"Had God Not Been on My Side": An Examination of the Narrative Technique of the Story of Jacob and Laban, Genesis 29,1-32,2 (review)

Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 198 Reviews In the end, Shaver argues that the Chronicler's History Work shows the influence of all strata of the Pentateuch, including the latest additions to P. However, he notes the tendency to combine legislation from various codes. His appeal to regulations that do not appear in the canonical torah suggests that the Chronicler did not possess a fixed text and that the torah to which he appealed had not been canonized. Despite numerous places where questions may be raised, Shaver's work is an important contribution to the growing literature on the Chronicler's appeal to an existent authority. One wishes the scope of Shaver's examination were larger and that the appeals to royal authority were compared with the use of Pentateuchal (or pseudo-Pentateuchal) sources. In the end, the Chronicler's use of combined legislation and royal "commandments" points to the ultimate futility of trying to reconstruct what specific texts the author had in mind. Rather, with 1 and 2 Chronicles the reader is entering into a world where perception is reality, where what one wants to be normative is a "commandment." Kenneth G. Hoglund Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC 27109 "HAD GOD NOT BEEN ON MY SIDE": AN EXAMINATION OF THE NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE OF THE STORY OF JACOB AND LABAN, GENESIS 29,1-32,2. By Stephen K. Sherwood. European University Studies: Series 23, Theology; Vol. 400. Pp. xix + 433. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1990. Paper. Readers should not be intimidated at the thought of more than 400 pages of stylistic analysis on just over three chapters of biblical text. This is not one of those tedious tomes from which you learn more about the quality of vowels or the patterning of chiasms in a pericope than you ever wanted to know (there is actually not much text on a page). Sherwood shows sound judgment in distinguishing important literary issues from accessory ones, and the result is a readable literary study that practitioners of historical criticism will also find useful. The discussion proceeds verse by verse, in commentary style, focusing on matters literary, but using the results of historical-critical scholarship where they can offer illumination. In spite of Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 199 Reviews a bibliography with references to modem theorists (Iser, Booth, Genette) and the appeal to the concept of an "implied reader," this is essentially a work of (the old) New Criticism, with attention to the traditional elements of narrative-plot, characterization, and point of view. The author's approach can best be described as exegetical with an emphasis on literary issues, or as what has come to be known in the field as close reading, to use his term. Sherwood divides the text into five episodes: (1) 29:1-14, (2) 29:15-30, (3) 29:31-30:24, (4) 30:25-43, (5) 31:1-32:2. Following Fishbane, Fokkelman, and others, he sees the material as arranged chiastically, with the account of the birth of Jacob's eleven sons and one daughter as the centerpiece. The competition between Rachel and Leah for children is framed by accounts dealing with competition between Jacob and Laban. These, in tum, are framed by the accounts of Jacob's arrival at and departure from his uncle's household (movement which has both spatial and symbolic meaning). The treatment of each episode consists of: (l) the Hebrew text arranged in "utterance units" (these can range in length from one word to many); (2) a literal translation in the same format; very brief comments on (3) the unity of the text and (4) textual problems (specific issues are dealt with in the close reading); (5) narrative analysis, which includes issues such as plot, suspense, characterization, point of view, and narratorial manipulation of the reader's response; (6) stylistic analysis, including a close reading of the text and comments on its literary (surface) structure; and (7) a semantic overview, where semantic fieldsfor example, time, space, warfare, family, childbearing-are listed, but their larger significance not discussed. The narrative analysis and stylistic analysis form the heart of the study, and much of the discussion is informative and illuminating. The failure to...