I Have Built You an Exalted House: Temple Building in the Bible in Light of Mesopotamian and Northwest Semitic Writings (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 154 Reviews I HAVE BUILT YOU AN EXALTED HOUSE: TEMPLE BUILDING IN THE BIBLE IN LIGHT OF MESOPOTAMIAN AND NORTHWEST SEMITIC WRITINGS. By Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz. JSOT/ASOR Monograph Series 5. JSOTSup 115. Pp. 398. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992. The present volume represents a significantly enhanced and reordered version of Hurowitz' Ph.D. Dissertation accomplished at the Hebrew University and originally written in Hebrew. It consists of two principal parts: The first presents thematic analyses of a large number of extra-biblical building accounts, from the Gudea cylinders through Assyrian, Babylonian and Northwest Semitic royal inscriptions, and concluding with biblical and post-biblical Jewish accounts. Part 2 consists of a comparative study of biblical accounts of the building of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem against the background of the very same ancient Near Eastern sources examined in Part 1. The primary texts under examination are found in 1 Kgs 5:15-9:25. Methodologically, the arrangement of the monograph reflects solid thinking since, before attempting comparisons, the scholar would best allow the sources to speak for themselves. Hurowitz thus shows his superiority over many current comparativists, who often engage atomistically in the lateral comparison of A in one culture to B in another culture on the understanding that such is the essence of the comparative method. Hurowitz sets as his primary goal the elucidation of biblical building accounts, and it is in pursuit of this objective that he turns to comparative sources for information and for applicable models. We have in Hurowitz' study detailed discussions of a large number of ancient Near Eastern and biblical texts wherein each source is summarized for its content and structure as a reflection of material culture and in search of religious perceptions. These discussions, in and of themselves, would qualify as an original contribution, so rich are. they in insight and replete with commentary. When all of this material is applied to the biblical accounts of the building of Solomon's temple, we emerge with a veritable paradigm which begins with "The Decision to Build," carries the reader through chapters on "The Acquisition of Building Materials" and "The Descriptions of the Temple and its Furnishings," and concludes with "The Dedication of the Temple." Hurowitz has made a very good case for concluding that the biblical "bu.ilding account" is best understood against the background of ancient Near Eastern, more specifically Syro-Mesopotamian literary patterns, and Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 155 Reviews that it qualifies as a distinct genre. As he suggests, the implications of this conclusion are no less compelling than those relating to ancient Near Eastern legal codes, edicts, and treaties, long recognized as the models through which we most clearly comprehend biblical law and covenant. Furthermore, when one ignores the comparative patterns, one misses something of importance and is more likely to misconstrue the sense of the biblical accounts themselves. This would hold true even in cases where Hurowitz concludes that the biblical account differs in composition from similar Near Eastern records. As an example, in chap. 9, "The Acquisition of Building Materials" (pp. 171-223), Hurowitz analyzes the epistolary formulation resonating in 1 Kgs 5:15-26, which, in his view, differs markedly from comparable treatments of this phase of temple building in most ancient Near Eastern records. Such contrast would not be apparent except by comparison. What is most remarkable about Hurowitz' presentation is that he virtually never reads unfounded meanings into the biblical accounts. This is demonstrated in his chapter on "The Decision to Build" (1 Kgs 5:15-19), where for forty pages (130-170) Hurowitz discusses the background of all of five biblical verses! In his discussion he shows that every word is significant, from a statement on the history of the temple project-including divine promise and human fulfillment-to a delineation of the possible ways that the divine command may be communicated to the royal temple builder. Inevitably, a work such as Hurowitz' involves numerous judgments as to the meaning of both extra-biblical and biblical texts. Mesopotamian and Northwest Semitic texts are usually dated and generically identifiable; they consist of examples taken from well-defined, often large repertories. Once...