CONTENTS Nili Wazana: Preface List of Abbreviations Jeffrey H. Tigay: Professor Moshe Greenberg ז"ל Mordechai Cogan: Professor Moshe Greenberg ז"ל Jonathan Ben-Dov: Professor Shemaryahu Talmon ז"ל Michael Sigal: Professor Shemaryahu Talmon ז"ל Baruch J. Schwartz: Professor Jacob Milgrom ז"ל Biblical Studies Rimon Kasher: Walking in the Way of God in the Hebrew Bible Micha Roi: The Story of Elijah’s Flight (1 Kings 19): A Comparative Study on the Pattern of ̒Departure Stories’ in the Bible The Bible in Relation to the Ancient Near East Nili Samet: Sumerian City Laments and the Book of Lamentations: Toward a Comparative Theological Study Yigal Bloch: Sěgullâ – A Re-examination of the Meaning of the Term Based on Two Assyrian Documents from the Thirteenth Century B.C.E. Yoel Elitzur: Qīr of the Aramaean: A New Approach Amitai Baruchi-Unna: Genres Meet: Esarhaddon’s Prayer in the Inscription AsBbA and Akkadian Prayers from the ̒Washing the Mouth’ Ritual History of Exegesis Yaakov Raphael Garzon: Sharp Anti-Christian Polemics in Rashi’s Commentaries to Genesis 1:1 Aharon Mondschein: Studies in the Rhymed Opening Verses of R. Abraham ibn Ezra in his Long Commentary on the Book of Exodus Carmiel Cohen: ‘This will put the mind more at ease’: Gersonides’ Alternative for Talmudic Hermeneutics in his Commentary on the Torah Aharon Ofir Shemesh: Henry Baker Tristram, Scholar of Nature in the Bible: His Methods for Identifying Plants and Animals and his Commentary Book Reviews Naphtali Meshel: (The Biblical Encyclopaedia Library), Jerusalem 2009 (in Hebrew)> Yoram Cohen: Inscriptions. History, Historiography and Ideology. A conference in Honour of Hayim Tadmor on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 20 November 2003, Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2009 (in Hebrew)> Rimon Kasher: , The Early History of the Babylonian Exile (8th–6th Centuries B.C.E.), Haifa: Pardes Publishing House, 2010 (in Hebrew)> Dvora Dimant: at Qumran in their Ancient Context (STDJ 78), Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2008> Books Received (compiled by Yaakov Dolgopolsky) List of Contributors English Abstracts

This volume consists of a critical edition, English translation, and extensive introductory discussion of the Judaeo-Arabic commentaries on Ruth and Esther from the exegetical digest ( Kitāb al-bayān) of Tan ḥ um ben Joseph ha-Yerushalmi (d. 1291 CE), the last known exegete of the “rationalistic” school who wrote in Judaeo-Arabic. Although past scholarship has tended to regard Tan ḥ um’s exegetical contribution as little more than that of a compiler-abridger, our own assessment, as explored in the introduction, is that his role was in fact much more significant. Not only does he display the critical acumen and intellectual independence of a true exegete in his own right, but he also appears to have assimilated—and hence (like Abraham ibn Ezra) mediated into the continuum of Rabbanite exegesis—certain elements of Karaite exegesis, most notably, as developed by the tenth-century Karaite littérateur Yefet ben ‘ Eli, the role of the mudawwin in the composition and transmission of the biblical text.

Epigraphy deals with ancient inscriptions and manuscripts revealed by archaeology; it is an auxiliary study to that of history. It studies the texts, languages and scripts from diachronic and synchronic points of view, and thus yields additional data on the cultural background of the people who produced the written sources. This book contains a selection of articles by the author on West-Semitic scripts and inscriptions published during almost forty years. Joseph Naveh is professor emeritus of Ancient West Semitic Epigraphy and Palaeography at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

CONTENTS Sara Japhet-Preface Nili Wazana-Professor Moshe Weinfeld Moshe Bar-Asher-Professor Moshe Weinfeld Biblical Studies Tova Ganzel-The Status of Functionaries in the Future Temple of Ezekiel Jacob Milgrom-The Unique Features of Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezekiel 40–48) Noam Mizrahi-Linguistic Analysis and Textual Criticism:The Syntax of Obadiah 19–20 in the Masoretic Text and the Ancient Versions Amos Frisch-The Concept of Kingship in Psalms Yael Shemesh-I find woman more bitter than death’ (Ecclesiastes 7:26): Is there Misogyny in the Bible? The Bible in Relation to the Ancient Near East Shawn-Zelig Aster-What Sennacherib Said, and What the Prophet Heard: On the Use of Assyrian Sources in the Prophetic Narrative of the Campaign of 701 BCE Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocryphal Literature Vered Noam-'You Shall Pass Through Fire’ (Numbers 31:23) – An Early Exegetic Tradition Michal Bar-Asher Siegal-The Problem of Evil in the Syriac Translation of the Book of Ben Sira: the Differences between the Hebrew and the Syriac Texts Reconsidered History of Exegesis Yeshayahu Maori-‘Aggadot Hallukot’ in Rashi’s Commentary on Scripture Gila Prebor-The Use of Midrash in Rashi’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes Sara Japhet-Rashbam’s Introduction to his Commentary on Lamentations Aharon Mondschein-‘The Masoretes fabricated explanations for full and deficient spellings’: On Abraham ibn Ezra’s Struggle against the(Ab)use of Biblical Spelling as an Exegetical Tool Book Reviews Eran Viezel-On: Joseph Cohen, Uriel Simon (eds.), R. Abraham IbnEzra: Yesod Mora Ve-Sod Torah – The Foundation of Reverence and the Secret of the Torah, an annotated critical edition, second revised and enlarged version (Sources and Studies, XI, The Institute for Jewish Bible Interpretation, Bar-Ilan University), Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2007, 272 pp. (in Hebrew) Ronie Goldstein-On: Mariano Gómez Aranda, El comentario de Abraham Ibn Ezra al libro de Job: Edición crítica, traducción y estudio introductorio (Serie A: Literatura Hispanohebrea, 6) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Filología, Madrid 2004, cxl, 342, 94 pp.; Mariano Gómez Aranda, Dos Comentarios de Abraham Ibn Ezra Al Libro de Ester: Edición crítica, traducción y estudio introductorio (Serie A: Literatura Hispanohebrea, 9) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Filología, Madrid 2007, cxxviii, 193, 70 pp. 339

SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

The twenty-five new studies in this volume present the reader with an up-to-date picture of some of the issues and the methodologies that engage scholars of the Ancient Near East. These essays reflect the broad span of the field, both geographically and chronologically, from Sumerian texts of the third millennium BCE, to the town of Nuzi in Iraqi Kurdistan in the mid-second millennium, from there to inquiries into Assyrian and Babylonian documents and inscriptions, as well as into recently recovered Aramaic ostraca from Idumea in southern Israel dating to the fourth century BCE. Rounding off this varied and rich collection are several investigations concerning Ancient Israel and biblical matters. Specialists from Israel, Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan have joined together in this volume to honor Israel Eph'al, professor emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose many scholarly achievements are hereby noted.

SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

For contents please press Sample pages on the right of the cover photo. SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

More than fifty years ago the discovery of scrolls in eleven caves beside the Dead Sea ignited the imagination of the world. Expectations abounded that the scrolls would reveal actual contemporaneous accounts of the birth of Christianity, perhaps even of the life of Jesus. The research that followed—its inner logic, and what its impassioned highly controversial theories reveal about the framing of facts and the interpreting of texts—is what interests philosopher Edna Ullmann-Margalit in this thoroughly absorbing book. Since the inception of Dead Sea Scrolls research, a central theory has emerged. Known as the Qumran-Essene Hypothesis, it asserts that the scrolls belonged to the Essenes, a sect whose center was at the nearby site of Qumran. In Out of the Cave , Ullmann-Margalit focuses on this theory and the vicissitudes of its career. Looking at the Essene connection, the archaeology of Qumran, and the sectarian nature of the scrolls community, she explores the different arenas in which contesting theories of the scrolls do battle. In this context she finds fascinating examples of issues that exercise philosophers of science as well as the general public issues that only amplify the already intrinsic interest of the Dead Sea scrolls.

What was the balance of power in the battles of Judas Maccabaeus and in Israel's War of Independence? Were they, as is commonly assumed, wars of the few against the many? These questions were discussed in a conference organized by the School of History of the Hebrew University in December 1999. The participants were in general agreement that the discussion of the balance of power must not be confined to the number of troops and that other variables must be taken into account. Nevertheless the numbers of troops is important. Conflicting views were presented on the battles of Judas Maccabaues whereas on the number of troops in Israel's War of Independence there was general agreement. Published in this collection, for the first time, are a General Staff document from 1952 and a research paper by Yehosuha Ben Arie for the IDF History Branch from 1955. Both conclude that in the matter of the number of troops the War of Independence on the whole was not an instance of the few against the many. Other articles, based on lectures delivered at the conference include Bezalel Bar Kochva and Israel Shatzman on the battles of Judas Maccabaeus; Beni Morris and Amitzur Ilan on the balance of forces in the War of Independence, Eyal Nave and Mordechai Bar-On on the evolution of Israeli collective memory of the balance of power and on possible ways of representing the facts of the case in school books; Shmaryahu Ben-Pazi, Moshe Erenwald and Nimrod Hagiladi on three case studies: Safad, The Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, and Rechovot; and Joseph Heller's essay on the centrality of the 'few against many' theme in David Ben Gurion's thought which widens the scope of the discussion in the conference.