The Writings

Abstract

The Writings Thomas Hieke, Christopher T. Begg, and David Leiter 1570. [Job 29–31] Theodor Seidl, Ijobs Monologe: Sprachwissenschaftliche Analysen zu Ijob 29–31 (ATSAT 101; St. Ottilien: EOS, 2017). Pp. 159. Paper €24.95. ISBN 978-3-8306-7834-2. S. presents linguistic analyses of three chapters of the Book of Job, Job 29–31, which mark the transition from the dialogue between Job and his friends to God's speeches (Elihu's words in Job 32–37 are regarded as secondary additions). Chap. I provides a transcription of the text according to Wolfgang Richter's rules (Biblia Hebraica transcripta), a new translation, and text-critical annotations. Chap. II analyzes the three Job chapters linguistically according to their usage of verbs and nouns, the syntactic combinations of certain phrases (e.g., construct chains), the clause types (different types of nominal and verbal clauses), the syntactical and semantic functions of the clause formations, and finally the structure of the text (the combination of clauses into larger sections and the material's speech acts). Chap. III summarizes the main results of the analyses. Job's monologue in Job 29–31 recapitulates and thus concludes the entire dialogue part of the book (29: Job's glorious past; 30: Job's lament over his distress in the present; 31: Job's plea of innocence and his accusation of God).—T.H. 1571. [Psalms] Judith Krawelitzski, Gottes Macht im Psalter (FAT 2.97; Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2017). Pp. xi + 319. Paper €80. ISBN 978-3-16-154570-2. "Power" is a key component of the OT's Gottesbild, above all in the Psalter. The topic has not, however, received due attention from scholars hitherto, a lacuna that K.'s study—her 2016 Göttingen dissertation, directed by H. Spieckermann—seeks to fill. The work's first two chapters provide, respectively, an introduction to the theme and a survey of previous scholarship on it. In chap. 3, K. surveys the multiple ways (metaphors, divine [End Page 534] names and epithets, and "power terms") in which the Psalms speak of God's power, while in chap. 4 she focuses on the Psalter's four central terms for "power," i.e., kōaḥ, ḥayil, gĕbûrâ, and ʿōz, each of which, with varying nuances, serves to articulate the three fundamental aspects of God's power in the Psalter (and the OT generally): power as an attribute, as a divine participatory gift given to humans, and as manifest in God's actions in nature and history. K.'s 5th chapter is by far her longest one. Here, she presents detailed studies of six psalms that feature one of the three aspects in question: Psalms 21 and 63 (attribute); Psalms 59 and 84 (divine gift); and Psalms 108 and 145 (the power displayed in God's works). In her brief, 6th chapter, K. highlights the key findings of her study. These include: in the Psalter, God's power is viewed above all as a power directed to the deliverance of his people from afflictions of various sorts; discourse about God's power elsewhere in the OT is, to a large extent, dependent on the Psalter's treatment of the theme; and when the Psalter and the OT overall speak of God's power they do so almost exclusively in the form of prayer, whether that prayer be complaint, appeal, or praise.—C.T.B. 1572. [Proverbs 1–15] Bernd U. Schipper, Sprüche (Proverbia) 1–15 (Neukirchener Theologie; BKAT 17.1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018). Pp. xi + 901. $250. ISBN 978-3-7787-3057-4. This is the German language version of S.'s English commentary on (the first half of) the Book of Proverbs that appeared simultaneously with it. Whereas the predecessor BKAT commentary of Otto Plöger (1984) covered the whole of Proverbs' 31 chapters in a little under 400 pages, S.'s successor volume—on which he worked for almost 12 years—takes more than double the number of pages to treat Proverbs' initial 15 chapters. Also distinctive of S.'s work is the particular attention it devotes to the affinities between Proverbs and late (1st cent...