Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (review)

Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 218 Reviews fruition under such great masters as Gonzalo Maeso, Pascual Recuero, and Saenz-Badillos continues to flourish and shows promise for the future. Norman Roth University ofWisconsin Madison, WI 53706 MIKRA: TEXT, TRANSLATION, READING AND INTERPRE· TATION OF THE HEBREW BIBLE IN ANCIENT JUDAISM AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Martin Jan Mulder, ed. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. pp. xxvi + 929. Assen: Van Gorcum I Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988. Cloth. One rarely encounters a volume of essays that merits enthusiasm as a volume. Mikra is the exception. This is indeed a compendium of analyses of the status and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible within communities of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras. In design, it is all but comprehensive , omitting only textual interpretations preserved or invented by classical authors hostile or indifferent to biblical cultures-that is, confming itself to communities in which the text enjoyed canonical status. The twenty chapters fall into three categories: (1) The first four studies concern the transmission, preservation, or status of the Hebrew text itself. The following are relevant chapters: Aaron Demsky and Meir Bar-Ilan, "Writing in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism" (Demsky focusing on the history of the alphabet and Israelite literacy, BarDan discussing the social location of the scribe and the production and use of sacred texts in the Second Temple era); Roger T. Beckwith, "The Formation of the Hebrew Bible" (a formidable review of the evidence for the canonicity of the books of the Bible in several communities in the Second Temple period); Martin Jan Mulder, "The Transmission of the Biblical Text" (principally, through the Masoretic tradition); and Charles Perrot, "The Reading of the Bible in the Ancient Synagogue" (i.e., the formal structure of this reading). (2) Five chapters then concern themselves with translations of the sacred texts: Emanuel Tov, "The Septuagint" (a history of its production combined with some characterization of its properties); Abraham Tal, "The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch" (chiefly, the internal evidence for Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 219 Reviews dogmatic interpretation, whether philosophical or political}; Philip S. Alexander, "Jewish Aramaic Translations of Hebrew Scriptures" (a review of the documents with some considerations concerning their functions; for the latter, a useful supplement would be the recent work of David Golomb, "The Targumic Renderings of the Verb lehJjtabwt5t: A Targumic Translation Convention" in D. Golomb, ed., "Working with No Data" [Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1988] pp. 105-118); Peter B. Dirksen, "The Old Testament Peshitta" (imputing the Peshitta to a matrix in which the influence of the Jewish exegetical tradition, including the Targumim, was strong); and Benjamin Kedar, "The Latin Translations" (a treatment centered on the history of the Latin tradition). (3) The remaining eleven chapters address the interpretation of the sacred writ inside confessional communities, or in the writings of individuals thought to represent such communities. Michael Fishbane, "Use, Authority and Interpretation of Mikra at Qumran" (covering formulary for citation, impressionistically only, and the relation of biblical authority to that of the Teacher); Devorah Dimant, "Use and Interpretation of Mikra in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha" (again, a less than comprehensive review that nevertheless manages to suggest the outlines of the importance of Scripture in this peculiar genre of literature); Yehoshua Amir, "Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the Writings of Philo" (covering both the role of Scripture in Philo and Philo's characteristic anagogical approach [allegorical] toward the text in its context); Louis H. Feldman, "Use, Authority and Exegesis of Mikra in the Writings of Josephus" (principally, the languages and text-families of the texts used by Josephus, and the nature of his use of the text); Pieter W. van der Horst, "The Interpretation of the Bible by the Minor Hellenistic Jewish Authors" (i.e., those preserved in the fragments of Alexander Polyhistor in Eusebius' Praep. Evang. Book 9-Ezekiel the Dramatist, two epic poets, and the historians Demetrius, Artapanus, Eupolemos, the so-called PseudoEupolemos , Cleodemus-Malchus, and Aristeas); Rimon Kasher, "The Interpretation of Scripture in Rabbinic Literature" (the varieties of exegetical overture to the text, and the factors conditioning the adoption of one or another approach); Ruairidh B6id (M. N. Saraf), "Use, Authority and Exegesis of Mikra in the Samaritan Tradition" (on the...