EACH YEAR The Ministry provides its readers with a brief review of the most recent books in the field of Biblical archeology, history, and geography. Last month we began a review of significant works published during 1973 and 1974. We continue with books dealing with specific geographical areas.
Jordan and Petra
The Archaeological Heritage of Jordan, Part 1: The Archaeological Periods and Sites, East Bank (Amman: Department of Antiquities, 1973; 113 pages, 11 fold-out maps, 20 figures, 17 plates) is a valuable introduction to the archeological periods and 420 sites of Trans-Jordan prepared by six scholars from the Department of Antiquities in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. It would be the starting point for anyone interested in the archeology of Jordan's East Bank.
The East Bank's most famous site, Petra, has inspired three new books. The most beautiful is Lain Browning, Petra (Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1973; 256 pages, 200 photographs many in color, maps, and drawings). Depending on the best sources, this book tells the story of Petra and its peoples well, giving a clear account of its monuments, excavations, and scenic splendors.
A similar book, in German, is Manfred Lindner (editor), Petra und das Konigreich der Nabataer (Munich: Delp, 1974; 224 pages, numerous photographs including many in color). It has the advantages of a cooperative endeavor: eight specialists discuss various aspects of the "rose red city" and its inhabitants.
A book that concentrates on the history of the people whose capital was Petra is John I. Lawlor, The Nabataeans in Historical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974; 159 pages, 46 photographs and maps). The latest in the Baker Studies in Biblical Archaeology, it is a careful treatment of the Nabataeans from the sixth century B.C. through the first century A.D.
Egypt
A number of books on Egypt spanning most of its history are of interest to students of the Bible: Kurt Mendelssohn, The Riddle of the Pyramids (New York: Praeger, 1974; 224 pages, 85 photographs a fifth in color, 38 figures, maps, plans) deals with man's oldest monuments. Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten and Nefertiti (New York: The Viking Press, 1973; 231 pages, 230 photographs 9 in color, 2 plans) deals with the period and personalities of Egypt's great reform movement. I. E. S. Edwards, The Treasures of Tutankhamun (New York: Viking Press, 1973; 50 pages, 163 photographs 23 in color, 6 drawings and plans) deals with Egyptology's richest find.
James E. Harris and Kent R. Weeks, X-Raying the Pharaohs (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973; 195 pages, 55 photographs 11 in color) is jointly written by a medical scientist and an Egyptologist who are engaged in extensive study of the unique collection of royal mummies in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The mummies X-rayed come from the period 1500- 1000 B.C. and therefore include the candidates for the Pharaoh of the Exodus. In a fascinating text, the au thors discuss the Pharaohs' diseases, their biologic relationship, and the process of mummification, with some startling implications for Egyptology.
Also of great interest to Bible students is Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100- 650 B.C.) (Warminster, England: Aris and Phillips, 1973; 525 pages, 10 maps and plans). In addition to reconstructing the basic chronology and historical outline of the twenty-first to twenty-fifth dynasties, the author, a recognized Egyptologist and English evangelical, relates it to the entire length of the Israelite monarchy. Of particular interest is his rejection of the two-campaign theory during the reign of Hezekiah and his identification of "So king of Egypt" (2 Kings 17:4) with Osorkon IV, the Bubastite Pharaoh who ruled northeastern Egypt in the time of Hoshea.
Surrounding Civilizations and Religions
Of the many books dealing with peripheral regions from the Bible's point of view, those of greatest interest include: Wilson E. Strand, Voices of Stone: The History of Ancient Cyprus (Nicosia: Zavallis Press, 1974; 166 pages, 85 photographs, 2 maps). Jacquetta Hawkes, The First Great Civilizations: Life in Mesopotamia, The Indus Valley, and Egypt (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973; 465 pages, 50 photographs, 50 drawings, 12 maps, plans, and charts). C. Wade Meade, Road to Babylon: Development of U.S. Assyriology (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974; 186 pages, 1 fold-out map).
To put Israel's faith in the context of her heathen neighbors the following books are of value: Helmer Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1973; 198 pages) discusses Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian, and West Semitic religions in particular, emphasizing the elements that are of special interest to the Old Testament. Its primary lack is made up by Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1973; 379 pages), which also has a good bibliography.
Important Revised Works
Denis Baly, The Geography of the Bible (New York: Harper and Row, 1974, 288 pages, numerous photographs) is a revised edition of the best English book on the subject. The volume first appeared in 1957.
Herbert G. May (editor), Oxford Bible Atlas (London: Oxford University Press, 1974; 144 pages, 26 maps in color, numerous photographs) is an extensive revision and bringing up to date of a popular Biblical atlas with a useful gazetteer that includes notes on Biblical, historical, and archeological data.
J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archaeology (Exeter: Pasternoster Press, 1973; 474 pages, 14 maps and charts, numerous illustrations) is a revised edition of the original very useful introduction to the subject, treated period by period, originally published in 1962. Unfortunately, the bibliography was not updated.
William F. Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible (Cambridge, Massachusetts: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1974; 250 pages) is reprinted from the long out-of-print third edition (1935) of the author's Richards Lectures delivered at the University of Virginia in 1931. As the first nontechnical book published by the greatest American Biblical archeologist, it is far from outdated, even though unrevised. It contains a fine history of Palestinian archeology (concentrating on method rather than results), the first and only popular account of his excavation at Tell Beit Mirsim (the archeological type site for the country), and his first written attack from an archeological point of view on the prevailing critical views of Old Testament scholarship (he abhored inner literary and historical reconstructions without the controls of external data).
Scholarly Reference Works
As has been mentioned in a previous review, the prestigious Cambridge Ancient History is in the process of a thorough revision (the third edition). Volume II, Part I is the latest to appear. I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, and E. Sollberger (editors), History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region c. 1800-1380 B.C. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973; 868 pages, 23 figures, 11 maps, and tables) will remain the standard treatment of the historical period from Joseph to Moses for some time to come. Its full bibliography and indices add to its usefulness.
Another scholarly tool is Giorgio Buccallati (editor), Approaches to the Study of the Ancient Near East: A Volume of Studies Offered to Ignace Jay Gelb on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, October 14, 1972 (Rome: Biblical Institute, 1973; 227 pages, 2 plates). This collection of 27 essays is grouped under the following headings: writing and paleography; linguistics and literature; archeology, history, and religion; philology. It concludes with Gelb's bibliography.
Two students of William Foxwell Albright have produced significant collections of scholarly essays: George E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation: the Origins of the Biblical Tradition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973; 248 pages, 21 photographs) is a creative attempt to synthesize our Biblical, archeological, and historical knowledge of Israelite origins, though it has to be used with caution. His essay on the "vengeance of Yahweh" is an illuminating study of an often-misunderstood word.
The other collection is an attempt at a new synthesis of the religion of Israel by Albright's most brilliant student, now the president of the American Schools of Oriental Research: Frank Moore Cross, Jr., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1973; 376 pages). These 12 essays some of them revisions of previously published articles concentrate on origins, though the monarchical and post-exilic periods are also dealt with. They are innovative and original and have important implications for the extremes of literary and form criticism, even though obviously from the "liberal" point of view.
Paperbacks
This review would not be complete without referring to three popular books that have now appeared in paperback for the first time. Wilbur M. Smith, Egypt in Biblical Prophecy (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973; 259 pages) was first published in 1957 by an evangelical authority on Biblical prophecy who treats the subject thoroughly and in a balanced way, though obviously Seventh-day Adventists will differ with certain literalistic applications.
C. W. Ceram, The Secret of the Hittites: The Discovery of an Ancient Empire (New York: Schocken Books, 1973; 291 pages, 64 line drawings, 18 photographs) was first published in 1955. It deals with a people of whom just over a century ago nothing but a name was known. Combining authoritative content and good writing, the author unfolds the history of this "resurrected" people, beginning in the second millennium B.C. It has an excellent bibliography.
C. W. Ceram (editor), Hands on the Past: Pioneer Archaeologists Tell Their Own Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 1973; 434 pages, 31 illustrations) was first published in 1966 and contains more than 75 passages each recounting one of the world's major archeological discoveries in the words of the discoverer him/herself.
So one can see that even in the area of Biblical archeology, "of making many books there is no end," but here's hoping that enough has been said about the 1973/1974 offerings to save you some "weariness of the flesh" in your study of them!
