Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 323 323 EISODUS AS EXODUS: THE SONG OF THE SEA other texts. Literary dependence within the earliest datable example of these works (in his opinion, Psalm 78) indicates the authoritative status of Exod 15 already by the 8th century; this increases the like- lihood that the poem derives from a more antiquated period 10. Rus- sell’s analysis brings new considerations to the evaluation of the linguistic evidence in Exod 15, but there are limitations to the cer- titude involved in the literary connections he discusses. At the heart of the matter is the question of whether the allusions Russell iden- tifies draw from a fixed textual form of Exod 15, or if all of these texts draw from a common oral Fundtradition of lexical conven- tion, of which Exod 15 eventually emerged as the outstanding ex- ample. If this is the case, then an early date for Exod 15 is not assured 11. Consequently, the poem’s viability as a window into Iron I Israelite socio-cultic consciousness remains in question. Conversely, if we could determine that Exod 15 was already a fixed literary entity by the time the aforementioned texts were penned, then the intertextual links Russell identifies would indeed be quite suggestive of direct dependence of the latter upon the for- mer. It would further indicate that the writer who set the poem into a textual form utilized a widely known and normative rendition of the poem that would effectively appeal to his intended audience, commanding their attention and theological interest. In this case, the links Russell identifies need not strictly be a matter of a literary citation of a text but the recital of a familiar, authoritative oral tra- dition (F.M. Cross has already argued convincingly that Exod 15 is best seen as originating in an oral milieu) 12. Moreover, if a period of textualization can be determined, a stronger case for dating the origination of the poem may be made, for the oral composition of the work must necessarily predate its textualization. Before adopt- ing the view that Exod 15 is indeed an Iron I period composition — and thus a window into Israelite thought and culture in that pe- riod – additional evidence must be mustered regarding the process 10 RUSSELL, Song, 130. 11 RUSSELL himself admits this possibility (Song, 100). The model of a Fundtradition is discussed thoroughly by P. SANDERS, The Provenance of Deuteronomy 32 (OTS 32; Leiden 1996) 34-35, 374-377. Deuteronomy 32 will be discussed further below as a control by which additional qualifica- tions may be brought to bear on the textualization of Exod 15. 12 On the oral provenance of the poem, see CROSS, CMHE, 120-123. See also ID., From Epic to Canon (Baltimore, MD 1998) 139-141.