Exegesis of Canonical Texts
In some instances the Hebrew
prophetic books record puns that reference other authoritative texts. These (pre-)canonical
texts form the frame in which the understanding of the audience should proceed,
according to the author. Evidence of such a canon-exegetical function among the
puns of the Hebrew prophets is attested in Isa 54:8ff. In běšeṣep qeṣep (v.
8) the hapax legomenon šeṣep most probably is a phonetic variant of šṭp
“flood,” which has been created by the author of the present text in order to
form the phrase šeṣep qeṣep “flood of wrath.” This norm-breaking assonance
not only attracts the attention of the audience, but connects the saying with
the story of Noah and the Flood, which clearly is mentioned in v. 9: kî mê Nōăḥ
zō’t lî “because this is the water of Noah for me.” The sense of the
connection created by the author is clear: as in the times of Noah, so all in
the present is the wrath of God powerful and devasting but salutary and
transitory as well. (Stefan Schorch, “Between Science and Magic: The
Function and Roots of Paronomasia in the Prophetic Books of the Hebrew Bible,”
in Puns and Pundits: Word Play in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern
Literature, ed. Scott B. Noegel [Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2000], 214,
emphasis in bold added; note how this indicates that the wrath of God is [1] real, not analogical and [2] can be propitiated. For more on this, see