Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9 (review)

Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 337 Reviews that Job is the creation of a single author with an artistic purpose, for whom poetry is not just the medium but the message itself. The book seems to be intended for a wide audience comprised not just of scholars, since the author insists on several occasions in his introduction that the reader need not know Hebrew in order to appreciate Scheindlin's justification for his translation. This appeal to a broader readership has created an accessible book but one that does not suffer from being simplistic. For example, Scheindlin's interpretation of Job as a book that is often "satirical" is thought-provoking and helpful in light of numerous popular attempts to reduce the book either to a simple moral lesson in patience or a clearly argued treatise on divine justice. Expanded musing on this issue would have been of assistance to readers across the spectrum. The book would also have benefited from additional treatment of linguistic issues. By failing to address in any detail the difficult problems surrounding Ugaritic and other extra-Hebrew influence on and entanglement with the extant Hebrew text, Scheindlin abdicates the responsibility of any translator to give a blow-by-blow account for his audience of his most difficult battles. Pericopes such as Job 19, which have flummoxed philologists for centuries. deserve a more revealing examination. Scheindlin makes scarce effort anywhere in this book to engage in dialogue with other scholars . His references are few and far between, and his bibliography is brief. containing as many references to medieval poetic texts as it does to books of biblical scholarship. Thus. Scheindlin will disappoint those seeking a spirited rejoinder to recent work in Hebrew wisdom literature. It is Scheindlin's stated intention that his translation of the book of Job be read as just that, a translation, and not necessarily an in-depth philologicalor critical analysis of the text. His book stands as a poetic work. as an attempt to put a pretty face on a close translation, rather than as a radical rethinking of Job or a carefully-argued defense of traditional interpretation. David A. Mills Duke University Durham. NC 27705 davenleila@earthlink.net HEAR, MY SON: TEACHING AND LEARNING IN PROVERBS 1-9. By Daniel J. Estes. New Studies in Biblical Theology Series, D. A. Carson. ed. Grand Rapids. MI: Eerdmans. 1997. Paper. $20.00. Daniel Estes' goal in this volume is to synthesize a "systematic statement of the pedagogical theory that underlies" (p. 13) the teachings in Proverbs Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 338 Reviews 1-9. He organizes his findings into seven categories which also become the titles and subjects of his chapters. These are: "The worldview of Proverbs 1-9," "Values for education," "Goals for education," "Curriculum for education ," "Process of instruction," "Role of the teacher," and "Role of the learner." His "Introduction" describes the project and the rationale for undertaking it. His "Conclusion" offers a succinct summary of the work presented in the previous chapters and some discussion of future research prospects. Estes' presentation betrays clarity of thought and is well written. His argument is presented simply and logically, in a structured way. This simple unobtrusive style illustrates the material and guides the reader well-in the way of a good teacher. At times, however, the author oversimplifies some important issues. The brief discussion below will highlight some of these strengths and weaknesses. Estes' introductory chapter reveals his own personal commitment to good teaching style when he lays out his project and goals clearly and then closely adheres to these outlines. In the discussion of the project, he offers background data to equip his readers with the tools they will need. This is revealing, also, because of what is left out. His delineation of the texts to be studied, Proverbs 1-9, makes no mention of any of the discussion of these chapters' linkage to chapter 31 to fonn a "female frame," as Camp has argued (in Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs, Sheffield: Almond, 1985) and as many have since agreed. There is also a lack of engagement with feminist scholarship which is unfortunate since much feminist writing has been...