The rock of Israel : a philological, historical and literary analysis of the epithet צור

Abstract

The focus of this dissertation is the biblical epithet צור, "rock", as found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and cognate texts in the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE. The dissertation endeavours to integrate a historical/etymological approach with literary critical analysis. Chapter 1 introduces the object of the study and surveys relevant scholarship. I suggest that despite past research, there is still much to say about the use of צור, both in the Hebrew Bible and in other ancient sources. Chapter 2 focuses exclusively on the etymology of צור and its use in cognate languages. Chapter 3 considers the available onomastic data and argues that צור became associated with the biblical tradition some time during the late Neo-Assyrian period (8th-7th c. BCE). Moreover, against the current trend in scholarship, Chapter 3 deconstructs the notion that personal names are a viable resource for reconstructing the history of ideas. In Chapter 4, I argue for four semiotic functions of צור. The epithet describes Yahweh's protective agency, his strength, his ontological status as a god and his role as a creator. In the final chapter I consider how צור functions as an element within the story-world of the Hebrew Bible. First, צור is used to characterise biblical figures negatively in both the Pentateuch and Chronicles. Second, there is an underlying tradition that Yahweh is a god who miraculously issues substances from natural rocks. Lastly, צור is closely affiliated with the character of Moses-as-prophet and facilitates plot continuity among subsequent characters that use צור. As such, any character who employs צור as an epithet is affiliated with Mosaic-prophetic authority.