נבואות, בריתות ושבטים בתעורות מארי: בתקופת המלכים האמורײם מסוף מאה יײט לפסהײנ ועד 1760 לפסהײנ (Prophecy, Treaty-making and Tribes in the Mari Documents During the Period of the Amorite Kings [from the end of the 19th Century B.C.E. Until 1760 B.C.E. ]) (review)

Hebrew Studies 49 (2008) 341 Reviews One might therefore construe these lines, and others he does not cite, to suggest that in the psalmists’ view, the suffering is more than a simple misfortune that God should correct. Rather, it follows directly from Israel’s status as God’s own people: “For your sake we suffer reproach; shame covers my face” (Ps 69:8). “Look away from me, so I may smile again” (Ps 39:14)—the psalmist seems at that moment to be asking for less divine attention : “Give me a break! Choose somebody else.” Among Sudanese Christians, this connection between undeserved election and extreme undeserved suffering is drawn more or less directly. Maybe not incidentally, they draw the connection in the psalms they themselves compose, song-prayers based on biblical themes—many of them written in flight or in exile, out of their experience of genocidal persecution. So I conclude with a question: is there more yet to be said about deep suffering as the dark side of election? Ellen F. Davis Duke Divinity School Durham, NC 27708 edavis@div.duke.edu Pwsm) Myyrwmah Myklmh tpwqtb :yram twdwotb MyfbCw twtyrb ,twawbn (n
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hspl f”y ham (Prophecy, Treaty-making and Tribes in the Mari Documents During the Period of the Amorite Kings [from the end of the 19th Century B.C.E. Until 1760 B.C.E.]). By Moshe Anbar. The Biblical Encyclopaedia Library 23. Pp. zf + 309. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 2007. Paper, $17.38. Moshe Ashbar, who retired recently from the Tel Aviv University Department of Biblical Studies, has devoted part of his long career to various fields of Mari studies. This has resulted in several articles and one book (M. Anbar, Les tribus amurrites de Mari, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 108, Göttingen, 1991). In the introduction to this, his latest book, Anbar explains that the topics mentioned in the title represent three aspects of the biblical narrative whose understanding has been greatly extended in the light of the Mari archives. The book, however, is not intended as a comparative study. That aspect of Mari studies is briefly alluded to from a methodological perspective in the first two pages and elsewhere in the book, where the reader is referred to available works of recent research that have analysed the connections between the two corpuses (add on page 34 a significant reference to this Hebrew Studies 49 (2008) 342 Reviews question: Les traditions amorrites et la Bible, Revue d'assyriologie 92.1, 1998). Anbar’s achievement in this book is to have gathered together the majority of the important Mari documents relating to his three topics, thus making this rich source of information accessible to the reader interested in the Bible and its connection to the Ancient Near East. Each document is preceded by an introduction that sets it in its historical context, explains certain expressions, and gives the identity of any people mentioned in it. Because the book is intended for a wide readership, the texts are all in translation with only the relevant part quoted and no philological discussion. However, Akkadian words pertaining to the vocabulary of the three topics are discussed. There are also good indexes of biblical sources and of geographical, tribal, and personal names. The first chapter summarizes the political history of the kingdom of Mari in the final fifty years before the destruction of the city by king Hammurabi of Babylonia in 1760 B.C.E., a period that is extremely well documented thanks to the twenty thousand tablets and fragments found in the Palace. The main historical events are briefly presented by years of reign, quoted according to their local designation (the name of a high level servant or an achievement of the king’s from the year before). Chapter 2 is devoted to the prophecies. Mostly the information comes from letters addressed to the king by his servants. Such a document reports the divine message and the circumstances surrounding its occurrence. However accounting tablets from the palace administration can also deliver very interesting information (e.g., the salary paid to the prophet). Anbar first gives us a description of the phenomenon: the types of prophets...