Linguistic Evidence for the Northern Origin of Selected Psalms (review)

Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 184 Reviews tion de sa forme finale" (pp. 339-360). H. H. Schmid ends the volume by summarizing distinct traditions in order to provide an outline for a pentateuchal theology in "Vers une theologie du Pentateuque" (pp. 361-386). Given the chaos that has dominated pentateuchal studies for the past decade or more, readers will find this to be a helpful volume at least with regard to German and Swiss scholarship. The individual articles are too short to be convincing demonstrations of method in their own right. Nevertheless, in most cases, they represent much larger bodies of ~esearch and, as such, they provide helpful summaries of emerging schools of thought with regard to the formation of the Pentateuch. At least four schools of thought come into focus from these essays. First, Seebass advocates a classic source-critical model. Second, the essay by Zenger is particularly noteworthy since he seeks to contrast his own modified sourcecritical hypothesis with a third emerging school of thought represented by Rendtorff, Blum, and Criisemann (the Heidelberg School). Over against these three positions, one can discern yet a fourth school of thought represented by Schmid and Rose who advocate a post-deuteronomistic Yahwist in the Tetrateuch as a supplement to the DtrG, which is reminiscent of the work of J. Van Seters. The final word on the Pentateuch has certainly not yet been spoken, but readers will find this a helpful road map through the present debate. Thomas B. Dozeman United Theological Seminary Dayton, OH 45406 LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE FOR THE NORTHERN ORIGIN OF SELECTED PSALMS. By Gary A. Rendsburg. Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series 43'. Pp. xiii + 143. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. Cloth, $24.95; Paper, $14.95. Gary Rendsburg is vigorously attacking the problem of dialect variation in Biblical Hebrew, and this monograph is a vital part of the substantial bibliography he is building on the subject. It appeared later in the same year as his Diglossia in Ancient Hebrew (Ann Arbor, MI: American Oriental Society, 1990). Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 185 Reviews In the present volume, Rendsburg argues for the northern origin of thirty-six psalms (9-10 [taken as one poem, in agreement with others and with added evidence], 16, 29, 36, 45, the other Korah psalms [42-49, 8485 ,87-88],53,58, 74, the other Asaph psalms [50, 73, 83] , 116, 132, 133, 140, and 141). He has also applied his criteria to the remaining 114 psalms in the biblical Psalter and found that none of them shows sufficient traces of northern Hebrew to be classified with the above. Rendsburg terms northern Hebrew Israelian, in contrast to the standard Hebrew of the Bible, Judahite. By Israelian, he refers to the language employed in all areas of ancient Israel which were within the bounds of the northern kingdom, that is, all that was not Judahite. While he acknowledges diachronic development within Biblical Hebrew, which includes early, standard, and late Biblical Hebrew, this investigation is synchronic. Specifically, it is a study in regional variation. Rendsburg's evidence for Israelian Hebrew is drawn from several sources. Primary is the linguistic evidence of Phoenician, Moabite, Ammonite, Aramaic, Deir AlIa, Ugaritic, Amarna, and certain sections of the Hebrew Bible, many of which are acknowledged to be northern in origin , namely, stories of northern judges and kings, Qoheleth, Proverbs, Job, the Balaam stories, Song of Songs, Hosea, the northern tribal blessings of Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33, Nehemiah 9, Deuteronomy 32, exilic and postexilic literature, and prophetic speeches directed to foreign (northern?) nations. He also leans heavily on his understanding of the history of Israel, especially the nature of Israelite contact with the speakers of these adjoining dialects. Inevitably, issues of redaction criticism and exegesis enter into Rendsburg's deliberations, although his purpose is to leave these matters for the consideration of others, as he does for the most part. Several questions occurred to me while reading this book. The first is my desire to see this research interact with W. Randall Garr's Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000-586 B.C.E. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985). Rendsburg cites Garr with approval, both initially (p. 5, n. 21) and...