footnotes to
New Directions in Pooh Studies:
Überlieferungs- und religionsgeschichtliche Studien
zum Pu-Buch1. I follow here the view of S.R. Driver, An lntroduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 9th edn, 1913), p. ix: 'The age and authorship of the books of the Old Testanent can be determined (as far as this is possible) only upon the basis of the internal evidence supplied by the books themselves . . . no external evidence worthy of credit exists'.
2. To use a phrase of G. von Rad in his Genesis commentary.
3. References are given to chapter and page in the popular paperback version (The Living Pooh).
4. Possibly Sanders has been eliminated because he knew too much; cf. his erudite work on The Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969).
5. The page reference 'x' probably symbolizes the mysterious and unknowable character of the real reason.
6. The phrase is that of J.H. Eaton, Psalms: Introduction and Commentary (Torch Bible Commentary; London: SCM Press, 1967), p. 71.
7. To forestall any criticism of the use of the sigium J for the Genius source, it should be pointed out that in classical documentary theory J never stands for words beginning with J (cf. J for Yahwist).
8. For a moving description of the age of D, cf. J. Bright, History of Israel (London: SCM Press, 2nd edn, 1972), p. 319: 'All over the contemporary world a certain anxiety was in the air. The ancient civilizations were coming to an end; the dikes were cracking, and a dark þood lapped without. Men were haunted by a gnawing insecurity. lt was a dangerous time, a time when a man needed the help of his gods. Side by side with the excitement of newly found independence, there walked a profound unease, a premonition of judgement.'
9. The above analysis has been brilliantly characterized by R.K. Harrison as demonstrating an 'ability to arrive at deÞnitive conclusions on the basis of only part of the total evidence, accompanied by a distinct reluctance to introduce anything more than the slightest theoretical modiÞcations even when much more complete evidence is available' (Introduction to the Old Testament [London: Tyndale Press, 1970], p. 507).
10. Cf. David J.A. Clines, The Tale of the Tail: or, The Story of the Story (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series, 1001; ShefÞeld: ShefÞeld Academic Press, 2001).
11. Reference is clearly being made to the Babylonian sexagesimal system of reckoning.