Jeffrey Stackert explores literary correspondences among the pentateuchal legal corpora and especially the relationships between similar laws in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation (Lev 17-26, the so-called Holiness Code, as well as significant parts of the Priestly source elsewhere in the Pentateuch). Resemblances between these law collections range from broad structure to fine detail and include treatments of similar legal topics, correlations with regard to sequence of laws, and precise grammatical and lexical correspondences. Yet the nature and basis of these resemblances persist as...

Death is one of the major themes of 'First Isaiah, ' although it has not generally been recognized as such. Images of death are repeatedly used by the prophet and his earliest tradents.The book begins by concisely summarizing what is known about death in the Ancient Near East during the Iron Age II, covering beliefs and practices in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, and Judah/Israel. Incorporating both textual and archeological data, Christopher B. Hays surveys and analyzes existing scholarly literature on these topics from multiple fields.Focusing on the text's meaning for its producers...

In this splendid work the reader is introduced to a re-evaluation of the nature of 'Biblical Hebrew'. The author suggests a new model for understanding the north-western Semitic dialects in general and the Hebrew in particular. a] This is a highly recommended work for scholars and students interested in the history and development of Hebrew as part of the northwestern Semitic languages.C A P van Tonder in Old Testament Essays 8:2 (1995), pp. 302-303 This is an important book, not only for scholars concerned with the history of the Hebrew language but also for those investigating dating and...

The festival calendars in the Pentateuch have made up the heart of critical biblical research from the beginning. Each of the calendars was thought to have taken shape against its own specific historical background and to accurately reflect a distinct stage in the development of Israel's cultic and social institutions. Classical hypotheses used them to distinguish the different legal codes in the Pentateuch from each other, to define the original compositions, and to arrange them relative to each other in an historical, chronological sequence. Shimon Gesundheit challenges the classical...

In the first part of the book, Karl William Weyde analyses the festival calendar in Leviticus 23 and compares it with other festival calendars in the Hebrew Bible. On this basis, characteristic features of the Leviticus calendar appear, leading to the conclusion that Leviticus 23 presents the latest of the calendars and presupposes them. This holds good also vis-a-vis the priestly legal material in Numbers 28-29. Thus, the legislation for Passover and the festival of unleavened bread in Lev 23:5-8 is short because it builds on the detailed stipulations related in Exodus 12-13 and Deuteronomy...

Michael Widmer reconsiders the significance of the canonical portrayal of Moses as intercessor in the aftermath of documentary pentateuchal criticism. Paying careful attention to both the diachronic and synchronic dimensions of the text, at the heart of this study is a close reading of Exodus 32-34 and Numbers 13-14 in their final form with particular focus on the nature and theological function of Moses' prayers. These intercessions evoke important theological questions, especially with regard to divine reputation, covenant loyalty, visitation, and mutability.The author's investigation makes...

This book contains a collection of nineteen essays by Marvin A. Sweeney, some previously unpublished, that focus on the role of literary form and intertextuality in the study of prophetic and apocalyptic literature. The volume includes five major parts: Isaiah; Jeremiah; Ezekiel; The Book of the Twelve Prophets; and Apocalyptic Literature. Selected topics include the Book of Isaiah as Prophetic Torah; the role of Isaiah 65-66 as conclusion of the Book of Isaiah; the interpretation of the Masoretic and Septuagint forms of the book of Jeremiah; Jeremiah 2-6 and 30-31 in relation to Josiah's...

Timothy D. Finlay integrates the disciplines of form criticism and narrative criticism in an analysis of the birth report genre in the Hebrew Bible. He first establishes the standard structure as containing an introductory setting, a conception element, a birth element, a naming element, and an etiological element. He then analyzes how the genre of the surrounding material - genealogical list, annunciation type-scene, account of prophetic symbolic actions - modifies the standard form. Finally, he re-examines each individual narrative containing a birth report, paying particular attention to...