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148 SHOFAR Spring 1997 Vol. 15, No.3 objectivity into the reconstruction ofIsrael's history, which has been (and necessarily should be) also an imaginative enterprise (see the quote which begins this review). There are two results to such an approach. First, the number of assured results for the reconstruction ofIsrael's past is successively reduced to the point where there are virtually no assured results at all. At many points in the work Weeks admits that his intuition supports the assured results, but he cannot lend his support to such "wild" speculation without more evidence. Using his reasoning and methodology, one ultimately finds that one can say scarcely anything at all about Israel before the Hellenistic period. The second result is that the role ofthe imagination in the enterprise ofbiblical scholarship is circumscribed, ifnot eliminated altogether. Much ofwhat scholars have done with the ancient texts ofthe past is to imagine a way that such texts might have been formed, understood, and used. Often claims were made for such imaginative conclusions that went well beyond the evidence, but the enterprise has always provided fruitful material for reflection on the ancient peoples and their connection to our contemporary world. When Weeks insists that such rigorous standards ofevidence be supplied that one can say virtually nothing about the biblical wisdom material, he has painted himselfinto a comer with no means of egress. Having said that, I found Early Israelite Wisdom an enormously useful and engaging book-useful in that it surveys virtually all of the important issues in late twentieth-century wisdom scholarship, and does so with great facility, depth, and wit; engaging because many of his criticisms do indeed point out significant weaknesses and blind spots in the historical reconstructions of others. These weaknesses must be overcome ifthe reconstructions can stand. Nevertheless, the author has not convinced me that ancient Israelite sages could not have existed, individuals responsible for the wisdom books, also involved in the education ofthe elite and the administration ofa royal bureaucracy. However, having read Weeks, I would not insist on the historical certainty of any ofthese assertions. David Penchansky Department ofTheology University of St. Thomas Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J. A. Emerton, edited by John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and H. M. G. Williamson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 311 pp. n.p.l. The book is a collection ofessays written to honor 1. A. Emerton, a distinguished Book Reviews 149 scholar in the fields ofHebrew and Old Testament, a highly respected colleague, and a beloved teacher. The twenty-three scholars who have contributed to this volume are all experts in their own fields, specifically the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the ancient Near East. The essays are organized under three headings: setting (three articles); texts (thirteen articles); and themes (seven articles). The first three articles investigate the relationship between the wisdom thinking ofancient Israel and that of its neighbors Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria. John Ray offers an overview ofthe history ofEgyptian wisdom. He finds the people struggling with the realities ofhuman existence and making adjustments to the instruction when they seem fit. Because it does not normally address "wisdom-piety," W. G. Lambert studies the intellectual dimension of Babylonian wisdom and the similarity it shares with the Israelite thought. Jonas Greenfield traces the appearances of Ahiqar in literature from the Late Babylonian period, through Elephantine texts to the Book of Tobit, showing how a tradition can be handed down through history and culture, adapting as it goes. John Day contends that there was strong Semitic influence in the development of Israelite wisdom writings such as Job, Daniel, Qoheleth, Tobit (the figure of Ahiqar), and Proverbs. Ernest Nicholson's interest in theodicy in the Book of Job may be best demonstrated in his treatment ofGod's speeches. The incongruities in human life are, according to Otto Kaiser, addressed by Qoheleth with a carpe diem response conscious of the inevitability of death. Both Robert Gordon and Andre Lemaire study the presence of wisdom in the narrative material. The first examines the "Succession Narrative," the account of Solomon's reign, and the Joseph story and finds a fundamentally secular attitude toward wisdom present there. The...

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