šntwn lmqrʾ wlḥqr hmzrḥ hqdwm (shnaton: an annual for biblical and ancient near eastern...

šntwn lmqrʾ wlḥqr hmzrḥ hqdwm (Shnaton: An Annual for Biblical and Ancient near EasternStudies) by Jonas C. Greenfield; Moshe WeinfeldReview by: Dennis PardeeJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 98, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1978), pp. 343-344Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/598792 .

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Brief Reviews of Books Brief Reviews of Books Brief Reviews of Books Brief Reviews of Books

Nordwestsemitische Studien zum Hoseabuch. By WILLI-

BALD KUHNIGK. [Biblica et Orientalia No. 27.] Rome: BIBLICAL INSTITUTE PRESS. 1974. Pp. xxiv + 177. $12.00.

We have here yet another dissertation done under M. Dahood at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. It follows the now familiar pattern of applying Dahood's

philological methods to parts of a given section of the Hebrew Bible. A brief perusal of this commentary and an examination of the indices (which, as usual in works

prepared under Dahood, are very complete) are sufficient to ascertain that the methodology and, therefore, the results are vintage "Dahoodic." A good example of the

methodology may be cited from p. 11: in lahmi (Hos. 2:7) the 1 c.s. pronominal suffix -f is described as dative, with no nuancing whatever in the application of classical

grammatical terminology and categories to a Semitic

language, and with no apparent recognition that the entire question is a matter of modern translation (be it into German or English).

DENNIS PARDEE

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Essays in Biblical Culture and Bible Translation. By HARRY M. ORLINSKY. New York: KTAV. 1974. Pp. xv + 462. $15.00.

Orlinsky has shared with five of his former students the task of gathering in this volume twenty-four of his

popular essays, many of them originally presented as

speeches. They are indeed popular essays and not meant

primarily for scholars. They are useful, however, for

anyone who wants to see how one of today's leading biblical scholars presents his field to a non-specialist audience. I was particularly impressed by two major themes which kept reappearing in these essays: 1) The word eisegesis as a derogatory term for interpretation based on presupposition; 2) Orlinsky's passionate defense of the necessity for Jews to have a Jewish translation of the Bible, unaffected by Christian interpretations. One

might fear that the second preoccupation would impinge upon the first, but I did not find a single rendition of a text in this volume which is open to such a charge.

DENNIS PARDEE THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Biblical and Oriental Studies. Vol. 2: Bible and Ancient Oriental Texts. By U. CASSUTO. Translated by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS. Jerusalem: MAGNES PRESS. 1975. Pp. xi + 286. $15.00.

Israel Abrahams continues translating Cassuto's works into English, here offering us a collection and translation









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of sixteen journal and Festschrift articles originally published between 1936 and 1950 in five different lan-

guages. Eight were originally in Hebrew (one of which had already been translated into English, IEJ 12 [1962]: 77-86), five in Italian, and one each in French, German, and English. It will be a handy form in which to refer

English speaking students to Cassuto's articles, and many of us will fully appreciate here for the first time his contributions in Modern Hebrew. One wonders at some of the choices, however. Why include two articles that have already appeared in English in readily accessible

journals (IEJ 12, BASOR 119)? And why publish Cassuto's second article on the Lachish ostraca (MGWJ 83), but not his first (RSO 16)?

At the end of this volume are assembled text, author, and subject indices for both volumes of Biblical and Oriental Studies.


gntwn Imqr' vwlhqr hmzrh hqdwm (Shnaton: An Annual

for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies). Editors, JONAS C. GREENFIELD and MOSHE WEINFELD.

Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv: ISRAEL BIBLE COMPANY. 1975

(vol. 1). Pp. 260 + xxvii. 95 Israeli pounds.

The first volume of this new annual contains eighteen studies on biblical or biblically related subjects by various scholars, some well known, others little known in the United States, most of them professors of one branch or another of Near Eastern studies in Israel. The articles are in Hebrew, with English summaries (the summaries

range in length from a few lines to a page and a half). The authors and titles are: Y. Avishur, "Phoenician Topoi in Proverbs"; Z. Ben-Barak, "The Religious-Prophetic Background of the 'Law of the King' in Deuteronomy"; J. Blau, "Philological Notes on the Bible based on Me- dieval Judaeo-Arabic"; M. Fishbane, "The Biblical 'ot"; H. Hakkak, "The Nature of the Covenant in the 'Manual of Discipline"'; A. Hurwitz, "On the Term

sip n'l in Ruth 4:7"; S. E. Loewenstamm, "New Proposals to Analyze the Composition of the Plague Pericope"; J. Naveh, "Aramaic Ostraca from Beer Sheba"; B. Oded, "Assyria and the Phoenician City-States at the Time of the Assyrian Empire-II"; M. Parnas, "'Edut, 'Edot, 'Edwot in the Bible, against the Background of Ancient Near Eastern Documents"; H. Raviv, "The sCbut name and its Components at Alalakh"; N. M. Sarna, "On the Problem of the Order of the Biblical Books"; E. Tov, "The Contribution of Textual Criticism to the Literary Criti- cism and Exegesis of Jeremiah-the Hebrew Vorlage of the LXX of Chapter 27"; M. Weinfeld, "The Loyalty








































343 343 343 343



Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.3 (1978) Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.3 (1978) Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.3 (1978)

Oath in the Ancient Near East"; idem, "The Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon-an Annotated Translation"; Z. Weisman, "Stylistic Parallels in Amos and Jeremiah, their Implications for the Composition of Amos"; R. Weiss, "Recensional Variations between the Aramaic Translation to Job from Qumran Cave 11 and the Mas- soretic Text"; Y. Zakovitch, "The Sacrifice of Gideon (Jud. 6:11-24) and the Sacrifice of Manoah (Jud. 13)."

DENNIS PARDEE

THE UNIVERSIIY OF CHICAGO

The Ustinov Collection: The Palestinian Pottery. By ILON SKUPINSKA-L0vset. Pp. 177 + 40 plates. Oslo: UNIVERSITETSVORLAGET. 1976.

This doctoral thesis publishes the Palestinian pottery which had been purchased by Baron von Ustinov between 1862 and 1867, and which is now in the possession of the University Museum of Ethnography in Oslo. Dr. Sku- pinska Lovset has done a service to scholars of Pales- tinian history and archaeology not only by her thorough and systematic treatment of the collection, but also by partially mitigating the obscurity of the collection's present deposition in one of the University of Oslo's basements.

The significance of this collection is apparent from the wide range and obvious homogeneity of the pottery forms. The author's convincing argument that the collection is to be attributed to Ashqelon enables us to fill a serious gap in the repertoire of south Palestinian pottery. The descriptions are generally excellent, as are the photographs. The line drawings might better have been done to scale, and with a clearer indication of the pottery's construction. Also, a more systematic comparison with similar pieces from other sites would enable the reader to follow more closely the historical and chronological arguments.

THOMAS L. THOMPSON

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA

QiSrey kalkalah beyn 'ars6t hammiqra' (Economic Rela- tions in the Land of the Bible c. 1000-539 B.C.). By MOSHE ELAT. Pp. 277 + 12 Plates. Jerusalem: THE BIALIK INSTITUTE. 1977.

This volume, clearly written for a non-Assyriological audience, but of groundbreaking scope nonetheless, is a valuable product of the renewed interest in economics and economic history recently evident in Ancient Near Eastern studies. At its core is a long overdue economic analysis of the tribute lists found in the Neo-Assyrian


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THOMAS L. THOMPSON




royal inscriptions and related material. (Cf. W. J. Martin, Tribut und Tributleistungen bei den Assyrern, St. Or.

VIII/I, 1936, pp. lf.). After an initial chapter discussing the nature and

reliability of the Neo-Assyrian sources and the various types of tribute and taxes, the book is implicitly divided into two major sections. Chapters two through six offer an analysis of the commodities that were the economic mainstays of international economic relations in the first half of the First Millenium B.c.: silver and gold, iron and other metals, wood and wood products, horses and textiles. Elat reviews the evidence for the ancient sources of the various commodities, and their economic role and relative importance in the economies of the provinces and vassal states of the western half of the Assyrian empire. Chapters seven through eleven attempt a synthesis of political and economic history for each of the areas under the following titles: "The economic relations of the Arabian tribes with the lands of the fertile crescent," "The economic relations of Egypt with the lands of the fertile crescent," "Phoenicia and its economic relations," "The geopolitical position of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and its influences on their economy," and "The reciprocal relationship between the economy of the Me- sopotamian empires and the lands wherein they ruled."

While the tribute lists serve as his major sources, E.

frequently adduces supplementary material from economic documents and state letters, from second millennium texts as well as from references in Greek and Roman literature. Significant space is also devoted to discussions of controversial issues such as the locations of Tarshish (Iberia and Sardinia) and Ophir (Egyptian Punt on the coast of Africa), the existence of an Ana- tolian Musru (arguing positively but erroneously in the reviewer's opinion) and the date of the spread of camel domestication out of Arabia (First Millennium only).

Two theses presented in the final chapter merit special attention. E. argues (pp. 232ff.) that in light of the lack of specific cuneiform evidence regarding international trade in the Neo-Assyrian period we must conclude that there was little if any such trade, at least between Assyria proper and the rest of its empire, and that instead tribute and taxes served as the sole economic foundation of the Neo-Assyrian empire. Furthermore, this policy of excessive taxation is said to have been so draining on the resources of the empire that it proved to be the ultimate cause of the rapid fall of Assyria. Although the latter point has been and is surely destined to remain moot (cf. the more sober position of J. N. Postgate, Taxation and Conscription in the Assyrian Empire, Rome, 1974, pp. 200ff.), one would have liked to see proof offered that the quantities of tribute and taxes paid to Assyria were truly of decimating proportions or at least some attempts













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