"Sha'arei Talmon": Studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon (review)

James C Vanderkam

doi:10.1353/hbr.1993.0049

James C Vanderkam

https://doi.org/10.1353/hbr.1993.0049

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Journal: Hebrew Studies

Publication Date: Jan 1, 1993

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Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 129 Reviews "SHA'AREI TALMON": STUDIES IN THE BIBLE, QUMRAN, AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST PRESENTED TO SHEMARYAHU TALMON. Michael Fishbane, Emanuel Tov, and Weston W. Fields, eds. Pp. xlix + 431 (English) +ix* + 165* (Hebrew). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992. Cloth, $47.50. Shemaryahu Talmon has made one of the largest contributions of any scholar to the study of the biblical world; hence it seems appropriate that he should be honored with one of the biggest FeSlschriften in recent years. The volume is structured and titled around several wordplays on the root iClZl and the name l'C?I!l. The latter is the name of a family of gatekeepers in the second-temple period (e.g., 1 Chron 9:17), and the noun illlZl can mean not only "gate," but also "section." Consequently, the various parts into which the collection is divided are so designated. The English portion includes thirty-two essays subdivided into five categories. The first ("Biblical Literature and Exegesis") contains: Fishbane, "The Well of Living Water: A Biblical Motif and Its Ancient Transformations"; Fields, "The Motif 'Night as Danger' Associated with Three Biblical Destruction Narratives"; J. P. Fokkelman, "Structural Remarks on Judges 9 and 19"; C. H. Gordon, "'This Time' (Gen 2:23)"; B. Halpern, "Sociological Comparativism and the Theological Imagination: The Case of the Conquest"; P. D. Hanson, "1 Chronicles 15-16 and the Chronicler's Views on the Levites"; S. Japhet, "The Israelite Legal and Social Reality as Reflected in Chronicles: A Case Study"; O. Kaiser, "The Law as Center of the Hebrew Bible"; K. Koch, "Ezra and Meremoth: Remarks on the History of the High Priesthood"; N. Lohfink, "Deuteronomy 6:24: ~JD'IJ,? 'To Maintain Us"'; C. L. and E. M. Meyers, "Jerusalem and Zion after the Exile: The Evidence of First Zechariah"; J. Milgrom, "The Priestly Laws of Sancta Contamination"; S. M. Paul, "Polysensuous Polyvalency in Poetic Parallelism"; R. Rendtorff, "The Image of Postexilic Israel in German Biblical Scholarship from Wellhausen to von Rad"; N. M. Sarna, "Legal Terminology in Psalm 3:8"; J. M. Sasson, "Time ... to Begin"; J. A. Soggin, "Jacob in Shechem and in Bethel (Gen 35:1-7)" and M. Tsevat, "Was Samuel a Nazirite?". The four remaining English sections combined are about as long as the first. "Textual Criticism" offers five papers: M. V. Fox, "The Redaction of the Greek Alpha-Text of Esther"; M. Goshen-Gottstein, "Editions of the Hebrew Bible-Past and Future"; S. Kamin, "The Theological Significance Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 130 Reviews of the Hebraica Verilas in Jerome's Thought"; Tov, "Interchanges of Consonants between the Masoretic Text and the Vorlage of the Septuagint"; and E. Ulrich, "The Canonical Process, Textual Criticism, and Latter Stages in the Composition of the Bible". In the Qumran part one finds: J. H. Charlesworth, "An Allegorical and Autobiographical Poem by the Moreh has-sedeq (lQH 8:4-11)"; J. C. Greenfield, "Two Notes on the Apocryphal Psalms"; A. Rofe, "A Neglected Meaning of the Verb ,,~ and the Text of IQS vi: 11-13"; and J. A. Sanders, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Studies." The Judaism section comprises just two papers: W.D. Davies, "Reflections on Territory in Judaism"; and J. Neusner, "Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Judaism: Sifra and the Problem of the Mishnah." Finally, in "The Ancient Near East" one can read: T. Abusch, "Ritual and Incantation: Interpretation and Textual History of Maqlu vii:58-105 and ix:152-59"; W.W. Hallo, "Royal Ancestor Worship in the Biblical World"; and T. Jacobsen, "The Spell of Nudimmud". The much briefer Hebrew section encompasses just 17 papers arranged under three headings. Under "Bible" there are: M. Greenberg, "Did Job Really Exist? An Issue of Medieval Exegesis"; Y. Hoffman, "Psalm 104: A Literary Examination"; M. Weinfeld, "The Bible as Literature"; M. Weiss, "Psalm 23: The Psalmist on God's Care"; Z. Weisman, "Ethnology, Etiology, Genealogy, and Historiography in the Tale of Lot and His Daughters (Genesis 19:30-38)"; Y. Zakovitch, "'Elisha Died ... He came to Life and Stood Up' (2 Kings 13:20-21): A Short 'Short Story' in Exegetical Circles"; Z. and D. Talshir, "The Original Language of the Story...

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