Abstract
ASTER, SHAWN ZELIG, and AVRAHAM FAUST (eds.), The Southern Levant under Assyrian Domination (University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2018), pp. xii + 259. $64.95. ISBN 978-1-57506-797-1.
This volume seeks to reconstruct the demography, economy, architecture and intellectual life of the southern Levant under Assyrian rule, integrating archaeological and textual perspectives. It succeeds in painting a plausible picture of Assyrian control of the southern Levant. Following an introductory chapter by the editors which briefly presents some background information on the Assyrian Empire and the sources for its study, the contributions are A. Faust's ‘The Assyrian Century in the Southern Levant: An Overview of the Reality on the Ground’, which is supported by P. Zilberg's ‘The Assyrian Provinces of the Southern Levant: Sources, Administration, and Control’; ‘Treaty and Prophecy: A Survey of Biblical Reactions to Neo-Assyrian Political Thought’ by S.Z. Aster in which the author explores the various responses in the royal psalms, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah to Assyrian ideology and suggests that they ‘ultimately contributed to the intensification of Israel and Judah's ethnic self-awareness’ (p. 112); ‘“Your Servant and Son I Am”: Aspects of the Assyrian Imperial Experience of Judah’ by A. Baruchi-Unna which offers a good summary of the obligations imposed on the rulers of subject-states and the very limited commitments undertaken by the Assyrians; D. Kertai's ‘The Assyrian Influence on the Architecture of Hospitality in the Southern Levant’ which urges a greater focus on functional aspects of architecture; ‘Neo-Assyrian Involvement in the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel: Old Concepts and New Interpretations’ by A. Fantalkin, arguing that the prosperity and significance of Ashkelon has been overplayed; ‘On Phoenicia's Trade Relations with Philistia and Judah under the Assyrian Hegemony: The Ceramic Evidence’ by L. Singer-Avitz, tracing archaeological evidence for Assyrian export restrictions; ‘The Beirut Decree and Mesopotamian Imperial Policy toward the Levant’ by Y. Bloch, making a good case for re-interpreting the inscription as reflecting early Neo-Babylonian concerns about homeward migration of deportees; and ‘The Last Days of Cuneiform in Canaan: Speculations on the Coins from Samaria’ by W. Horowitz, in which the author wonders whether these Hellenistic period coins are ‘living relics of Mesopotamian exilic communities’ (p. 243). With differing nuances and stressing the variability of policy across time and space, these studies confirm recent claims, programmatically expressed here by Faust, that only areas outside direct Assyrian control prospered in the southern Levant because Assyria's primary goal was resource extraction by manipulating the economy along the Levantine coast with minimum infrastructural investments.
THOMAS RENZ
BAILEY, CLINTON, Bedouin Culture in the Bible (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018), pp. x + 278. £40.00. ISBN 978-0-300-12182-7.
The study resurrects an interpretative framework, quite popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it argues: ‘After all, the great abundance of Bedouin similarities, the common logic of these similarities between Bedouin and biblical experiences, and the ancient proximity of Bedouin to what the Bible cites as Israelite abodes make it more likely that the origin of almost all the biblical material presented in this book stemmed from Bedouin rather than non-Bedouin cultures’ (p. 11). In the course of the argument, B. draws on his extensive ethnographic fieldwork among Bedouin in the Sinai and Negev, treating various aspects of desert society, laws, religion and oral traditions. The ethnographic data is then applied to the biblical material, which B. approaches quite conservatively, choosing to ignore most Pentateuchal scholarship. When addressing the issue of how the biblical authors acquired their knowledge of Bedouin life, he opts for observation and cultural heritage, favouring the latter as it confirms the biblical story. ‘The display of Bedouin culture in this book should serve as a counterpoise to the absence of corroborative evidence from contemporary documentation or archaeology for the biblical portrayal of the patriarchs, the depicted Israelite Exodus, their wanderings in the desert and the stories of subsequent intertribal conflicts and clashes with neighboring foes’ (p. 216). One will certainly appreciate the anthropological data amassed here, but the critical-minded scholar will remain unconvinced by the exegetical conclusions.
ANSELM C. HAGEDORN
BHAYRO, SIAM, and CATHERINE RIDER (eds.), Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period (Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity, 5; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xiv + 433. €105.00. ISBN 978-90-04-33853-1.
This impressively wide-ranging volume had its origins in a 2013 conference in Exeter on ‘Demons and Illness’. Adopting a comparative approach, the articles examine the complex associations between demons and illness across a diverse array of geographical, chronological, and religious contexts, from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to 17th-century Europe. An introduction by the editors notes the value of such a comparative approach (building upon previous studies addressing the topic within specific contexts or periods) for the broader exploration of ‘continuities and changes’ (p. 8), while also discussing some of the challenges faced, including the variable nature and survival of sources and the issue of comparable terminology across such a diverse range of contexts (not least, the term ‘demon’ itself!). The bulk of the volume is divided into four parts. The first section, ‘Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt’, contains contributions from G. Konstantopoulos (‘Shifting Alignments: The Dichotomy of Benevolent and Malevolent Demons in Mesopotamia’); A. Bácskay (‘The Natural and Supernatural Aspects of Fever in Mesopotamian Medical Texts’); R. Lucarelli (‘Illness as Divine Punishment: The Nature and Function of the Disease-Carrier Demons in the Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts’); and L. Verderame (‘Demons at Work in Ancient Mesopotamia’). The second section, ‘Second Temple Judaism and Late Antiquity’, contains contributions from I. Fröhlich (‘Demons and Illness in Second Temple Judaism: Theory and Practice’); D. Hamidovic (‘Illness and Healing through Spell and Incantation in the Dead Sea Scrolls’); G. Bohak (‘Conceptualizing Demons in Late Antique Judaism’); A. Bellusci (‘Oneiric Aggressive Magic: Sleep Disorders in Late Antique Jewish Tradition’); C. Crosignani (‘The Influence of Demons on the Human Mind According to Athena-goras and Tatian’); S. Sawicka-Sykes (‘Demonic Anti-Music and Spiritual Disorder in the Life of Antony’); and S. Lunn-Rockliffe (‘Over-Eating Demoniacs in Late Antique Hagiography’). The third section, ‘Medieval’, contains contributions from: A.E. Bailey (‘Miracles and Madness: Dispelling Demons in Twelfth-Century Hagiography’); M.C. Escobar Vargas (‘Demons in Lapidaries? The Evidence of the Madrid MS Escorial, h.I.15’); S. Giralt (‘The Melancholy of the Necromancer in Arnau de Vilanova's Epistle against Demonic Magic’); L. Ockenström (‘Demons, Illness, and Spiritual Aids in Natural Magic and Image Magic’); L. Saif (‘Between Medicine and Magic: Spiritual Aetiology and Therapeutics in Medieval Islam’); and C. Trenery (‘Demons, Saints, and the Mad in the Twelfth-Century Miracles of Thomas Becket’). The final section, ‘Early Modernity’, contains contributions from H. Bhogal (‘The Post-Reformation Challenge to Demonic Possession’); P. Kapitaniak (‘From A Discoverie to The Triall of Witchcraft: Doctor Cotta and Godly John’); and B.J. Mollmann (‘Healing with Demons? Preternatural Philosophy and Superstitious Cures in Spanish Inquisitorial Courts’). These 20 articles are followed by an afterword (‘Pandaemonium’) by P. Horden, in which various threads are drawn together and possible areas of focus highlighted for future comparative research. The volume is rounded off with indexes of subjects and texts, and is supplemented throughout with a number of line drawings as well as both black-and-white and colour illustrations. Given the sheer breadth of its scope, the volume is, of course, illustrative rather than comprehensive in its coverage, yet there is a definite coherence to its content, aided by the introduction and afterword which bookend the work and help begin to draw out the threads of commonality and difference. As such it constitutes a significant and welcome resource for comparative explorations of historical-cultural links between demons, illness, medicine and magic, while offering a clear invitation to future work.
MATTHEW A. COLLINS
BLASCHKE, THERESA, Euphrat und Tigris im Alten Orient (Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien, 6; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018), pp. xx + 675. €98.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10928-4.
At nearly 700 pages this Leipzig dissertation (supervisor: Michael P. Streck) is a thorough treatment of the two rivers in the Mesopotamian texts. Even so, not all questions that B. puts (p. 6) can be answered. For example, a statistical study of the division of references to each river cannot be done because of the uneven distribution of texts in different time periods. Surprisingly, also the etymologies of the Mesopotamian names (Tigris = Idigna/Idiglat; Euphrates = Buranuna/Purattu) remain obscure. B. examines the use of the physical geography of the rivers and their tributaries and canals as boundary markers and borders, as means of transport and trade, for irrigation, and in rituals. Although the Tigris seems less tamed in recent times (especially the eastern portion), in antiquity it seems to have had more branches and was used for irrigation and transport just like the Euphrates. The rivers were not deified (except for some brief periods), but their waters were important for purification. Curiously, unlike the Greek designation of the region as ‘Between the Rivers’, no such usage is found in cuneiform texts for the inhabited area. An appendix gives a catalogue of the many texts examined for the study.
LESTER L. GRABBE
BLENKINSOPP, JOSEPH, Davide e la tradizione dinastica: Dall'esilio alla rivolta di Bar Kokhba (trans. Romeo Fabbri; Epifania della Parola, 9; Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane, 2015), pp. 255. €30.00. ISBN 978-88-10-40249-8.
This is the Italian edition of the original English work David Remembered: Kingship and National Identity in Ancient Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013), reviewed in B.L. 2014, p. 6.
(BOOK LIST EDITOR)
BROOKS, SHALOM SIMCHA, Saul and the Monarchy: A New Look (Society for Old Testament Study Monographs; London and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. xvi + 222. 17 figures. £37.99. ISBN 978-1-138-26288-1.
This is the paperback edition of a work published in hardback in 2005, and reviewed in B.L. 2006, p. 49.
(BOOK LIST EDITOR)
CECCARELLI, PAOLA, LUTZ DOERING, THORSTEN FöGEN, and INGO GILDENHARD (eds.), Letters and Communities: Studies in the Socio-Political Dimensions of Ancient Epistolo-graphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. ix + 373. £80.00. ISBN 978-0-19-880420-8.
The 13 essays collected in the volume originated as papers delivered to a conference on the social-political dimensions of ancient epistolography held at Durham in 2011. The aim was to evaluate the diverse evidence and to set letters in relation to their role in societies that were structured by face-to-face communication in public settings. Here, the issue of permanence becomes crucial as it ‘enabled letters to help facilitate the extension of communities beyond those who are present—both in terms of space, via long-distance communication, and time, by rendering the community constituted in a historical moment accessible to future generations—or, indeed, enabling retrospective “dialogue” with the dead’ (p. 6). In the first part T. Fögen looks at the configuration of communities through letters while B.-J. Schröder investigates the mode of delivery of Cicero's letters. In a second part configurations of power and communication from Greece to Rome are treated. S. Lewis surveys the role of letters in ancient tyranny, arguing that a ‘letter sent on behalf of the ruler was a form of status acquisition’ (p. 117). Building on recent discoveries, M. Mari investigates how Macedonian rulers employed letters to rule over and interact with cities while P. Ceccarelli traces an increase in letter writing during the Hellenistic period as rulers are forced to communicate and rule over large distances. R. Osborne looks at the dialogic nature of letters and such dialogue is employed in the field of diplomacy. I. Gildenhard focuses on the 300 letters written by Cicero between 49–44 BCE addressing the issue of the transformation of the Republic into an autocratic regime. The third part unites five essays on letters in Judaism and Christianity. S. Grätz once again stresses the fictitious nature of the letters in Ezra 4–7 that serve an ideological purpose. This line of investigation is continued in P.S. Alexander's careful study of letters in Judaism during the Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic periods when, he argues, they are an indispensible tool in promoting a shared identity. L. Doering treats the epistle of Baruch and how nationalistic ideas are reshaped in a diaspora setting. J.M.G. Barclay suggests that letters played a rather marginal role in Pauline communities, making them more powerful. K.W. Niebuhr also takes seriously the diaspora setting of the epistle of James, showing that the letter was perceived as a foundational instruction by James, brother of Jesus, in a setting in which ‘personal relationship to Jesus before and after Easter became an important means to create and maintain “Christian” identity’ (p. 317). The last essay in the volume looks at the ways in which Seneca's epistulae morales build an intellectual community that is no longer required to meet face-to-face as the individual reading of letters allows the reader to select his own imagined community. In an otherwise excellent and highly stimulating volume, the HB scholar misses treatments of ANE and Hebrew letters. Detailed indexes help navigation in the wealth of material offered.
ANSELM C. HAGEDORN
CHANEY, MARVIN L., Peasants, Prophets, and Political Economy: The Hebrew Bible and Social Analysis (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), pp. xix + 295. $37.00. ISBN 978-1-5326-0441-6.
This book is a republication of 13 articles by C., all sharing a social-scientific dimension. The essays are kept in their original form and so reflect what needed to be addressed at the time when they first appeared. The structure of the book almost follows that of the HB, with the first and last essays being on other topics. The first essay discusses ancient Palestinian peasant movements, with a review of three models of the social-scientific field. The following essays, in turn, point out the relationship between the book of Joshua and the historical dynamics of Josianic Israel as part of the Deuteronomistic History; propose that the tenth commandment aimed at forbidding various practices of land consolidation that stripped fellow Israelites of their well-being; defend a systemic study of the Israelite monarchy; suggest that debt easement attempts, backed by the elites, actually generated minimal support for the struggling peasants; study (in six essays) the political economy of peasant poverty of 8th-century Judah and how the prophets critiqued the problem, analysing texts from the books of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah; and study the socio-historical parallels between agrarian (i.e. pre-industrial) Korea and biblical Israel. The final essay critiques R. Boer's The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel, on the author's assumption that arable land was plentiful in all periods throughout Southwest Asia and his understanding of interregional economic trade. This book nuances the socio-historical aspects of biblical research.
HEDY HUNG
ELAYI, JOSETTE, The History of Phoenicia (trans. Andrew Plummer; Atlanta, GA: Lockwood Press, 2018), pp. x + 314. $39.95. ISBN 978-1-937040-81-9.
Over 30 years devoted to the study of Phoenicia has enabled E. to produce a volume focused on the ‘historical events and the socioeconomic facets’ (p. ix), rather than engaging with the often studied material remains and art. Ranging from prehistory to the advent of Alexander, but concentrating on the Iron Age, she traces the fortunes and strategies of the major centres, drawing on archives from El Amarna, Ugarit and Assyria and narratives in the Bible and Josephus. Throughout she makes evident how meagre and haphazard native sources are; only in Achaemenid times do coins provide local information on kings and their economic interventions, a subject she and her husband have made their speciality. Consequently, she often has to ‘read between the lines’, sometimes giving more credence to ancient texts than many would allow. Never a single kingdom, Phoenicia has to be studied city by city, which her close association with excavations in Lebanon enables her to do, using results from the most recent work. The relations between Tyre, Sidon, Israel and Judah, both political and commercial are integral to the history, as are relations with Assyria, illuminated by letters found at Nineveh as well as the royal ‘annals’. The tables of the ‘Chronology of the Phoenician Kings’ are particularly helpful. Originally published as Histoire de la Phénicie (Paris: Perrin, 2013—not reviewed in the B.L.), this is a much needed, reliable source.
ALAN MILLARD
ELREFAEI, ALY, Wellhausen and Kaufmann: Ancient Israel and its Religious History in the Works of Julius Wellhausen and Yehezkel Kaufmann (BZAW, 490; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), pp. xiv + 304. €99.95/$140.00/£91.00. ISBN 978-3-11-045212-9.
In this Göttingen dissertation, E.—an Egyptian Muslim scholar who has specialized in Semitic languages (and Hebrew in particular)—undertakes a detailed comparative analysis of Wellhausen's and Kaufmann's presentations of the history of Israelite religion, based on their differing literary-critical analyses of the relevant biblical sources (neither took much notice of extra-biblical and archaeological evidence). The analysis is in three parts: a separate descriptive presentation of the work of each scholar in turn (with more extensive attention to Kaufmann, whose work, mainly written in Hebrew, is less widely known) and then a comparison of the two. The main points of discussion are their differing dates of P (Kaufmann thought it was basically as early as the pre-monarchic period) and their consequential divergence over monotheism and all that flows from that: Wellhausen saw it as the end point of a long history of development whereas Kaufmann regarded it as Mosaic and thus a fundamental presupposition of all that followed. Although E. seeks mostly to remain dispassionate, it is clear that on the fundamental critical issues he agrees with Wellhausen rather than Kaufmann, but he is also critical of Wellhausen's understanding of the postexilic ‘theocracy’. While the main views and the subsequent influence of each scholar are already reasonably well known, and although the plan of the book entails a certain amount of probably unnecessary repetition, I am not aware of any comparable study that helpfully presents so much detail, especially in regard to Kaufmann.
H.G.M. WILLIAMSON
GOLDBERG, HARVEY E., Anthropology and Hebrew Bible Studies: Modes of Interchange and Interpretation (Brill Research Perspectives in Biblical Interpretation, 3.1; Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. v + 81. €70.00. ISBN 978-90-04-375758.
The title of this extended essay gives a reasonably accurate impression of its scope. G. has taught anthropology at the Hebrew University, and has himself contributed to the interchange between anthropology and biblical studies. He considers its history very briefly in a general way, before taking up two topics which illustrate the way in which the two disciplines have interacted: ritual and literacy. The latter discussion brings in such issues as genealogy and the development of Judaism as a text-based religion. The latter half of the book is taken up with three studies in a structuralist vein, in which G. deploys his own insights. The first is on the perennial problem of the kid in its mother's milk, and the related rabbinic separation of milk and meat; the second on circumcision, which he associates as much with ‘alliance’ between families as with patrilineal descent (rightly, in my view); the third on an entirely textual issue, the books of Ruth and Esther as forming a structured opposition within similarity. The discussions range widely, sometimes verging on the rambling. The precise purpose of the book is unclear: a much longer one would have been needed to survey the whole field of anthropological interpretation of the HB. In the Hebrew transliteration, aleph and ayin are frequently confused.
WALTER J. HOUSTON
GRABBE, LESTER L. (ed.), ‘Even God Cannot Change the Past’: Reflections on Seventeen Years of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology (LHBOTS, 663; European Seminar in Historical Methodology, 11; London: T&T Clark, 2018), pp. xvi + 240. £85.00. ISBN 978-0-567-68056-3.
Following the editor's brief introductory statement, the volume falls into three parts. The first part provides ‘statements on and evaluations of the seminar’ given by six of its long-term members at its closing 2012 session in Amsterdam, some of which now appear in expanded form. It comprises B. Becking, ‘Why Start with the Text? The Fall of Samaria Revisited’; E. Ben Zvi, ‘Clio Today and Ancient Israelite History: Some Thoughts and Observations at the Closing Session of the European Seminar for Historical Methodology’; P.R. Davies, ‘ “Just the Facts, Ma'am!”: Reflections on the ESHM’; E.A. Knauf, ‘Vingt Ans Apres: A Personal Retrospective’; N.P. Lemche, ‘The Future of Israel's History’; and T.L. Thompson, ‘The Problem of Israel in the History of the South Levant’. With one exception, the second part contains papers from earlier sessions that were not previously published. R. Albertz's contribution to the Seminar's second volume was the only article published by the Seminar in German. It now appears as ‘The Exilic Period as an Urgent Case for a Historical Reconstruction without the Biblical Text: The Neo-Babylonian Inscriptions as a “Primary Source”’. The remaining contents of this section are P.R. Davies, ‘Cultural Memory in Practice: Ezra and Nehemiah’; L.L. Grabbe, ‘The Oral, the Written, the Forgotten, the Remembered: Studies in Historiography and their Implication for Ancient Israel’; T. Funke, ‘The Relation between Samaria and Jerusalem in the Early Maccabean Period Revisited: A Case Study about the Reception of Phinehas’; P. Guillaume, ‘From Philadelphus to Hyrcanus: An Alternative Approach to the “Deuteronomic Historiography” ’; and E.A. Knauf, ‘Joshua Maccabaeus: Another Reading of 1 Maccabees 5’. Interspersed among these essays are brief reports on sessions of the Seminar that did not result in a published volume. Part 3, which comprises Grabbe's assessment of the seminar's achievements, ‘Seventeen Years of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology: A Personal View of the Results’, includes a list of its publications. Finally there are Indexes of References and Authors. The volume brings a sense of completeness to the Seminar's interesting and instructive series of publications—a series that surely leaves all of us who have an interest in the biblical story and its relationship to the past (whether chronicled, imagined, ‘remembered’ or whatever) much in its debt and with much still to think about.
GEORGE NICOL
GRABBE, LESTER L. (ed.), The Hebrew Bible and History: Critical Readings (T&T Clark Critical Readings in Biblical Studies; London: T&T Clark, 2019), pp. xxi + 564. £150.00/ $202.00. ISBN 978-0-567-67267-4.
This edited volume brings together a wide range of scholarship to present the main issues under debate in discussing the problem of history and Ancient Israel. Some articles have appeared elsewhere, many originating from meetings of the European Seminar on Methodology in Israel's History, and these are listed under ‘Original Publications’. The book is in five parts. Parts 1-4 are introduced by the editor with a summary of each article and an annotated bibliography suggesting more detailed studies, and Part 5 covers the work of the European Seminar over 17 years. Part 1, ‘Studies in Methodology’, illustrates the variety of approaches and perspectives to history writing with articles by H. Niehr, ‘Some Aspects of Working with the Textual Sources’; H.M. Barstad, ‘The Strange Fear of the Bible: Some Reflections on the “Bibliophobia” in Recent Ancient Israelite Historiography’; J.M. Miller, ‘Is it Possible to Write a History of Israel without Relying on the Hebrew Bible?’ and ‘Reading the Bible Historically: The Historian's Approach’; N. Na'aman, ‘Does Archaeology Really Deserve the Status of a “High Court” in Biblical Historical Research?’; E. Ben Zvi, ‘Malleability and its Limits: Sennacherib's Campaign against Judah as a Case Study’; N.P. Lemche, ‘On the Problems of Reconstructing Pre-Hellenistic Israelite (Palestinian) History’; T.L. Thompson, ‘Text, Context and Referent in Israelite Historiography’; L.L. Grabbe, ‘The Big Max: Review of A Biblical History of Israel by Iain Provan, V. Philips Long and Tremper Longman III’; with their response, ‘“Who Is the Prophet Talking about, Himself or Someone Else?” (Acts 8.34): A Response to Lester Grabbe's Review of A Biblical History of Israel’. Part 2, ‘The Beginnings of Israel and the Rise of the Monarchy’, has articles by J. Van Seters, ‘The Geography of the Exodus’; E.A. Knauf, ‘History in Joshua’, ‘History in Judges’ and ‘King Solomon's Copper Supply’; D. Edelman, ‘Saul ben Kish in History and Tradition’; L.L. Grabbe, ‘The Mighty Men of Israel: 1–2 Samuel and Historicity’; N. Na'aman, ‘Sources and Composition in the History of David’; W. Dietrich, ‘David and the Philistines: Literature and History’; H.M. Niemann, ‘The Socio-Political Shadow Cast by the Biblical Solomon’; A.E. Killebrew, ‘Biblical Jerusalem: An Archaeological Assessment’; R. Albertz, ‘Secondary Sources Also Deserve to Be Historically Evaluated: The Case of the United Monarchy’. Part 3 is a case study: ‘The Question of the Reform under Josiah’, with articles by P.R. Davies, ‘Josiah and the Law Book’; R. Albertz, ‘Why a Reform Like Josiah's Must Have Happened’; and C. Uehlinger, ‘Was There a Cult Reform under King Josiah? The Case for a Well-Grounded Minimum’. Part 4 is another case study: ‘The Problem of Nehemiah's Wall’, with articles by I. Finkelstein, ‘Geographical Lists in Ezra and Nehemiah in the Light of Archaeology: Persian or Hellenistic’; and O. Lipschits, ‘Jerusalem between Two Periods of Greatness: The Size and Status of the City in the Babylonian, Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods’. Part 5, ‘Conclusions’, is an article by L.L. Grabbe, ‘Seventeen Years of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology: The Results’, adapted from an earlier article by the same name. This volume is of great value in bringing together the main issues under debate and pointing towards further study, but each article is easily understood without previous knowledge of their context.
ANGELA THOMAS
GRANERØD, GARD, Dimensions of Yahwism in the Persian Period: Studies in the Religion and Society of the Judaean Community at Elephantine (BZAW, 488; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), pp. xxii + 382. £91.00. ISBN 978-3-11-045211-2.
Underlying G.'s study is a presumption that the ‘history of Israelite and Judaean religion(s)’ was characterized by diversity and that the Elephantine texts provide a particular example of 5th-century BCE practised Judaean religion. He adapts Ninian Smart's multidimensional model of religion, nuanced by a proposal of Jonathan Z. Smith, and in the five chapters following his ‘Introduction’ explores the texts to discover how they reflect on five of Smart's dimensions: social, material, ritual, mythic and narrative, and ethical. In each case he discusses several aspects of the ‘dimension’ in focus so that only a few of his findings can be noted here. Oaths by YHW and other gods could guarantee validity and trustworthiness. The importance of the temple of YHW is attested by text and archaeology: texts refer only to the first temple while the archaeological evidence relates almost entirely to its replacement. Discussion of ritual includes sacrifice, rites of mourning, communal and individual prayer, Passover and Unleavened Bread, and the Sabbath. The tradition about the former temple of YHW was important, while it is probable that as a garrison the Elephantine Judaeans knew and, whether freely or of necessity, accepted the Achaemenid royal myths. The fact that an oath by a god could function as evidence where no firm evidence existed suggests a link between ethics and religion, while slavery and marriage were legally regulated. It appears unlikely that the community possessed sacred books. Although, given the nature of the evidence, necessarily incomplete and open to revision, G. offers a viable portrait of ‘lived, practised Yahwism in a concrete context’.
GEORGE NICOL
GREER, JONATHAN S., JOHN W. HILBER, and JOHN H. WALTON (eds.), Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018), pp. xx + 615. 79 illustrations. $49.99. ISBN 978-0-8010-9775-1.
A massive yet compact resource in the ‘all you ever wanted to know about the background to the OT’ style, this collection of articles will be a useful point of reference for the inexperienced and the old hand alike. As the title indicates, the editors have adopted the concept of a drama as the guiding metaphor and organizing principle for both the structure and the content of the volume, and are aiming to raise the curtain on all the factors that have influenced the production (pun intended) of the OT. The subject matter ranges from the physical environment of the land of Israel to social organization among the Israelites, economic structures and trade practices, via the literature and customs of neighbouring cultures and the history and archaeology of the biblical period, and much more besides. The landscape of the volume is full of giants, with many instantly recognizable names among the list of contributors. Though the contributors do not necessarily always agree with each other, it has been editorial policy not to smooth out the differences; that said, assessments of the historical content of the OT tend to be more positive than negative, which is rather to be expected given the nature and purpose of the volume. The controlling metaphor of a drama production is evident in the titles given to the essay groupings, which are arranged in three major parts, each with several subsections, as follows. ‘Part One: Elements of the Drama’ has four subsections. ‘I. The Stage: Historical Geography’ consists of an Introduction (P.H. Wright) and considerations of regions and routes (C.G. Rasmussen), climate and environment (E. Arnold), and plants and animals (D. Fuks and N. Marom). ‘II. The Sets and Props: Archaeology’ consists of an Introduction (S. Gitin) and investigations of the Late Bronze Age (J. Uziel), Iron Age I (A.M. Maeir), Iron Age II (A. Mazar), the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods (C.E. Gane), and the Hellenistic period (J. Ryan). ‘III. The Scripts: Ancient Near Eastern Literature’ consists of an Introduction (A.E. Miglio) and attention to the literature of Mesopotamia (D.C. Deuel), Egypt (N. Shupak), the Hittites (A. Mouton), and Ugarit (W.D. Barker), as well as NW Semitic inscriptions (M.E. Cohen), Hebrew inscriptions (J.M. Hadley), and early Jewish literature (R.E. Stokes). ‘IV. The Frames: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography’ consists of an Introduction (I. Cornelius) and investigations of iconography in Egypt (L. Wright), Mesopotamia and Anatolia (D. Bodi), and Canaan/ Israel (B.A. Strawn). The second major division is ‘Part Two: Acts and Scenes of the Drama’, which has two subsections. ‘V. Acts: Integrated Approaches to Broad Historical Contexts’ consists of ‘The Ancestral Period’ (R.S. Hess), ‘The Egyptian Sojourn and the Exodus’ (D.A. Falk), ‘The Settlement Period’ (P. Pitkänen), ‘The United Monarchy’ (S.M. Ortiz), ‘The Divided Monarchy: Israel’ (J.B. Kofoed), ‘The Divided Monarchy: Judah’ (E.L. Welch), ‘The Exile and the Exilic Communities’ (D.N. Fulton), ‘The Achaemenid Persian Empire in the West and Persian-Period Yehud’ (K.A. Ristau), and ‘The Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean Statecraft’ (J. Willitts). ‘VI. Scenes: Integrated Approaches to Event-Based Historical Contexts’ consists of ‘Akhenaten and the Amarna Period’ (M.D. Janzen), ‘The Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples’ Migrations’ (G.D. Mumford), ‘Sheshonq's Levantine Conquest and Biblical History’ (Y. Levin), ‘The Battle of Qarqar and Assyrian Aspirations’ (M.W. Chavalas), ‘The Mesha Inscription and Relations with Moab and Edom’ (J.M. Tebes), ‘The Tel Dan Inscription and the Deaths of Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah’ (K.L. Younger Jr), ‘Sennacherib's Invasion of Judah and Neo-Assyrian Expansion’ (K.H. Keimer), ‘Eighth-Century Levantine Earthquakes and Natural Disasters’ (R.N. Roberts), ‘The Battle of Carchemish and Seventh/Sixth-Century Regional Politics’ (S.L. Hoffman), and ‘Alexander the Great and Hellenism’ (D.B. Sandy). The largest of the three major divisions is ‘Part Three: Themes of the Drama’, with 25 chapters in four divisions. ‘VII. God: Integrated Approaches to Themes in Israelite Religion’ consists of ‘Interactions in the Ancient Cognitive Environment’ (J.H. Walton) and studies of monotheism (M.J. Lynch), temple (J.H. Walton), priests (G.A. Klingbeil), worship, sacrifice and festivals (R.E. Gane), prophecy, divination and magic (J.W. Hilber), family religion (A.R. Davis), and death and burial (C.B. Hays). ‘VIII. Family: Integrated Approaches to Themes in Family Networks’ looks at tribes and nomads (T.D. Petter), women (C. Meyers), and family, children and inheritance (V.H. Matthews). ‘IX. Sustenance: Integrated Approaches to Themes in Economic Contexts’ looks at seasons, crops and water (O. Borowski), trade (J.T. Walton), slavery (R.E. Averbeck), local economies (P. Altmann), metallurgy (B. Liss and T.E. Levy), technologies of everyday life (G. London), food preparation (C. Shafer-Elliott), feasting (J. Fu), and music and dance (A.F. Caubet). Finally, ‘X. Governance: Integrated Approaches to Themes in Social Organization’ considers kingship and the state (N.S. Fox), social stratification (A. Faust), law and legal systems (D.W. Baker), wisdom traditions (P. Overland), and warfare (M. Schwartz). The final hundred pages are taken up with a bibliography (styled a ‘reference list’) and indexes of Scripture, ancient texts and authors.
DEBORAH W. ROOKE
HECHT, CHRISTINE, Zwischen Athen und Alexandria. Dichter und Künstler beim makedonischen König Archelaos (Philippika—Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhand-lungen/Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures, 112; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017), pp. x + 228. €58.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10890-4.
This Tübingen doctorate (written under the supervision of I. Männlein-Robert) investigates the evidence for a stay of poets and artists at the court of Archelaos, king of Macedon (413–399 BCE). After a historical reconstruction of Archelaos’ reign, H. offers a detailed survey of the testimonies for such a stay of the poets Euripides, Agathon, Timotheus of Miletus, and Choirilos of Samos, and the painter Zeuxis. The main part of the study is devoted to a close analysis of the various works produced in Macedonia. As such the study fills a gap in the scholarship of the late classical period. On the basis of her close reading of the texts, H. is able to argue that the Macedonian court provided an intellectual environment that enabled the poets to use more experimental and creative forms. As such they become forerunners of genres normally associated with the Hellenistic period as well as advancing the ‘Greekness’ of the Macedonian monarch. The book is an impressive testimony to the creativity of Greek literature outside Athens after the Peloponnesian War.
ANSELM C. HAGEDORN
HOYLAND, ROBERT G., and H.G.M. WILLIAMSON (eds.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. vii + 402. £30.00. ISBN 978-0-19-872439-1.
Hoyland and Williamson have brought together an extraordinary collection of engaging scholarship and rich colour images that provide the reader with a stimulating journey through the history of the Holy Land. With a detailed survey of the archeological data, the first chapter by A. Faust explores the emergence of ancient Israel and offers analysis of scholarly opinions regarding settlement in the land. L.L. Grabbe provides an introduction to the Iron Age in the second chapter, offering a helpful discussion of how we understand ancient history as we examine the movement of Israel from a tribal confederation to a monarchy. The book continues with chapters on the nations of Israel and Judah (A. Lemaire), Babylonian exile and restoration (H.G.M. Williamson), the Hellenistic and Roman Era (J.J. Collins), and the advent of the Christian Holy Land (K. Klein). Each offers lucid accounts of political and religious transformations that occur in the land through Judaism and Christianity, before reaching the Islamic period (M. Levy-Rubin on the coming of Islam, C. Hillenbrand on the Crusader and Ayyubid periods, and N. Luz on the Mamluk and Ottoman periods). The historical analysis concludes around the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 (R. Fisk), but the final three chapters on pilgrimage (R.G. Hoyland and P. Walker), sacred spaces (R.S. Hess and D. Pringle), and scripture in the Holy Land (A. Silverstein) highlight themes that are critical to how major religions have understood this particular part of the world. For those interested in the Bible, history or spiritual pilgrimage, this is a captivating guide and will be a great asset to anyone who has travelled, or will travel, to the Holy Land.
MARK W. SCARLATA
KEADY, JESSICA M., TODD E. KLUTZ, and CA. STRINE (eds.), Scripture as Social Discourse: Social-Scientific Perspectives on Early Jewish and Christian Writings (London: T&T Clark, 2018), pp. xii + 264. £85.00. ISBN 978-0-567-67604-7.
The volume begins with T.E. Klutz, ‘Introduction: The Structure of Social-Scientific and Grammatical Integrations’, which raises the question of how to integrate social-scientific and grammatical analysis and previews the following essays. First in Part I (‘Jewish Scripture’), P.R. Davies, ‘Literary-Historical Exegesis as a Social Science’, calls for closer interaction between archaeologists and biblical scholars. Then T.C. Römer, ‘The Concepts of “Counter-History” and Mnemohistory Applied to Biblical Sciences’, proposes the concepts of ‘counter-history’ and mnemohistory as aids to sociological analysis of the biblical texts. CA. Strine, ‘Your Name Shall No Longer Be Jacob, But Refugee: Involuntary Migration and the Development of the Jacob Narrative’, highlights the role of involuntary migration in the Jacob narrative and uses social-scientific research to offer a new perspective on its development and social setting(s). W.J. Houston, ‘ “To Share your Bread with the Hungry”: Justice or Charity?’, notes obligations attached to charity and draws attention to the role of political structures in alleviating injustice. J. Rhyder, ‘Space and Memory in the Book of Leviticus’, highlights the distinct lack of a royal patron of the cultic space in Leviticus. J. Jeon, ‘The Zadokite and Levite Scribal Conflicts and Hegemonic Struggles’, uses A.F. Gramsci's theory of hegemony to explore the conflicts between Zadokites and Levites; and C. Bergot, ‘The Concept of Utopia and the Psalm of Habakkuk: An Alternative Reading’, argues that the Psalm of Habakkuk could qualify as an ‘alternative reality’. In Part II (‘Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christian Literature’), G.J. Brooke, ‘The Social Sciences and the Dead Sea Scrolls’, calls for increased but careful application of social-scientific research to the study of the Scrolls. J.M. Keady, ‘Reviewing Purity and Impurity from a Gendered Perspective: The War Scroll (1QM) as a Case Study’, draws attention to ways in which experiences of gender may have influenced conceptions of purity and impurity in the DSS communities and the War Texts (1QM and 4Q491-497). D. Hamidovic, ‘The Teacher of Righteousness from the Perspective of the Sociology of Organizations’, uses the sociology of organizations to explain the position of leadership assumed by the Teacher. D.S. Harvey, ‘Saving Face in Galatia: Εὐπροσωπέω and Concern for Honour in the Argument of Paul's Letter’, emphasizes that ‘goodness of fit’ should encourage continued use of a methodology. P. Oakes, ‘The Use of Social Models in Biblical Studies: Philippians 1.27-2.5 as a Case Study’, encourages scholars to ensure that models used in academic study are appropriate and not overly simplified. T.E. Klutz, ‘Inside the Bridal Chamber: Individual, Group and Intertextuality in Gospel of Philip 65.1-26’, argues that the Gospel implies an individualistic, rather than the commonly assumed communal rhetoric and suggests that the individual should not get lost in our awareness of the collective and the social. Finally, K.A. Fowler, ‘Shifting Social Contexts at Nag Hammadi: Imagining a Fourth-Century Monastic Response to the Roles of Knowledge and Love in the Gospel of Philip’, highlights the similarities between Pachomian literature and the Gospel that promote communal responsibility and lessen individualistic spirituality. Each essay is stimulating in its own way and the volume as a whole makes a strong case for deeper reflection on the possibilities raised by interaction between biblical studies and the social sciences.
CAT QUINE
KEDDIE, G. ANTHONY, Revelations of Ideology: Apocalyptic Class Politics in Early Roman Palestine (JSJSup, 189; Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. xix + 372. €121.00/$146.00. ISBN 978-90-04-38363-0.
Revised from a doctoral thesis at the University of Texas in Austin (supervisor: Steve Friesen), this study seeks to reassess the question of whether the Roman Empire was unusually exploitative of the poor and marginalized in Palestine between Pompey's conquest and the fall of Jerusalem (63 BCE to 70 CE). K. does this by analysing four texts that he thinks are apocalyptic texts (though not apocalypses as such): the Psalms of Solomon, the Parables of Enoch, the Testament of Moses, and the Q document. He concludes that these texts are the product of an elite or sub-elite that classified themselves along with the ‘poor’ and ‘exploited’ to gain local leadership. Their ideology labelled the established elite (the temple priests and political leadership) as the exploiters, even though there is no clear evidence that the non-elite were any more downtrodden or exploited at that time than any other. Some readers will no doubt disagree with points in his textual analysis, but in my opinion K.'s main conclusion is well taken, and we should be careful of taking the idealized depiction of apocalyptic texts as a valid socio-economic description of the time.
LESTER L. GRABBE
MOSTER, DAVID Z., Etrog: How a Chinese Fruit Became a Jewish Symbol (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), pp. xv + 144. £44.99. ISBN 978-3-319-73735-5.
M. tells the story of the etrog: how it originated in Yunnan, China, spread to India where it was used as medicine, and was then taken to Persia to be planted in their paradise gardens. Etrog pollen has been found in such a garden in Ramat Rachel, showing that the fruit was known to the Jews only in the Second Temple period. It was later identified as the ‘fruit’ of Lev. 23.40 and so became an essential part of Sukkoth. This understanding of Lev. 23.40 was disputed, and M. sets out several different ways in which the verse has been interpreted, not least in the light of Neh. 8.14-15, which does not mention the ‘fruit’ as part of Sukkoth. By the end of the Second Temple era, the etrog was a key symbol for Jews, as shown by coins and synagogue mosaics, but it was not so used by Samaritans and Christians. This is a fascinating study of an important but neglected symbol, but it would have been improved by a brief mention of the importance of the etrog after 70/135 CE, when refugees took it into the Mediterranean world, and it was for centuries the only citrus fruit there. Eventually the Arabs produced the lemon, which is a hybrid of sour orange and etrog.
MARGARET BARKER
NAWOTKA, KRZYSZTOF, and AGNIESZKA WOJCIECHOWSKA (eds.), Alexander the Great and the East: History, Art, Tradition (Philippika—Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhand-lungen/Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures, 103; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2016), pp. vi + 447. €88.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10710-5.
This represents the second in a series of four conferences relating to Alexander. The first was published in 2014 as Alexander the Great and Egypt (not reviewed in B.L.). This volume has the following essays (all in English): an introduction to the volume by the editors; a new interpretation of the statuette of the son of Nectanebo II; Nectanebo II and Alexander; Alexander and the island of Pharos; a new version of the Macedonian iconography in Ptolemaic Egypt; notes on a new interpretation of the so-called ‘Memnon's decree’; methods of divination used in the campaigns of the Assyrian kings and Alexander; Belephantes to Alexander: an astrological report?; Alexander and Babylon: a substitute king?; retracing Alexander's route to Markanda in the spring of 328 BCE; a reassessment of the massacre of the Branchidae; Alexander and China; Alexander as a Herodotean Persian king; Poseidippos, Ptolemy and Alexander; ‘The East’ in Curtius Rufus’ Historiae Alexandri Magni; the figure of Alexander and Nonnus’ Dionysiaca; Alexander—son of Darius?; the relationship between Alexander and Callisthenes in Bactria and Sogdiana; another note on the deification of Alexander in Athens; actors at the court of Alexander; the metamorphoses of Pseudo-Callisthenes’ motifs concerning India in the Persian Alexander romances; the epistolary novel of Aristotle and Alexander; Alexander's mirror; the narratives on Alexander's wisdom defeated in two versions of the Hebrew Alexander romance; Alexander's ‘policy of fusion’ and German ancient history between 1933 and 1945. The volume has a composite bibliography and indexes. We look forward to the publication of the remaining two conferences.
LESTER L. GRABBE
NEWMAN, JUDITH H., Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation of Scriptures in Early Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. xiii + 178. £47.99. ISBN 978-0-19-021221-6.
With this volume N. has fruitfully developed some of her previously published insights into the formation of Scripture, which she locates in the practice of individual and communal prayer. Concerns with ‘the development of scriptures more generally in early Judaism’ than simply the HB and the liturgical body rather than origins of Scripture and canon distinguish her approach. Her use of neurocognition lets her highlight ‘the role of embodiment and ethical formation’ as she proceeds to examine the role of prayer and embodied performance of individual and community in the formation of texts that seem to have functioned as Scripture for different communities in the Hellenistic-Roman period. Following her Introduction, she develops her argument over four chapters, followed by a brief Conclusion. These chapters focus on (1) the formation through habitual prayer of the sage (the ‘scribal self ’) in Sirach; (2) the reception of Jeremiah in Daniel 9 and Baruch as well as connections between Baruch and the developing text of Jeremiah; (3) community formation (2 Cor.) through group commitment to the ‘collection’, Paul's ‘embodied performance’ as ‘afflicted sufferer’, and the ritualizing of the letter in its being read by the trusted emissary; and (4) the importance of the Hodayot in forming community identity and the Maskil's embodied performance of confession. In these texts prayer interprets creatively and builds upon scriptural phrases and the like, reinforcing its authority ‘while simultaneously keeping it open’. Innovative, learned and well-argued, N.'s book should prove a significant addition to the field.
GEORGE NICOL
PIOSKE, DANIEL D., Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. xv + 281. £64.00. ISBN 978-0-19-064985-2.
This volume explores ‘the sources, limits, and conditions of knowing that shaped the biblical narratives composed about the early Iron Age period’ (p. 5), contributing to debates on the nature of ancient Israelite historiography and scribalism but doing so utilizing new perspectives deriving from Michel Foucault, comparative studies of memory and, most significantly, a range of archaeological findings. Noting that ‘there is a time in which prose appears’ in a society's development, and arguing from the epigraphic evidence that narrative prose can be dated only to the 9th century BCE, the sources available to the Hebrew scribes, P. posits, can only be largely oral, where processes of remembering are constitutive. He provides three detailed case studies to demonstrate the variety of ways in which places and landscapes persist in the memory and hence find their ways into the prose narratives in ways which cohere with the archaeological findings of recent times (as he argues is the case with tales told of Gath or Ziklag) or, as in the case of tales of David on the desert fringe, demonstrate ‘entangelments’ of reference that reflect memory and experience of different periods, to, finally, accounting for why certain places now known to have existed and thrived, even for brief periods (such as Khirbet Qieyafa, Tel Masos and Tel Rehov) are totally absent from any biblical account. P. provides a lively and up-to-date engagement with the episteme within which Hebrew scribes existed and, moreover, challenges us to consider the realities of the persistence and the memory of places in the landscape that Hebrew scribes may have known themselves or about which they had no experience.
DAVID J. CHALCRAFT
SOUTHWOOD, KATHERINE E., and MARTIEN A. HALVORSON-TAYLOR (eds.), Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible (LHBOTS, 631; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018), pp. x + 179. £85.00. ISBN 978-0-567-66842-4.
This collection of essays seeks to demonstrate how reading familiar texts within migration studies through the lens of gender can offer fresh and important insights into biblical texts. J. Grillo argues that the character Susanna in the additions to Daniel represents the nation of Israel in the same way we see with female figures representing Israel in prophetic literature; however, instead of using this metaphor to express Israel's guilt and shame, the trope is inverted and the nation of Israel, as it is represented through Susanna, is vindicated through her actions (‘ “You Will Forget your Ancient Shame”: The Innocence of Susanna and the Vindication of Israel’). D.N. Fewell sees in the book of Ruth a possible example of how communities are to deal with the exiles who are returning to their homeland, sometimes with foreign spouses and/or family members in tow (‘The Ones Returning: Ruth, Naomi, and Social Negotiation in the Post Exilic Period’). L.M. Willis investigates the construction of the Other, specifically how the role of gender serves to create an ‘internal Other’ while also controlling the ‘external other’, in the exilic period, in the text of Ezra–Nehemiah, and in the Hasmonean period (‘Challenged Boundaries: Gender and the Other in Periods of Crisis’). C.A. Strine views the patriarchs and matriarchs (Gen. 12–36) as involuntary displaced migrant families who are able to survive as a result of the women who engage in various forms of sex work (‘Sister Save Us: The Matriarchs as Breadwinners and Their Threat to Patriarchy in the Ancestral Narrative’). C.J. Sharp outlines several methodological issues within biblical scholarship on gender which, in turn, create challenges to our ability to speculate about gender in ancient Israel and Judah; she then offers an analysis of Jeremiah 44 to show how these methodological issues have caused scholars to overlook various aspects about gender in that chapter (‘Gender and Subjectivity in the Jeremiah 44’). M.J. Boda uses the family imagery found in Second and Third Isaiah to demonstrate how fluid and flexible gender roles within families can become in order for families to survive forced migration (‘Family Identity and Conflict through Forced Migration in Isaiah 49.14– 66.24’). D.L. Smith-Christopher considers Esther and Judith through the lens of modern ‘comfort women’, women who were forced into the sexual service of soldiers during World War Two (‘Sleeping with the Enemy? Reading Esther and Judith as Comfort Women’). H. Morse considers the sexually graphic descriptions of metaphorical women in Ezekiel using the modern ideas of ‘slut-shaming’ and ‘revenge porn’ and argues that these scenes not only serve as metaphors, but also as warnings to the women of Israel not to engage in sexual relations with foreign men (‘ “Judgement Was Executed upon Her, and She Became a Byword among Women” (Ezek. 23.10): Divine Revenge Porn, Slut-Shaming Ethnicity, and Exile in Ezekiel 16 and 23’). The collection of essays achieves the goal set out in the introduction, as mentioned above. It would be a valuable conversation partner for any scholar interested in gender in the OT, especially as it relates to migration and refugee studies.
KATE OXSEN
WILSON, IAN D., History and the Hebrew Bible: Culture, Narrative, and Memory (Brill Research Perspectives in Biblical Interpretation, 3.2; Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. v + 69. €70.00. ISBN 978-90-04-388789.
In recent research, the evaluative question of reading the Hebrew Bible as history has increasingly been approached from the perspective of cultural memory. Within this approach W. has emerged as an important voice, and with this short essay he offers an introduction and brief foray into this subfield. He begins by offering his readers the history and recent developments within the study of culture, memory, and narrative (pp. 1-34). The focus is specifically on ‘social remembering’. He then turns his attention to the question of whether the Hebrew Bible is historical and whether/how one can use the Bible as a source for history (pp. 34-48). After these initial discussions of theory and methodology, W. turns his attention to the book of Joshua to offer an ‘historical take’ (pp. 48-58). On the heels of W.'s volume Kingship and Memory in Ancient Judah (reviewed in B.L. 2018, p. 166), the present essay provides an engaging and accessible introduction into an increasingly important conversation. I recommend it without reservation.
STEPHEN D. CAMPBELL
YOUNG, ROBB ANDREW, Hezekiah in History and Tradition (VTSup, 155; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xviii + 367. €41.00/$48.00. ISBN 978-90-04-34889-9.
This is the paperback edition of a work published in hardback in 2012, and reviewed in B.L. 2013, p. 63.
(BOOK LIST EDITOR)
Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List:
ASTER, SHAWN ZELIG, Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1–39: Responses to Assyrian Ideology — see p. 71
BOASE, ELIZABETH, and CHRISTOPHER G. FRECHETTE (eds.), Bible through the Lens of Trauma — see p. 117
DEVER, WILLIAM G., Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah — see p. 18
DODSON, DEREK S., and KATHERINE E. SMITH (eds.), Exploring Biblical Backgrounds: A Reader in Historical and Literary Contexts — see p. 193
ELAYI, JOSETTE, Sennacherib, King of Assyria — see p. 193
FINKELSTEIN, ISRAEL, Hasmonean Realities behind Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives — see p. 19
LAIRD, DONNA, Negotiating Power in Ezra-Nehemiah — see p. 106
NOVICK, TZVI, An Introduction to the Scriptures of Israel: History and Theology — see p. 13
ROSENSTEIN, MARC J., Turning Points in Jewish History — see p. 210