JBL 112/3 (1993) 479-485 WORDPLAY AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN DANIEL 5 AND 6 BILL T. ARNOLD Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, OH 44805-4099 With the rise of narratology, it has become clear that meaning in a text cannot be separated from an analysis of its literary techniques. 1 The use of paronomasia as a rhetorical technique is pervasive in Biblical Hebrew poetry, but it is possible for Israelite authors of narrative to use wordplays, especially as "theme words," which may be used to connect several units of material. 2 The examples discussed here are either metaphonic paronomasia (i.e., the play is created by slight vowel changes in the root) or antanaclastic (i.e., a single word is repeated with a different sense). 3 I hope to demonstrate that these wordplays in Daniel 5 and 6 are not only subtle literary devices but that they also bear significant theological content. The narrative techniques of these chapters are not typical of the entire book, though I believe they illustrate the literary artistry of the whole. I. Daniel 5 Of course, Dan 5:25-28 contains an obvious wordplay in the form of the message that was mysteriously inscribed on the wall, rudely disrupting Bel- shazzar's soirée. But the esoteric message on the wall is not the only paronym in Daniel 5. 4 The opening verses of the chapter tell of Belshazzar's banquet and his command to use the sacred vessels from Jerusalem. In the narrator's description of the vessels, we are twice told they were "brought forth" (haphel of nepaq, w. 2 and 3). Then in v. 5, the same verb is employed, this time in 1 L Alonso-Schokel, "Hermeneutical Problems of a Literary Study of the Bible," in Congress Volume Edinburgh 1974 (VTSup 28, Leiden Brill, 1975) 1-15 2 Gary Rendsburg has discussed the possibilities of paronomasia as an important connecting technique (The Redaction of Genesis [Winona Lake, IN Eisenbrauns, 1986] 5) 3 For the terminology used here, see J J Gluck's widely used article "Paronomasia m Biblical Literature," Semitics 1 (1970) 50-78, and Robert Β Chisholm, "Wordplay in the Eighth-Century  Prophets," BSac 144 (1987) 45-48  4  Strictly speaking, "paronym" is unrelated to "paronomasia" But following the lead of A  Guillaume ("Paronomasia m the Old Testament,"/SS 9 [1964] 282-90), I will use it here to denote  a word employed for paronomastic purposes Besides the wordplay discussed here, one should  also refer to Al Wolters, "Untying the King's Knots Physiology and Wordplay in Daniel 5," JBL 110 (1991) 117-22  479