An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

established on the basis of Ugaritic poetry and the ENWS material in the Amarna
correspondence (see 1.3.1e). Standard poetic Hebrew is described on the basis of
prophetic material dated to the eighth century and later. On the basis of
morphological and syntactic features a variety of poems resemble the early
material: Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 32, Judges 5, 2 Samuel 22 (= Psalm 18),
Habakkuk 3, and Job. All except the first show standard poetic forms[Page 15]
and patterns, and each may therefore be the result of archaizing in the use of older
forms or of composition during a transitional period of linguistic history. 42
e Several points emerge from these studies. The first is that relative and absolute
dating studies are different endeavors. Relative dating is logically prior to absolute
dating; virtually any absolute date entails a relative date, while the converse is not
true. In general, absolute dates cannot be derived from linguistic evidence. The
second important point is that abundant material for dating studies exists, both
within the biblical corpus and outside it.
f The most important aspect of these studies is their statistical character. The
Hebrew of the Bible is sufficiently homogeneous that differences must be tracked
on a statistical basis. The sophistication of such study is not in the statistics;
advanced statistical methodologies are generally designed to deal with bodies of
evidence quite different from what the Bible presents. The sophistication is rather
in the linguistic discrimination of what is counted and in the formulation of
ensuing arguments.
g The Hebrew of scripture, though far from uniform, is essentially a single
language. In the oldest poetry, archaic forms, known from Ugarit, endure. Certain
post-exilic materials differ from earlier texts. The bulk of the Hebrew Bible, later
than Exodus 15 and earlier than Esther, presents a single if changing grammar.
The final, edited corpus of Hebrew scripture was prepared for and understood by a
common audience.
1.5 History of the Biblical Text
1.5.1 Introduction
a The amount of time that elapsed between the composition and editing of the
Hebrew Scriptures and the medieval Masoretic manuscripts, the foundations of
Biblical Hebrew grammar, has always attracted attention. Early in the modern
period some scholars tended to dismiss the MT wholesale, sometimes on the
unfortunate grounds that it was the work of Jews. Such scurrilous anti-Semitic
42 Robertson, Linguistic Evidence, 153–56.