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Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 334 Reviews Mayer Gruber's edition of Rashi's commentary on Psabns is a masterful study that begins to answer the pressing need for editions and translations of medieval biblical exegetes. May it soon be followed by the concluding volume, and may other scholars follow Gruber's example in preparing editions and translations of other medieval Jewish and Christian biblical exegetes. Robert A. Harris Jewish Theological Seminary New York. NY 10027 roharris@jtsa.edu THE STRUCTURE OF PSALMS 93-100. By David M. Howard, Jr. Biblical and Judaic Studies 5. Pp. xvi + 231. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997. Cloth, $35.00. This book is a substantial revision of the author's doctoral dissertation written under David Noel Freedman in 1986. Howard includes among the changes a reflection of recent material on the book of Psalms, a closer look at synchronic analysis, and a clarification of the links betwe~n psabn pairs in the section under investigation. Howard himself delineates the contribution to Psabns research as two fold: "1) an extensive review of the literature ...and its elucidation of the shape of the psalms 93-100 corpus...and 2) its nature as a commentary of sorts on Psalms 93-100" (p. xii). The first two chapters lay the groundwork for the study itself with introductory material which is threefold in nature. First, Howard reviews the studies already done on context and structure of Psalms 93-100. The review of early material (prior to 1900) is concise and thorough. The bulk of Howard's remarks concern the work done in the 1970s and 1980s when such studies were surfacing in the literary mainstream as well. He pays particular attention to the contributions of Wilson (1985) and Goulder (1975) and uses them as a springboard to discuss the contributions of the 1990s where Brueggemann (1991), Mays (1992), and Miller (1994) figure prominently among others. The second part of the introduction and the final section of chapter one deal with Howard's own focus: the structure of Psalms 93-100 as a unified, coherent group of psalms. "I want to demonstrate that the present order [of 93-100] is intentional and significant and that YHWH's kingship is a central focus of all the psalms, not just those identified as 'kingship' psalms on modern form critical grounds" (p. 20). Chapter two deals with methodological considerations. Since Howard uses the analysis of lexical, thematic, generic, and structural links between Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 335 Reviews psalms to achieve his goals, such considerations include use of the MT, the tool of syllable counting, and the notion of synchronic analysis itself. Chapter three is devoted to the individual psalms and includes the Hebrew text in transliteration along with a syllable count, an English rendering with translation notes, and a discussion of fonn critical genre and structure. The pattern of the psalm analysis, makes the book user friendly in gathering material about individual psalms as well as the psalm corpus. After the analysis, Howard proceeds to discuss the individual psalms in context, moving forward through the corpus so that Psalm 93 is analyzed in relationship to the seven psalms which follow it and so forth. Howard pays great attention to the details of such a study, seeing links that may have been previously unrecognized and organizing them around three categories : key-word links, thematic connections, and structure/genre similarities . After presentation of each psalm, a brief summary of the psalm in context is given. Once again, the fonnat is useful for looking up individual psalms or psalm pairs as well as the corpus itself. The final chapter looks at the overall structure of Psalms 93-100 in its context in Book N of the Psalter as well as its relationship to Book m. Particular attention is paid to Psalms 90-92 as pivotal in the change of tone from the laments in the first three books of the Psalter and praise in the last two. In Howard's opinion, Psalms 93-100 present a "crescendo of praise" which set the stage for Psalms 101-106 and beyond. A brief conclusion ends chapter five and summarizes the main points of Howard's study. Howard achieves...

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