RECENSIONES Johannes C. DE MOOR. the Rise of Jahwism: The
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RECENSIONES Johannes C. DE MOOR. The Rise of Jahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism. Revised and enlarged edition. (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 91.) Leuven, University Press – Peeters, 1997. (16≈24), XV-445 p. ISBN 90-6831-901-9. BEF 2000. For this second edition all chapters have been revised. Most often the main text remained unchanged, but numerous new bibliographical references have been added, e.g., in Chapter 3.1 dealing with the crisis of Polytheism in the New King- dom in Egypt. Important expansions are found in Chapter 4, on the kingship of the most important gods. Section 3 of that chapter, entitled “Yhwh-El, King in Bashan”, is almost entirely new. It is based on the Author's article published in the IOSOT Congress Volume (VTSuppl, 61), Leiden, 1995, 205-238. In this con- tribution evidence drawn from the texts of Ugarit plays a major role. Chapter 5, on Moses and the Exodus, is also mostly new, and is based upon the Author's article in N. Wyatt et al. (eds.), Ugarit, Religion and Culture, Münster, 1996, 213-247. Another largely reworked section is to be found in Chapter 7.5, focus- ing on vestiges of Yhwh-El, the ancestral god. The importance of the revision is reflected in the number of pages. The new edition comprises 445 pages, which is 130 more than the original one. The basic ideas remain the same. The Author attempts to describe the rise of Yahwism in the second millennium B.C. His reconstructions of the God of Israel are based on extra-biblical sources and on a fresh reading of a number of poems preserved in the Bible. He admits that we cannot expect to find in the extra-biblical sources historical confirmation of the picture the Bible draws from Israel's early history and its conquest of the Holy Land. Critical scholarship has long demonstrated the legendary nature of such accounts as the fall of Jericho (p. 111). On the other hand, to the question “is such a legendary account worthless from the historian's point of view?”, he answers, without hesitation, “of course not” (p. 210). Many exegetes will be more sceptical with regard to the Author’s appreciation of the historical value of the biblical traditions on Israel's early history and on the history of its monotheism. Nevertheless, they will all have to admit that his collection of extra- biblical data, bearing directly or indirectly on that history, is most impressive. Although de Moor agrees that his paradigm, allowing him to interpret these data and their relations with the biblical stories, may need to be tested and further refined, it will be difficult to replace it by a better one. We have to conclude that de Moor's monograph is a masterly achievement. J. LUST Ludwig SCHMIDT. Gesammelte Aufsätze zum Pentateuch. (Beihefte zur ZAW, 263.) Berlin – New York, W. de Gruyter, 1998. (16≈23,5), VIII-286 p. ISBN 3-11-016123-0. DM 168. This volume comprises L. Schmidt's contributions on the Pentateuch, in a chronological order. The first one dates from the early 1970's. The last three, written in 1996-1997, were hitherto unpublished. Most of the collected articles 164 RECENSIONES deal with source criticism in Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers. The main theses defended by L. Schmidt remain unchanged throughout the years. We list here some of the more pregnant ones. In order to understand the final text of the Pen- tateuch, one has to begin with an analysis of its sources. Against some newer trends, it is to be held that the Jahwist is not an exilic or post-exilic composition. It is to be dated to Solomon's reign. The Elohist is an independent source, con- nected to the Jahwist by the Jehowist. The three new papers deserve our special attention. The first deals with the Isaac story in Gen 26,1-33 and its parallels in the Abraham narratives (Die Darstellung Isaaks in Genesis 26,1-33 und ihr Verhältnis zu den Parallelen in den Abrahamerzählungen). In this rather voluminous contribution (pp. 166-233) the Author offers a detailed analysis of the biblical passage, in a continuous and interesting dialogue with scholars from the past such as Gunkel and Noth, and present day scholars such as Westermann, Levin, Blum, van Seters, Fischer, Weimar, and others. The essay leads to a confirmation of the views of Noth, arguing that the section is a composition of the Jahwist who based his work on oral traditions. The parallel stories in Gen 20 and 21,22ff. are dependent upon the Isaac story in Gen 26 and are due to the Elohist. The original Jahwistic version of Gen 26 was later adapted to the Abraham stories by the Jehowist through the insertion of verses 15 and 18, and parts of vv. 1.2.7.14. The second hitherto unpublished paper is the only one in the volume that deals with the Book of Exo- dus. It is a study of synchronic and diachronic exegesis, with Ex 3–4 as a test case (Diachrone und synchrone Exegese am Beispiel von Exodus 3–4). Schmidt defends the thesis that a diachronic analysis is to precede the synchronic descrip- tion of a text. He rejects the views of Fischer and others who hold that the account in Ex 3–4 is a coherent and unified composition without tensions. Schmidt detects obvious tensions and seams, demonstrating that the section is composed of a Jahwistic and an Elohistic source, combined by the Jehowist. The third new essay is a study of Moses and the 70 elders in Num 11–12 (Mose, die 70 Ältesten und die Propheten in Numeri 11 und 12). Schmidt's literary-critical analysis seeks to prove that an original story about a miraculous feeding of the Israelites in the desert was reworked during the period of the exile, possibly by the Elohist. He inserted the sections about the 70 elders, as a legitimation of their authority in the absence of a king. The final redactor added verses 26-29 which deal with prophecy and prophets. Schmidt's collected articles are a valuable con- tribution to the ongoing debate on source criticism, redaction criticism, and rhetorical analysis. J. LUST Hans Martin WAHL. Die Jakobserzählungen: Studien zu ihrer mündlichen Überlieferung, Verschriftung und Historizität. (Beihefte zur ZAW, 258.) Berlin – New York, W. de Gruyter, 1997. (16≈23,5), XI-376 p. ISBN 3-11-015758-6. DM 198. This volume is a “Habilitationsschrift” presented at the Philipps-University of Marburg. The Author's doctoral dissertation, entitled Der gerechte Schöpfer, was published in the same series (BZAW, 207) in 1993. In ETL 70 (1994) 91-104, he wrote an article on Die Überschriften der Prophetenbücher. Anmerkungen zu Form, Redaktion und Bedeutung für die Datierung der Bücher. In the present work, he explores the possibilities of going back behind the literary formulation RECENSIONES 165 of Israel's “historical” Jacob traditions in the earliest written sources. He surveys the work of his predecessors, among whom pride of place is given to H. Gunkel. The latter's starting point was that the written biblical sources were based on oral traditions analogous to the Sagen or folktales of non-literate European peoples. Later scholars, notably H. Gressmann, A. Alt, G. von Rad, and M. Noth, took up his method and further developed it. W. Albright and his school added a new aspect, confidently claiming that archaeological data confirmed the historical value of the oral traditions. A Scandinavian group of scholars, dissatisfied with the criteria of the documentary hypothesis, also focused attention on the oral tra- ditions. Their approach was inaugurated by J. Pederson, and continued by H.S. Nyberg, H. Birkeland, I. Engnell. Other important contributions were provided by G. Widengren, H. Ringgren, and G.W. Ahlström. According to Wahl, the major- ity of present day's authors do not deal with the historical value of oral traditions. In some respects, the ideas of R. Rendtorff and his pupil E. Blum remain close to those of H. Gunkel. Nevertheless, they basically deal with literary-historical problems. Similar remarks apply to K. Berge, L. Schmidt, W.H. Schmidt, J. van Seters, C. Levin, S. Thompson, and M. Köckert. The only exception is said to be P.G. Kirkpatrick. In dialogue with studies on anthropology, ethnology, and folk- lore, he concludes that oral traditions cannot transport historical data over a period longer than 150 years. Wahl continues with a long chapter devoted to the basic forms of oral narratives, referring to the work of Olrik, and studying notions such as saga, myth, and legend. He then turns to the laws governing oral tradition and its transformation into writing. He finally applies his findings to the Jacob narratives. The conclusion is that these stories do not preserve any historical information concerning the earliest period of Israel's existence. This does not mean that they are devoid of historical relevance. They do shed light on the period in which they originated. J. LUST Judith FRISHMAN – Lucas VAN ROMPAY (eds.). The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation: A Collection of Essays. (Traditio Exegetica Graeca, 5.) Leuven, Peeters, 1997. (16≈24), IX-290 p. ISBN 90-6831-920-5. BEF 2100. R.B. TER HAAR ROMENY. A Syrian in Greek Dress: The Use of Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac Biblical Texts in Eusebius of Emesa's Commen- tary on Genesis. (Traditio Exegetica Graeca, 6.) Leuven, Peeters, 1997. (16≈24), XII-484 p. ISBN 90-6831-958-2. BEF 2400. This review begins with a short survey of the essays published by Frishman and van Rompay, and then turns to ter Haar Romeny's doctoral dissertation.