Many thanks to Gary Rendsburg for his effort to deal with some very interesting nuances of our biblical literature. It is a difficult task with many nuances and difficult to deal with. I respond very positively to his effort, especially his brief analogy of word-play and alliteration marking closure and the entire discussion of the "smallest building blocks of biblical literature.

Might I ask that he clarify further about biblical literature as hearing what was spoken and his implied discussion of "oral tradition," especially how he departs from the work of Stith Thompson and Milman Parry. Much of such reiterative work is closely tied to the Masoretic pointing, which of course is much later than his assumed authors of "ancient Israel." I would also ask whether his ancient Israel refers to the Samaritan tradition of composition.

With most readers of this essay, I  would be very interested in a more expansive clarification of his critique of the classical documentary hypothesis.

Thomas L. Thompson

Professor emeritus, University of Copenhagen