Abstract
The present volume is intended to introduce readers at the college level, and interested others, to the Pentateuch (= the Torah), the first section of the tripartite canon of the Hebrew Bible (= the Old Testament). No previous knowledge is assumed by the authors, who generally provide a great deal of basic information. The Preface announces that individual commentaries will be forthcoming on each of the five books, in turn, and speaks of looking at the Torah ‘through a Persian lens.’ By this is meant, as we shall see, that the authors date almost all of the contents of the Torah to the Persian (= Achaemenid) Period (ca. 560-333 BCE), and are of the view that it can best be understood against that historical background, rather than earlier, pre-exilic periods.
After a review of the present state of Pentateuchal research, the authors proceed to set forth their collective position on the ‘shape, dating, and audience’ of the Torah, providing a valuable, in-depth review of what is now known about ‘Yehud in the Persian Period.’ Yehud (an Aramaic rendition of the Hebrew Yehûdāh) was the homeland province where the Torah was written, in their view, after the return from the Babylonian Exile. This is followed by a lengthy treatment of themes in Torah literature, covering many subjects of interest – cultural, historical, literary, and theological. Bibliographies are provided for each section, along with notes and indices, of ‘ancient citations,’ and of authors cited. There is a glossary of relevant terms, and several maps are provided for orientation. Of special interest is the fact that the several sections of the book are not individually attributed; all four authors speak as one on every subject. We are hearing from a school of thought, or, at least, that is what we are meant to conclude!
A critique of the present volume will necessarily focus on its strong advocacy of the view that the Torah is almost entirely a product of the Persian period, at the earliest. This has been the hallmark of the scholars of the Sheffield-centered group, whose exponents reject source-critical hypotheses, such as were expounded by J. Welhausen, and others, approaches that assign Torah texts to both early and late periods. Although there is surely a need to modify existing theories in the light of new findings, the essential identification of literary sources based on language and composition, historical indicators, and comparative evidence ought not to be dismissed. It is, after all, this very combination of methods that has led many scholars to assign the priestly writings to the Persian period, and which, if carefully applied, would also make it possible for us to discern in the Torah contemporary responses to the life experience of northern Israelites and Judeans in the homeland at earlier periods.
Since the priestly writings of the Torah most probably derive from the Persian period, the learned survey of Persian period Yehud presented in this volume is directly relevant, and most welcome, even though the information it provides is not fully applied to the interpretation of specific Torah texts, as it can be. Its very inclusion, however, advances the scholarly conversation, which more often than not fails to take evidence from the Persian Period into account in addressing the Torah. It is ironic, then, that the authors of this volume did not evaluate the realism of other strata of Torah literature in the same way.
There is a lot missing from this introductory volume, which is unfortunately so pervaded by issues of editorial composition and dating that there is relatively little attention paid to the Torah as literature. How does the Torah narrate its stories, formulate its laws, and expound its ideas? What are its messages, and how are we to read its poetry? The lengthy section on ‘Key Themes in the Pentateuch’ is simplistic; it instills a feeling of condescension, merely presenting a topical review of content. One wonders whether reading this book will enhance one’s appreciation of the lasting qualities of the Torah. It is hoped that the anticipated commentaries will make up for this inadequacy, and explore the Torah’s meanings.