Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 22:2 (NA 2012)
Article: Rewriting Prophets In The Corinthian Correspondence: A Window On Paul’s Hermeneutic
Author: J. David Stark

BBR 22:2 (2012) p. 225

Rewriting Prophets In The Corinthian Correspondence:
A Window On Paul’s Hermeneutic

J. David Stark

Faulkner University

Recent discussions of “rewritten Bible” have largely focused on generic characteristics that might define and hold together usefully a certain body of Jewish literature. But more profitable is a characterization of rewritten Bible that stresses the hermeneutical process that has produced a given “rewriting” of a biblical text. When appreciated, this way of considering rewritten Bible also provides a firmer basis for connecting these documents with Paul’s letters and elucidating these letters’ hermeneutics. For example, juxtaposing 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17 with L.A.B. 50:2 and Tg. Neb. Jer 9:22–23 highlights the Corinthian letters’ transformation of 1 Kgdms 2:10 and Jer 9:23 (MT, OG; English: v. 24) within the world-restructuring narrative of יהוה’s acts in Jesus.

Key Words: Paul, Jesus, Pseudo-Philo, Targum of the Prophets, hermeneutics, use of the OT in the NT, 1 Kgdms 2:10, Jer 9:23 (MT, OG; English: v. 24), 1 Cor 1:31, 2 Cor 10:17, L.A.B. 50:2, Tg. Neb. Jer 9:22–23

Introduction

In the broadest sense of the phrase, any use of Jewish Scripture by a later author(s) could be understood to constitute a form of “rewritten Bible.”1 The phrase “rewritten Bible” has, however, come to have a technical meaning whereby it designates a certain body of ancient Jewish literature. The precise shape of this body of literature continues to be debated, but even with consensus on this specific point as far away as it is, rewritten Bible can contribute valuable information to the study of Paul’s use of Scripture. Aided by a slightly redirected definition of the category that stresses hermeneutical process over generic characteristics, rewritten Bible provides a particularly useful foil for studying Paul’s citations in 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17 and the hermeneutical paradigm on which these citations’ validity implicitly rests. In this case, Paul’s connections with rewritten Bible texts especially help disclose how the Corinthian letters transform