Amos in Song and Book Culture

in Song and Book Culture, by Joyce Rilett Wood. Journal for Study of Old Testament Supplement Series, vol. 337. London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002. 256 pp. $80.00. This monograph, based on author's 1993 Toronto School of Theology dissertation, presents new of book of Amos. Distinguishing two editions of book, Wood regards each as a complete literary composition by different (p. 11). The first is cycle of seven poems featuring coherent narrative sequence composed by himself, while second relates to first as commentary to text. In Introduction, Wood claims that while book's literary inconsistencies rule out notion of single authorship, complex redaction-critical analyses also fail because of lack of objective criteria for assigning material to different historical strata. Thus rejecting assumption of multiple editorial levels, Wood maintains that notion of single exilic editor preserved Amos's prophetic text but thoroughly rewrote it and converted it into book with ten parts suffices to resolve book's literary problems (p. 15). Chapter 1 investigates Amos's written prophecy, which is understood as continuous poetic text of seven poems, in which subsequent poems develop thoughts of previous ones. Wood's identification of these poems is based largely on distinction by previous scholarship between prophet's original words and subsequent redactional additions. Occasionally, however, she departs from received wisdom, as for instance in case of 6:1 where Zion is taken to be authentic. The second chapter on Writing and Editing in Amos looks for traces of intrusion, which suggest presence of second stage of literary composition. Wood accepts common redaction-critical notion according to which ivdacrional additions are an attempt to adapt old text to changed historical circumstances, arguing that the reviser is not simply an editor but an author who totally rewrites original text by integrating it into new system of interpretation (p. 47). The editorial is thus understood not as separate composition but as a running commentary on Amos's [original] (p. 47), which often stands in tension with or opposition to original version (p. 48). Yet, end product is a single homogenized text with unified argument (p. 94). In Chapter 3, Wood develops her view that Amos's prophecy did not originate in numerous individual speeches or oracles but in song cycle meant to be performed before live audience. According to Wood, this song cycle had been composed for performance at marzeah feast, which she regards as counterpart to Greek poetic symposia of 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Rather controversially, Amos's original text is thus attributed to seventh-century Jerusalem rather than eighth-century Israel. However, with transition from song to book culture traces of live performance were removed, song cycle was converted into piece of history writing, and was turned from poet into larger-than-life prophet. Yet these were not only momentous modifications: book's exilic editor also turned original tragic poetry into U-shaped plot of comedy, movement Wood believes to be evident not only in book's overall structure (which in 9:11-15 ends on note of salvation) but also in its individual parts. …

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