Hasel, Michael G.

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Andrews University

Botterweck, G. Johannes, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, eds. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 7. Trans. David E. Green. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995. xxv + 552 pp. $39.99. The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament is widely recognized for its penetrating and authoritative articles on key Hebrew and Aramaic words of the Old Testament. Volume 7, the revised English translation of TWAT (Bd. 4: Lieferung 1-5; 1982-84), contains seventy-five individual articles ranging from ke to lys by forty-three carefully selected authors of international background and reputation in the fields of OT studies and ancient Near Eastern languages. Each article seeks to establish the etymology of a word and the number of its occurrences before beginning a detailed study of the semantic and linguistic relationships of each keyword with larger groups of words within the Hebrew language. Etymologies are generally derived from an extensive contextual study of ancient Near Eastern languages, including Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Ugaritic, and Northwest Semitic, while occurrences are also surveyed in the Qumran texts and the Septuagint. The entries contain extensive bibliographical information, makmg this volume an outstandmg reference tool for further research. The constraints of this review allow for only limited comments on article content. The article by S. Wagner on the root kbs "to subdue" is well documented and thorough in describing its usage and context within the OT. The term is found as a verb 9 times and as a noun 5 times, both as kebes, "footstool" and kibsan, "furnace." As a verb it often refers to subduing various lands or territories militarily. Since no overview is provided for the etymology of this term one might suggest certain parallels. In Egyptian, the term k3bs could also be understood as "footstool" (E. A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, vol. 2 [New York: Dover, 19781,786b; Leonard H. Lesko, ed., A Dictionary of Late Egyptian, vol. 4 [Providence: B.C. Scribe Publication, 19891, 38). This might provide an important etymological connection outside a more obvious Semitic Sprachraum. Wagner's observations that "The land is subdued 'before' someone (i.e. 'in the presence of'; some exegetes prefer 'for, on behalf of'), so that those who subdue it can enter and take possession of it" (53) would be in harmony with Egyptian usages which describes the Egyptian king subduing his enemies. A more extensive article on the term kipper, "cover, forgive, atone," (288-303) comprises an excellent lscussion on the contextual usage of this term in the OT. B. Lang introduces and describes several different lines of interpretation @odd, Milgrom, Janowslu, and Schenker) on the use of this term based on certain passages and then goes on to describe the contexts and usage of kipper in terms of interpersonal reconciliation, cultic atonement, and divine atonement. The use of the term denotes both God's initiative toward man and man's initiative towards God in the act of malung atonement. A publication which might have been included in this entry is N. Kiuchi, The Purtfication Offering in the Priestly Literature, JSOT Supplement Series, no. 56 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1987). In his article on k'na an, "Canaan" (211-228), H.-J. Zobel provides a concise yet complete summary of the debate surrounding the etymology of the term. He outlines four major positions that have been taken: (1) Canaan is a non-Semitic loanword (Hornrnel, Peiser, Landersdorfer, Herzfeld, StZhelin, Alt); (2) Canaan is a Semitic name (Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Redslob, B. Mazar, Abel, Astour, Moscati); (3) Canaan is associated with "purple" (Albright, Gray, Noth, Kenyon, Malamat, Aharoni); and (4) Canaan is used to describe merchants and trade based on the usage of kin,nw in the texts of Ramses 11 (Mazar) or conversely that merchants received their name from the land designated as Canaan (de Vaux, Moscati). Zobel sees the last two positions as related and suggests the identification as "the land of the purple-merchants" (215). Zobel is less than complete in his description of Egyptian occurrences of the word Canaan. He cites as the earliest occurrence of the term the texts of Seti I. However, Gorg has shown (Biblische Notizien 18 [1982]: 26-27) that the occurrence of the designation kn' n appears as early as the Memphis and Karnak stelae of Amenhotep I1 as well as the Soleb toponym lists of Amenhotep III. One might take issue that Zobel (with Helck, Die Beziehungen &yptens zur Vorderasien irn 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. 2nd ed., AA 5 [Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 19711 ) interprets the geographical boundaries of Canaan during the Amarna period (14th century B.c.) as consisting of the southernmost province of three Egyptian divisions. Other proposals not discussed include a division into two (N. Na'aman, The Political Disposition and Historical Development of Eretz-Israel According to the Amarna Letters, Ph.D. diss. [Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 19731, Hebrew) or four provinces (D. B. Redford, Akhenuten: The Heretic King [Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1984],26). Moreover, the recent volume on the origin of the term Canaan and its inhabitants published by N. P. Lemche (The Canaanites and Their Land: The Tradition ofthe Canaanites, JSOT Supplement Series, no. 110 [Sheffield: JSOT, 19913 might have been included in the discussion. Lemche's controversial thesis, that there is no apparent connection between Canaan and Canaanites in second- millennium documents and their cognates in the Bible, has generated major debate (N. Na'aman, UF 26 [1994]: 397-418; A. Rainey, BASOR 304 [1996]: 1-15). It seems sound to agree with Na'aman (1994: 407) that "the Mari tablets make it clear that Canaan was already a well-known entity in the mid-18th century BCE." Despite these minor shortcomings, which primarily indicate little revision since the 1982-84 publication in German, this volume is a welcome addition to TDOT and will be an invaluable addition to the lexicography of the OT and ancient Israel. Its strength is in its brief but well-documented overviews of linguistic connections with other ancient Near Eastern languages, its etymological studies, and the cGscussions of the terms and cognates within the Hebrew language. These attributes make it an indispensable tool for any serious student of the OT and ancient Near Eastern literatures. 30574 Cantabarry Dr. #19/201 Roseville, MI 48066 Cowing, Cedric B. The Saving Remnant: Religion and the Settling of New England. Urbana and Chicago: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1995. 351 pp. Cloth, $39.95; Paper, $19.95. Professor of history at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Cedric Cowing has exhibited wide-ranging scholarship as the author of Populists, Plungers, and Progressives and 7&e Great Awakening and the American Revolution, as well as 

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament: Vol. 7 [review] / edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren; translated by John T. Willis.

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Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament: Vol. 7 [review] / edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren; translated by John T. Willis.

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