David J. A. Clines The Theme of the Pentateuch: Amazon.com: Books.

Sheffield, England:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1978. 167 Pages. Reviewed by Phill Christian

The Theme of the Pentateuch by David Clines is a book that attempts to

identify a primary theme in the books of Moses. It is a brief construct currently in its

second printing with an added preface and afterword. In this book, Clines attempts to

defend his thesis that the Pentateuch has a constant thread that permeates these

pages and that thread is the promise of blessings to the patriarchs. He states that the

theme of the Pentateuch is the partial fulfillmentwhich implies also the partial non-

fulfillmentof the promise to or blessing of the patriarchs. His formula has three

elements: posterity, divine relationship with God, and land.

David J. A. Clines is the Professor of Biblical Studies in the University of

Sheffield in England. His other books include The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew,

Interested Parties, and The Bible and the Modern World.

Clines argues that the Pentateuch is a unity in its final shape and suggests that

we should look at the text as a whole rather than to what may be behind the text in

the way of sources. He argues methodologically that a tendency towards dissecting

the text (atomism) will be avoided in this case and the text will be treated as literature.

A holistic approach, he says, is appropriate to the subject matter. Clines second point

about method is that the study of the origins and development of extant Biblical texts

(geneticism), which he considers an obsession, has produced meager results in the

past.

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 Moving into his more literary approach, Clines states that its overall theme

may as well be understood by a person who has never seen a printed Hebrew

Pentateuch. By that, Clines is stating that the theme should be easy enough to

understand by most readers. He begins this section with several definitions. The

theme of a narrative work, Clines states, may be regarded as a conceptualization of its

plot. Borrowing from W. F. Thrall and A. Hibbard, he says theme is the central or

dominating idea in a literary work. He understands theme as a rationale of the

content, structure, and development of the work, differentiated from similar terms

such as intention, motif, or subject. Interestingly, Clines believes that theme is an

item from the conceptual equipment of the literary critic, and not necessarily of the

creative artist.

Clines moves next to the indicators of theme in the Pentateuch. He briefly

shows that most of the books leave the reader with a sense of movement and of

looking towards the future. Yet, they leave the reader with the sense of a future

possibly in jeopardy. Deuteronomy 34:9 introduces Joshua and the land lying before

the people, yet no assurance that they will occupy that land. In Leviticus and

Numbers there is also movement towards the land. Clines argues that the impetus for

this movement is Gods promises made to the patriarchs. The indicators section of

the book is no more than a few pages with a few scriptural references used to

substantiate the identification of his thesis.

The next section of the book, formulations and expositions, lists the various

scripture references that describe the blessings made to the patriarchs. Included are

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the promise of descendants, the promise of relationship, and the promise of land.

Here, Clines shows clearly that these promises have indeed been made. He then goes

book by book, starting in Genesis, to describe how each one supports the three-

element theme. Clines then sums up his thesis. He says that in Genesis, it s the

promise of progeny that has predominated, in Exodus and Leviticus the promise of

the relationship of Yahweh and Israel, and in Numbers and Deuteronomy the

promise of the land.

Clines now backs up somewhat to discuss the opening theme of Genesis to

see if there might be a hint of the same promises. Along the way he notes several

other sub-themes in Genesis for consideration of fit into his suggested mould. He

considers on a trial and error basis the sin-speech-mitigation-punishment theme, the

spread-of-sin, spread-of-grace theme, and the creation-uncreation-re-creation theme.

But Clines never really settles on a theme for Genesis1-11, merely suggesting that it is

probably some combination of themes two and three.

No we come to the section on literary history and function where Clines

describes in more detail the concept of a promise and the concept of the partial

fulfillment of the promise. Here he describes briefly the function of the Pentateuch

and its intended audience. Clines states that it is generally assumed that the final

redaction of the Pentateuch took place in Babylon and that, historically, it is a

product of the Babylonian exile. He then goes on to state that the Pentateuch

functions as an address to or a self-expression of the exiles. Returning to his theme

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for a moment, Clines says For the Pentateuch especially, it is a divine promise and

not merely hope that creates and sustains its momentum.

Does Clines support his thesis of a three-element theme in a substantial way?

Only insofar as scriptural references support it. It is self-evident that the theme he

proposes does, in fact, exist in the Pentateuch. He lists many scripture references to

support statements of promise about seed, relationship, and land, although the

surrounding discussion and analysis is lacking in depth. Clines says very little about

alternative themes. Do the promises exist? Yes. Are they the major theme of the

Pentateuch? It is possible but not certain. Other then the references to specific

scripture there is little to support this theme being better than any others.

But, it is here at the end that Clines does something unusual. He adds an

afterword some twenty years after the writing. And, in this afterword, he essentially

tells the reader that they just may have wasted their time reading it. He says he now

feels a little differently and wants to distance himself somewhat from this book. Then

he adds I stand by most of what I wrote in the book. What seems unusual about

this particular afterword is the author stating that he might have written it differently

if he were writing it today. Clines suggests that he would now take a more political

orientation and focus more on land. He further states that the Pentateuch is and

always was a political document. That statement reflects a rather different orientation

than a thematic one.

The Theme of the Pentateuch by David Clines is a brief discussion of a theme

in the Pentateuch that merits reviewing. This reviewer suggests that, in order to do

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that, the reader skips to Chapter four and reads that one paragraph. It is a descriptive

summary of Clines statement of his theme. I would not recommend this book to

graduate or post-graduate students on the basis of its lack of organization, lack of

depth, and difficult language. Clines is no doubt a gifted scholar and teacher. There

are many writers that have tackled this topic with varying degrees of success. They

covered themes of covenant, themes of grace, and others. When it comes to themes

of the Pentateuch however, there are other books that explore this literary, narrative

approach more concisely and in greater depth.