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Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 341 Reviews STOCKMEN FROM TEKOA, SYCOMORES FROM SHEBA: A STUDY OF AMOS’ OCCUPATIONS. By Richard C. Steiner. CBQMS 36. Pp. x + 158. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2003. Paper, $10.50. What does the book of Amos reveal about the professions of this prophet? Richard Steiner’s new book is devoted to this question. His monograph is detailed and thorough. The author displays an impressive degree of erudition, drawing from numerous fields, including zoology, philology, Egyptology, and the study of horticulture in the ancient world (p. 1). Steiner incorporates not only contemporary biblical scholarship; he also draws on studies written earlier in the modern period, as well as works on Amos by ancient and medieval commentators, particularly rabbinic exegetes. Amos declares in 7:14, during his famous encounter with the priest Amaziah, that he is a réqwøb and a sElwøb of sycomores (MyImVqIv, or “mulberry fig”). (Steiner prefers this spelling in order to specify reference to the Ficus sycomorus, as opposed to the sycamore, a type of tree that does not grow in the Middle East [p. 3]). Amos also asserts that his prophetic call took him Naø…xAh yérSjAaEm (7:15). The first verse of the book claims that he was “among the MyîdVqOn from Tekoa.” These expressions provide the key clues to the occupations of Amos. Chapter 1 gives the history of interpretation of the phrase MyImVqIv sElwøb. The hapax sElwøb has been understood as a reference to cutting the fruit of the sycomore. Lacerating its figs produces the gas ethylene, which accelerates the ripening process (p. 9). The Septuagint translates MyImVqIv sElwøb as kni¿zwn suka¿mina, which Steiner translates as “a scratcher of sycomore figs” (p. 8). The author also examines the interpretations of sElwøb by Aquila and Rashi. Chapter 2 discusses the etymology and meaning of sElwøb. Samuel Bochart, in his Hierozoicon (1663), observed that the word balas in Arabic and Ethiopian means “fig (fruit or tree)” (p. 32). He posited that sElwøb is a participle of the unattested verb slb. Steiner supports this suggestion with the postclassical Yemeni Arabic verb ballasa, “to pick figs,” the participle of which is miballis, referring to one who picks the figs and sells them (p. 33). Some manuscripts of the Mishnah attest the word slb in reference to types of figs (pp. 36–43). Developing the views of Bochart, Steiner concludes “slb refers to the entire process of harvesting sycomore figs, beginning with the gashing” (p. 47). In Chapter 3, Steiner examines the origin of the sycomore in ancient Palestine (p. 48). He argues that the tree was brought to Israel. Among regions with Semitic languages, the words bls and šqmt are attested in Israel and Yemen but not other places where trees of the genus Ficus grow, such as Egypt (p. 58). The author concludes that the Levantine sycomore is a product Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 342 Reviews of commercial contacts with South Arabia (p. 63). sElwøb and MyImVqIv would then be South Arabian loanwords. The archaeologist Israel Finkelstein has argued that trade routes connected the two regions by the twelfth century B.C.E. Steiner suggests that the tree was introduced to Israel in this period. Several key terms are examined in Chapter Four. The word réqOwb is a hapax that is derived from rqb (“cattle”). Steiner argues that réqOwb refers to “a man who bred and sold cattle” (p. 67). The word dqwn occurs in Amos 1:1 (MyîdVqOn) and 2 Kgs 3:4 (déqOn). The Targum uses the phrase (N)ytyg yrm, “owners of livestock” (p. 72), for these verses, and this is also its rendering of the phrase h‰nVqIm yEv◊nAa in Gen 46:32 (p. 71). The Akkadian nāqidu can denote a breeder of a large amount of livestock of rqbw Nax (nāqidu ša s .ēni u lâti) (p. 74). Steiner concludes that “a rqwb is simply a specific type of dqwn” and that Amos 7:14 refers to a person in charge of both cattle and sheep (p. 76). Since...

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