The Prophets

Abstract

The Prophets Isaac Kalimi, Christopher T. Begg, Thomas Hieke, and Richard A. Taylor Isaac Kalimi Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America Thomas Hieke Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Richard A. Taylor Dallas Theological Seminary 876. [LXX Isaiah in Codex Sinaiticus] Ken M. Penner, Isaiah (Septuagint Commentary Series; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2020). Pp. 722. $239. ISBN 978-90-04-42677-1. This book consists of an introduction to and transcription and translation of, as well as a commentary on, the Greek translation of Isaiah in the Codex Sinaiticus. It comments on the Greek used in the translation and how it is stretched beyond its normal usage in the translation. It addresses such features of Codex Sinaiticus, including its history, scribes, divisions, and orthography. In line with the aims of the Brill Septuagint Commentary Series, it mainly discusses not how the translation was produced, but how it was read. The book ends with a comprehensive bibliography and series of indexes: authors, Greek words, Hebrew words, biblical sources (HB/OT + NT), and primary texts. [Adapted from published abstract—I.K.] [End Page 307] Google Scholar 877. [The City in Isaiah 24–27] Erich Bosshard-Nepustil, Die Stadt in Jesaja 24–27 (AThANT 111; Zurich: TVZ, 2021). Pp. 178. €47. ISBN 978-3-290-18364-6. Isaiah 24–27, the so-called "Isaiah Apocalypse" (IA), poses many long-discussed and inconclusively answered questions. Among these questions is that concerning the identity/significance of the unnamed "city," mentions of which recur throughout the four chapters where it appears as a "high-profile" and oppressive entity, which, however, is destined to end up an abandoned hilltop and which is further associated with the region of Moab in Isa 24:10. In seeking an answer to the above question, B.-N. focuses on two converging lines of evidence: (1) the intra- and intertextual connections between Isaiah 24–27 and, inter alia, Isaiah 13–23 (where the coming overthrow of a series of major, named cities as well as that of Moab [see chaps. 15–16] is announced) and the materials in Genesis 1–19 concerning the Flood and the destruction of the wicked city of Sodom, which itself eventuates in the birth of "Moab," Lot's son in Gen 19:37, and (2) the geo-political situation in the southern Levant in the period extending from the end of the 4th through the 3rd cent. b.c.—the likely time of composition of the IA. In proposing this dating for the IA, B.-N. notes that the period in question was characterized by the establishment of numerous cities as centers of Hellenistic culture and military strongholds which were perceived by many Judeans of the time as alien and a threat to their way of life and the emergence of the Nabataeans as the dominant power in what had been the territories of Moab and Edom as another such threat. Synthesizing the indications supplied by these two bodies of evidence, B.-N. suggests that the "city" in Isaiah 24–27 is both a culmination of all the reprobate cities featured in Isaiah 13–23 and a cipher for the emerging Hellenistic cities of the author's time, while "Moab" represents a recurrence of reprobate "Sodom" of old that is now embodied in the Nabataeans who are in the process of making themselves masters of the southern Transjordan. The hope articulated by the author of the IA is that, in the context of a world-wide divine judgment, both the "city" and "Moab" will be deprived of their current power, thus opening the way for the restoration of the land of Israel to its full Davidic extent and whose inhabitants will include Judeans, Samaritans, and Diaspora returnees with Jerusalem as their common religious center.—C.T.B. Google Scholar 878. [The Immaginary of Daniel 2–6] Luigi Santopaolo, Sogno, Segno e Storia. Genesis e Fenomenologia dell'immaginario in Dn 2–6 (AnBib 223; Rome: G&BP, 2019). Pp. 172. Paper €24. ISBN 978-88-7653-711-0. S.'s study seeks to synthesize the iconographical canons of the visions featured in Daniel 2–6, thereby showing...