Two Polyphonic Narrations

Polyphonic Narrations

Polyphonic Narration is a biblical literary technique for presenting two competing narratives “almost simultaneously.” In its Creation Story, the Torah presents two views of man. The first chapter describes man as intrigued by the drama of the cosmos and entrusted with conquering and mastering nature; the second chapter describes man in covenantal terms as submitting to something greater than himself with whom he can share in a community. These two narrations are presented consecutively, one chapter after another.¹

However, life is not usually easily compartmentalized. Contrasting narrations need not necessarily reflect an inner contradiction in the nature of man, what R. Soloveitchik describes as “[m]an’s dialectical seesawing between the cosmic and covenantal experience of God . . .”² They might just as well reflect competing perspectives on the nature of an event. Rather than presenting two narrations consecutively, the narrations might be presented “almost simultaneously” as a polyphonic narration, as if two narrators are standing side-by-side, each alternately interrupting each other to present one and then the other version of the story. When seen this way, the contradictions and repetitions that commentators have noticed over the centuries suddenly make sense. There are repetitions because each is narrating the same event; there are contradictions because they have competing perspectives.

The Flood is the first biblical story so presented. The Flood was a cataclysmic event on both the cosmic and covenantal level. Its narration encompassed not only the rupture of nature, but the breach of the relationship between man and the God who breathed life into him and imposed on him a moral order. These two narrations are presented in a polyphonic form, the particulars of which are presented in fullness and detail elsewhere³ and not repeated here. We present here two further examples of Polyphonic Narrations, one from the Torah and the other from the Prophets.

The Story of the Parting of the Sea

Chapter 14 of Exodus relates the story of the parting of the Red Sea. The Israelites are standing by the sea and Pharaoh’s army is closing in on them. The Israelites cry out in terror and God parts the sea for them. When the Egyptians chase after them, the sea closes on them, leaving the Israelites saved and the Egyptians killed.

But, as we read the chapter closely, some questions arise. For example, verses 4 and 17-18 seem to duplicate each other, as in both God announces he will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue the fleeing Israelites. How was it that people of faith who cried unto the LORD (Exodus 14:10) suddenly in the next verse turn with complaints to Moses, an inconsistency noted by Ramban on the verse. Indeed, what was the result of the Israelites’ complaint? There were times that the complaining of the Israelites in the desert changed the course of Jewish history, says Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.⁴ But what would have happened differently here had the Israelites not protested in panic?

These sorts of difficulties are resolved if we read the chapter as presenting two narrations that the Torah chooses to present “almost simultaneously.” One describes the original plan as if it had played out, and another describes the actual outcome after the Israelites responded in complaint when seeing the Egyptians closing in on them; the two have subtle differences in their details.

In the first narrative, God announced His intention to force Pharaoh to take his army to pursue the Israelites to the sea, and Moses said to the people that God would battle for them. The angel of God and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of the people to behind them to protect them from the Egyptians as they moved through the sea bed, blown dry almost naturally by a strong east wind. The Egyptian army was thrown into panic when they saw what was happening as they reached the sea. As the waters returned to their natural state they tried to flee, but God destroyed them, leaving them dead on the shore of the sea.

In the second, actual narrative, the people panicked when they saw the Egyptians approaching – apparently not having been told by Moses that this was part of God’s plan, seeing as a more dramatic demonstration was required to reestablish confidence in God and Moses. The sea was not parted almost naturally by a wind, but rather was split, with the water miraculously forming a wall on the right and the left as Moses lifted his hand. The Egyptians were drawn into the created channel and drowned when the wall of water collapsed upon them, again as Moses lifted his hand. And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the LORD had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD; they had faith in the LORD and His servant Moses (Exodus 14:31).

Read as a Polyphonic Narrative, Exodus 14 exhibits two characteristics: reading down each of two parallel tracks, each narrator has a complete story to tell (the “Intended outcome,” beginning with God’s announced plan in vv. 1-4 and 8-10, His instruction to Moses to split the sea in vv. 15-18, the shifting pillar of cloud in vv. 19-20, and the destruction of the Egyptian army in vv. 24-25 and 27b-28; and the “Actual outcome,” running through the people’s complaint in vv. 11-14, Moses’ reassurance in vv. 13-14, and the miraculous wall of water in vv. 21c-23, 26, and 27a, 29-30); and the two narrators continually interrupt each other, verse by verse, in an attempt to tell their own version, before the chapter closes with the shared conclusion in v. 31 that Israel feared the Lord and had faith in Him and in Moses.

The Story of the Treaty with the Givonites

The narrative of the treaty with the Givonites is presented in Joshua chapter 9 with what seems at first glance to have problematic duplications. For example, Joshua asks whether the Givonites are from afar after the same question is asked by the people. Also, there are two contracts of peace and two discoveries of the deception.

However, the duplications are understandable when we read the chapter as two competing narratives being presented “almost simultaneously.” The Givonites speak to Joshua and also to the people and the chieftains, not knowing to whom their plea should be addressed. The people grab the microphone, so to speak, and ask if they are locals, mistakenly thinking that a peace treaty cannot be offered to locals. Joshua ignores their assumption of authority and himself asks from whence they came, knowing that the law is that locals and others are treated equally if they accept surrender, and differ in consequences only when they refuse.⁵ The only part of their response that concerns Joshua is that they were instructed to go to them and say: We will be your subjects; come make a pact with us (Joshua 9:11). The people, however, mistakenly thinking that the Givonites suing for peace would be irrelevant if they are locals, focus on the part of their response that was irrelevant to Joshua: their worn provisions and cracked wineskins (Joshua 9:12-13). Without seeing the need to seek guidance, the people and the chieftains made a pact with them. Joshua, ignoring their action, makes his own pact.

After three days, everyone finds out the deceit, but they react differently. The chieftains are furious that they have been tricked out of being able to kill them, as they understood was required. Joshua, on the other hand, is angry at the unnecessary deception, but aware that the Givonites were well entitled to a treaty without any deception required for a peace treaty.

Read as a Polyphonic Narrative, Joshua 9 runs two tracks side by side: the “Peoples’ and Chieftains’ Narration,” in which the men of Israel ask the Givonites whether they live among them (v. 7), focus on the physical evidence of a long journey (vv. 12-14), take their word without inquiring of the Lord, and the chieftains later swear the oath and, on discovering the deception, are furious and want to renege (vv. 16-21); and “Joshua’s Narration,” in which Joshua himself asks who they are and where they come from (v. 8), makes a pact establishing friendship and sparing their lives (v. 15a), and, on discovering the deception, condemns their trickery but nonetheless honors the substance of the treaty, sparing them and consigning them to labor as hewers of wood and drawers of water (vv. 22-27).

Conclusion

Biblical narratives at times present difficulties involving duplication and contradiction. Over the years various approaches have been suggested to resolve these difficulties, from the traditional to the critical. The concept of Polyphonic Narration can be used to read the Bible in a different way, a way that may resolve some of the textual difficulties readers encounter.