First Glance

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The shortest book in the Old Testament, the Song of Songs is also one of the most fascinating, controversial, and closely studied. In “Unlocking the Poetry of Love in the Song of Songs,” Jack M. Sasson compares translations of this small book by a literalist and by a poet. As he weighs the value of various translations, Sasson gives credence to Rabbi Akiva’s assertion that “all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holiest.”

Sasson was born in Aleppo, Syria, spent his childhood in Lebanon, and has lived in the United States since he was a teenager. He is now Professor of Religion at both the University of North Carolina and Duke University. In addition to writing many books and articles, he edits the Journal of the American Oriental Society. In 1984, Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) Publication Awards were given to two articles from this journal, the only journal so honored. Sasson has excavated at Tel Aphek, where the Philistines mustered for battle with the Israelites (1 Samuel 4, 29), and at Tel Arad, a city claimed by Joshua as one of his many conquests (Joshua 12:14).

One of the most famous passages in the Song of Songs refers to a seal: “Let me be a seal upon your heart, Like the seal upon your hand.” In the ancient Near East, seals and the impressions they made in wet clay played an important role in every culture. In “As the Seal Upon Thy Heart,” William W. Hallo demonstrates that these tiny, inscribed, flat and cylindrical carved stones served many functions—practical and symbolic, legal and decorative, benign and dangerous. As a result of his analysis, Hallo is able to shed new light on a number of perplexing biblical passages.

Born in Germany, Hallo grew up in New York City. He returned to Europe after World War 2 for graduate studies at Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, Netherlands. Hallo is Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and Curator of the Babylonian Collection of Yale University, and is a member of Bible Review’s Editorial Advisory Board.

Although the Song of Songs is the shortest biblical book, it contains more hapax legomena—words that occur in the Bible only once—than does any other book. The study of hapax legomena has intrigued scholars and lay students alike since the Middle Ages. In “Words That Occur in the Bible Only Once—How Hard Are They to Translate?” Frederick E. Greenspahn reviews the relative importance of using ancient translations, similar sounding Hebrew words, and cognates in related languages to solve the riddles posed by the, hundreds of words in the Hebrew Bible that occur only once.

Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Denver, Greenspahn is the author of Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew (Scholars Press, 1984) and the editor of Scripture in the Jewish and Christian Traditions: Authority, Interpretation, Relevance (Abingdon, 1982). Greenspahn recently organized the annual local Interfaith Conference in Denver.

In “Different Ways of Looking at the Birth of Jesus,” Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis considers selection of events, revelation of character by what people say and how they say it, and narrative viewpoint to reveal the different narrative strategies Matthew and Luke use.

Vice-President of Indiana University and 0051984 General Chairman of his county’s United Way Drive, Gros Louis puts abundant energy into both his academic and community responsibilities. Professor of English and of Comparative Literature, he is also editor of Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives (Abingdon, 1974).

The name Gros Louis came to Canada from France, perhaps hundreds of years ago. Originally, it was the name of a character like Falstaff in French street plays; it might be translated into English as Big Louie. In Canada, the name was given to an Indian family or perhaps to a tribe. “My grandfather was a Huron Indian who came to the United States, when he was a teenager,” Gros Louis relates. “A cousin is now Chief of the Hurons and spokesperson for all Indian nations in Canada.” Gros Louis plays bridge and tennis, and his daughters Amy and Julie are competitive swimmers.

In “What the Ass and the Ox Know But the Scholars Don’t,” Bible scholar David Noel Freedman offers our charter readers a canny new interpretation of Isaiah 1:3. Freedman uses parallelism, Hebrew syntax and common sense to illuminate this brief but problematic passage.

Originally co-editor with William Foxwell Albright of the Anchor Bible Series, Freedman has served as general editor of the series since 1972. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Freedman is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Michigan and a member of Bible Review’s Editorial Advisory Board.

In the inaugural “Bible Books” department, Tikva Frymer-Kensky reviews Phyllis Trible’s Texts of Terror, a feminist reinterpretation of four misogynous stories of women in the Bible. Frymer-Kensky is Visiting Associate Professor in the Program on Studies in Religion of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Also reviewed in this issue is the magnificent limited edition of the Kennicott Bible. This handbound volume is a facsimile of a lavishly illuminated Bible copied in La Coruña, Spain, in 1476

Editor Hershel Shanks introduces Bible Review in Perspective, giving his views about what this new magazine is and is not.

The shortest book in the Old Testament, the Song of Songs is also one of the most fascinating, controversial, and closely studied. In “Unlocking the Poetry of Love in the Song of Songs,” Jack M. Sasson compares translations of this small book by a literalist and by a poet. As he weighs the value of various translations, Sasson gives credence to Rabbi Akiva’s assertion that “all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holiest.”