Basic Concepts of Tracking God^©

In Bible stories, there is an elaborately integrated system of repetitions.  Some of these repetitions are dependent upon the actual recurrence of the individual words or short phrases.  Other repetitions are linked to actions, images, and ideas that are part of the story "world" we as readers "reconstruct" in our minds as we read, but which are not necessarily woven into the verbal texture of the story itself.  Learning to pay attention to these repetitions will increase our appreciation and understanding of God message to us as recorded in the Scriptures.  The depth of the message will unfold before us.

There are five basic forms of repetition:

1. Leitwort

•  A word-root is explored creating a play on that word
•  Different forms of the same word are used in the story to add depth of meaning and color to the narrative
•  The repeated words can be phonic relatives, synonyms, or antonyms

  Examples: go and return in the story of Ruth and to see in the story of Balaam

2. Motif

A concrete image, sensory quality, action, or object that recurs in a story.  It has no meaning in itself without the defining context of the story in which it is found.  Examples:

•  Fire in the Samson narrative
•  Stones and the colors white and red in the Jacob narrative
•  Water in the Moses cycle of stories
•  Dreams, prisons, and silver in the Joseph story

3. Theme

An idea which is part of the value-system of the story.  Examples:

•  The reversal of the birthright for the first born in the book of Genesis
•  Obedience vs. rebellion in the wilderness wandering narrative of Exodus
•  Knowledge in the Joseph narrative
•  A promised land and exile (for Israel)
•  Rejection and election of a king (1 Samuel)

4. Sequence of Actions

This pattern appears most commonly and most clearly in the folk tale form of three consecutive repetitions, or three plus one, with some intensification, concluding in a climax or a reversal of events and outcomes.  Examples:

•  Second Kings chapter one—Three captains threatened with fire
•  Job—Three catastrophes followed by a fourth
•  Balaam—His failure to direct his donkey three times

5. Dialogue

Interplay between telling a story in the third person and allowing the participants to tell their own story. 

Serves two functions:

•  Changes the speed of the story
•  Points out important details

Examples:

•  Genesis 3—God, Adam and Eve
•  Genesis 4—God and Cain

(from Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, pp. 75, 95-96)

Basic Concepts, page 4

Basic Concepts, page 6