Abstract
A
This thoroughly revised doctoral dissertation approaches the threefold exile of Judah's inhabitants in the early sixth century from the perspective of contemporary research into forced migrations, prioritizing the experience of the exiles during this period (rather than those left in Judah). A. understands neo-Babylonian forced migration (not ‘deportation’) policy in economic and social terms and interprets the literature of this period in light of the social structures produced by these migrations. A series of specific texts are interpreted as literature of the first generation (Psalm 137), the 1.5 generation (those forced to migrate as older children or adolescents; Jeremiah 29), the second generation (Isaiah 43) and the third generation (Numbers 32). The volume, with its distinctive style, proposes an interesting way to account for the variety of material deriving from this significant period and will no doubt be much discussed in future research.
C.L. C
B
Perhaps unusually for a collection of conference papers, this volume from the 2009 joint meeting of SOTS and OTW deserves to become required reading for students of ancient Israelite historiography. Grabbe took responsibility for the editorial introduction, and although he there defends his decision to place his own presidential paper (‘The Case of the Corrupting Consensus’) first in the following collection of papers, in fact the paper appears precisely in its alphabetical position. Marinus Koster (‘The Old Testament as a Diachronic Corpus’) and Keith W. Whitelam (‘Resisting the Past: Ancient Israel in Western Memory’) explore the present ideological landscape within and beyond OT scholarship respectively, and Whitelam's illustrative maps join those of John R. Bartlett (‘Mercator in the Wilderness: Numbers 33’) at the back, regrettably unable to convey the full colourful impact of their original presentation. Harm van Grol (‘Three Hasidisms and their Militant Ideologies: 1 and 2 Maccabees, Psalms 144 and 149’) defends the evidence for Hasidism against Grabbe's reservations, whereas Andrew D.H. Mayes (‘Pharaoh Shishak's Invasion of Palestine and the Exodus from Egypt’) and Klaas Spronk (‘History and Prophecy in the Book of Judges’) each offer ingenious suggestions favouring coherent ideological composition over historical evidence. Becking (‘David between Ideology and Evidence’) presents the minimum evidence for David, whereas Jill Middlemas (‘The Greek Esthers and the Search for History: Some Preliminary Observations’) discusses what ‘history’ might actually have meant to ancient interpreters. Perhaps most informatively, Meindert Dijkstra (‘Origins of Israel between History and Ideology’) and Nadav Na'aman (‘Does Archaeology Really Deserve the Status of a “High Court” in Biblical Historical Research?’) apply archaeological expertise to questions of silence, in ideological texts or in material evidence respectively.
J.E. P
B
Although not indicated in the title, this is primarily an investigation of the historicity of Joshua. B. concludes, contrary to most contemporary opinion, that there is a lot of history in this narrative, that there is a memory from the Late Bronze Age of several ‘tens of thousands of people’ invading from Transjordan (p. 585). Many readers will have some problems with how he gets to this conclusion. For one thing, it seems to me that there is a lot of choosing from among opinions rather than real argument. For example, he chooses to accept ‘the opinion favoured by Ben-Tor, namely that the entity later called “Israel” in the Merneptah Stela destroyed Hazor’ (p. 580), even though there is not one shred of evidence to support this supposition. So far as I can see—though the text is rather long and rambling—B. nowhere answers the question of where these ‘several tens of thousands’ of Israelites in the Transjordan came from. Having often quoted conservative evangelicals with approval in his discussion, in his short Epilogue he bravely asks whether his firm theological presuppositions might have influenced his research, but answers that they did not. One cannot help wondering whether the gentleman doth protest too much.
L.L. G
C
Riding through this book without saddle and irons demands more than leg strength: the dedicatory list of ponies makes the strongest stomach lurch, and references to ‘this author’, ‘emphasis added’ (i.e. ‘my italics’), ‘equids’ and ‘it is key’ are stumbling-blocks. What, then, of its content? The ‘hamstringing’ of captured horses, says C. (√'QR, a rare usage in the Bible), was not what the modern reader would assume, but a disablement leading to eventual recovery. She does not feel able to conclude whether it was Solomon or the Omrides who were instrumental in building a significant chariot force, but her careful analysis of the stabling and training facilities at Megiddo is a welcome correction of former misinterpretations of the archaeological evidence. The discussion of the relative speeds and efficacy of chariots and cavalry in battle is also illuminating. Surprisingly, there is little or no comment on the point that biblical references to chariots occur mostly in the later prophets. Despite the subtitle referring to the ‘monarchic’ period, the Exodus is mentioned. The superiority, on suitable terrain, of the armed chariot over those on foot makes the escape over the Sea of Reeds even more remarkable; but when, where, and to whom it happened, is a problem upon which no enlightenment is shed. More minor matters concern how the stable-lads coped with laminitis, colic and the like. As will be obvious, this book is an uneven treatment of its subject.
D. W
E
The question of old age and the process of ageing is given prominent attention in the modern world, and this study provides a careful and thorough review of the portrayals of the subject in the Old Testament. Beginning with a short survey of modern studies of the biblical material and the relevant Hebrew terminology, it considers the topic under three aspects: biological, sociological and psychological. In each area the relevant texts are examined from a critical perspective, noting the physical and social consequences of ageing. The social aspects inevitably receive the closest examination where legal and wisdom passages reflect ethical issues arising from the changes brought on by ageing. These passages call for public attitudes of respect in the community and the upholding of family responsibilities towards its older members. A concluding section summarizes the most significant conclusions. The presentation is excellently done, with numerous tables grouping passages related to a theme and a comprehensive bibliography of relevant studies. Altogether this is a valuable bringing together of material on a subject which relates directly to ethical issues that figure prominently in admonitions, laws and wisdom reflections on the nature of human life.
R.E. C
G
Whereas Egypt is most commonly associated with Israel's flight from and to the Promised Land in biblical literature, this revised dissertation (supervised by M.P. O'Connor and C.T. Begg at the Catholic University of America) concentrates in its exegetical chapters on a less well-known topos—Egypt as a place of refuge. Chapter 4 analyses Hadad the Edomite's flight to Egypt (1 Kgs. 11.14–12.24), ch. 5 ‘The Understanding of Egypt in the Book of Jeremiah’, and ch. 6 considers this theme in the Graeco-Roman period, referring to the Oniads as refugees and ‘The Messiah's Flight to Egypt’ (Mt. 2.13–15, 19–21). Three introductory chapters, however, further broaden the scope of this study. Chapter 1 presents a review of literature and methodological remarks, ch. 2 gives a broad overview on refuge in the ancient Near East, and ch. 3 covers important aspects of refuge in the OT. Even if the wide range of texts and themes referred to in this thoroughly worked dissertation did not allow the author to go into depth in every regard, this book is an important resource on refuge in the Bible and the ANE in general.
D. M
G
For a review of this volume, see Section 9 below.
G
This volume contains, for the most part, a collection of papers presented in sessions of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology that met in conjunction with the European Association of Biblical Studies in Copenhagen in 2003 and in Dresden in 2005. Part I contains an introduction by the editor which summarizes the contribution of the various presenters, and the editor is also responsible for the conclusion in Part IV which contains a reflection on the discussions contained in the volume. In Part II Ehud Ben Zvi considers historical writing in ancient Israel in the context of historiographical writing in the ancient Near East. Philip R. Davies traces the origins of ‘biblical Israel’ to the sixth century
E.W. D
G
The previous Israel in Transition volume (2008; see B.L. 2009, p. 30) focused on the archaeology of the Late Bronze-Iron Age transition in the land of Israel, and in this companion volume the pertinent textual sources are trawled for glimpses of genuine historical recollection. Most contributors address the biblical texts, but other sources are discussed in Grabbe's own substantial paper (‘From Merneptah to Shoshenq: If We Had Only the Bible’). Niels Peter Lemche (‘How to Deal with “Early Israel”’) reiterates his conclusions rejecting the Old Testament as a source for this period, and Philip R. Davies (‘The Beginnings of the Kingdom of Judah’) accepts in the Tel Dan stele only a reference to a dynasty, not a state. The papers by A. Graeme Auld (‘Samuel, Sources, and Historiography’), Marc Zvi Brettler (‘The David Tradition’) and John Van Seters (‘David the Mercenary’) all agree that traditions about David were created in later periods, either as midrashic expansion of other stories or as pure fiction reflecting Persian times. Grabbe expresses most interest (‘Reflections on the Discussion: Text and Archaeology’) in isolated fragments of authentic early material identified for different periods by Ernst Axel Knauf in his three papers (‘History in Joshua’; ‘History in Judges’; ‘Appendix: Exodus and Settlement’), thereby technically contradicting ‘the key minimalist conclusion (that there was nothing of historical value in the biblical text)’ (p. 226). Apart from some Saul and David traditions, though, these fragments seem almost coincidental in light of the general pessimistic consensus about reliable evidence for biblical history before 1 Kings 16. Standing out, in both content and tone, is Robert D. Miller II's fascinating archaeological survey (‘A “New Cultural History” of Early Israel’).
J.E. P
J
For a review of this volume, see Section 2 above.
L
For a review of this volume, see Section 1 above.
M
This is a survey of the major trends in the study of Israel's history in scholarship from about the middle of the twentieth century. A 40-page introduction looks at how the Bible and the history of Israel have been studied by critical scholars from Wellhausen through Albright and the ‘Altians’ to the controversies of the 1990s. Then separate chapters survey in more detail the debates and reinterpretations relating to the patriarchal period, the period of Israel's emergence, the monarchical period (three chapters), the exilic/Neo-Babylonian period, and the postexilic/Persian period, followed by a final ‘Afterword’. At various points are sidebars that provide little excursuses for clarification, definitions or background information that aids the reader but which would not fit well in the text. These should be helpful especially to students and other non-specialists. All in all, this is a very useful summary that would help bring any reader up to date on the most recent views about various aspects of Israel's history.
L.L. G
T
T. sets out to address a number of issues surrounding archives and libraries, and especially the sort of assumptions made about collections of texts in modern scholarship. After a brief introduction in ch. 1, ch. 2 reviews previous scholarship with a view to questions about the definition of a ‘library’, and includes an excursus on literacy. The third chapter looks at the specific question of temple libraries, recognition of which has been complicated by the imposition of unrealistic criteria, and the light which they throw on the canonization of literary texts. Chapter 4 covers a wide range of interesting material under the broad rubric of assigning meaning, but its main focus is on a rejection of over-precise definitions or theories of development, and T. explores the problems raised by deposits of texts which were clearly meant to be preserved, but not necessarily to be retrieved for consultation. With reference to Derrida's insights about the relationship between political power and control of ‘the archive’, ch. 5 looks at over-reliance on the untypical collections at Nineveh and Alexandria to define the nature and purpose of libraries. The book as a whole addresses itself to the claims made about archives by Davies, Thompson and others in the debate about dating of the biblical texts and canon; this feels more like a footnote than a conclusion, however, and the strengths of this often fascinating work lie more in its accumulation of information and insights than in its attempts to synthesize an overall argument.
S.D.E. W