The Cry to God in the Old Testament (review)

Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 108 Reviews interests of the community. Rather than ask what the duplication of the list of returnees (Ezra 2, Neh 7) says about the compositional history of the book(s), she views this repetition as a literary device, an inclusio surrounding the three movements that make up the center of the narrative. According to Eskenazi, the story begins with a defmition of an overall objective, the building of the house of God (Ezra I:1-4). This is realized in three movements, each beginning with a return from diaspora and having its own structure of conflict and resolution, emphasizing the role of the people and written documents: (1) the initial return to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:5-6:22); (2) the return under Ezra to rebuild the community (7:110 :44); (3) the return under Nehemiah to rebuild the city (Neh 1:1-7:5). The initial objective of rebuilding the house of God is so defined as to embrace the rebuilding of the entire city; only then is there an extensive account of celebration (Neh 8:1-13:31). Eskenazi's book is a stimulating volume, a seminal application of literary approaches in a corpus where one would have expected such an approach to be less fruitful. Both volumes reflect the resurgence of interest in the last couple of decades in Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah. Both are outstanding contributions . One hopes that both authors will be writing reviews of the other's work. We see once again the tension between the traditional historical critical approaches and literary approaches. The same phenomena within the text are given quite different explanations. It is a methodological tension which pervades much contemporary biblical scholarship. It is a tension which remains largely unresolved, but the entire endeavor is the richer for this clash of methods. Raymond B. Dillard Westminster Theological Seminary Philadelphia, PA 19118 THE CRY TO GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. By Richard Nelson Boyce. SBL Dissertation Series 103. Pp. ix + 93. Atlanta: Scholars, 1988. Paper. Richard Nelson Boyce, pastor of the Bedford Presbyterian Church in Bedford, VA, has done biblical linguists and exegetes a favor by writing a dissertation tracing the growth of the biblical idea of the cry. He views the OT as a story of a relationship "rooted in the crying out of God's people on Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 109 Reviews the one hand and God's hearing of these cries on the other." Careful study of zcq and $cq and the contexts in which they appear make the book valuable for interpretation and contemporary appropriation. The author studies the words in light of word-field, setting-in-life, and setting-in-literature. Boyce discusses the word-field in light of three essential syntagmatic patterns and distinguishes them paradigmatically. He concludes that zcq and $CC/ represent "directed" cries for help (p. 23). Settings in life and literature further elucidate the terms. He recognizes the primary setting of the words as judicial. Five narrative settings point toward the terms functioning as a cry for help of legally marginal to the king (2 Sam 14:1-24; 2 Kgs 6:26; 1 Kgs 20:35-43; 2 Kgs 8:1-6; and 2 Sam 19:25-31). This pattern appears in three subsequent literary contexts within God's words of promise to Moses. I-traditions preserve a socio-Iegal approach in which the cry condemns a breakdown of order. E-traditions demonstrate a socio-political approach where the cry acts as a prophetic summons to justice. P preserves a liturgical cry of pain in light of a special relationship with God. The latter is a priestly remembrance of the covenant . A key passage in Boyce's discussion of literary settings is Exod 2:23b-25. Boyce moves beyond the boundaries of most dissertations when he talks about appropriation of the slaves' cry. He interacts with liberation theology and contemporary approaches to prayer. He criticize~ the uncritical approach of liberation theology and bemoans the "anti-petitionary" stance of both scholarly and popular works on prayer. The author writes in a clear manner. He includes numerous summaries and on the whole does not lose the reader with...