[MS: Copyright material.Editing and formatting are supplied]
[MS: Alter is rightly famous for his landmark translation word by word.
But he should be better recognized for providing the context of a parsha through his 28 Introductions to each book and his Notes.
Context is critical to both correct word by word accuracy but even more so for the question we often feel: Yes, but what does all this mean?]
Alter's 28 essay-Introductions are:
1- Introduction to the Hebrew Bible p.55
2- Introduction to the Five Books of Moses p.113
3- Introductions (5) for each of the Five Books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
4- Introduction to The Prophets
5- Introductions to each of the eight Prophets (including one for the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets).
6 -Introduction to Ketuvim (The Writings)
- Introductions on each of the eleven works in Ketuvim.
In Alter's "Approaching the Five Books" (pp.xv) and in Introduction to Numbers (pp. 675), he gives a "big picture" context for one of the puzzling literary devices in Parshat Chukat-Balak: Balaam's Oracles
I. Approaching the Five Books
The Book of Numbers begins with a long roll call of the tribes, what might be regarded as a statistically buttressed realization of the imposing extent of the Israelite hosts in the wilderness before the conquest of the land. After some intervening chapters of cultic and other laws, we at last return, with a few further interruptions, to narrative—a sequence of episodes in which the recalcitrant Israelites “murmur” against Moses and Aaron, the story of the twelve spies with its disastrous outcome, and, late in the book, a series of encounters between Israel and various hostile peoples of the trans-Jordan region that block their approach to Canaan. The excitements, the grave dangers, and the grand hopes of swimming in the tide of history are all powerfully at play here, and these are vividly brought forth in the evocative poetry of Balaam’s oracles that take up chapters 23 and 24.
II. Introduction: Oracles of Balaam Chapters 23 and 24 - pp 678-681
*"The Books of the Battle of YHWH" and "Song of the Wells" are lost works in the 9th century BC.
*Why are scraps of verse from ancient poems included in Numbers?
*"Antiquity Effect" - ancient material gives a feeling of antiquity, even to readers in 9th Century BC. [MS: It might be true because it is so old.]
* "This story is quite funny"(p.679) [MS: Yes there is humor in the Bible.]
"The brilliant centerpiece among these citations of archaic poetry is the oracles of Balaam (chapters 23 and 24), which follow the story of Balaam and his she-ass, tracing a cunning network of analogies to it. That story has often been characterized as a folktale, and there are no other instances of talking animals in the historical narratives of the Bible (the only other candidate, the serpent in the Garden story, belongs to the primeval and hence more mythological phase of biblical literature). Especially because, according to prevalent preconceptions, there is no humor in the Bible, it should be noted that this story is quite funny. The humor serves the purposes of a monotheistic satire of pagan notions of the professional seer with independent powers to curse or bless: Balaam the celebrated visionary cannot see the sword-wielding divine messenger who is plainly visible to his ass, and he is reduced to spluttering frustration, finally engaging in an angry argument with his beast of burden. "
III. Alter's Notes and how they work well with the Introductions - the "comic incongruity in the shaping of the story."
Fn 28. And the LORD opened the ass’s mouth. This is the only talking animal, if one excludes the mythological serpent in the Garden story, in the entire Bible. The early rabbis, sensitive to the anomaly, put the mouth of Balaam’s ass on their list of ten prodigies especially preordained from the time of creation. But the talking ass is perfectly in accord with the theological assumptions of the story: if God absolutely controls blessings and curses and vision, He can do the same for speech. And the ensuing dialogue between master and ass opens up splendid comic possibilities.
....
Fn 33 The messenger’s words are a virtual citation of the words Abram says about himself and Sarai, “they will kill me while you they will let live” (Genesis 12:12). This transposition of the predicament of patriarch and matriarch to pagan prophet and his ass is still another bold gesture of comic incongruity in the shaping of the story.
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June 2023