Abstract
Atkinson, Kenneth, A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond (Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies, 23; London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), pp. xiii + 210. £81.00. ISBN 978-0-56766-902-5.
A. surveys the Hasmonaean rulers and their history from John Hyrcanus I to the fall of Judah under Pompey in 63 bce. Although a small amount of information on Hyrcanus I is found in 1 Maccabees, most of this history comes from Josephus, both the War and the Antiquities. One of A.'s aims is to discuss how Josephus writes his history of the Hasmonaeans. He makes the point that Josephus models himself on Polybius and, like Polybius, he was obsessed by Rome. Josephus admired the Roman character but had also fought the Romans; he wanted to make them appreciate that the Jewish people they had defeated had an astonishing history that included interaction with Rome from an early time. As a descendant of the Hasmonaeans, Josephus was proud of the role he had played in the 66–70 war against Rome. A., although drawing heavily on Josephus, also compares his accounts with other sources and brings in other considerations for interpreting Josephus's versions of Hasmonaean history. Historians of the period will accept or engage with some of A.'s interpretations and probably dispute others, but he has given us a lively account with many interesting suggestions that need to be given careful consideration.
Lester L. Grabbe
Avi-Yonah, Michael, Shmuel Safrai and Ze'ev Safrai, Understanding the Maccabean Revolt, 167 BCE to 63 BCE: An Introductory Atlas (Jerusalem: Carta, 2016), pp. 40, full colour. £10.99. ISBN 978-9-6522-0875-0. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
This volume is extracted and adapted from The Carta Bible Atlas (Jerusalem: Carta, 2011). The narrative of the many battles between the Jews, the Seleucids and the Romans during the period 167 bce and 63 bce is given, beginning with an overview of the Seleucid Empire. Each battle and campaign is described in a single page with a brief historical description, a map and relevant pictures. Some of the historical notes include extracts from the OT Apocrypha, Josephus and other writings. Where there is doubt over the actual details, this is clearly indicated. There is a brief reference to the book of Judith, which may have something to offer towards understanding this period (p. 32). The volume is very attractively produced and, as an introduction to the resistance of the rebels to Hellenization, is very useful. It is possible to see the geographic spread of the revolts and identify the key leaders. There is some analysis of causation, particularly Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ misjudgement about the readiness of the Jews for Hellenization. The book is truly an introduction, giving the reader a beginning for deeper study.
Francis Loftus
Ben-Dov, Jonathan and Lutz Doering (eds.), The Construction of Time in Antiquity: Ritual, Art, and Identity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. xii + 296. £75.00. ISBN 978-1-107-10896-7.
This volume is based on a University of Durham conference in 2013 supplemented by commissioned articles. The Introduction contextualizes the contributions in research on time in the natural sciences, arts, literature, human sciences, and then, more narrowly, in antiquity before introducing the chapters. Each chapter, including the Introduction, contains substantial bibliographies. The articles are as follows: Jonathan Ben-Dov, ‘Time and Natural Law in Jewish Hellenistic Writings’; Sacha Stern, ‘Calendars, Politics, and Power Relations in the Roman Empire’; Jörg Rüpke, ‘Doubling Religion in the Augustan Age: Shaping Time for an Empire’; John Steele, ‘Real and Constructed Time in Babylonian Astral Medicine’; Robert Hannah, ‘The Intellectual Background of the Antikythera Mechanism’; Alexandra von Lieven, ‘Divine Figurations of Time in Ancient Egypt’; Lorenzo Verderame, ‘The Moon and the Power of Time Reckoning in Ancient Mesopotamia’; SeungJung Kim, ‘Toward a Phenomenology of Time in Ancient Greek Art’; Sarit Kattan Gribetz, ‘Women's Bodies as Metaphors for Time in Biblical, Second Temple, and Rabbinic Literature’; Lutz Doering, ‘The Beginning of Sabbath and Festivals in Ancient Jewish Sources’; Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, ‘Seasoning the Bible and Biblifying Time through Fixed Liturgical Reading Systems (Lectionaries)’; Robert Hayward, ‘The Roman Ember Days of September and the Jewish New Year’; and Clemens Leonhard, ‘Celebrations and the Abstention from Celebrations of Sacred Time in Early Christianity’. Overall the editors have gathered an impressive breadth and depth of perspectives on time in antiquity. An Index of References would have been an excellent addition.
Charlotte Hempel
Bernhardt, Johannes Christian, Die jüdische Revolution. Untersuchungen zu Ursachen, Verlauf und Folgen der hasmonäischen Erhebung (Klio Beihefte, Neue Folge, 22; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017), pp. xiv + 726. €99.95/£81.99/$114.99. ISBN 978-3-05-006481-9; ISSN 1438-7689.
This Freiberg PhD (supervisor: H.-J. Gehrke) is a reconstruction of the history of the Hasmonaean uprising from 168 to 140 bce. After a statement of the problem, an introduction that puts forward a series of questions to be answered, and a chapter on the sources, chs. 4–9 set out to answer the questions posed. In providing the answers, B. reconstructs the history of Judah in this period, addressing some of the major issues that have arisen. He argues that the Tobiads attempted to take over the high priesthood through Menelaus. He also proposes that, unlike other Seleucid rulers, Antiochus IV identified himself with Zeus and promoted his own deification, requiring an emperor cult. During the second invasion of Egypt in 168 bce, the factional strife in Jerusalem made Antiochus seek to establish the authority of his rule by setting up his own cult in the Jerusalem temple, but he did not set out to suppress the Jewish religion as such (this was Hasmonaean propaganda). From the beginning, the goal of the Hasmonaeans was to take over the high priesthood, though there was rivalry within the family (Simon may have indirectly caused Jonathan to be executed by Tryphon). Eight appendixes address issues as diverse as the cause(s) of the revolt, chronology, and the Onias temple in Egypt. This is a major contribution to Hasmonaean history. B.'s theses are well argued, with extensive primary and secondary bibliography, and will need careful and thoughtful consideration.
Lester L. Grabbe
Cogan, Mordechai, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel (A Carta Handbook; Jerusalem: Carta, 2nd edn, 2015), pp. xvi + 304. $84.00. ISBN 978-965-220-868-2. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
This second edition is even more welcome than the first edition of 2008 (reviewed in B.L. 2009, p. 41). While focused on ancient Israel, the texts selected give a fair impression of Assyrian kings’ accounts of their achievements, which inclusion of introductory paragraphs from Sennacherib's or Ashurbanipal's ‘annals’ would enlarge. Merodach-baladan's record of rebuilding a temple in Uruk has no direct biblical relevance apart from the king, but is a good example of reference to older documents and of a god's anger causing enemies to control his land (pp. 144–49; Text 7.01). The texts are now numbered sequentially in each chapter, e.g. Chapter 5, Sargon II, 5.01 ‘Fall of Samaria and Ashdod,’ etc. A few texts have been added, notably King Lists, pp. 256-67, and Bibliographies have been brought up to date. C. assigns the ‘Azekah’ fragment to Sargon, noting others prefer Sennacherib (see A.K. Grayson and J. Novotny, Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, part 2 [2014], pp. 350-52). Objects from a royal tomb inscribed ‘Athaliah, the Wife of Sargon’ are unlikely to bear the Israelite name Athaliah, for scribes of cuneiform never wrote the Hebrew yhw/yw termination as it is engraved here, which C. acknowledges (pp. 114–16; see M.M. Hussein et al., Nimrud: The Queens’ Tombs [2016], p. 16). Well illustrated and indexed, this convenient new edition should help many to appreciate Israelite history better.
Alan Millard
Cogan, Mordechai, Understanding Hezekiah of Judah: Rebel King and Reformer (Jerusalem: Carta, 2017), pp. 40. $14.95. ISBN 978-965-220-882-8. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
Although this account of Hezekiah is aimed at a popular audience, C. does not just paraphrase the biblical text but also brings in the results of scholarship (including Assyrian sources) to confront the narrative account. However, his approach seems to be to present his own interpretation of events and sources rather than to present the full range of opinions or controversy. This is fair enough in a popular work, though biblical scholars will want to follow up more widely in the secondary literature. A good bibliography is given, though one can add the monograph of Nazek Khalid Matty, Sennacherib's Campaign Against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 B.C.: A Historical Reconstruction (see below, p. 43; but it is too recent for C. to have included it). C. argues (rightly, in my opinion) against two invasions of Judah by Sennacherib. He puts Hezekiah's illness before the siege of Jerusalem, about 713 bce. He accepts a religious reform under Hezekiah, though he sees it as only the beginning of a process which reached a much more thorough state under Josiah. He accepts the dating of ‘Hezekiah's tunnel’ to his reign (though several scholars have recently assigned other dates and contexts). The booklet is well illustrated, which is one of the attractive features of the Carta publications.
Lester L. Grabbe
Collins, John J. and J.G. Manning (eds.), Revolt and Resistance in the Ancient Classical World and the Near East: In the Crucible of Empire (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, 85; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. viii + 304. €139.00/$167.00. ISBN 978-90-04-33017-7.
This volume emerged from a conference held by the Yale Initiative for the Study of the Ancient and Premodern World in 2014. The volume examines revolts and resistance in Assyria and Babylonia, the Persian Empire, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Seleucid Empire, and the Roman Empire. The essays are all high quality, with a wide range of topics that will interest HB scholars. One particularly insightful contribution is P. Bedford's ‘Assyria's Demise as Recompense: A Note on Narratives of Resistance in Babylonia and Judah’. Examining texts from Nabopolassar's reign and the book of Nahum, Bedford demonstrates a shared logic of recompense at work in the otherwise unconnected texts, and his analysis suggests that Nahum may contribute to reconstructing ideas that provide the theological soil in which monotheism will later grow. The other essays are: ‘Introduction’ by J. Collins and J.G. Manning; ‘When Is a Revolt Not a Revolt? A Case for Contingency’ by E. Gruen; ‘Revolts in the Assyrian Empire: Succession Wars, Rebellions against a False King and Independence Movements’ by K. Radner; ‘Revolts in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: A Preliminary Discourse Analysis’ by E. Frahm; ‘Xerxes and the Oathbreakers: Empire and Rebellion on the Northwestern Front’ by M. Waters; ‘Cyrus the Younger and Artaxerxes II, 401 bc: An Achaemenid Civil War Reconsidered’ by J. Lee; ‘Resistance, Revolt, and Revolution in Achaemenid Persia: Response’ by E. Dusinberre; ‘Revolting Subjects: Empires and Insurrection, Ancient and Modern’ by B. McGing; ‘Revolts under the Ptolemies: A Paleoclimatological Perspective’ by F. Ludlow and J.G. Manning; ‘Resistance and Revolt: The Case of the Maccabees’ by R. Doran; ‘Temple or Taxes? What Sparked the Maccabean Revolt?’ by J. Collins; ‘The Importance of Perspective: The Jewish-Roman Conflict of 66–70 ce as a Revolution’ by J. McLaren and M. Goodman; ‘Josephus, Jewish Resistance and the Masada Myth’ by T. Rajak; and ‘The Impact of the Jewish Rebellions, 66–135 ce: Destruction or Provincialization?’ by S. Schwartz.
C.A. Strine
Cooper, Ben, The Economics of the Hebrew Scriptures (Theology and the Market Series; Oxford: Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics, 2017), pp. 44. £4.99. ISBN 978-1-910666-06-7.
The Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics is ‘a think tank … that seeks to promote an enterprise, market economy built on ethical foundations’; and C. is an economist and a minister at a well-known conservative evangelical church in Sheffield. That this pamphlet is conservative both religiously and politically is, then, no surprise. However, the title is somewhat misleading, since the work is effectively concerned with the economics of Deuteronomy, prefaced by a few reflections on earlier parts of the Torah. All the passages on economic ethics in the Deuteronomic code are surveyed, and it is emphasized that measures of intervention (e.g. the shemitta) are limited and temporary, apart from those for the support of people without access to land. With regard to application, C. notes how the situation is transformed both religiously (by the coming of Christ) and economically. The conversion of all to faith in Christ is the only full solution to the threats of deception and manipulation and profiting from the misfortune of others, which are distortions of capitalism: but in the meantime limited interventions to restore every person's God-given independent productive capacity will be necessary. The true nature of capitalism as a system that creates dependency and leads, unchecked, to growing inequality goes unrecognized.
Walter J. Houston
Davies, Philip R., In Search of ‘Ancient Israel’: A Study in Biblical Origins (Cornerstones; London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2nd edn, 2015), pp. xxiii + 164. £21.99. ISBN 978-0-5676-6297-2.
This is a reissue, now in the T&T Clark Cornerstones series, of the second edition (1995) of a work formerly published in the JSOT Supplements series. The original edition of 1992—which was subject to only minor corrections for the 1995 edition— was welcomed in B.L. 1993, p. 39, by K.W. Whitelam, who said it would ‘provoke considerable opposition and debate, and deserves to be read and reflected on by all biblical scholars’. In reality, it was not widely taken up but, after 20 years of further research and reflection by the author and the fact that today's world is very different from the early 1990s, we have a reprint, unchanged in the body of the work but now— in this Cornerstones edition—furnished with a new 12-page Preface addressing three issues: one, the logic of ‘biblical archaeology’ as the ultimate authority for establishing the biblical history and the relationship between history and tradition (Bright, Noth, Wright, von Rad); two, replacing a paradigm created by the biblical narrative which has dominated biblical scholarship and Western culture for over a century (Popper, Kuhn, Dever); and three, the Bible as history, well aware that all biblical texts tell us more about the time they were written than the events they pretend to describe (de Wette and Wellhausen). The Bibliography of Works Cited is unchanged except for the addition of two pages of references to the new Preface. The fact that after 25 years the body of the work can be republished unchanged is either a tribute to the prescience of the author or a nudge to a somnolent approach to biblical studies. Of more value to scholars of the future than to scholars of the past, it provides a welcome opportunity for newcomers to catch up and old-handers to get on board.
Alec Gilmore
Davies, Philip R., The History of Israel: A Guide for the Perplexed (London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), pp. xiv + 186. £21.99. ISBN 978-0-567-65585-1 (paperback), 978-0-567-65583-7 (e-book), 978-0-567-65582-0 (PDF).
Few are as well placed as D. to guide the perplexed through the convolutions of the ‘history of ancient Israel’, and this he does with succinctness and elegance. Beginning with a chapter of orientation, in which developments in and future prospects for the discipline are helpfully reviewed, D. then takes another three chapters to address the seemingly obvious question of what is history, and then the differences between ancient and modern historiography. Here issues such as facts, causality, probability and forensic truth are broached in relation to both modern and ancient history writing. This necessary preparation completed, D. moves on to the nuts and bolts (and thorns and briers) of the history of Israel, using the archaeological evidence to problematize the notion of ‘Israel’ as a 12-tribe immigrant ethnic entity, and arguing instead for Israel and Judah as separate political entities, with Judah taking over the Israelite identity only during the postexilic period. A third section reviews social-scientific methodologies as they relate to the writing of ancient history; and a fourth provides a methodological synthesis illustrated by three different case studies from so-called biblical history. A chapter of bibliographyical review completes the volume. D.'s overall view is summed up rather bluntly (as he himself admits) in his comment that ‘Judaism invented the biblical Israel and not the other way round’ (p. 140), and while some may find this rather extreme, it is not a conclusion reached without careful consideration of many relevant factors. As such, the volume itself is worthy of equally careful consideration.
Deborah W. Rooke
Edelman, Diana V. and Ehud Ben Zvi (eds.), Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the Fifth–Second Centuries BCE (Worlds of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean; London: Equinox, 2016), pp. x + 296. £22.95/$29.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-78179-268-1 (hardback); 978-1-78179-269-8 (paperback).
The essays here explore the various ways in which types of political leadership were remembered and evaluated by audiences from the 5th to the 2nd centuries bce. An introductory chapter (Edelman) discusses the contents of the essays, followed by essays on memory and political thought in Late Persian/early Hellenistic Yehud (Ben Zvi), memories of Judah's past leaders used as propaganda (J.M. Bos), legitimating leadership through mystification by appeal to ‘lost books’ (K. Berge), the ‘democratic’ reconceptualization of monarchy in Deut. 17.14-20 (R. Müller), the kingdom of god in Samuel (G.P. Miller), reconsidering Davidic kingship in Ezekiel (C. Nihan), imagining the memory of an elder in Job 29–30 (T. Stordalen), divine endorsement of foreign rulers in the HB in the memory of Persian and Hellenistic Yehud (T.M. Bolin), the book of Esther as ‘political theology’ (B. Ego), models of local political leadership in the Nehemiah Memoir (A. Fitzpatrick-McKinley), the three constitutions in Greek political thought (L. Mitchell), monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy in the constitutional debate in Herodotus and in 1 Samuel 8 (W. Oswald), remembering Samson in a Hellenized Jewish context (Judges 13–16) (Edelman), and ‘Judith Maccabee’—on leadership, resistance, and the great deeds of little people (A.-M. Schol-Wetter). There is much thoughtful material here; however, the disclaimer that historicity is not part of the intended purview in the volume is contradicted by some of the essays (such as Ben Zvi's and Mitchell's).
Lester L. Grabbe
Engels, David, Benefactors, Kings, Rulers: Studies on the Seleukid Empire between East and West (Studia Hellenistica, 57; Leuven: Peeters, 2017), pp. xiv + 603. €110.00. ISBN 978-90-429-3327-9.
Although both the title and the table of contents might suggest a collection of separate studies, this volume still has a central aim and unity: to provide an overall assessment of the Seleucid Empire, especially as the Seleucids were heirs of the Achaemenid Empire and the predecessors of the Arsacids. It takes account of recent major changes in thinking about the Seleucid Empire. Rather than attempting to impose Greek culture on its eastern satrapies, the Seleucids inherited most of the Achaemenid political institutions and actively tried to blend cultures and traditions, following Babylonian and Achaemenid models. Many of the governors in the eastern parts of the empire probably had non-Greek/non-Macedonian backgrounds. The administration of the empire, however, gradually evolved toward a more feudal form of government, with a good deal of local autonomy. One large section on ‘Centre and Periphery’ is mainly made up of case studies, one of which is the gymnasium of Jerusalem and the Maccabaean revolt. A final ‘Epilogue’ considers the comparison between 19th-century colonialism and the Hellenistic empires, noting that while there are some interesting parallels, there are also some important differences, with most Orientals apparently regarding the coming of the Greeks not much differently from the succession of earlier Near Eastern empires. This provides a useful background study to the history of Judah under Seleucid rule.
Lester L. Grabbe
Frevel, Christian, Geschichte Israels (Kohlhammer Studienbücher Theologie; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2016), pp. 445. 52 figures and 11 maps. €35.00. ISBN 978-3-17-029228-4.
This handbook for students of theology offers a concise but detailed presentation of the history of ‘Israel’ in the biblical period—from the patriarchs to Bar Kokhba. The problems inherent in this project are enormous, starting with the question whether such a history can be written at all. These problems are not skirted, but discussed patiently. The biblical data, extra-biblical documents, archaeology, and anthropological models are all brought into the discussion, and a balanced account of what may have happened is drawn up. The book is interspersed with drawings of realia, models, and pieces of ancient artwork. A set of maps is collected in the back. The book makes a great effort to be up to date. Nevertheless, one cannot escape the impression that it represents a sort of return to the status quo ante. Some recent handbooks (e.g. Lester Grabbe, Mario Liverani, Barbara Schmitz) seemed to signal that the picture of ‘biblical Israel’ had changed for good. F.'s synthesis stands closer, in a way, to the works of de Vaux or Ernest Wright. For readers of German who are not experts in the topic this is a good book to have on the shelf. Although the ultimate truth on the historicity of Abraham and a wide range of other issues may not be forthcoming, it is helpful to have an accurate and even-handed account of the state of the discussion. This is what F., rather successfully, seeks to offer.
Jan Joosten
Frevel, Christian, Katharina Pyschny and Izak Cornelius (eds.), A ‘Religious Revolution’ in Yehûd? The Material Culture of the Persian Period as a Test Case (OBO, 267; Fribourg: Academic Press Fribourg/Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014), pp. x + 440. Numerous figures. €130.00. ISBN 978-3-7278-1753-3 (Academic Press Fribourg), 978-3-525-54392-4 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht); ISSN 1015-1850.
This volume, originating out of a workshop, is a collection of comparative case studies testing the Yehûd/Josianic ‘Religious Revolution’ hypothesis of Ephraim Stern in light of material culture. The authors do an excellent job of bringing together what is an often misinterpreted and scattered corpus of material culture rarely (if ever) studied as a whole. This is a welcome contribution to the study of religious identity in Persian Yehûd, since the Persian material culture is historically studied in isolation (coins or figurines by themselves) and often wrongly interpreted (distribution, use, dating, and provenance) in order to fit the biblical narrative, with embarrassing results. There is a comparative introduction to the material culture and the impact of Stern's theories (Frevel and Pyschny). L.L. Grabbe, ‘Religious and Cultural Boundaries from the Neo-Babylonian to the Early Greek Period: A Context for Iconographic Interpretation’, argues for a gradual shift towards anti-iconography. O. Lipschits and D.S. Vanderhooft, ‘Continuity and Change in the Persian Period Judahite Stamped Jar Administration’, identify a rise in non-iconographic seals and increasingly centralized Jerusalem administration. I. Cornelius, ‘ “East Meets West”: Trends in Terracotta Figurines’, classifies Persian-era Judahite/Samarian figurines as few but locally distinct to Yehûd, questioning Stern's theory that they were both imported and deliberately cultic. R. Schmitt, ‘Continuity and Change in Post-Exilic Votive Practices’, finds that anthropomorphic votives only gradually fell out of use. C. Frevel and K. Pyschny, ‘Perserzeitliche Räucherkästchen: Zu einer wenig beachteten Fundgattung im Kontext der These E. Sterns’, question the foreign origin of cuboid incense burners. P. Wyssmann, ‘The Coinage Imagery of Samaria and Judah in the Late Persian Period’, argues for Jerusalem capitalizing on coins as an opportunity for religious distinctiveness. M.J.W. Leith, ‘Religious Continuity in Israel/Samaria: Numismatic Evidence’, finds Samarian use of Israelite imagery in coins (e.g. Asherah). S. Schroer and F. Lippke, ‘Beobachtungen zu den (spät-)persischen Samaria-Bullen aus dum Wadi ed-Daliyeh: Hellenisches, Persisches und Lokaltraditionem im Grenzgebeit der Provinz Yehûd’, approach persistently-iconographic Samarian bullae. A. Nunn, ‘Attic Pottery Imports and their Impact on “Identity Discourses”: A Reassessment’, finds that Attic vessels were wealth-indicators used by cosmopolitan Judaean locals. There are countless maps, tables and greyscale figures throughout (as well as a nice index) which make this a handsome and helpful volume.
Lindsey A. Askin
Grabbe, Lester L., Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? (London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, revised edn, 2017), pp. xxii + 365. £21.99. ISBN 978-0-5676-7043-4.
The structure of this revised edition of G.'s 2007 book (reviewed in B.L. 2008, pp. 38-39) remains unaltered, though a number of changes have been made. Chapters have been updated, revised, and expanded with new material. While the volume remains a ‘prolegomenon’ or preparation for writing a history of Israel, and its purpose is to survey the sources, summarize the data available, and evaluate the various interpretations of this data for reconstructing a history of Israel, these additions do bring it closer to a complete history, if a short one. Part I introduces the principles and methods of investigating the history of ancient Israel, focusing on questions of sources, methods and current debates. Part II is a historical investigation of ‘Middle and Late Bronze Ages (2000–1300 bce)’; ‘Late Bronze to Iron IIA (ca. 1300–900 bce): From Settlement to Statehood’; ‘Iron IIB (900–720 bce): Rise and Fall of the Northern Kingdom’; and ‘Iron IIC (720–539 bce): Peak and Decline of Judah’. Each chapter has three main parts: Original Sources (archaeology, inscriptions, texts), Analysis, and Synthesis. Part III gives brief conclusions and summarizes what we can know about the history of Israel and Judah. The book is an important and balanced introduction to a number of issues and current debates surrounding the history of Israel and Judah, and an invaluable resource on any shelf.
Jennifer Andruska
Grabbe, Lester L. (ed.), The Land of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age (LHBOTS, 636; London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), pp. vi + 236. £85.00. ISBN 978-0-5676-7281-0.
This volume is the product of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology, held in Tartu, Estonia, in July 2010. The editor writes the Introduction, and a first chapter entitled ‘Late Bronze Age Palestine: If We Had Only the Bible’. Thereafter, the following nine chapters are presented: M. Dijkstra, ‘Canaan in the Transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age from an Egyptian Perspective’; L.L. Grabbe, ‘Canaan under the Rule of the Egyptian New Kingdom: From the Hyksos to the Sea Peoples’; P. Guillaume, ‘Poor by Necessity or by Choice? Ancient Israelite Egalitarianism’; R. Kletter, ‘Land Tenure, Ideology, and the Emergence of Ancient Israel: A Conversation with Philippe Guillaume’; E.A. Knauf, ‘The Impact of the Late Bronze III Period on the Origins of Israel’; N.P. Lemche, ‘The Amarna Letters and Palestinian Politics’; A.D.H. Mayes, ‘International Diplomacy in the Amarna Age’; E. van der Steen, ‘The Archaeology of the Late Bronze Age in Palestine’; and finally the editor again with Reflections on the discussion. By and large the views that the discussions reflect tend to a minimalist account of early Israel, since the contributors are generally cautious about the danger of over-interpreting archaeological evidence in favour of a straightforward acceptance of early biblical narratives. The so-called Merenptah stela, for example, really tells us little if anything about a state of ‘Israel’, and even its supposed particularity as reflecting his time is in question. The Egyptian evidence is generally uninformative about specific Palestinian realities, archaeology deals in generalities, and the ‘early’ biblical accounts have little real history to reveal, beyond the fact that at some indeterminate time a narrative of national origins did emerge. There is an honesty to the natural scepticism emerging from these discussions, but it makes depressing reading for true believers.
Nick Wyatt
Hensel, Benedikt, Juda und Samaria. Zum Verhältnis zweier nach-exilischer Jahwismen (FAT, 110; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), pp. xv + 487. €129.00. ISBN 978-3-16-154905-2.
In recent years a revolution has taken place in our understanding of the relationships between Yahwists in Judah and those in Samaria in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, and the importance of the latter in the development of ‘Judaism’. In this exhaustive and thoroughly documented study, H. draws together the threads of all this work. He looks at the archaeological and epigraphic remains of the Gerizim temple (a map or two would have been helpful); the evidence for contacts and, eventually, conflict between the communities centred on Gerizim and Jerusalem; and the accounts of the relationship in Ezra–Nehemiah, Chronicles and Kings. He summarizes his conclusions in 13 theses (repeated in unreliable English translation). Both communities existed in ethnic and religious continuity from the Iron Age kingdoms, independently of each other, but sharing their monotheistic faith. Their relationships for 200 years were peaceful and fruitful. Gerizim was active along with Jerusalem in the creation of the Torah, which represents the consensus. Only from the 3rd century, and especially the 2nd, did conflict develop. The biblical accounts reflect this later situation and are not to be dated earlier than the 3rd century. The ‘enemies of Israel’ in Ezra–Nehemiah are coded representations of rival Yahwisms. Some points in this account might be disputed. On the Nehemiah memoir, for example, H. overlooks the personal character of the text and the rivalry of officials in bureaucratic empires. But all future work must start by reckoning with this book.
Walter J. Houston
Japhet, Sara, Collected Studies on the Restoration Period: History, Literature, Language, World View and Religion [Hebrew] (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2017), pp. xii + x + 796. ILS 135.00. ISBN 978-965-536-222-0.
These two volumes of J.'s collected essays in Hebrew form a very valuable and useful companion to the previously published volume of collected essays in English: From the Rivers of Babylon to the Highlands of Judah (Eisenbrauns, 2006; reviewed in B.L. 2007, p. 9). Volume one contains 15 essays devoted to the Restoration Period and to Historiography. Ten of these articles constitute Hebrew translations of essays originally published in English and appearing in the aforementioned volume From the Rivers of Babylon: ‘People and Land in the Restoration Period’, ‘The Temple in the Restoration Period: Reality and Ideology’, ‘ “History” and “Literature” in the Persian Period: The Restoration of the Temple’, ‘The Concept of the “Remnant” in the Restoration Period: On the Vocabulary of Self-Definition’, ‘Can the Persian Period Bear the Burden? Reflections on the Origins of Biblical History’, ‘Postexilic Historiography: How and Why?’, ‘Periodization between History and Ideology: The Neo-Babylonian Period in Biblical Historiography’, ‘The Supposed Common Authorship of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah Investigated Anew’, ‘The Relationship between Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah’, and ‘Theodicy in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles’. One article has been published in English elsewhere: ‘1 Esdras: Its Genre, Literary Form, and Goals’ (in L.S. Fried [ed.], Was 1 Esdras First?). Four articles are only published in Hebrew (translations of titles are mine): ‘Jerusalem in the Restoration Period: Under the Wings of the Persian Empire’, ‘The Struggle for Identity in the Restoration Period, its Results and its Implications’, ‘The Restoration Period: The Biblical Foundation of Zionism as a Political Movement’, and ‘Biblical Historiography in the Persian Period’.
Volume two contains 20 essays devoted to Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. Ten of those are Hebrew versions of articles appearing in English in the aforementioned volume From the Rivers of Babylon: ‘Composition and Chronology in the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah’, ‘Periodization between History and Ideology II: Chronology and Ideology in Ezra-Nehemiah’, ‘Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel against the Background of the Historical and Religious Tendencies of Ezra-Nehemiah: Part I and Part II’, ‘Law and “The Law” in Ezra-Nehemiah’, ‘The Historical Reliability of Chronicles: The History of the Problem and its Place in Biblical Research’, ‘Chronicles: A History’, ‘Conquest and Settlement in Chronicles’, ‘The Prohibition of the Habitation of Women: The Temple Scroll's Attitude towards Sexual Impurity and its Biblical Precedents’, ‘The Israelite Legal and Social Reality as Reflected in Chronicles: A Case Study’, and ‘The Distribution of the Priestly Gifts According to a Document of the Second Temple Period’. Another eight articles have been published elsewhere in English: ‘The Expulsion of the Foreign Women (Ezra 9–10): The Legal Basis, Precedents, and Consequences for the Definition of Jewish Identity’ (Festschrift Willi-Plein), ‘The Ritual of Reading Scriptures (Nehemiah 8:1-12)’ (Festschrift Barstad), ‘What May Be Learned from Ezra-Nehemiah about the Composition of the Pentateuch?’ (J.C. Gertz et al. [eds.], The Formation of the Pentateuch), ‘The Composition of Ezra-Nehemiah from the Perspective of a Mediaeval Jewish Commentator’ (Festschrift Eskenazi), ‘The Wall of Jerusalem from a Double Perspective: Kings Versus Chronicles’ (Festschrift Na'aman), ‘Female Names and Gender Perspectives in Chronicles’ (C.M. Maier and N. Calduch-Benages [eds.], The Writings and Later Wisdom Books), ‘Was David a Judahite or an Ephraimite? Light from the Genealogies’ (Festschrift Williamson), and ‘Interchanges of Verbal Roots in Parallel Texts in Chronicles’ (Hebrew Studies 28). Yet another two articles are only published in Hebrew (translations of titles are mine): ‘Prophets and Prophecy in the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah’ and ‘And Anew: Darius the Persian (Nehemiah 12:22)?’.
Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Lemche, Niels Peter, Ancient Israel: A New History of Israel (Cornerstones; London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2nd edn, 2015), pp. viii + 286. £21.99. ISBN 978-0-5676-6278-1.
The first English edition (following the original Danish edition of 1984) of L.'s influential history of ancient Israel was published in 1988 and reviewed in B.L. 1989, pp. 37–38. A reprint with minor corrections was issued in 1995. Now, for this second edition, L. provides a new introduction, dealing with such matters as ‘dating biblical historiography’ and ‘identifying the hot spots of recent historical analysis’, and a supplementary bibliography, listing some of the most influential publications in areas germane to his argument published since the first appearance of his work. The work itself remains an outstanding contribution to the scholarly debate on the origins and history of ancient Israel, representing a thoroughgoing ‘minimalist’ reconstruction of the issue. While the body of the book has not been updated to include the most current literature throughout the text, the new introduction and supplementary bibliography will be of help to someone new to the debate (e.g. undergraduate students), but largely irrelevant to those familiar with the issue in any depth. Nevertheless, this is a book worthy of such reissue and it continues to be one of the most important on the topic.
C.A. Strine
Lemos, T.M., Violence and Personhood in Ancient Israel and Comparative Contexts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. xiv + 225. £60.00. ISBN 978-0-19-878453-1.
This study wants to be the first book-length treatment of concepts of personhood in ancient Israel. It hopes to examine ‘the intersections between violence and personhood in the society and culture of ancient Israel’ (p. 3). In doing so, L. argues that physical violence is pivotal to the construction of personhood. As in her previous study on Marriage Gifts and Social Change in Ancient Palestine (see B.L. 2011, pp. 67–68), L. carefully utilizes insights from social and cultural anthropology for her enterprise, defining personhood as ‘a social recognition of value, based upon criteria that are often variable both between and within societies and marked by the attribution of jural rights and agency in legal or in less formal social contexts; and/or by rituals conveying status’ (p. 11). The main body of the book is devoted to a synchronic examination of various biblical texts under the main rubrics of the attitude towards foreigners, women, slaves and children. L. favours the synchronic approach, since she perceives the relationship between violence and personhood as a defining cultural continuum in the region. As a result the reader learns that ‘ancient West Asian masculinity, in its most visible and lauded form, was domineering, raging and fearsome hypermasculinity centered on enforced submission and violence’ (p. 172). Though patterns of hierarchy and social structure emerge, L. is careful to uncover where status and personhood changes. ‘Strikingly, the fundamental mutability of personhood meant that men as well as women were in danger’ (p. 177). The book closes with a brief look at violence, dominance and personhood in modern contexts (Abu Ghraib, the American prison system, police violence against African Americans).
Anselm C. Hagedorn
Leuchter, Mark, The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. xiv + 306. £64.00. ISBN 978-0-19-066509-8.
L. challenges face-value readings which portray the Levites in a low-ranking priestly role, employing insights from collective memory in his investigation of the Levites’ social role in ancient Israelite history between the pre-monarchical and Persian periods. This book complements his early works, which attempted to reconstruct the relationship between Jeremiah and the Josianic reform and the effect of forced migration as witnessed in the biblical texts. The Levites appeared when Yahweh was introduced into the emergent Israelite religion and the early Israelite priesthood shifted from a lay context to a priestly caste under the influence of the Mushites’ Mosaic agrarian traditions around 1200 bce. During the monarchical era, except under David, the Levite influence was either usurped or marginalized and the political disputes between the northern and southern kingdoms resulted in competing traditions, which Deuteronomy and Jeremiah reflect, with the formerly northern Levites living in Judah attempting to stabilize society during multiple social disruptions and conflicts between rural and royal dimensions. While in Deuteronomy the Levites mediate the identity of Israel built through faithfulness to Mosaic traditions, Jeremiah introduces the scribes as the Levitical guardians of Jeremianic traditions addressing a new circumstance within the exile. During the Persian period, the Levites fabricated texts into a wisdom syllabus transcending an Aaronide-ritual milieu.
Anderson Yan
Matthews, Victor H., The Cultural World of the Bible: An Illustrated Guide to Manners and Customs (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 4th edn, 2015), pp. xv + 318. Full colour. $28.00. ISBN 978-0-8010-4973-6.
This comprehensive and eminently readable book is the latest update of a reference work that first appeared in 1988 (under the title Manners and Customs in the Bible: An Illustrated Guide to Daily Life in Bible Times, not reviewed in the B.L., but the third edition of 2006 was covered in B.L. 2008, pp. 43-44). This fourth edition is both revised and expanded to take into account recent developments in various fields, not least archaeology. It is designed both for pedagogical use and for personal study, and each of the chapters ends with a set of discussion questions. After an Introduction, five chapters cover the Ancestral Period, the Exodus-Settlement Period, the Monarchic Period, the Exile and Return, and the Intertestamental and New Testament Periods. A wide variety of historical, social and cultural factors are presented in each chapter in an engaging way that succeeds well in bringing to life the background of the Bible, with copious references to Bible texts. This approach brings out the relevance of details in the Bible text that it is very easy to skip over and miss the significance of. At the end of the book are a glossary of technical terms, an extensive and categorized bibliography, and indexes of Subjects, Personal Names, Place Names, and Scripture and Other Ancient Writings. All in all, this is a very valuable resource for both students and their teachers, and it should be widely used.
David J. Clark
Matty, Nazek Khalid, Sennacherib's Campaign against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 B.C.: A Historical Reconstruction (BZAW, 487; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), pp. xii + 225. €89.95/£81.99/$126.00. ISBN 978-3-11-045104-7.
This revised Oxford DPhil thesis (supervisor: John Day) attempts to reconstruct the course of events in Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in 701 bce. Part One looks at Sennacherib's campaign against Jerusalem in the context of the Assyrian inscriptions and reliefs, while Part Two analyses the biblical narratives, especially those in 2 Kings 18–19. A key original contribution of this study is the survey of the Assyrian reports of Sennacherib's campaigns for literary patterns. M. argues that destruction of the enemy was not necessarily the aim of the campaigns but rather elimination of opposition to Assyria. This meant that rebellious rulers were sometimes left on the throne if they submitted and paid tribute. As others have already argued, a blockade (probably by a small garrison) simply prevented the inhabitants of the city from escaping or receiving supplies or assistance. Sennacherib probably left Judah and returned to Nineveh because the ‘rumour’ that he heard was about a possible rebellion in the eastern part of his realm. M. provides an explanation for a number of the puzzling aspects of this historical episode, but she dismisses without evidence that the Egyptian army may have contributed to Sennacherib's withdrawal, whereas some of us think this could be important. But M.'s study has made a major contribution to resolving the many historical questions about this event.
Lester L. Grabbe
Morgenstern, Mira (ed.), Reframing Politics in the Hebrew Bible: A New Introduction with Readings (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2017), pp. lxvii + 366. $29.00/£18.50. ISBN 978-1-62466-461-8.
For the reader to get the best from this book the lengthy ‘Introduction (pp. xvii-lxvii) is essential reading. In it, M. explains what she means by ‘political theory’, which she also relates to the work of political theorists from Spinoza through the Enlightenment and down to modern times. She distinguishes between ‘Politics’ and ‘the Political’ and in relating her discussion to the HB emphasizes the ‘implicit nature’ of political theory's ‘exposition in the Hebrew Bible’ (‘found not on the surface of the text but woven into its fabric’). Using the 1917 JPS translation, the book consists of 17 chapters of readings of biblical texts, each chapter relating to a particular topic such as cities, covenant, civil war, women, monarchy, human rights, and so on. A paragraph or two of introduction precedes each topic, often suggesting questions relevant to political theory that the reader might find answered in the texts; some of the texts included in each chapter may also be preceded by its own brief note. There is a ‘select bibliography’ and indexes of ‘biblical passages’ and ‘major names’. The book has the potential to form a resource, bringing to the reader's attention biblical texts that may be associated at some level with ‘political theory’. European readers, Asian readers, and readers from the southern hemisphere might find the number of parallels M. draws between situations in the HB and the United States a little bit irritating.
George Nicol
Pfoh, Emanuel, Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age: An Anthropology of Politics and Power (Copenhagen International Seminar; London and New York: Routledge, 2016), pp. xvi + 229. £110.00/$145.00. ISBN 978-1-84465-784-1.
This volume is a revised version of a 2011 Buenos Aires doctoral dissertation. P. states his aim thus: ‘to offer a different analytical view of the dynamics of the sociopolitical relations in the Levant, especially through some of the “diplomatic” treaties produced during the Late Bronze Age … from the field of political anthropology’. The last term is key: P. notes that the use of anthropology of contemporary Mediterranean societies has hardly begun to be used as a heuristic tool to understand ancient polities. Part I gives a general survey of the LBA world, surveys the literature, and analyses various LBA texts, with nods to C. Lévi-Strauss and P. Bourdieu as hermeneutical guides. In a survey of diplomatic correspondence, a number of Amarna letters are analysed on the basis of M. Liverani's sociolinguistic work, and elements of translationese identified, with clear examples of correspondents talking past each other in misconstructions (just as in current Brexit negotiations!), and commercial relationships are analysed in anthropological terms of gift exchange. Part II, building on classical studies in the field, seeks to construct a historical anthropology of the region, examining the various political systems, city states, tribal federations and more problematic polities, and evaluates the current models of the so-called ‘Asiatic mode of production’, the ‘patrimonial household’, and the vassalage system practised by the imperial powers. Part III takes the argument further, examines the idea of patronage, and in chiastic fashion reverts through the patrimonial model to a final assessment of the political realities of the age. This very well-argued and referenced volume may be usefully read in parallel with B. Brandon's recent book The Land before the Kingdom of Israel (reviewed in B.L. 2017, pp. 25-26).
Nick Wyatt
Pöhl, Friedrich and Sebastian Fink (eds.), Kannibalismus, eine anthropologische Konstante? (Philippika—Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen/Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures, 82; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. 183. €38.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10328-2; ISSN 1613-5628.
This constitutes the first of a planned two volumes on cannibalism. The volume is entirely in German except for one essay in English. The first essay gives an anthropological perspective, surveying views from the classical world to the 20th century and showing how the practice of cannibalism was regularly ascribed to other peoples. The next examines the few instances found in Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Hittite texts as early examples of the motif. This is followed by an essay exploring various discussions about cannibalism in ancient Greece. A further essay looks at discussions at the end of the early Roman republic, with a concentration on the concept of blood oath. The next essay is on the cannibal concept in the Roman Empire, where it served as a symbol of extreme barbarity, followed by one on the charge of cannibalism against early Christians. The final essay (in English) is about the allegation of cannibalism among the Aztecs. As this collection shows, cannibalism is a constant motif through history but with little evidence of its actual practice, even in anthropological studies. A planned second volume will include essays on the Middle Ages and more recent times.
Lester L. Grabbe
Popović, Mladen, Myles Schoonover and Marijn Vandenberghe (eds), Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World (JSJSup, 178; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. vi + 317. €125.00/$138.00. ISBN 978-9-0043-3618-6.
Originating from the Third Qumran Institute Symposium held at the University of Groningen in December 2013, these essays variously discuss the theme of ‘cultural encounters’ and their impact in the history, literature, politics and religion of ancient Judaism. The contents of the volume are as follows: M. Popović, ‘Ancient Jewish Cultural Encounters and a Case Study on Ezekiel’; K. Schmid, ‘Taming Egypt: The Impact of Persian Imperial Ideology and Politics on the Biblical Exodus Account’; B. Becking, ‘Exchange, Replacement, or Acceptance? Two Examples of Lending Deities among Ethnic Groups in Elephantine’; J. Stökl, ‘Netting Marduk? The Concept of Hidden Transcripts and the Transfer of Cultural Knowledge from Mesopotamian to Judean Texts’; C. Waerzeggers, ‘The Prayer of Nabonidus in the Light of Hellenistic Babylonian Literature’; U. Gabbay, ‘Levels of Meaning and Textual Polysemy in Akkadian and Hebrew Exegetical Texts’; J. Frey, ‘ “Judaism” and “Hellenism”: Martin Hengel's Work in Perspective’; G.J. Brooke, ‘Choosing between Papyrus and Skin: Cultural Complexity and Multiple Identities in the Qumran Library’; B.G. Wright, ‘What Does India Have to Do with Jerusalem? Ben Sira, Language, and Colonialism’; J.H. Newman, ‘Hybridity, Hydrology, and Hidden Transcript: Sirach 24 and the Judean Encounter with Ptolemaic Isis Worship’; A. Lykke, ‘Reflections on the Cultural Encounter between the Jews and the Greeks and Romans in Jewish Coin Iconography of the Hellenistic-Roman Period’; H. Najman, ‘Philo's Greek Scriptures and Cultural Symbiosis’; J.C. de Vos, ‘ “I Wish Those Who Unsettle You Would Mutilate Themselves!” (Gal 5:12): Circumcision and Emasculation in the Letter to the Galatians’; I. Rosen-Zvi, ‘Rabbis and Romanization: A Review Essay’; S. Stern, ‘Subversion and Subculture: Jewish Time-Keeping in the Roman Empire’; and T. Ilan, ‘Elijah's Cave in Haifa: Whose Holy Site Is this Anyway?’ Indexes for modern authors and ancient sources conclude the volume. A wide range of topics are addressed under the ‘cultural encounters’ rubric, but the individual contributions are of a high quality and those interested in the cultural interactions between ancient Judaism and the ancient Near Eastern world will surely find something of interest here.
William L. Kelly
Provan, Iain, V. Philips Long and Tremper Longman III, A Biblical History of Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2nd edn, 2015), pp. xxvi + 486. $50.00. ISBN 978-0-664-23913-8.
The first edition of this work by scholars based in Canada (Provan: mainly chs. 1-3, 5, 9-10) and the USA (Long: mainly chs. 4, 7–8; Longman: mainly chs. 6, 11) was published in 2003 but not reviewed in the B.L. Its core comprises ‘Part I: History, Historiography, and the Bible’ and ‘Part II: A History of Israel from Abraham to the Persian Period’. This edition has a number of changes: clarifications; the rewriting of sections to enhance the arguments; rebuttals of criticisms; updates due to new archaeology; and some maps and tables as supplement. Noteworthy is the new ‘Appendix: In Praise of Critical Thought: A Response to our Critics’, written against ‘misrepresentation [and] caricature … in the hope that readers will not continue to be distracted’ (p. xii). The authors’ thesis is substantially unaltered: ‘the surviving literature of ancient Israel that touches upon the history of that people from about 2000 bc to about 400 bc should play a central role in current attempts to describe that history’ (p. 440)—hence the book's title. This volume has as its context the so-called ‘maximalist–minimalist’ debate, with scholars such as these often lined up against scholars such as N.P. Lemche, P.R. Davies and L.L. Grabbe. The complaint here is that this debate is marked by a ‘fundamentalism of the left that is the mirror image of the fundamentalism of the right’ (p. 441), but that it should be possible to engage in charitable critical thinking in public, corporate discourse. That plea is surely laudable.
Hywel Clifford
Ritmeyer, Leen and Kathleen Ritmeyer, Understanding the Holy Temple of the Old Testament: From the Tabernacle to Solomon's Temple and Beyond (Jerusalem: Carta, 2016), pp. 48, full colour. £12.99. ISBN 978-9-6522-0881-1. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
This is a useful volume which traces the development of the central sacred spaces of the HB. A large type and very basic introduction to the ‘Principles of Holiness’ sets the reader off with the expectations of finding the volume to be a basic, accessible guidebook, in keeping with the colourful and large pamphlet-style format of the volume. However, what follows is an increasingly refined synopsis of texts from the HB concerning the Ark and its housing, as well as Jewish historical and exegetical texts, alongside archaeological studies that are as thorough as can be hoped at present. Beginning with the Genesis sanctuary and a reconstruction of a posited ‘proto-Tabernacle’, via cultic rituals and the journeys of the Ark, the history of the site of the Temple Mount and its building works are charted up to the Hasmonean Temple Mount that Herod would later adapt. Photographs, models, maps, and carefully drawn diagrams abound (which would be enhanced if north were indicated on more of the 70 figures). Simplicity in some parts, and the surprisingly archaic English translation of some scriptural references, might both cause scholars to raise their eyebrows. However, this is not just an introduction to the HB's Temple for the student, but a handy little resource for one seeking to reimagine a central place in the identity of the people of the HB. Its reconstruction is persuasive, and a bibliography further orients the curious reader in understanding this important site better.
Megan Daffern
Russell, Stephen C., Space, Land, Territory, and the Study of the Bible (Brill Research Perspectives in Biblical Interpretation, 1.4; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. viii + 64. €70.00/$84.00. ISBN 978-90-04-33991-0.
R. suggests (after Michel Foucault) that in recent times in the humanities there has been an epochal shift of interest from history/time to space. The first part of this monograph is an introduction to approaches of this change under sections on the sacred, the legal, the political, the economic, the ecological and the visual, to which he adds the social and the urban. He admits that this part is dense and highly influenced by the French Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre. An exposition of the story of Naboth's vineyard (a slight revision of a JSOT article in 2014), looking at the legal understandings of space, follows. It is based on earlier work by Max Gluckman suggesting that differing individuals may have differing rights and responsibilities for the same piece of land, thus accounting for the differing attitudes between the King and Naboth to the property. Jezebel exploited this by jumped-up charges suggesting that Naboth had failed (how?) in his social and religious responsibilities and thus he and his family would forfeit the land. An interesting suggestion based ultimately on analogy, but do we need the theory to get to this conclusion?
Peter S. Ballantine
Russell, Steven C., The King and the Land: A Geography of Royal Power in the Biblical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. xii + 286. £64.00. ISBN 978-0-1993-6188-5.
In this well-argued book R. seeks to clarify ‘the complexity and subtlety of spatial power in the biblical world’. Although discussion revolves around five particular examples of the administrative control of land in ancient Israel and Judah, it is illuminated and supported by aspects of ANE spatial power derived from archaeological and textual evidence. Discussion does not follow a strict chronological order but chapter one begins with Solomon's building projects before turning to David's purchase of Araunah's threshing floor. Solomon's temple, with its foreign (Phoenician) architecture, was largely indicative of how he conducted his foreign policy, which relied so much on marriages with foreign princesses and trade links. The threshing floor purchase, Jehu's desecration of the Baal temple, Absalom building up a following by his use of the city gate, and Hezekiah's reconstruction of Jerusalem's water supply system, with a chapter devoted to each, are discussed in chapters two to five respectively. All five chapters are characterized by a lucid writing style with little to deflect the reader from the core argument, which is backed up by some 94 pages of notes, the notes closely rivalling or perhaps even surpassing the text for the number of words they contain. There is a brief Summary, an extensive Bibliography and indexes of ancient sources and of subjects; the latter also includes author citations. Kingship in Israel and the ANE more generally is currently receiving much attention. R.'s contribution should not be neglected; it is one with which others working in the field will undoubtedly wish to interact.
George Nicol
Sergi, Omer, Manfred Oeming and Izaak J. De Hulster (eds.), In Search of Aram and Israel: Politics, Culture and Identity (ORA, 20; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), pp. xviii + 429. €129.00. ISBN 978-3-16-153803-2.
This volume is a collection of papers that were presented at a colloquium on ‘Aram and Israel: Cultural Interaction, Political Borders and the Construction of Identity during the Early Iron Age (12th–8th centuries bce)’ held in Heidelberg in 2014. As the title suggests, the volume deals with the Aram–Israel relationship which is explored from a variety of perspectives, approaches and case studies. The preface outlines the content of each of the contributions and is followed by a stimulating introductory chapter: O. Sergi and I.J. de Hulster, ‘Some Historical and Methodological Considerations Regarding the Question of Political, Social and Cultural Interaction between Aram and Israel in the Early Iron Age’. Following this, the further 17 essays in this volume are presented in three sections. Part One focuses on the theme of political borders and relations between Aram and Israel and consists of the following: I. Finkelstein, ‘Israel and Aram: Reflections on their Border’; Erhard Blum, ‘The Relations between Aram and Israel in the 9th and 8th Centuries bce: The Textual Evidence’; A. Kleiman, ‘The Damascene Subjugation of the Southern Levant as a Gradual Process (ca. 842–800 bce)’. Part Two contains seven essays on the theme of ‘Aramaean’ Material Culture: A.M. Maeir, ‘The Aramaean Involvement in the Southern Levant: Case Studies for Identifying the Archaeological Evidence’; A. Mazar, ‘Culture, Identity and Politics Relating to Tel Reḥov in the 10th–9th Centuries bce (with an Excursus on the Identification of Tel Reḥov)’; J. Häser, K. Soennecken and D. Vieweger, ‘Tall Zirā‘a in north-west Jordan between Aram and Israel’; N. Panitz-Cohen and R.A. Mullins, ‘Aram-Maacah? Aramaeans and Israelites on the Border: Excavations at Tell Abil el-Qameḥ (Abel-beth-maacah) in Northern Israel’; Y. Thareani, ‘Enemy at the Gates? The Archaeological Visibility of the Aramaeans at Dan’; B. Sass, ‘Aram and Israel during the 10th–9th Centuries bce, or Iron Age IIA: The Alphabet’; I.J. de Hulster, ‘Material Aramaeisms? Sphragistic Reflections on the Aram–Israel Border Zone through a Case Study on Hazor’. Part Three contains a further seven essays on the theme of Aram, Israel and identity: G. Bunnens, ‘Confrontation, Emulation and Ethno-genesis of the Aramaeans in Iron Age Syria’; S. Mazzoni, ‘Identity and Multiculturality in the Northern Levant of the 9th–7th Century bce: With a Case Study on Tell Afis’; H. Niehr, ‘The Power of Language: Language Situation and Language Policy in Sam'al’; O. Sergi, ‘The Gilead between Aram and Israel: Political Borders, Cultural Interaction, and the Question of Jacob and Israelite Identity’; A. Berlejung, ‘Family Ties: Constructed Memories about Aram and the Aramaeans in the Old Testament’; N. Wazana, ‘Ahaz and the Altar from Damascus (2 Kings 16:10-16): Literary, Theological, and Historical-Political Considerations’; M. Oeming, ‘ “And the King of Aram Was at War with Israel”: History and Theology in the Elisha Cycle 2 Kings 2–13’. The volume ends with a number of indexes including authors, biblical and extra-biblical textual references, names of persons and deities and a particularly useful one of toponyms. This collection of essays clearly highlights the importance of the relationship between Aram and Israel and its impact on interpretation of the biblical texts and material culture. It is to be recommended to any historian of ancient Israel and any commentator who encounters Aram in the biblical texts.
Cat Quine
Sharon, Nadav, Judea under Roman Domination: The First Generation of Statelessness and its Legacy (Early Judaism and Its Literature, 46; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2017), pp. xxii + 529. $79.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-88414-222-5 (hardback); 978-1-62837-176-5 (paperback).
This revised Hebrew University PhD dissertation (supervisor: D.R. Schwartz) concentrates on the period from 67 bce (when Alexandra Salome died) to 37 bce (at the time the Hasmonaean state came to an end and Rome took control). He argues that 63 bce (Pompey's conquest of Judaea) should be viewed as a watershed no less significant than 70 ce. In Part 1 he gives a historical reconstruction of events during this period. Part 2 is the heart of the study, in which he considers the impact of the loss of sovereignty and the beginning of Roman domination. He first argues for its impact on Qumran, for whom the Kittim were always Romans (never Greeks). The Qumran community and most other Jews hated the Romans; only Hyrcanus II and his close associates gave substantial support to the Romans. The roots of the 66–70 ce revolt lay already in this period. One significant suggestion is that once Judaea lost sovereignty the Jews of Palestine were in a similar political position to the Jews of the diaspora; also, most Jews were now part of the same empire. He argues that this led to the development or enhancement of several institutions in Palestine at this time, including the synagogue, the Sanhedrin, messianism, and Pharisaism. Eight appendixes discuss individual historical points. This is an important study for the history of Second Temple Judaism.
Lester L. Grabbe
Ulanowski, Krzysztof, The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, 84; Ancient Warfare, 1; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xx + 419. €165.00/$198.00. ISBN 978-9-0043-2475-6.
Nineteen essays range from Sumer to the 3rd-century Roman army. For P. Mander, ‘War in Mesopotamian Culture’, mythological and royal battle accounts are ‘reintegrating the vanquished and thus restoring cosmic order’ to devastated places. V. Sazonov, ‘Some Remarks Concerning the Development of the Theology of War in Ancient Mesopotamia’, shows continuity and development from the third to the first millennia, while S. Fink analyses ‘Battle Descriptions in Mesopotamian Sources: Presargonic and Sargonic Period’, finding a basic template gradually elaborated. The Editor offers ‘A Comparison of the Role of the Bārû and Mantis in Ancient Warfare’, and M. Ross's ‘Eclipses and the Precipitation of Conflict: Deciphering the Signal to Attack’ interprets accounts as consequences of eclipses. R. Parker argues that ‘Greeks never fought’ for religious causes (‘War and Religion in Ancient Greece’), while B. Burliga explores the role of the gods in ‘The Terrified Face of Alcyoneus: The Religious Character of Greek Warfare, or What about the Vanquished?’. E. Rung concludes the Persians reacted to military situations, not deliberately targetting the temples—marginally relevant to OT studies (‘The Burning of Greek Temples by the Persians and Greek War-Propaganda’). R. Bruzzone, ‘Weather, Luck and the Divine in Thucydides’, emphasizes the interconnection of divine action and natural events in narratives of the fall of Plataea— reminiscent of biblical episodes. S. Agrimonti finds clear evidence of Xenophon's religious convictions in ‘Xenophon's Piety within the Hipparchikos’. N. Sekunda explains the history of ‘The Mounted Torch-Race at the Athenian Bendideia’, while B. Anteli-Bernárdez shows Alexander used divination in uniting the peoples he conquered (‘Like Gods among Men: The Use of Religion and Mythical Issues during Alexander's Campaign’) and I. Ladynin traces deliberate policy in ‘Defence and Offence in the Egyptian Royal Titles of Alexander the Great’. To later periods belong S. Jędraszek's study of Hellenistic terracottas, ‘Egyptian Warriors: Machimoi, in Coroplastic Art— Selected Examples’; J.R. Hall's ‘Clenar larans etnam svalce: Myth, Religion and Warfare in Etruria’; D.-T. Ionesco's ‘The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Campus Martius: Peace and War, Antinomic or Complementary Realities in the Roman World’; A. Heller's ‘The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of Antoninus Pius’; T. Dzhiurdzik's ‘Roman Soldiers in Official Cult Ceremonies: Performance, Participation and Religious Experience’; and B. Zissu and the late H. Eshel's ‘Religious Aspects of the Bar Kochba Revolt: The Founding of Aelia Capitoline on the Ruins of Jerusalem’ (arguing that Hadrian's plan to build a temple on the Temple Mount precipitated the revolt). These essays provide analogies for OT studies.
Alan Millard
Wright, Paul H., Understanding Great People of the Bible: An Introductory Atlas to Biblical Biography (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015), pp. 48. $18.00. ISBN 978-965-220-842-2. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
In the foreword, W. says that this book is not a history of ancient Israel but is a summary of biblical data based on some of the great people of the Bible. What we then get is a summary of the text (with some hedged comments such as stating that there is a discussion about the suitability of placing chs. 40ff. of Isaiah in the 8th century bce but that the canonical reading can suggest a holistic approach to the final shape of the book), centring on Patriarchs and Matriarchs, Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, and finally Josiah, with appropriate maps (that give you travel lines of the story and some basic topography but little else) and a few topographical photographs (too small to be really useful). Over half the book is centred on the New Testament, and as a whole it raises the issue of why buy this when you could buy a traditional Bible Atlas?
Peter S. Ballantine
Zsolnay, Ilona (ed.), Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity (Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East; London and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. x + 289. £85.00. ISBN 978-1-1381-8936-2.
This very fine collection of essays is edited by a scholar involved in the growing field of historical gender studies as applied to the ANE. Anyone working on any aspect of gender, the Bible and/or the ANE will want to read this volume, which brings together the following ten essays: Joan Goodnick Westenholz and Ilona Zsolnay, ‘Categorizing Men and Masculinity in Sumer’; Julia Assante, ‘Men Looking at Men: The Homoerotics of Power in the State Art of Assyria’; Mary R. Bachvarova, ‘Wisdom of Former Days: The Manly Hittite King and Foolish Kumarbi, Father of the Gods’; J.S. Cooper, ‘Female Trouble and Troubled Males: Roiled Seas, Decadent Royals, and Mesopotamian Masculinities in Myth and Practice’; Simon Brodbeck, ‘Mapping Masculinities in the Sanskrit Bahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa’; Ann K. Guinan and Peter Morris, ‘Mesopotamia before and after Sodom: Colleagues, Crack Troops, Comrades-in-Arms’; Hilary Lipka, ‘Shaved Beards and Bared Buttocks: Shame and the Undermining of Masculine Performance in Biblical Texts’; Marc Brettler, ‘ “Happy Is the Man Who Fills his Quiver with Them” (Ps. 127:5): Constructions of Masculinities in the Psalms’; Martti Nissinen, ‘Relative Masculinities in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament’; and Steven W. Holloway, ‘The Masculinity of Male Angels on the Make: Genesis 6:1-4 in Early Nineteenth-Century Gothic Imagination’. Z.'s introduction is itself an important contribution to the study of gender in history. A superb collection that I will frequently consult in my own work.
Jonathan Stökl
Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List:
Arieti, James A., Springs of Western Civilization: A Comparative Study of Hebrew and Classical Cultures — see p. 206
Arnold, Bill T. and Brent A. Strawn (eds.), The World around the Old Testament: The People and Places of the Ancient Near East — see p. 206
Avemarie, Friedrich et al. (eds.), Die Makkabäer — see p. 221
Berthelot, Katell, In Search of the Promised Land? The Hasmonean Dynasty Between Biblical Models and Hellenistic Diplomacy — see p. 222
Çifçi, Ali, The Socio-Economic Organisation of the Urartian Kingdom — see p. 208
Crawford, Harriet (ed.), The Sumerian World — see p. 209
Elayi, Josette, Sargon II, King of Assyria — see p. 210
Finitsis, Antonios, Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6 — see p. 83
Heidemann, Stefan and Kevin Butcher, Regional History and the Coin Finds from Assur: From the Achaemenids to the Nineteenth Century — see p. 24
Keel, Othmar, Jerusalem and the One God: A Religious History — see p. 189
Sláma, Petr, New Theologies of the Old Testament and History: The Function of History in Modern Biblical Scholarship — see p. 199
Van Seters, John, The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary — see p. 71