How do we identify instances in which ancient authors allude to or interact with other texts?  In a discussion of the intertextual use of Genesis 3:15 Jim Hamilton says:

Perhaps the word-study fallacy has closed many ears to the echoes of Gen. 3:15 that run through the Bible.  Even though nearly everyone is aware of the potential pitfall, it remains true that often in the modern academy discussions of “messianic hope in the OT” give too much space and weight to word studies of the term “anointed” and/or limit themselves to an examination of the ideas surrounding the promises to David.¹

What he is saying (if I have read him correctly) is that interpreters sometimes focus too much upon key words and they do not adequately take into account the fact that authors interact with ideas or themes found in other works.  Furthermore, when an ancient author alludes to an idea in another text the author does not always use the same vocabulary but nonetheless there is still an intertextual link.

I very much agree with this observation.  This phenomena holds true for all ancient writing that I am familiar with.  In fact, I have an article coming out in a few months in which I examine the allusions to the Mesopotamian stream of tradition within Neo-Assyrian Oracles.

What I found fascinating with this study was that when Assyrian prophets made intertextual links with the stream of tradition, they would almost never quote the passages directly.   Rather, they would incorporate the ideas and imagery embedded within the passages but they would alter the allusions to their own rhetorical purposes and they would almost always use different vocabulary ranging from alternate spellings to completely different phrases.  Furthermore, they never included personal names or other explicit identifying marks of the source of the works they alluded to.²

Therefore, when we approach ancient texts we should not restrict our search for intertextual links to merely correspondence of vocabulary but also of ideas, themes, and imagery.

What do you think?

1. “The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman,” in SBJT 10.2 (2006), 34. [back]
2. Based upon this you might think that I mistakenly identified intertextual allusions, however, I am not the only one to make these identifications–Simo Parpola has as well, Assyrian Prophecies (State Archives of Assyria IX; Helsinki University Press, 1997), CV note 246. [back]