SUSANNA AND THE ELDERS

I have been spending decades of study delving into the literary structure of the books in the canonical Bible. One result has been that I can attest that every single book in the OT and the NT is characterized by a completely symmetrical organization in terms of repeated words, phrases, and themes. Now this can be due to two possible factors. It may be strictly a cultural phenomenon in which a common way of expressing ideas in writing shows up in all Jewish writings and in other literary productions heavily influenced by this biblical model. On the other hand, one could look upon it as a fingerprint of the Holy Spirit.

One way to logically distinguish between these two options is to look for similar literary hallmarks in two other places: the Jewish religious writings between the canonical OT and NT, many of which are found in the Greek Apocrypha. The other area to consider is the Christian writings such as that of the very early Church leaders as well as the later Christian pseudepigrapha of the Middle Ages and later.

The results of these studies (partially summarized in earlier posts such as “Symmetry in the Apocrypha,” “Book of Baruch,” “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha,” and “Chiasms in the Book of Mormon”) seem to indicate that literary symmetry is very strong throughout the OT; only partial or missing entirely in the books of the Apocrypha and OT pseudepigrapha; very strong throughout the NT; partial or missing entirely in the Apostolic Fathers and later Church Fathers; and almost non-existent in religious writings of the Middle Ages and later.

The inescapable conclusion is that we can consider a strongly symmetrical literary organization as a necessary but not necessarily sufficient mark of biblical canonicity. The study below of one of the books found in the Apocrypha, a stand-alone chapter added to the canonical book of Daniel, only confirms this contention.

If you are not familiar with this story, a favorite with Renaissance painters since it gave them the excuse to portraying feminine nudity in a religious setting, it concerns a righteous Jewish women who is stalked by two unscrupulous elders who want to have sex with her. They threaten to tell everyone, including her husband, that they caught her with a young man in a compromising situation unless she lies with them. She refuses; is condemned to death for committing adultery on the basis of their false testimony; is successfully defended by a young Daniel after he finds a discrepancy in their two accounts when he questions them separately; the elders are put to death instead; and everyone lives happily ever after.

The almost symmetrical organization of this story can be diagrammed as follows:

                                       Figure 1: Literary Structure of Susanna and the Elders

    A. Family at Peace

        B. Elders turn from God

            C. Bible quote – Daniel 13:5

                D. Elders united in plot

                    E. Elders accuse Susanna

                        F. Susanna condemned to death

                            G. Family in turmoil

    B'. Susanna turns to God

        C'. Bible quote – Exodus 23:7

                      E'. Daniel defends Susanna

              D'. Elders separated in questioning

                         F'. Elders condemned to death

A'. Family at Peace

In literary terms the story fits the classic definition of a U-shaped comedy in which a happy situation (A) is beset with problems (G), but these are later resolved (A') into a situation which is at least as favorable as at the start. Look how the designation of Susanna in terms of family relationships in these three highlighted sections mirrors this progression. In A, the order is Joakim, Susanna, and Hilkiah; this order is totally disrupted in G to Susanna, Hilkiah, Joakim; and finally in A' we see the exact mirror image of A as Hilkiah, Susanna, Joakim.

Another interesting nuance in the story is seen in the fact that according to OT law, any accusation must be made by two witnesses. But the false testimony of the two elders is effectively countered by the two biblical quotations at sections C and C', one from the Prophets and the other from the Law, and thus from God Himself.

But, as I have stated above, the mere presence of literary structure is not enough by itself to establish a work as a genuine creation of the Holy Spirit. And so we must also take into account the following problems with “Susanna and the Elders”:

    Verses 15-27 consist of a hopeless jumble of maids and other people coming in and out of two different garden doors which appears to make little sense from either a logical or literary viewpoint.

    The whole story assumes that earthly wealth has got to be the result of God blessing a person because of their righteous life. Joakim fits that definition to the point where judges and elders meet in his house constantly, and yet for some unexplained reason he himself is never considered by the people to be appointed to that role.

    There are several other inconsistencies in this tale. One is the improbability of a young man like Daniel barging on to the scene and being taken seriously by the judges who for some reason take his objections to the trial and denunciations of elders of the people seriously since “God has given you that right (v. 50).” We might think that the author is alluding to some of Daniel's earlier exploits found in the canonical book. However, it is only after the whole story is over that the narrator states that Daniel began to have any sort of reputation among the people (v. 64).

    Next, in Daniel's rantings and ravings he first calls Susanna “a daughter of Israel” (v. 48), but then in v. 57 he specifically says that she is not “a daughter of Israel” but “a daughter of Judah” instead. Thus, within the space of a few verses, Daniel apparently switches his definition of “Israel” from a reference to all Jews to the narrower idea of the Northern Kingdom versus the Southern one .

    Lastly, we are first told in v. 6 that the two corrupt elders were “frequently” in Joakim's house. But this is followed in verses 8 and 12 by the statement that they were there every single day. That fact alone should have made Joakim suspicious, as well as the fact that they just happened to be concealed in a garden behind locked doors while his wife was taking a bath.