Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms (review)

Abstract

Handbook on Wisdom Books and Psalms, by Daniel J. Estes. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Press, 2005. 448 pp. $34.99. Handbook on Wisdom BooL· and Psalms is part of a series from Baker Academic, which includes previously published guides Pentateuch, Historical Books, and Prophets. The present volume treats Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Its articulated aim is provide advanced undergraduates, seminary students, pastors, and lay teachers of Bible, with a conduit to rich resources in scholarly literature that lay beyond their grasp (p. 9). In this regard, author attains his stated objec- rive. Professor Estes displays full command of primary material, range of interpretive modes, and relevant bibliography. The presentation is organized, clear, and free of unexplained jargon and technical terminology, rendering tome fully accessible its target audience. The utility of volume suffers only in sparseness of index. More significantly, high quality of guide is not fully sustained or consistent throughout. The Song of Songs section, which is representative of Handbook's strengths and weaknesses, is a good starting point for a broader assessment of work. The Song of Songs chapter commences with a comprehensive, thoughtful, and balanced introduction key matters such as provenance, structure, and purpose. The reader is exposed full spectrum of exegetical frameworks and an up-to-date array of scholarly publications. While Baker Press and Handbook series are oriented evangelical Christians, introduction, author's credit, is non-doctrinal in its treatment of such issues as Solomonic authorship and theological allegory. The commentary section, which ptoceeds in order through Song, is especially helpful in its brief glosses of key technical and Hebrew terms, presented in transliteration, such as wasf (p. 400) anapardes (Song 4:13, p. 419). Additionally, discussions ate well grounded in Ancient Near Eastern evidence and realia from Biblical eta. For instance, when discussing Song's seasonal images of nature in bloom, authot notes testimony of tenth-century Gezet calendar that, the second pruning of vines occurs in June (p. 412). Unfortunately, author's methodological rigor lapses in two crucial respects. The complexity of Song and elusiveness of its organizational thtead are acknowledged, appropriately, in introduction. The commentary, however, frames whole work as a sustained, cohesive tale of two fully realized characters, King Solomon and a young bride named Shulamith. This approach, idiosyncratic at best, undercuts introductions effectiveness by foreclosing reader's interpretive options. The author runs into serious trouble at several junctures, such as his reading of violation imagery in Song 5:6-7. The idea that a King's actual bride would wander streets of capital, unaccompanied, and be accosted by city watchmen, strains credibility. Also, authot, at times, abandons scholarly nuance in favor of moralistic homily. …