The Materiality of Speech in Ancient Hebrew Instruction

This study explores the materiality of speech in ancient Hebrew instruction through the lens of Solomon’s legendary excess in the biblical tradition. Solomon’s excessive wealth and wisdom (1 Kgs 5:12, 10:23–25) suggest that his wise words were conceptualized as tangible, numerable speech-objects. Drawing on the language of instruction in Proverbs, which describes words as treasures to be stored, transmitted, and worn as protective amulets, the essay demonstrates an ontology where speech has its own agency and material effects on the body. Ultimately, inscribed text functions as a technology of this material speech, not as an ephemeral record but as an active repository that re-embodies the speaking voice, offering an “epistemological turn” in biblical studies that challenges anachronistic Cartesian dualisms.