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Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 437 Reviews thoroughly re-examined as an independent text in the light of Jewish literature composed during the Roman occupation (p. 403). This is an avenue that should also be followed by the scholarly community focusing on the Septuagint as a whole. Much of the textual work on the publication of the LXX, including the Old Greek text, has been completed or is in the process of being completed. What is urgently needed now are hermeneutical and exegetical studies of this corpus. Johann Cook University of Stellenbosch Matieland, South Africa cook@sun.ac.za THE CHRONICLER AS THEOLOGIAN. ESSAYS IN HONOR OF RALPH W. KLEIN. Edited by M. Patrick Graham, Steven L. McKenzie, and Gary N. Knoppers. JSOTSup 371. Pp. xvi + 285. London: T & T Clark International, 2003. Cloth, $110.00. The present volume contains thirteen essays, which focus upon the Chronicler as a theologian. There are also two introductory essays about the honoree of the Festschrift, Ralph W. Klein, Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor of Old Testament at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Most of the essays were developed in the context of the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section of the Society of Biblical Literature and, with the exception of three scholars (Philippe Abadie [France], Brian E. Kelley [United Kingdom], and Gerrie F. Snyman [South Africa]), all contributors live and work in North American institutions. The choice of dedicating the book to Ralph W. Klein seems appropriate, particularly in light of his research interests and his leadership in the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section of the Society. The editors have opted to divide the volume into three main sections. Part 1 introduces the work of Ralph W. Klein and provides a select bibliography of the honoree . Part 2 includes five articles that study particular texts in Chronicles. Gary N. Knoppers studies the interaction between the particular and the universal in the genealogy of nations found in 1 Chronicles 1 (pp. 13–31). He also notes a similar tendency (i.e., balancing a strong ethnocentric concern with a more universal perspective) in other contemporary biblical literature (e.g., the prayer found in Nehemiah 9; p. 26). However, it seems to me that this tendency is not typically post-exilic or particular to the Chronicler’s time, as can be seen in the oracles concerning different nations in the classical prophets (see here Paul R. Raabe, “Why Prophetic Oracles Against the Nations?” in Fortunate the Eyes That See. Essays in Honor of David Noel Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 438 Reviews Freedman in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday, ed. Astrid B. Beck et al. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995], pp. 236–257). In the following chapter, South African Gerrie F. Snyman studies the possible world of text production for the genealogy of 1 Chron 2:3–4:23, utilizing sociological insights gained from contemporary events in South Africa (pp. 32–60). His assertion, to take biblical genealogies seriously, without denigrating their historical character is very helpful (p. 33), although I would question his dependence upon Davies’s contention that only 1% of the population of Palestine could read and write (p. 43). More specialized, up-to-date studies about ancient literacy would put this number much higher (see Alan R. Millard, “Oral Proclamation and Written Record: Spreading and Preserving Information in Ancient Israel,” in Michael: Historical, Epigraphical and Biblical Studies in Honor of Prof. Michael Heltzer, ed. Y. Avishur and Robert Deutsch [Tel Aviv-Jaffa: Archaeological Center Publications, 1999], pp. 237–241, or Richard S. Hess, “Literacy in Iron Age Israel,” in Windows Into Old Testament History: Evidence, Argument, and the Crisis of “Biblical Israel,” ed. V. Philips Long, David W. Baker, and Gordon J. Wenham [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2002], pp. 82–102). The following chapter, by Ehud Ben Zvi, deals with the Chronicler coming to terms with the secession of the Northern Kingdom after the death of Solomon (pp. 61–88), in view of the strong focus upon the unity of the people of YHWH. Zwi suggests that this may reflect the political situation in Yehud with the tension between Jerusalem and Samaria (p. 85). Philippe Abadie reviews the Chronicler’s theological rewriting of the impious Manasseh (2 Kings...

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