More on Oral Traditions - Post #7 on Old Testament Manuscripts, Source Texts, and Textual Analysis

More on Oral Traditions

“So what parts of the Hebrew Bible might have originated as oral traditions?

1. Proverbs - short wise sayings about how to live - circulate orally in virtually every culture, even cultures with a high level of literacy (see chapter 37). Many of the sayings that were eventually collected into the book of Proverbs would have been recited orally among friends and families long before they were written down. The same can be said for proverbial sayings that appear elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible (for example, Ezekiel 12:32, 16:44, 18:2).

2. Virtually all of the songs and prayers that fill the book of Psalms are artful literary compositions that were created to be sung or recited orally in the worship of ancient Israel (see Chapter 30). Most appear to have been composed in written form from the start, but some might have originated with the illiterate masses before they were taken up and crafted it into their present form by the literate elites.

3. Most of the sayings in the books of the prophets represent excerpts from speeches that the prophets delivered orally to a public audience. Sometimes they addressed individuals or groups of people who gathered to hear them speak. At other times they simply shouted their message to anyone who happened to pass by on the street. Some of the prophets were consulted by kings and other high officials, While others were rejected and abused by people who felt threatened by their criticisms of the status quo. The biblical books that bear their names are essentially edited collections of snippets from their oral speeches. The process by which these oral sayings were converted into written texts is unclear - some may have been written down at an early date, while others were preserved in oral form by their disciples and others who heard them (see chapter 31).

4. Stories, like proverbs, play a crucial role in sustaining the beliefs and practices of an oral culture from generation to generation. Many scholars believe that the biblical narratives about the early days of the people of Israel (specifically, prior to the establishment of the monarchy around 1020 BCE) were passed on orally for centuries before they were enshrined in books that became part of the Hebrew Bible. Some think that the stories had already been linked together into a grand narrative before they were written down, while others believe that the stories circulated independently until they were combined to form a coherent storyline by the people who composed the biblical texts. Still others insist that most or all of the stories originated as written compositions late in Israel’s history, so that there was no period of oral transmission.

Scholars are equally divided over the origins of the stories in the so-called Historical Books of the Bible. Many believe that these books were based on official records and other documents that were written close to the time of the events that they described. The authors (or editors) may have exercised literary creativity in the way they told the stories, but their basic information came from written sources, not from oral tradition. Others point to evidence suggesting that the authors made use of both oral and written materials when composing their texts. Still others regard virtually all of the stories as literary fictions that made little use of earlier sources. Scholars who take this position disagree about how to handle outside materials that seem to corroborate the historicity of at least some of the characters and events narrated in these books (see chapter 9). On the whole, scholars are deeply divided over how much of the material in these books goes back to oral or written sources and how much should be credited to the literary creativity of a later author or editor.

5. The literary history of the legal materials in the Torah is largely a matter of conjecture. The Torah is a complex literary work that emerged out of a long history of compilation, revision, and editing (see chapter 22). In its present form it reflects the interests of the educated priestly elites who dominated the temple in Jerusalem. But scholars remain uncertain about how the laws of Torah developed. Most would agree that some of the laws originated among the illiterate masses while others were created and preserved among the priestly elites. Most also assume that members of the priestly class were functionally literate and thus capable of making written collections of laws. Yet evidence from other cultures suggests that most of the priests could have learned the laws that pertained to their duties (for instance, how to performa sacrifices and offerings) through oral instruction. In summary, it seems safe to say that at least some of the laws that were finally incorporated into the Torah were transmitted orally for a lengthy period of time within limited segments of the Israelite populace.”

- The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach By Dr. Christopher D. Stanley (page 45) http://amzn.to/2r6jOnu