The poems in the Torah are stylistically, theologically, and linguistically different from the prose narratives surrounding them. They include traces of earlier dialects of Hebrew, Ancient Near Eastern mythical motifs, and resemble an 8th century B.C.E. poetic fragment from Kuntillet Ajrud—all of which suggest that they are ancient remnants of earlier Israelite literature.
In 1096, the Crusaders captured the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks. On the way, they stopped in Jewish communities throughout the Rhineland and massacred them in the name of Christ. Robert the Monk drew on the biblical song of the sea to highlight God’s support for the crusade, while the Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson used Psalms and Lamentations to articulate Jewish suffering and martyrdom.
Miriam and the Israelite women echo briefly the famous Song of the Sea sung earlier in Exodus 15… or do they? A closer examination reveals a more prominent role for Miriam and provides information about women as musical performers using song, dance, and drums in ancient Israel.
The final phrase of Haazinu (Deut 32:1-43) in the MT, וכפר אדמתו עמו, “and he will atone for his land, his people,” is difficult to parse. The textual variants from Qumran, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint offer a clearer, if more dismal, understanding of the phrase.
Deuteronomy 32 imagines God as a father, an eyelid, an eagle, a nursing mother, and a protective rock. Why so many metaphors?
Traditional and critical perspectives on the ending of the Torah.
