Review

Author(s): J. A. Emerton
Review by: J. A. Emerton
Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 42, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1992), p. 142
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519150
Accessed: 28-12-2015 19:31 UTC

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142 BOOK LIST

problem is not just that Tekoa in Judah is at too high an altitude for sycomores
to flourish,but more crucially that Palestinian sycomore figsare "vegetative par-
thenocarpic" and thereforedo not require the attentionof a "slitter". Rosenbaum
prefers a derivation of boles in vii 14 from a root cognate with Aramaic bls
("search"), making Amos a "searching tax commissioner". This is perhaps not
Rosenbaum at his best, and a similar verdict is occasionally in prospect in the
reading of his penultimate chapter in which he looks for evidence of linguistic
"northernisms" in the book of Amos. Even so, if the shaking of comfortablecon-
sensuses is good for scholarship, then there are parts of Rosenbaum's discussion
that are warmly to be welcomed. With its mixture of sharp insightsand hints of
erratic genius his book makes for absorbing reading. [R.P.GORDON]
A.P. Ross, Creationand Blessing.A Guideto theStudyand ExpositionofGenesis.
744 pp. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1988. $29.95. This book has been
written"for pastors, teachers, and all serious Bible students who wish to develop
their understanding of the Book of Genesis (and narrative literature in general)
and to increase theirability to expound it", but it "is not a commentary" (p. 13).
Part 1 ("The Study of Genesis") contains four chapters. Ch. 1 describes the
literary-analytical, form-critical, traditio-historical, and rhetorical-critical
approaches and seeks to evaluate them. Ch. 2, which is of central importance for
Ross's book, decribes the method used by him for the exegetical exposition of
Genesis. Chs 3 and 4 discuss the nature and composition, respectively,of Genesis.
Parts 2-5 contain a total of 64 chapters offeringexegesis of the contentsof Genesis.
There are four appendixes (on Gen. i 1-3; bdrd';the faithof Abraham at worship;
paqad), and a bibliography (pp. 741-4). Ross writes from a firmlyconservative
point of view but regularlytakes into account differentviews and discusses them
fairlyand in a way free frompolemic. His careful and thorough treatmentof the
text will be found helpful by people of varying religious traditions, and his book
may be commended to any who seek to expound the biblical text. [J. A. E.]
N.M. SARNA,Exodus. The JPS Torah Commentary. xxvi + 278 pp. The
Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia and New York, 1991. $147.50. The
general character of the JPS Torah Commentary series was described by H.G.M.
Williamson in VT 41 (1991), p. 383, in a review of the volume on Leviticus, and
there is no need to repeat here what was said there. The brief introduction
describes the contents and significance of the book of Exodus, and cautiously
favours a 13th-centuryB.C. date forthe escape of the Israelites fromEgypt. The
commentaryitselfis devoted primarilyto explaining the text. Some problems are
discussed (e.g. the puzzling episode in iv 24-6, and the number ascribed in xii 37
to the adult male Israelites), but not all (e.g. how did the Egyptian magicians turn
the Nile into blood in vii 22, afterMoses had already done so?). Sarna does not
go into questions of source criticism,although he argues that God's answer in iii
14 to Moses' question about his name "cannot be the disclosure of a hitherto
unkown name" (p. 18; cp. Sarna's comments on vi 2-3). The endnotes show how
well acquainted Sarna is with scholarlyliterature. It may, however, be of interest
to draw attentionhere to one omission. The discussion of heretin xxxii 4, which
the new JPS version understands (probably correctly) to be a mould, does not
explain how that rendering was obtained, although it explains other translations.
G.R. Driver, JTS 47 (1946), p. 210; ArchivOrientdlni17 (1949), p. 154; and
Melangesde l'UniversiteSaint-Joseph 45/28 (1969), pp. 465-6, compares the Vulgate's
operefusorio,Arabic hirdtun and Alfasi's translation. Sarna's commentaryends with
six excursuses: on the Hebrews; the motif of the abandoned hero; "God of the
Father"; El Shaddai; Tefillin; and biblical and ancient Near Eastern law. This
commentaryfulfilsits purpose well and, although it is intended for non-specialist
readers, the specialist can also benefit from it. [J. A. E.]

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