Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past by Daniel D. Pioske. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
“What is significant about these ancient texts… are those moments when literary references to a more remote past resonate with the time in which these stories are set and, against expectations, do not simply mirror the later cultural concerns and historical contexts in which they were written down.” (p. 131)
Pioske writes at the intersection of memory studies, biblical studies, and archaeology of the ancient Near East to argue that biblical narratives of ancient Near Eastern polities reflect collective memory of the significance of those places well after they no longer held an important place in Judahite politics. Beginning with observations made by Seth Sanders that local vernacular histories written in the third person were not a feature of ancient Near Eastern literary culture until the ninth century BCE, Pioske argues that biblical narratives about significant Philistine and Canaanite cities in the pre-monarchical or early monarchical periods in Israel and Judah must reflect collective memories about the past. Pioske ties Sanders’ insights about the broader ancient Near Eastern context for third person prose narratives together with the important work on scribal culture and collective memory by William Schneidewind, David Carr, and James VanderKam. He also utilizes the recent work done on archaeological sites of the ancient Near East, particularly Gath, Ziklag, and Hebron as well as what he calls “absent sites” which are sites we know were prominent, based on archaeological evidence, but which are not significant to biblical narratives. This material association gives the book its force, engaging with concrete data in order to extrapolate more broadly about the challenges and opportunities of biblical texts for scholars of Iron Age history.
The text has a brief introduction which lays out the framework and major arguments of the text (Introduction), followed by a long discussion of the theoretical underpinnings, which combine recent research on the ancient Near East with broader discussions of scribal culture, collective memory, and material culture (Chapter One). The second, third, and fourth chapters are case studies which exemplify (Chapter Two) and nuance (Chapters Three and Four) Pioske’s thesis. Chapter Two closely examines the biblical and archaeological data about Gath, Chapter Three explores material and biblical evidence about Ziklag and Hebron, and Chapter Four explores the archaeological data of “absent” sites with a discussion of why they were not included in biblical narrative. The conclusion returns to the question of epistemology to argue that the complexity of real, remembered, and forgotten locations in biblical texts is a reflection of the simultaneity of multiple modes of remembrance at play in the formation of biblical texts.
The first chapter argues that Gath features so prominently in the stories of David (as Goliath’s hometown in 1 Sam 17:4, a refuge from Saul at 1 Sam. 21:10, 27:2, as the source of fighters in Absalom’s coup attempt at 2 Sam 15:18) because in the eighth century, Gath had recently been incorporated into the Judahite sphere of influence after centuries of Philistine domination. Thus, Pioske argues that the narrative insistence on David’s interactions with Gath reflects collective memory of the past status of the city. Chapter Three adds complexity to this thesis, arguing that Ziklag and Hebron had monuments and material evidence which presented “entangled” past moments (reflective of a changing political landscape in the Iron Age) upon which biblical scribes drew to form a single, coherent narrative. These narratives are not historical according to modern standards and available evidence, but they show distinct epistemological frameworks which “altered and reinforced [biblical authors’] understanding of the stories transmitted to [them]” (p. 139). The third case study focuses on “absent sites” to consider the negative case of Pioske’s assertion that the memory of sites like Hebron, Ziklag, and Gath were significant to Judahite authors because they had access to material remains and history of those locations. In contrast, Pioske argues, the sites discussed in chapter four lost their significance by the time prose narratives were being textualized by Hebrew scribes. Thus, he argues that while biblical narratives can reflect early Iron Age realities, whether or not they do depends on the material conditions and access to sites available the scribes who textualized biblical narratives.
In this tight, readable book, Pioske weaves together related but distinct studies of scribalism and memory with newly discovered material evidence to give a useful insight into the study of early biblical narratives. Refreshingly, Pioske discusses the underlying sources of biblical narratives without reifying hypothetical antecedent sources. By focusing on known dynamics of memory and archaeological evidence, Pioske brings together sometimes-disparate methodological considerations to make a persuasive case for how one might engage in a historically and theoretically responsible way with the knowledge claims made in early Hebrew texts.
This volume is useful to scholars of the ancient Near East and literary culture interested in a nuanced discussion of the epistemological dynamics of early Judahite scribal culture. Pioske synthesizes a sophisticated theoretical framework (one which cogently articulates the categorical frameworks of modern scholars and ancient authors) with careful, close readings of archaeological remains, an impressive achievement for a book in a field rife with projects that prioritize the theoretical or the material at the expense of the other. The book can also act as a potential entry point into Judahite and Iron Age history for scholars of later periods interested in the development of biblical narrative and how this development might fit with recent archaeological discoveries. Pioske offers a cogent account of how memory studies and the epistemological questions the field raises can be applied to material remains, as an opportunity to engage with complex questions of representation, truth, and history. Memory is a valuable category for the study of the biblical past for several reasons, not least because it is a category native to the texts that enables us to read them on their own terms, but the capaciousness of the theoretical apparatus risks a certain amount of ephemerality: if memory as a category can apply to such broad swaths of material from the ancient world, does it have heuristic value for the study of specific historical moments and texts? Pioske answers with an emphatic “yes” through detailed case studies of what biblical authors knew and remembered.
Bibliography
David Carr, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Seth Sanders. The Invention of Hebrew. Traditions. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
William Schniedewind A Social History of Hebrew In Origins through the Rabbinic Period. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Karel Van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2019.
Jillian Stinchcomb has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently a postdoctoral fellow working on the project “Interactive Histories, Co-Produced Communities: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” with Profs. Katharina Hayden (University of Bern) and David Nirenberg (IAS).