a lectionary

The Hebrew Bible is organized differently than the Christian Old Testament. It begins the same – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges – but after that, the order diverges. The Hebrew Bible ends with the miscellaneous “Writings.” Some of these books had earlier appeared in Robert Alter’s The Psalms, The Wisdom Books, and Strong as Death is Love. And I have now had the opportunity to read all but one of these in Alter’s translation, which is included in his magnum opus, The Hebrew Bible.

Daniel (especially without the “Catholic” chapters) feels like the same genre as the Qur’an, or Jubilees. Monotheistic, often inexplicable, told from the first person perspective of a prophet, this Hebrew version of Daniel is a bridge between faiths and texsts. And here Hebrew must be explained. The Book of Daniel known in the Hebrew Bible is the same as in Protestant Bibles, but much shorter than that in the Catholic and Orthodox bibles (where the narrative is expanded, Daniel’s official responsibilities are explored more, and the influences on the Qu’ran become more partial). But Daniel is only partially written in the Hebrew language, even in the “Hebrew” edition. An interesting book.

Ezra and Nehemiah are first-person narratives of Jewish officials in the Persian Empire. At first this sounds like Daniel, who served part of his time under Persian rule. Ezra’s role in canonizing (literally, deciding that is to be read out loud) is a focus of his book, though whether that was a personal decision, or his role as head of some committee or Council, or even as the lead editor in a major redaction effort, is unknown. Meanwhile, Ezra’s contemporary Nehemiah is responsible for the two great building projects: of the City Walls and early Pharisitical Judaism. The singularity of the Pharisaical project – to imitate the High Priest – appears to contradict the openness and love of Ruth, which written around the same time but with seemingly opposite ends. Until both are shown in the Gospels to be shadows of Christ and the woman at the well.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her,

“Give me a drink.”

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him,

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar?ia?”

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you,
‘Give me a drink,’
you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:7-10

Lamentations is a five-chapter poem, the first four chapters of which are acrostic (verses starting with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet), and a fifth chapter that breaks the pattern. Poetic imagery and actual depictions of destruction thread through each other. I once saw a Mike Daisey, the best living monologist, describe his experience living through 9/11 in New York. The effect is something similar. The broken pattern at the end feels not like evidence of a second author, but the unraveling finality of the end of Heaven and Earth.

So – what to make of these books? A canonical pseudo-Qur’an, the Canon’s birth, the Pharisees’ birth, a city and Temple passing away? Is it just more hope and despair as we found in so many cycles before, in Samuel and the Book of Kings?

I don’t know. It feels bewildering, increasingly complicated, and incomplete. The Hebrew Bible is organized differently than the Christian Old Testament. It begins the same – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges – but after that, the order diverges. The Hebrew Bible ends with the miscellaneous “Writings.” Some of these books had earlier appeared in Robert Alter’s The Psalms, The Wisdom Books, and Strong as Death is Love. And I have now had the opportunity to read all but one of these in Alter’s translation, which is included in his magnum opus, The Hebrew Bible.

Daniel (especially without the “Catholic” chapters) feels like the same genre as the Qur’an, or Jubilees. Monotheistic, often inexplicable, told from the first person perspective of a prophet, this Hebrew version of Daniel is a bridge between faiths and texsts. And here Hebrew must be explained. The Book of Daniel known in the Hebrew Bible is the same as in Protestant Bibles, but much shorter than that in the Catholic and Orthodox bibles (where the narrative is expanded, Daniel’s official responsibilities are explored more, and the influences on the Qu’ran become more partial). But Daniel is only partially written in the Hebrew language, even in the “Hebrew” edition.…