Old Testament Exegesis: A Guide to the Methodology (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 38 (1997) 91 Reviews mavin, mekir, aavod, and other such common colloquialisms-and unfortunately Bolozky seems nowhere to have argued his sociolinguistic position on what is included in his book-but although I know of no major survey on this issue, my impression is that mavin, mekir, and aavod are more widely stigmatized than Utfos and lid/ok. It is only the treatment of suppletives that I fmd puzzling. Taking two of present-day Hebrew's most notorious verbs, the past tense of ",:l' is given not as n'n "':l'or "':l' n'n but as obsolescent ",:l' while the present tense of "o~n is given not as "'~ (syntactically a verb in all respects) but as rare "o~o-a cobweb cluster that the intrepid cleaner somehow missed. Similarly, past tense yashen should be labeled "fonnal," the unmarked past 3rd person of n'n should be given as m, n'n, 'n, and the colloquial present of ntt'J as nlS'J. These small matters aside, Bolozky has given us a major resource for the teaching of Israeli Hebrew as a contemporary language. Miscellaneous: Mishqal (p. iv) in its grammatical sense meant not "metrical pattern" but "template, fonn" (see Leo Prijs, Die grammatikalische Terminologie des Abraham Ibn Esra [Hildesheim, 1987]). Deviant roots (p. v) are not m'lJ but n,"'''» ""lJ. The mark of a reciprocal (p. xiii) is surely that it can also be used as such in the plural, thus ,on"J=y 0» on"J, which is not the case with m'''J, "accompany." Lewis Glinert SOAS, University of London London We} United Kingdom OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS: A GUIDE TO THE METHODOLOGY . By Odit Hannes Steck. James D. Nogalski, trans. SBL Resources for Biblical Study 33. Pp. xii + 208. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. Paper, $24.95. In Gennan and Swiss Old Testament scholarship, Odit Hannes Steck is a leading exegete of prophetic texts and priestly writings. Among theological students, his Arbeitsbliitler: Altes Testament is probably better known. I mention these two facts as this book on the methodology of exegesis is both a scholarly and didactically well-organized work. This English translation of the twelfth edition of his Exegese des Alten Testaments is surely a long- Hebrew Studies 38 (1997) 92 Reviews awaited event as far as biblical studies in the English-speaking world is concerned. The book is composed of four parts: Part One is an introduction to the task and boundaries of the exegetical procedures. It also provides a brief list of the various methods and a few new trends in the field. Part Two is the more substantial section of the book in which the subfields of the exegetical procedure are scrutinized. The components of the procedure (i.e., text criticism, literary criticism, transmission-historical criticism, tradition -historical criticism, redaction-historical criticism, form criticism, and determining the historical setting) are analyzed and explained in terms of the particular task of each component as well as its relation to the other components. Minute attention is devoted to the typical questions addressed by a submethod and the procedural steps followed in applying it to a text. The productivity of each step is also tested in terms of its outcome. Part Three is dedicated to the overall purpose of exegesis which should, in the author's view, concentrate on the interpretation of the text's historical meaning. This does not exclude elucidation of the historical meaning in the light of the present. Part Four consists of a practical application of the exegetical procedures to a sample text, Oen 20:10-22. Much attention is devoted to the didactic layout of the book. The subdivisions are structured logically and a summary of the procedure and the results is given at the end of each section. The use of small script for advance information and illustrative material also enables the readers to select their own reading strategy. It must, however, be made clear that the text is almost too analytical to be followed without resorting to the examples in small script. The shaded background used to mark the essential procedural steps as well as summaries of subdivisions makes the book more userfriendly , but once again...