake (or apple) and eat it. He wants to assert that John offers >new
understandings of Old Testament texts=, while insisting that those texts
remain perfectly intact (nice shiny apples). But a better analogy would
be that of a fruit salad, where we no longer have nice shiny apples but
pieces of apple, mixed up with pieces of pear and pieces of banana.
There is a connection with the shiny apple that once hung on a tree but
also dramatic differences: It is no longer round, the skin has been
removed and it has been severed from its core.
57
But the real problem
with this type of analogy is its corporeality. Texts do not have hard
surfaces that protect them from change of context. They are more like
ripples on a pond, which spread out, intersect with other ripples and
form new patterns. Or even less corporeal, texts are like sound waves
which >interfere= with one another, producing a series of harmonics and
distortions (hence the >echo-chamber= analogy).
Dialogical Intertextuality suggests that not only is the powerful
Lion reinterpreted by the image of the slain Lamb. The image of Christ
as a slaughtered Lamb also undergoes reinterpretation by being
juxtaposed with the Lion. As Resseguie says,
The Lion of the tribe of Judah interprets what John sees: death on the cross
(the Lamb) is not defeat but is the way to power and victory (the Lion)... the
Lamb, though not in nature a strong animal, is a being of incontrovertible
might in this book.
58
56 John=s Use of the Old Testament, p.128.
57 The fact that Rev. 5 goes on to allude to Ezekiel=s scroll suggests another
analogy - that John has taken bites from apples, pears and bananas and has
chewed and digested them. I hardly like to continue the analogy but Rev. 3.16 is
a clue!
58 Revelation Unsealed, pp.34, 129. I find Beale=s discussion of >respecting
the original context= similarly inadequate.
33
Postmodern Intertextuality
In the 1989 book, Intertextuality in Biblical writings, Ellen van Wolde
describes the way a text is produced and read:
The writer assigns meaning to [their] own context and in interaction with
other texts... shapes and forms [a] text. The reader, in much the same way,
assigns meaning to the generated text in interaction with other texts [they]
know... A writer does not weave a web of meanings that the reader merely has
to follow, but... presents them to the reader as a text. The reader reacts to the
offer and enters into a dialogue with the possibilities the text has to offer.
59
On this understanding, reading always has a subjective element for
>all interpretations must necessarily delimit a text=s possible references
in order to come up with a coherent meaning.=
60
And this involves
choice and hence vested interests:
Every text - as an intersection of other textual surfaces - suggests an
indeterminate surplus of meaningful possibilities. Interpretation is always a
production of meaning from that surplus.
61
He acknowledges that John sometimes uses Old Testament texts in ways that are
very different (even diametrically opposite) to their Old Testament contexts But
this is explained by noting that >these new interpretations are the result of John=s
new, presuppositional lenses through which he is now looking at the Old
Testament... Granted the legitimacy of these presuppositions, John=s
interpretation of the Old Testament shows respect for Old Testament contexts=
(John=s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation, p.45). I would suggest that a
better way of putting this is to say that John shows an >awareness= of Old
Testament contexts but his Christian presuppositions nevertheless allow him to
change, modify and even (on occasions) invert them. If >respect for context=
simply means >understandable given the author=s presuppositions=, then it surely
becomes a truism. Even the most bizarre allegorical use of Scripture could be said
to >respect the context= if we accept the legitimacy of the author=s presuppositions
(such as substituting like-sounding words). R.M.Royalty concedes that John=s use
of scripture >shows conscious authorial intention= but argues that it is >far-fetched
to imagine that John=s free recombination and rewriting of scriptural texts has
anything at all to do with the purpose of the original passages.= (The Streets of
Heaven, p.72 n.95).
59 E. van Wolde, >Trendy Intertextuality=, in Draisma (ed), Intertextuality in
Biblical Writings, p.47. The quotation has been altered so as to be inclusive.
60 T.K.Beal, >Ideology and Intertextuality: Surplus of Meaning and
Controlling the Means of Production=, in Fewell (ed), Reading Between Texts,
pp.30-31.
61 Beal, >Ideology and Intertextuality=, p.31. Emphasis original.
34
By exposing the bias of individual interpreters, Postmodern
Intertextuality has much in common with feminist (some have played
with the words intertextuality/intersexuality) and other liberation
readings. And by focussing on the need for individual interpreters to
>produce meaning=, it has much in common with those approaches
broadly classed as deconstruction. For example, Seeley says of
Matthew=s Gospel, that its
presumed univocity is undermined and cracked by the multiplicity of voices
embedded within and speaking simultaneously through it. These voices cannot
be silenced by appeals to overall redactional coherence, or to a hierarchy of
plots. They are all there, like an unharmonious choir demanding to be heard.
62
Boyarin has explored this with respect to Jewish Midrash. He
argues that the purpose of midrash was not to expose, once and for all,
the true meaning of a text and thereby end all discussion. Rather, it is
the >laying bare of an intertextual connection between two signifiers
which mutually read each other. It is not, nor can it be, decided which
signifier is the interpreter and which the interpreted.=
63
John 4.16-20
Jesus said to her, >Go, call your husband, and come back.= The woman
answered him, >I have no husband.= Jesus said to her, >You are right in saying,
AI have no husband@; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have
now is not your husband. What you have said is true!= The woman said to
him, >Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this
mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in
Jerusalem.=
The story of the >woman at the well= has been the subject of a number
of recent studies.
64
The >traditional= reading sees Jesus (the male) in
62 D.Seeley, Deconstructing the New Testament (Leiden: Brill, 1994), p.52.
63 D.Boyarin, >The Song of Songs: Lock or Key? Intertextuality, Allegory
and Midrash=, in Schwartz (ed), The Book and the Text, p.223.
64 I.R.Kitzberger, >Border crossing and meeting Jesus at the well: An
autobiographical re-reading of the Samaritan woman=s story in John 4:1-44', in
I.R.Kitzberger (ed), The Personal Voice in Biblical Interpretation (London:
Routledge, 1999), pp.111-127; G.A.Phillips, >The Ethics of Reading
Deconstructively, or Speaking Face-to-Face: The Samaritan Woman Meets
Derrida at the Well=, in E.S.Malbon and E.V.McKnight (eds.), The New Literary
Criticism and the New Testament (JSNTSup, 109, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1994), pp.283-325; T.Okure, The Johannine Approach to Mission:
35
conversation with the Samaritan (the female) but operating on a
different (higher) plane. Her mind is set on earthly matters. She has
come to the well for ordinary water (4.7). When Jesus speaks of >living
water=, all she can think of is >Sir, you have no bucket=. When he
explains that: >Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be
thirsty=, her interest is aroused but only to save herself the daily
journey (4.15). When Jesus exposes the fact that she has had five
husbands, she tries to embroil him in a theological discussion about
places of worship. But once again, Jesus is on a higher plane. Worship
is not about place but spirit and truth (4.24). Lastly, she voices a basic
tenet of her Samaritan beliefs: >I know that Messiah is coming... When
he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.= (4.25) Jesus replies, >I am
he, the one who is speaking to you.= (4.26) Schneiders calls this the
typical male reading of the story which
presents the woman as a disreputable (if interesting) miscreant who, failing in
her attempt to distract Jesus from her sexually disgraceful past, surrenders to
his overpowering preternatural knowledge of her, alerts her fellow
townspeople to his presence, and then fades from the scene as they discover
him for themselves and come to believe in him.
65

A different reading is possible, however, for it is Jesus who asks
for a drink. It is not that the woman can only think in earthly terms;
this is what Jesus asks for. He is sitting by Jacob=s great well and asks
her for a (material) drink. But the woman looks beyond the material to
ask why social taboos are being ignored for >Jews do not share things
in common with Samaritans= (4.9). Jesus replies that he can offer
>living water=, which the woman (rightly) takes as a religious claim to
be superior to Jacob and the patriarchs. Jesus then elaborates that the
water he offers is such that those who drink of it will never again be
thirsty, for it >will become in them a spring of water gushing up to
eternal life=. The woman is interested and replies using the same
metaphor as Jesus used: >Sir, give me this water, so that I may never
be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water= (4.15) Thus it
is possible to read the text as a serious theological
Contextual Study of John 4:1-42 (Tbingen: J.C.B.Mohr, 1988); G.R.O=Day,
Revelation in the Fourth Gospel: Narrative Mode and Theological Claim
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986).
65 S. Schneiders, The Revelatory Text. Interpreting the New Testament as
Sacred Scripture (San Fransisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), p.194.
36
exchange and not a (foolish) woman continually misunderstanding the
(superior) male. On this reading, she is far more astute than
Nicodemus in the previous episode (3.1-21) and the disciples in this
one (4.27).
However, it is problematic to this reading that Jesus says in 4.18:
>You are right in saying, AI have no husband@; for you have had five
husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you
have said is true!= Is this not confirmation that the story is about her
>sexually disgraceful past=, even if male scholars have exaggerated
this? But it has often been noted that (1) adultery is a common
metaphor in the Old Testament for spiritual unfaithfulness, which is
precisely what the Jews thought of the Samaritans; and (2) that the
reference to five husbands is an allusion to the repopulation of Samaria
in 2 Kings 17:
The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath,
and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the
people of Israel; they took possession of Samaria, and settled in its cities...
every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high
places that the people of Samaria had made, every nation in the cities in which
they lived; the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth
made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima; the Avvites made Nibhaz
and Tartak; the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech
and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim (2 Kgs 17.24, 29-31).
This allegorical interpretation was once quite popular though the
Enlightenment has made it difficult for moderns to accept (allegory
was the enemy of rationalism). However, given the symbolic nature of
much of John=s Gospel, one has to admit with Brown and
Schnackenburg that it is a possibility.
66
If the reader is supposed to
know that >Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up=
(John 2.19) is a reference to the >temple of his body=, it is certainly
possible that a chapter which
66 >The unusual life-story of the Samaritan has led many exegetes to suppose that she
is a symbolic figure, representing the people of Samaria and the religious apostasy of this
hybrid nation by the usual image of marital infidelity= ( R.Schnackenburg, The Gospel
According to St John [Tunbridge Wells: Burns & Oates, 1968],I, p.433). However, he
notes that the analogy is not exact for while 2 Kgs 17 mentions five nations, it actually lists
seven gods. He therefore concludes that the >symbolic interpretation, at least if given in
isolation as the only one, is inacceptable.= Brown (Gospel of John, p.171) says: >Such an
allegorical intent is possible; but John gives no evidence that it was intended, and we are
not certain that such an allegory was a well-known jibe of the time which would have been
recognized without explanation.=
37
discusses whether Jerusalem or Gerizim is the proper place for
worship, assumes the reader is acquainted with Samaritan history.
That being so, Moore notes that there is more at stake here than
simply deciding between competing interpretations. For those who
wish to condemn the woman for taking everything literally can do so
only by insisting that 4.18 is taken literally. In other words:
They can condemn her only if they participate in her error, can ascribe a
history of immorality to her only by reading as Acarnally@ as she does - at
which point the literal reading of 4:18 threatens to become a displaced
reenactment of yet another Johannine episode, one in which an unnamed
woman is similarly charged with sexual immorality by accusers who
themselves stand accused (8:1-11).
67
Postmodern Intertextuality draws attention to two aspects of
reading. First, no text is an island.
68
Its words have all been used
before, sometimes in very significant ways. In every reading of the
primary text, other texts are present and this leads to multiple
interpretations (polyvalency). There is never just one way of
>configuring= the interaction between text and subtexts. Secondly, in
every reading of the primary text, the reader brings with them texts
they know and in the case of biblical studies, quite often a whole
history of interpretation. Thus Protestant scholars have only recently
acknowledged the fact that their reading of Paul owed a great deal to
significant >intertexts=, such as the writings of Luther and Calvin. They
were aware, of course, that Paul=s letters contain numerous references
to the Jewish scriptures but were much less aware of the >intertexts=
that they themselves were bringing to the task.
69
For some, Postmodern Intertextuality, like deconstruction, will
seem a pointless exercise. The task of the interpreter is surely to
grapple with a text until its meaning is disclosed, or, more realistically,
to get as close to that meaning as possible. What possible benefit is it
to show that all interpretations are inherently flawed? At least three
answers can
67 S.D.Moore, Poststructuralism and the New Testament. Derrida and
Foucault at the Foot of the Cross (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), p.49.
68 Miscall, >Isaiah=, p.45. More fully, but perhaps less elegantly, >no text is an
autonomous and self-sufficient entity, but is always open, literarily and
pragmatically.= ( I.H.Kitzberger, >Introduction= in idem, [ed],The Personal Voice,
pp1-11[6]).
69 As ruthlessly exposed by E.P.Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism. A
Comparison of Patterns of Religion (London: SCM, 1977), pp.1-59.
38
be given to this. The first is that Postmodern Intertextuality is not
saying that meaning is impossible. It is simply pointing out that a
reader cannot derive meaning without >touching= the text (Derrida). As
Kitzberger says,
Entering John=s story-world from my own story-world and entering my own
story-world from John=s story-world, both have been informed and
transformed intertextually. In this process a new story has emerged which is
no longer one or the other, but both, a story of mixture and otherness.
70
Meaning, in the sense of communication, is certainly possible, but
always at a price. Reinterpreting the apocalyptic violence of
Revelation in the light of Christ=s self-sacrifice is certainly a possible
way of reading the book. One might even say that it is ethically
imperative that it is read in this way. But it cannot be said to be the
only way or even the obvious way. In terms of the sheer quantity of
material, the language of conquest and destruction in Revelation far
outweighs the language of love and forgiveness. That is why Christian
interpreters have to work so hard to persuade >the public= to read it
differently. It is the sheer quantity of violent and destructive language
that people find so difficult.
71
The Christian interpreter >chooses= to
read the language of conquest and destruction in the light of the cross
of Christ.
In order to prevent misunderstanding, I should point out that in
using the word >chooses=, I am not suggesting that interpretation is
arbitrary and merely the product of an author=s whim. Interpreters
adopt certain positions because they believe the evidence >compels=
them to see it that way. But the fact that equally sincere scholars feel
>compelled= to see things differently suggests that this process is not
ideologically neutral. Robbins recognizes this in his attempt to
describe intertextual-
70 Kitzberger, >Border Crossing=, p.123. Male scholars have generally treated
the Samaritan woman as the exploiter (eagerly moving from husband to husband)
rather than the exploited (five husbands have married and divorced her and the
present one refuses to marry). But the text is open on this point and it would be
a naive scholar that thought his/her gender and experience of life had no effect on
their judgment.
71 >Lurid and inhumane, its influence has been pernicious... Resentment and
not love is the teaching of the Revelation of St. John... It is a book without
wisdom, goodness, kindness, or affection of any kind= (H.Bloom, The Revelation
of St John the Divine, Modern Critical Interpretations; New York: Chelsea
House, 1988), pp.4-5. Stephen Moore=s contribution to Kitzberger (ed), The
Personal Voice is called >Revolting Revelations=, pp183-200.
39
ity as an aspect of what he calls Socio-rhetorical criticism. He notes
that most examples of biblical intertextuality have already made
fundamental decisions, such as (1) giving priority to Jewish texts
rather than Greek or Roman texts; (2) emphasizing the influence of
texts over other expressions of culture; and (3) confining itself to
historical and literary modes of discourse. But such choices already
demonstrate the ideological nature of all interpretation:
the ideological nature of all interpretation manifests itself in the interplay
between the choice of a mode of interpretive discourse and the choice of
dimensions of the text the interpreter reinscribes.
72
For example, in choosing to read Rom. 8.20 in the light of
Ecclesiastes, I made at least two assumptions. First, I assumed that it
would be more profitable to look for a Jewish text rather than one
from Greek or Roman literature. But given Paul=s background and
cultural context, it is quite possible that he has been influenced by
discussions of >futility= in Greek philosophy. Second, I assumed the
influence was primarily from >texts=, rather than some other expression
of cultural life. But it may have been an artifact >to an unknown god=
that weighed heavily on Paul=s mind. Or a discussion on the future of
>tent-making= after a series of cancelled orders. Robbins points out that
words not only evoke other texts but also data from the wider >cultural,
social and historical world in which they participate and in which
people live.=
73
In showing how complex it is to pin-down >influence=,
Postmodern Intertextuality draws attention to the fact that choices
have already been made:
Different ideologies... establish different boundaries for intertextual analysis
and these different boundaries encourage significantly different strategies of
interpretation.
74
Second, in showing how a text can point in a number of directions,
one is actually saying something important about the text. I do not
know for certain if Ecclesiastes was in Paul=s mind when he wrote
Rom. 8.20. But in drawing out what the text would mean if it were in
his mind, I am revealing something about the potentiality of the text.
To use an analogy from science, it is like shining a particular light on
a substance and observing the resulting pattern. And then changing to
72 Robbins, The Tapestry, p.213.
73 Robbins, The Tapestry, p.238.
74 Robbins, The Tapestry, p.101.
40
ultra violet light and observing a different pattern. In neither case are
we actually >seeing= the substance as it is. But observing the different
patterns is telling us something >real= about the substance. A scientist
would laugh at the suggestion that such a procedure is making the
substance mean whatever we like. Similarly, using different
interpretative strategies to examine a text is not making a text mean
whatever we like. It really is saying something about the text, though
not as directly as the hermeneutics of the Enlightenment would prefer.
[S]ocio-rhetorical criticism uses a strategy of reading and rereading a text
from different angles to produce a >revalued= or >revisited= rhetorical
interpretation... The goal is to use the resources of other disciplines >on their
own terms= and to allow these resources to deconstruct and reconfigure the
results of a particular focus and set of strategies in a particular discipline.
75
Third, since it is clearly impossible for any one individual to
perfectly grasp the meaning of a text, it seems to me inescapable that
Postmodern Intertextuality is true to some degree. The critical
question is whether this is significant or is simply an aspect of being
human (finite). For example, every performance of a musical
symphony is different. The conductor will never conduct in exactly the
same way. Each of the violinists will differ depending on how they feel
that day. The horns will differ. Sickness might mean that one or two
players are making their debut. All of which means that there are
literally thousands of interacting factors which determine the final
performance.
76
Nevertheless, there will be no doubt that one is hearing
Beethoven=s fifth symphony and not his sixth (for example). The
differences are real and worthy of study since they greatly affect one=s
pleasure (or annoyance) at the performance. But they should not be
used to suggest that we can never know or say anything about a text.
Conclusion
Frequent use of the term intertextuality is threatening to make it
75 Robbins, The Tapestry, pp.40-1.
76 This seems to be A.C.Thiselton=s concern when he writes, >What is
problematic about current notions of intertextuality is not the huge scope of the
boundaries which have been enlarged, but the transposing of horizons of
understanding into matrices which generate an infinite chain of semiotic effects=
(New Horizons in Hermeneutics [London: HarperCollins, 1992], p.506).
41
meaningless unless more attention is given to definitions. One option
would be to focus on the meanings given to it by particular theorists
(Kristeva, Barthes, Derrida, Eco, Riffaterre) and declare other uses
invalid (or >thin=) This is the stance taken by Aichele and Phillips in
their introduction to the 1995 edition of Semeia devoted to biblical
intertextuality. Compared with what Kristeva had in mind, they declare
that most examples of biblical intertextuality are doing little more than
traditional source criticism:
Traditional >banal= source critical (>intertextual=) explanations of citation,
allusion, allegoresis and the like, which claim a concern for history, prove
exceedingly thin by comparison because they fail to take into account the
historical and cultural nature of textual productivity and the implicature or
readers and readings in the production of meaning... what they are really
concerned with is agency and influence.
77
On the other hand, the word >intertextuality= has taken on a life of
its own and now has to be interpreted (or abandoned) in the light of
current practice rather than the originating moment (an irony not lost
on Aichele and Phillips). My suggestion in this essay is that in the light
of current usage, it is best used as an >umbrella= term for the complex
interactions that exist between >texts= (in the broadest sense). It is an
evocative word, like >textuality=, which reminds us that such
interactions are rarely straightforward. However, the weakness of this
suggestion is obvious; no one can tell what is being claimed when
different scholars speak of intertextuality. It is hoped that the three
categories described and illustrated in this essay will go some way
towards meeting this need.
77 G.Aichele & G.A.Phillips, >Introduction: Exegesis, Eisegesis, Intergesis=,
Semeia 69-70 (1995), p.11.