*Biblical Prose Prayer as a Window to the Popular Religion of* *Ancient Israel*. By Moshe Greenberg. Pp. viii + 70. (Taubman Lectures in Jewish Studies, 6th Series.) Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 1983. $14.95 cloth; $3.95 paper.
A recurrent problem in the study of the ancient Near East is the difficulty of finding evidence about the populace at large in texts written by a literate minority, especially in literary texts which tend to concentrate on the actions of kings and other leaders. In this brief, splendid study, Moshe Greenberg argues that evidence about popular religion in ancient Israel can be found in the prose prayers embedded in narrative texts throughout the Hebrew Bible. These prayers differ from those in Psalms, which are polished poetic products of professional schools of liturgists and which functioned as a pre-packaged liturgy to be drawn upon as occasion demanded. Because the poetic prayers were composed (or selected) for wide applicability to standard types of situations, they lacked individual specificity. The prose prayers, on the other hand, appear to have been composed ad hoc to meet specific situations, to which they refer quite explicitly.
Some ninety-seven prose prayers are quoted in the Bible, nearly two-thirds as many as the prayers in Psalms. Despite their quantity these prose prayers have not been studied carefully in their own right nor utilized in the study of Biblical religion. Greenberg attributes this neglect in part to the fact that this material is embedded in narratives and could theoretically be part of the narrators' art and not a faithful reflex of actual prayers. While the form and content of the prose prayers do help narrators delineate their characters, Greenberg argues that the prayers are verisimilar even if not necessarily veridical. Their basic patterns remain constant throughout the Bible regardless of date or literary source, suggesting that they reflect the actual character of spontaneous prayer, not authors' conceits.
Another impediment to appreciation of the embedded prayers has been scholars' tendency to think only in terms of a dichotomy between spontaneous and prescribed prayers and to prefer one form or the other in accordance with changing scholarly notions of which better reflects a culture's values. Greenberg shows that the prose prayers occupy a middle ground between these extremes. Modeled on forms of inter-human speech such as petitions, confessions, and expressions of gratitude, the prose prayers share with these forms basic and simple patterns or outlines. Like all social behavior, such speeches and prayers are mixtures of spontaneity and prescription: "the components are supplied by the conventions attached to the situation; it falls to the individual to infuse the specific content into them according to circumstances" (pp. 44-45). Since even non-specialists, as modern experience shows, can master such simple outlines and fill them in, it is no surprise that the Biblical prose prayers are uttered not by priests or levites but by kings, prophets, and (in thirty-eight cases) by lay people (including pagans, as in Jonah), at any time and in any place. This, coupled with the evidence for their verisimilitude, indicates that the prose prayers reflect the piety of commoners, not only specialists.
What the prose prayers show about popular religion includes its conception of God as redresser of wrongs, constant, reliable, trustworthy and fair, and interested in protecting his reputation for such qualities. The assumption of the ready accessibility of the sole, high, and essentially just God contrasts with the normal Babylonian recourse in times of need to personal (usually minor) deities who are not necessarily just and whose assistance is not necessarily contingent on their clients' moral state. The artless, extemporaneous character of Israelite popular prayer implies an emphasis on content rather than formulation, unlike certain Babylonian and Roman prayers which could be invalidated by deviation from the prescribed wording.
Greenberg sees in certain aspects of popular prayer a key to several of the most important features of Biblical religion. The apparent frequency of prayer must have sustained a constant sense of God's presence. The unmediated accessibility of God to Everyman would have strengthened the egalitarian tendency of Israelite religion, a tendency which led to the application to commoners of priestly standards of conduct and ultimately led to the establishment of the synagogue. The fact that prayer was conceived to be analagous to a social transaction between persons brought to prayer the same emphasis on sincerity and content, rather than formulation, that is required in successful social interactions. The same social analogy, Greenberg suggests, may lie at the root of the classical-prophetic evaluation of worship as a gesture the acceptance of which is contingent on the worshipper's adherence to the values of God. Greenberg argues that the centuries-long persistence of classical prophecy without institutional support bespeaks a certain degree of public receptivity (however latent) to the prophets' doctrines, a receptivity which he credits to the popular life of prayer.
The argument throughout this study is characterized by the author's well-known sensitivity to religious issues, attention to detail, and clarity and economy of expression. Not the least appealing feature of the book is Greenberg's enthusiasm for the subject matter, which he explains at the end: "to a student of the Hebrew Scriptures, what can match the excitement of following a clue that promises to shed new light on the cause of ancient Israel's spiritual distinction and the vitality of its Scriptures down to our time?"
JEFFREY H. TIGAY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
PHILADELPHIA