Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 417
1940: 108-9; Sendrey 1969: 373; C. Meyers 1991: 18), which means it was not,
strictly speaking, a tambourine or timbrel. Numerous depictions of ancient
musicians holding hand-drums, most of them women, have come to light. For
pictures of terra-cotta figurines and other artwork depicting ancient drum-
mers, see ANEP^2 63 #l 99, #202, #203; 64 #204, #211; cf. 272-73; and Meyers.
None of these drums show dangling metal. Actually, tambourines and tim-
brels are not attested before the thirteenth century A.D. (C. Sachs 1940: 289).
The hand-drum was a symbol of joy (Gen 31:27; Isa 24:8) and was played on a
variety of occasions. In the biblical tradition, hand-drums and other instru-
ments, played by both men and women, are said to have accompanied singing
and dancing in sacred worship (2 Sam 6:5; 1Chr13:8; Ps 149:1-3; 150:4), pro-
phetic ecstasies (1 Sam 10:5), victory celebrations where the women sang and
played when the warriors returned from battle (Exod 15:20-21; Judg 11:34;
1 Sam 18:6; Ps 68:26[Eng 68:25]), late night parties (Isa 5: 12; 24:8; Job 21: 12),
and yearly festivals (Isa 30:29-32; Ps 81:3-4[Eng 81:2-3]), which is what the
present oracle anticipates (v 6). The festival here is likely the joyful harvest fes-
tival (Feast of Booths), because planting and reaping are mentioned. McKane
is bothered by a lack of continuity (more properly a lack of sequentiality) in
w 2-5, then again in v 6, where the festival dancing and drum-playing come
before the planting and ingathering, and the call to make the pilgrimage is men-
tioned last. But sequentiality or logical progression, as we have said repeatedly,
is not required in Hebrew rhetorical discourse, especially poetry (see Note on
1:15). The oracle here has simply to be heard as a whole without regard to the
verse-by-verse presentation of ideas. A similar lack of logical progression oc-
curs in Ps 81:3-4[Eng 81 :2-3 ]), where the call to sing and play instruments
precedes the trumpet call announcing that the feast is at hand.
and go forth in the dance of merrymakers. See again v 13. Maidens playing
the hand-drum are a sure indication that there will be singing and dancing. At
the harvest festival young maidens are prominent; recall the "daughters of
Shiloh" in Judg 21:19-21. On "merrymakers" (meiabaqfm), see Note for 30:19.
The term for dance is meQ<Jl (from bul, "to whirl"); thus dancing will be in a
circle. The LXX (meta synagoges), S, and T have "with a community" instead
of "in the dance." Becking (1994a: 157) thinks (in the case of LXX) that this
could result from misreading biqhal for bimbOl. The LXX makes the same
substitution in v 13. Read the MT, with Snaith (1945: 24), supported now by
4QJer°.
- Again you'll plant vineyards on Samaria's mountains. Mention of "Sa-
maria's mountains" is a clear indication that this oracle has Northern Israel in
view. These are the mountains in and around Samaria (Amos 3:9), not just the
mountain of Samaria itself. Vineyards will be planted as usual, in terraces on
the mountain slopes (cf. Isa 5:1).
planters shall plant and eat the fruit. Hebrew webillelu is lit., "and (they)
will profane," which refers here to eating the fruit after it has been set aside as
holy. According to Levitical law, fruit of newly planted trees (and vines) could
not be eaten until the fifth year (Lev 19:23-25). The first three years, the fruit
