Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job.

• Author: Creason, Stuart
• Position: Review

By SCOTT B. NOEGEL. JSOT Supplement Series, vol. 223. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 1996. Pp. 223. $45 (cloth).

This book, the published version of Noegel's dissertation, is an examination of the phenomenon of Janus (or polysemous) parallelism with particular, though not exclusive, reference to the book of Job. It still retains the form of a dissertation having two rather short introductory chapters, one introducing the phenomenon itself and one surveying the literature on the subject. They are followed by a long chapter (pp. 39-130) analyzing every proposed occurrence of Janus parallelism in the book of Job and a short conclusion outlining some implications of the study. Four appendices, a bibliography, and two indices round out the book. One of the explicit goals of this study is to highlight the use of wordplay and ambiguity as a deliberate poetic device utilized by ancient Near Eastern writers. Although one can only applaud Noegel for this intention, his execution is less than satisfying and the work has some serious flaws.

The book's fundamental flaw is the absence of a definition of Janus parallelism, though numerous proposed examples of it are cited in the first two chapters. The classic example is found in Song of Songs 2:12 which contains the ambiguous word [Arabian Text Omitted], "pruning" or "song." If this word means "pruning," then it is parallel to "blossoms" in the preceding line. If it means "song," then it is parallel to "call of the turtledove" in the following line. Few, if any, of Noegel's examples fit this pattern, however. The definition that Noegel seems to have in mind is much broader and may be stated as "the occurrence of a potentially ambiguous word (or words) which if understood in one way would have some semantic connection to something in the preceding line and if understood in another way would have some semantic connection to something in the following line."

A fairly typical example of one of Noegel's proposed Janus parallels is in Job 21:12-13, which Noegel translates: "They carry a drum and lyre[.They] rejoice to the sound of a pipe. Their days [Arabian Text Omitted] in goodness. In a moment they descend to Sheol" (p. 73). Noegel claims that the verb [Arabian Text Omitted] could derive from [Arabian Text Omitted] "waste away, consume" or [Arabian Text Omitted] "carry, bear along." He then comments: "As the former, the stich reads 'their days are worn out in goodness,' and as the latter, 'their days...