Introduction to the Pentateuch (review)

Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 158 Reviews which Wei! edited the Masorah parva of the BHS inhannoniously with the text of the Leningrad codex. A third category, "Unsolved," describes two or three cases in which Mynatt was unable to detennine the text feature which is at odds with the Leningrad codex. A comparative analysis of the sub loco notes of the Leningrad codex and the Aleppo codex is presented in Chapter Four, in which Mynatt concludes that all errors but one (and that only by the author's definition of "error") in the Leningrad codex were corrected by the notes in the Masorah parva of the Aleppo codex. On the basis of the Torah sampling of the Hebrew manuscripts cited, Mynatt concludes that the Masorah parva of the Aleppo codex is more accurate than that of the Leningrad codex. Tradition has it that Aaron Ben Asher vocalized and accented the Aleppo codex, penned by Shelomo ben BuyaC a, and the text served to correct other manuscripts in the tenth century C.E. Mynatt rightly notes that this sampling is limited and thus does not necessarily apply to other portions of the codices of Aleppo and Leningrad. The text is complemented by two appendices, "Number of Sub Loco Notes in the Torah by Chapter" and "Verse Enumerations and Divisions in the Torah," and extensive endnotes. This work provides serious students of the Hebrew Bible with an excellent supplement to the earlier BmAL Press publication, A Simplified Guide to BHS (W. R. Scott and H. P. Ruger, 1987), as well as to R. Wonneberger's Understanding BHS. R. Dennis Cole New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary New Orleans, LA 70126 INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. By R. Norman Whybray. pp. vii + 146. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. Paper, $12.99. This deceptively simply written book provides an accessible entree to the documents of and current scholarly discussions on the text of the Pentateuch . Readers of all intellectual and religious perspectives will feel welcomed by Whybray's openness and will readily absorb his succinct and lucid accounts of the biblical books. Moreover, as he reviews the scholarly discussions of past generations in his gently reflective, yet critical and analytical , style the reader is drawn into a sense of being engaged in the same intellectual enterprise. By his example, which is both respectful of the discussions and conclusions of the past yet excited by more innovative Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 159 Reviews approaches and suggestions, the reader discovers a range of appropriate ways to write about the work of renowned scholars from the past and present. His comprehensive exposition includes the work of scholars from a wide range of religious, national, and methodological backgrounds and, though giving wide coverage to mainstream and consensus views, also cites more radical, peripheral, or contentious interpretations of both the production, and the meaning, of the Pentateuch. Technically speaking, the book presents its enormous quantity of information and comment in an apparently leisurely way. Whybray is impeccably sure-footed as he guides the reader through the array of details, names, concepts and methodologies, judging exactly where to refine and explain and where to move rapidly along. His use of brackets and parentheses is particularly effective, allowing, as it does, the reader to make some choices as to the depth of detail to be assimilated. The first chapter briefly outlines the contents of the sections into which the Pentateuch is usually broken by scholars. The second deals with the vexed question of the origins of the Pentateuch and presents a particularly clear account of the history of biblical criticism of the texts, sequentially positioning each set of suggestions and hypotheses clearly beside the names of their purveyors and developers. Chapters 3 and 4 summarise and explain the stories of Genesis, moving between brief explanations and subtle close readings. The reader is made aware of the range and limitations of the word/concept "myth" and is brought to look both beneath and beyond the surface of the text. Chapter 5 carries out a similar function for Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, dealing with them as narratives. The character Moses, as portrayed by the texts, is set, not only in the biblical context, but also in the...