Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (review)

Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 141 Reviews There are many other chapters in the book that deserve mention, but space limitations preclude serious discussion. In passing, readers interested in Solomon's temple will find E. Bloch-Smith's essay, '''Who Is the King of Glory?' Solomon's Temple and Its Symbolism," a helpful discussion of the temple symbolism found in I Kings 6-7. Bloch-Smith details archaeological data known from Egypt and Syria as well as Mesopotamia. Finally, R. North's essay, "Medical Discoveries of Biblical Times," discusses a subject with which many readers may be unfamiliar. For a volume of this nature, I found almost no errors, a credit to the editors and publishers. The work is a fitting tribute to King's legacy and is highly recommended. John C. H. Laughlin Averell College Danville. VA 24541 NARRATIVE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. David M. Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell. The Oxford Bible Series. Pp. xvi + 263. Oxford University Press, 1993. Cloth, $55.00/Paper, $16.95. This book has two agendas. Primarily, the authors "attempt to steer between discussing mechanisms of biblical narrative and reading particular texts" (p. ix). To this end, the volume alternates between chapters on narrative method and ones in which those insights are immediately brought to bear on the interpretation or "reading" of biblical texts. The first chapter , "Strategies for Reading," is illustrated by a reading of Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar. Chapter 3, "Characters and Narrators," applies its observations to the persons of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 11-22). "Designs on the Plot" is complemented by an analysis of the plot in the book of Jonah, and "The Lure of Language" by Daniel 3. The fmal chapter , "Readers and Responsibility," discusses literature, the Bible, and ideology, illustrating its points from Genesis 2-3. In addition, there are many brief examples within the chapters on method. On the surface, this work is a welcome addition to other basic books on the art of biblical narrative. The authors indeed express their debt to Alter, Bar-Efrat, Berlin, and Sternberg, and their indebtedness is evident throughout. Guon and Fewell rightly see the original contribution of their work in the helpful didactic arrangement described above. However, they Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 142 Reviews introduce another element which imposes itself on the structure and upsets the balance. Denying the possibility of objective interpretation, the authors raise the banner of reader-oriented subjective interpretation, political criticism, feminist criticism, and deconstructionism. "Meaning is not something out there in the text waiting to be discovered. Meaning is always...the reader's creation..." (p. xi). "We claim to be supporting a significantly new way of reading narrative in the Hebrew Bible" (p. 32). The notion that all interpretation is value-laden and ideologically motivated is fully developed only in the final chapter, but by that point it has already pervaded the entire book. Sometimes it colors a chapter on method; at other times it insinuates the interpretation of a story or its heroes. For example, the opening chapter on varieties of interpretation has little tolerance for classic historical criticism and its search for objective truth, personified here by "the Jewish American scholar" (p. 21) E. A. Speiser and his commentary on Genesis in the Anchor Bible series. When Speiser notes that the verb ydt ("And Adam knew," Gen 4:1) has clear sexual connotations in Semitic, the value of this philological comment and of his whole explication of Genesis 4 is summed up with derision: His interpretation is "more interesting for what it fails to say.... Still, we do learn that in Akkadian dogs 'have experience or other dogs" (p. 22). The chapter on Abraham and Sarah shows how ideological reading affects the interpretation of character. The following assembled quotations intend to convey the unrelenting tone of the entire piece: "Abram, with a mastery of understatement, is requesting that Sarai avail herself sexually to the male population of Egypt" (p. 92); Abraham "sacrifices his wife for his own physical and economic security.... Sarai is expendable" (ibid.). "Abram leaves [Egypt], blessed with wealth, but hardly having been a blessing to other families of the earth" (p. 93). In spuming the offer...