The Book of J: A Review

I just finished re-reading The Book of J, by Harold Bloom (translated by David Rosenberg). The books of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) are comprised a four primary sources, usually designated by the letters J, E, D, and P. J stands for Jahweh or Yahweh because this source uses the name of Yahweh for God, while the E source uses Elohim for God. The J-Writer’s material starts in Genesis 2 and covers parts of the rest of Genesis, parts of Exodus and Numbers, and minute parts of Deuteronomy.

The Book of J, by Bloom and Rosenberg, is an attempt to isolate just the J material and organize it as its originally-intended, self-contained work.

Rosenberg, as translator, more or less succeeds. He brings out the books Ancient Near Eastern qualities. The reads more like an early 20^th century translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh than the New International Version or even the New American Standard. One thing that I greatly appreciate is the attempts to indicate the puns and wordplay in the original Hebrew. This doesn’t make for smooth reading but it does highlight the J-Writer’s talents as an author.

(I say “author” even though the commentator, Harold Bloom, frequently mentions his theory that the J-Writer was a woman.)

Other than Luke, the J-Writer is probably the greatest of the Biblical writers (Deutero-Isaiah, the author of Job, and the author of Judges is also up there). He had an enormous God-given talent for characterization, epic-writing, plot development, wordplay, and the arrangement of the historical material. He also had a profound reverence for Yahweh and a thorough understanding for how God was using the children of Abraham to bless the whole world and renew Creation.

Purely as literature, J’s work is an amazing achievement. He puts great characterization within the framework of an epic backdrop of history, intermixed with funny, tragic, and poignant scenes. Here Yahweh physically interacts with people, historic figures go from highs to lows to highs, angels and “gods” interact with humans, we have the intimacy of personal meals around the fire and the cataclysmic destruction of cities an armies. It’s sort of like the Hebrew version of The Lord of the Rings.

The portrayal of Yahweh is probably the best in the Bible. In the J source, Yahweh physically walks around with his people, making Man out of mud with his hands, enjoying a meal with Abraham, and personally burying Moses. Here Yahweh’s sense of humor is often on display. He jokes with his people, points out irony, and makes puns (On a side note: this is why I believe the pun is the highest form of humor and not the lowest). We also see Yahweh’s profound sense of justice for both his people and the injustices innocent people suffer everywhere, even if those people worship other gods. And even in the midst of his wrath at the injustices done, Yahweh shows both grace and patience, even to the most evil of people. You can see where Jesus got it from.

Some of the funniest (most disturbing?) parts of the book are the ways in which the J-Writer highlights the faults of Israel’s neighbors (the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites) by focusing on the sins and stupidity of their ancestors. Sure, he does it to Israel too … but he’s a little bit rougher on the distant relatives. Not very culturally sensitive based upon the contemporary notions in post-modernity … but if you have a problem with it … take it up with the J’s Editor.

I would not recommend the commentary in the second half of the book to too many people. Harold Bloom is a phenomenal literary critic with keen insights into literature but he doesn’t understand religion. Every time he has delved into realms of faith and practice it’s laughable. The Book of J is no exception. Read the commentary for the literary insights and skip over the inept attempts to talk about the ancient Yahweh-worship among the Israelites.