Hebrew Bible and Ancient Versions : Selected Essays of Robert P. Gordon (Paperback)

Contents: Preface; Introduction. I Hebrew Bible: The Narrative Tradition: David's rise and Saul's demise: narrative analogy in 1 Samuel 24-26; Simplicity of the highest cunning: narrative art in the Old Testament; Word-play and verse-order in 1 Samuel xxiv 5-8; Covenant and apology in 2 Samuel 3; Compositeness, conflation and the Pentateuch; Who made the Kingmaker? Reflections on Samuel and the institution of the monarchy; A house divided: wisdom in Old Testament narrative traditions; Gibeonite ruse and Israelite curse in Joshua 9. Prophecy from East to West: A story of two paradigm shifts; From Mari to Moses: prophecy at Mari and in ancient Israel; Where have all the prophets gone? The 'disappearing Israelite prophet against the background of ancient near eastern prophecy; Present trends and future directions. Across, Behind and Beyond the Text: The ideological foe: the Philistines in the Old Testament; A warranted version of historical biblical criticism?: a response to Alvin Plantinga; 'Comparativism' and the God of Israel; Better promises: two passages in Hebrew against the background of the Old Testament cultus. II Ancient Version: The Text and the Versions: The second Septuagint account of Jeroboam: history or midrash?; Source study in 1 Kings XII 24a-n; The variable wisdom of Abel: the MT and versions at 2 Samuel xx 18-19; The Syriac Old Testament: provenance, perspective and translation technique; 'Converse translation' in the Targums and beyond; The legacy of Lowth: Robert Lowth and the book of Isaiah in particular. The Targums, Chiefly to the Prophets: Alexander Sperber and the study of the Targums; The Targumists as Eschatologists; Terra Sancta and the territorial doctrine of the Targum to the prophets; Dialogue and disputation in the Targum to the prophets; The Ephraimite Messiah and the Targums(s) to Zechariah 12.10. Indexes.