Methodological Problems in Intertextual Analyses of Old Testament Texts: Genesis 19 and Judges 19 as a Case Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The methodology of intertextual analysis of biblical texts consists of comparing two texts to identify points of thematic and lexical continuity between them. As the methodology requires close attention to lexical details, most intertextual analyses of OT passages use the MT version of both texts as the basis of comparison. This reliance on the MT raises a number of methodological concerns that can lead to misleading conclusions. Using the case of Genesis 19 and Judges 19 as an example, it will be argued that most of the claimed intertextual allusions in the latter text were introduced by a late redactor as literary embellishments to what was already a well-developed narrative. Although this conclusion is speculative, it nonetheless suggests that intertextual analysis that is limited to a comparison of two texts in their final MT versions understates the complexity and subtlety of the gradual compositional development process of biblical texts.