Books in Brief

012

Biblical Archaeology Today

(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1985) 534 pp., $30.00

This is a magnificent volume! It is beautifully conceived and beautifully produced.

The text consists of the papers, comments and verbatim extemporaneous discussions presented at the International Congress on Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem held in April 1984, which featured leading scholars from all over the world. Under the auspices of the Biblical Archaeology Society, over 70 BAR readers attended these scholarly meetings. Although they were laypeople rather than professional scholars, they were stimulated, excited and inspired by what they heard. Readers of this book will be as well.

Most of the papers are 10 or 12 pages long, so it is easy to dip in here and there as fancy dictates. After each session of four or five papers, a series of short responses, comments and questions are presented by as many as seven other scholars. Then the floor is opened to general discussion for about five pages. All this makes for lively reading.

The Congress was divided into eight sections and so is the book. The first is devoted to an overview of Biblical archaeology. Frank Cross speaks on the Biblical aspect, Benjamin Mazar on the historical aspect and Yigael Yadin on the archaeological aspect. (Yadin died a few months after delivering this lecture, so it may well be his last statement on the subject; the book is dedicated to his memory.)

The second section is devoted to the relationship between archaeology, history and the Bible, using the Israelite settlement in Canaan as a case study. The subject is approached from the viewpoint of sociology (Norman Gottwald), history (Siegfried Hermann), archaeological surveys (Moshe Kochavi) and archaeological excavations (Amihai Mazar).

Other sections are devoted to stratigraphy, chronology and terminology; Israel’s neighbors—the Philistines, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites; cuneiform archives found at Mari, Ugarit and Amarna; Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions; the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Jerusalem.

In addition, a special session on the Sumerians and their literature was held at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, at which Thorkild Jacobsen and Samuel Noah Kramer spoke. This too is transcribed here. The proceedings of a special final session that included presentations by Cyrus Gordon and Ephraim Urbach are also included in the book.

The concept of the congress originated in part as a response to the criticism and denigration of Biblical archaeology by some American archaeologists who prefer the designation Syro-Palestinian archaeology to Biblical archaeology.^a But even the leader of this movement, William Dever, spoke at the Jerusalem congress—not on this subject, to be 014sure. But it may be noted that of late he has moderated his rhetoric and he has even been heard to refer approvingly of “the new Biblical archaeology.”

On the other hand, in an impromptu presentation at the congress, James Sauer, president of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), expressed his “relief” that the “Congress focused on the post-thirteenth century B.C.E. [rather than on earlier centuries, which would include the patriarchal period, Israel in Egypt and the Exodus] in agreement with my own views that the chronological heart of biblical history falls after that date.” Sauer added that “it has hardly been mentioned at this congress that this post-thirteenth century B.C.E. emphasis constitutes a significant departure from the older Albright-Wright-Bright reconstruction of Israelite history and religion.” While it is true that these giants of a past and passing generation found few, if any, valid direct links between archaeology and Israelite history as recounted in the Bible for these earlier periods, it seems to me foolish to stop asking questions, to stop searching, to stop seeking to find out whether archaeology has light to shed on Israel of the pre-settlement periods. Direct links we may or may not ever find. But archaeology has much to teach us about the world out of which Israel emerged. And there is much more to learn. The post-13th-century period should not be the exclusive focus of Biblical archaeologists.

The Biblical Archaeology Congress proved so successful that by its end, the organizers were referring to it as “The First International Congress on Biblical Archaeology,” already anticipating the next one. It would certainly be appropriate at the next international congress to focus on what archaeology has to tell us about the patriarchal period, Israel in Egypt or the Exodus. For one thing, archaeology definitely teaches us how difficult and how complicated historical questions relating to these periods are. But it is much too early—and unscholarly—to conclude that archaeology has no relevance to these earlier periods.

I cannot close without remarking on the beautiful cover design on this handsome book, which features a juglet incised with ancient Hebrew letters; within the juglet is a picture of an excavation, the antique walls emerging from the earth. All in all, this book is a very worthwhile investment.

Plants of the Bible

Michael Zohary

(Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982) 223 pp., 200 color photos, 5 color maps, $16.95

Medicinal Plants of the Bible

James A. Duke

(Buffalo: Trado-Medic Books, 1983), 240 pp., 142 line drawings, $49.95

Although each of these books was published independently, and by merit each can stand on its own, they complement each other and can be used as companions. Both are handsome volumes with beautiful illustrations.

The eminent botanist Michael Zohary of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was motivated to write Plants of the Bible “by the need for a new scrutiny of the relations between Biblical man and his natural environment and for a revision of many accepted ‘truths’ in the naming and identification of the plants of the Bible” (p. 9). Zohary has spent a lifetime amidst the flora of the Holy Land, a privilege not shared by other botanists and linguists who have written on the subject.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One, “Biblical Man and His Environment,” deals with the Biblical setting in nine chapters, each devoted to a specific topic, such as the problem of identifying Biblical plants; the topography of the land; different types of soil; climate and seasons; plants in religion, worship and lore; and more. Part Two, “All the Plants in the Bible,” presents 130 plants in 016nine categories: fruit trees; field crops and garden plants; wild herbs; forest trees and shrubs; plants by rivers and marshes; plants of the wilderness; thorns and thistles; flowers of the field; drugs and spices, incense and perfume.

With very few exceptions, each entry is introduced by the appropriate Biblical reference followed by a discussion of the plant, its natural habitat, identification and, where needed, a discussion of other possible identifications. Biblical references include Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Each entry offers one or more color photographs, which help the reader recognize the plant and its environment. While there might be an argument here and there concerning the correspondence of a certain plant identification with its Biblical counterpart, there is no question that this book is the best yet produced on the subject.

For the uninitiated, the book includes a glossary of botanical terminology and an ample bibliography. Every Bible student should 018own this book and make reference to it as often as possible because this is one way of becoming acquainted with the Biblical world without actually living there.

Medicinal Plants of the Bible is really a misnomer for this book. The author, James A. Duke of the Economic Botany Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, states that his book “discusses those species of plants mentioned in the Bible, which are mentioned, rarely there, but more frequently elsewhere, as medicinal species” (p. 4). Simply stated, the book contains descriptions of all the plants the author assumes are mentioned in the Bible “for which [he] uncovered folk medicinal uses” (p. 5). The reader should be careful not to attribute medicinal properties in Biblical times to all the plants listed by Duke simply because the author discovered that somewhere, sometime, something medicinal was done with these plants.

The 142 entries are alphabetically arranged by the scientific name, something which I find problematic, since not many of those interested in Biblical studies are familiar with these designations. Listing the entries by their scientific names forces the reader to look up certain entries first by consulting the “Index to Biblical and Common Names” (pp. 231–233). Several of the identifications of Biblical plants are questionable, since they 019were made not on the basis of the Hebrew terms but by relying on inaccurate English translations, such as sugarcane (p. 141), hyacinth (p. 75) and more.

However, each entry is detailed and cites the Biblical verse in which the plant is mentioned, followed by a description of the plant, its nonmedicinal uses in antiquity and in the present. The medicinal properties and uses follow and at times are exhaustively detailed. Again, the reader should be reminded to note the author’s sources; not every malady or treatment the author lists can or should be attributed to Biblical times or even places, since the author’s lists of illnesses and cures are compiled from different parts of the world. One more complaint concerns the bibliography; because it is not arranged alphabetically, it is hard to follow.

Very helpful are the “Glossary and Index of Medical Terms” and “Medical Suffixes and Prefixes.” The illustrations are quite good, although many are reproductions of illustrations in other books.

Since Duke’s book focuses on medicinal uses of plants in the Bible and Zohary’s does not, the two books complement each other, and the serious student of Biblical flora should use them side by side.

Biblical Archaeology Today

(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1985) 534 pp., $30.00