A graduate essay is very different from an undergraduate
paper. It should focus on an issue only as large as the writer
can master. To master an issue means to examine all the evi-
dence, to confirm or refute claims made by predecessors (no
longer "authorities"), to consider all the angles (including
logic or evidence opposed to your conclusion) and to make an
honest effort to read and respond to every prior scholarly treat-
ment. Be responsibly original (but since you are still a stu-
dent, you may be a little irresponsible), and do not hesi-
tate to disagree courteously with established scholars, including
your teachers. A negative conclusion is as important as a posi-
tive one, and the field is littered with speculations wanting
rebuttal. Always write with a view toward publication, but don't
let that goal inhibit you in the early stages, for perfectionism
has paralyzed many a scholar. No one covers all the bases;
everyone makes mistakes, including the stupid kind; no work is
ever finished, merely dropped.
Presumably you will be doing most of your research at the
VPL and CAJS* libraries. Whatever they lack may be obtained
through inter-library loan, but that can take weeks, so make your
requests early.
There is a fairly standard procedure which will enable you
to treat rigorously any subject to which you turn your attention.
The first steps in the analysis of a biblical passage
are establishing the original text by the tools of textual criti-
cism and determining the meaning of every word and phrase.
Logically, establishing the text precedes determining the meaning,
but in practice the two steps are interdependent: it is not always
practical to do an exhaustive search for the variants of every
word (in the future, HUB [see below] may make this more feasible),
so problems in determining the meaning of a particular passage in
the MT are often the first stimulus to searching for variant readings,
and decisions about the original reading depend in part on which
makes most sense.
1. For textual criticism, the standard critical edition of the
Bible is Biblia Hebraica (the best known editions are the Kittel
and Stuttgart editions, BHK and BHS respectively).
There are several guides to BHK and BHS: E. Würthwein,
The Text of the Old Testament (BS 1136 W813 1995); R.
Wonneberger, Understanding BHS (BS715 1990); and W. R.
Scott, A Simplified guide to BHS: critical apparatus,
masora, accents, unusual letters & other markings (CAJS
BS715 S36 1987). There is also a table of BHS's abbre-
viations in E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), pp. 376-377.
Biblia Hebraica is not really a reliable guide to variants,
but at best an early warning system. At worst it is misleading or
erroneous. See H.M. Orlinsky, "The Textual Criticism of the OT,"
in The Bible and the Ancient Near East, ed. G.E. Wright, pp.
140-169; E. Tov's review of BHS in Shnaton 4 (1980):172-180
(Hebrew); and F. Deist, Towards the Text of the Old Testament
(BS1136.D44 1981), excursus on "The Würtembergische Bibelanstalt
editions." For certainty, the actual manuscripts or ancient
translations (in critical editions when they exist) must be
checked, especially if citing a reading in a paper.
A far more thorough critical edition is The Hebrew
University Bible (HUB). It illustrates the complexity
of the discipline though, unfortunately, at present it exists
only for Isaiah (BS1515.2 .G63), Jeremiah (BS1525.2 .T68 1997),
and Ezekiel. The theoretical basis of HUB is
spelled out by M. H. Goshen-Gottstein, The Book of Isaiah --
Sample Edition with Introduction (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1965)
(BS1515.2 .G6 1965). The HUB Project also publishes the periodical
Textus (JANES: BS/410/T45/), which is dedicated to the
study of text-criticism and the primary sources on which it is
based.
There are two types of textual witnesses: those whose proto-
types antedate the canonization of the Hebrew consonantal text
(first century C.E.) and those from a later time. In the first
group we have the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Old Greek (OG; the term
"Septuagint" [LXX] properly refers only to the Torah; some books
of the OG may be later than the Hebrew canonization) and the
Samaritan Pentateuch (SP).
For an index to biblical texts at Qumran, see J. Fitzmyer,
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and Tools for
Study (BM 487Z F5 1977) and Eugene Ulrich, "An Index of
the Passages in the Biblical Manuscripts from the Judean
Desert (Genesis-Kings)," Dead Sea Discoveries 1
(1994):113-129.
The best editions of OG are those of A.E. Brooke and N.
McLean (the "Cambridge Septuagint") and J. Ziegler,
Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum (the
"Göttingen Septuagint") (both editions are in RS* and
CAJS*). Since we do not possess the original OG, you must
examine the variants in the MSS (often, unfortunately,
revised back to conform with the Hebrew) to ascertain the
original Greek reading. These two editions have ample
citations of variants; in a pinch, Rahlfs' Septuaginta,
an abridged edition based on the Göttingen edition, will do
(JANES*, BS41.R3 1935), as will Swete's The Old Testament in Greek
(JANES, BS 41 S8 1909). If you do not yet know Greek, you can
check the translation of Sir Lancelot C. Brenton, The Septuagint
version of the Old Testament. With an English Translation,
and with various readings and critical notes (JANES,
BS742 B74 1971), but the text is uncritical. (The English
translation alone, without the Greek, is found at
http://www.ccel.org/bible/brenton/). A new English
translation of the Septuagint, called, appropriately, The
New English Translation of the Septuagint" ("NETS") is now
complete. See http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/. Finally, there is
the multi-volume annotated edition in French, La Bible
d'Alexandrie. See http://septante.editionsducerf.fr/. A
list of the Penn library's holdings in this series can be
seen if you do a title search for "Bible. O.T. French. Bible
d'Alexandrie".
Valuable for using the OG are E. Hatch and H.A. Redpath,
A Concordance to the Septuagint (BS1122.H3 1954),
which gives all the Greek-Hebrew equivalences. T. Muraoka's
Hebrew/Aramaic Index to the Septuagint gives all the
equivalents in reverse, that is, it lists all the Hebrew and
Aramaic words in the Bible and then cites all their Greek
equivalents in LXX. This is very valuable for seeing the
various different ways a word is rendered in the LXX, and
whether the word used in a given passage is one used normally
or rarely. Muraoka's index is published in the new edition of
Hatch-Redpath and also appeared separately as a paperback
(both published by Baker Books, 1998). Note also the LXX
dictionaries A Greek-English Lexicon of the
Septuagint, by J. Lust et al (RS, PA781.L8 1992), and T.
Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint.
Twelve Prophets (Louvain: Peeters, 1993). See also
S.P. Brock et al., A classified bibliography of the
Septuagint (Leiden, Brill, 1973; VPL Z7772.A1 B7) and
Cecile Dogniez, Bibliography of the Septuagint =
Bibliographie de la Septante (1970-1993) (Supplements
to Vetus Testamentum, 60; Leiden: Brill, 1995; VPL BS410.V452
v.60). -- Keep in mind that the value of the OG is not
limited to textual criticism; it is also useful for its
exegetical value as an early commentary on the Bible,
sometimes preserving otherwise forgotten meanings of words,
and as evidence for the literary development of certain
Biblical books. Three useful works on these aspects of the OG
are K.H. Jobes and M. Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint
(Grand Rapids MI: Baker Academic, 2000) and Emanuel Tov's
Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, chap. 7, and The
Text-critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research,
chap. VIII.
The Samaritan Pentateuch is also based upon a prototype
antedating canonization. The critical edition, listing vari-
ants in different MSS, is that of A. von Gall (in JANES); a
very helpful edition, based on two old manuscripts and
laying out SP and MT in parallel columns with differences
highlighted, is A. and R. Sadaqa, Jewish and Samaritan
Version of the Pentateuch (Tel Aviv and Holon, 1961-
1965; JANES).
Post-canonization versions such as the Latin Vulgate, the
Aramaic Targumim or the Syriac Peshitta are less important for
textual criticism because they are generally based upon either
the traditional Hebrew or Greek texts and do not constitute
independent witnesses. It is not that they never reflect genuine
variants, but these are hard to find. There are translations to
assist in understanding these versions: the Douay translation of
the Vulgate; translations of the Targums by Etheridge, Drazin,
Aberbach and Grossfeld, and Diez-Macho, and especially the
multi-volume, annotated The Aramaic Bible, under the
editorship of Martin McNamara; and George Lamsa's trans-
lation of the Peshitta, The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern
Manuscripts (Philadelphia: Holman, 1933). Of course, there
are translations of the Bible into virtually every human lan-
guage, but in the establishment of the pristine text we decide,
not by plebiscite, but by reason applied to independent witness-
es.
On the other hand, if your interest is in the history of
interpretation, the ancient translations valuable and you must
consult them. Bear in mind that if you challenge a prevailing
view, you must account for its origin, and in such projects one
cannot ignore the history of the understanding of the Bible.
For more information on textual criticism see Tov's
Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible and his The Text-
critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research; S. Jelli-
coe, The Septuagint and Modern Study (BS 744 J44); R. W.
Klein, Textual Criticism of the Old Testament (BS 1136
K58) and Würthwein, The Text of the Old Testament (BS
1136 W 813 1919). See also M. Greenberg, "The Use of the Ancient
Versions for Interpreting the Hebrew Text: A Sampling from Ezeki-
el 2:1-3:11," in his Studies in the Bible and Jewish
Thought (Philadelphia: JPS, 1995), pp. 209-225.
2. For ascertaining the meaning of every word, or phrase, in a
given passage one consults all other attestations in the Bible.
The aim is to find decisive examples of the meaning or
nuance you think is present in the verse you are studying; that
is, passages where the meaning or nuance is not merely possible but
inescapable. Use a concordance, such as Mandelkern's, Lisowsky's or
Even-Shoshan's. Each of these is valuable for different purposes.
Mandelkern's - the classic work -- breaks down each root into each
of its inflected forms, so you can see how it is used in various
conjugations, with various prepositions, etc. Even-Shoshan, at the
beginning of each entry, classifies the words in terms of the
combinations and idiomatic phrases in which they appear. Lisowsky
is largely limited to nouns and verbs. It subdivides the verbs by
their conjugations and the nouns by their status as subject,
object, or other, and then lists the words in the order in which
they appear in the Bible irrespective of person, number, prefix,
suffix, etc; it is valuable for tracking all the occurrences of a
word in a particular book, part of a book, group of books, or
period.
In addition to concordances, consult the dictionary of
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old
Testament (BDB)(1907), which is practically a concordance and
is very acute in its treatment of semantic nuances and will alert
you to nuances you never suspected. Valuable for the same reasons
is F. Buhl's revision of W. Gesenius's Hebräisches und
Aramäisches Handwörterbuch uber das alte Testament (GB)(1915).
Helpful, too, is Bruce Einspahr's Index to Brown, Driver, &
Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (Chicago: Moody Press, 1977), which
lists all of BDB's citations of every verse in the Bible. A more
up-to-date dictionary is The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the
Old Testament (HALOT), ed. L. Koehler, W, Baumgartner, and
J.J. Stamm (this is the English version of a German original,
HALAT; it's also available on a CD-ROM); it's more up-to-date,
especially with regard to other Semitic languages (esp. Ugaritic
and Akkadian), but not as thorough as BDB and GB, particularly
with regard to nuances. In any case, examine the evidence cited
by all these works critically -- don't just take their word
regarding the nuances of the Hebrew vocables and especially about
the nuances of the comparative evidence.
A very important step is to analyze each word grammatically
so as to identify the exact subject, gender and number of nouns
and adjectives, the subject, gender, tense and conjugation of
verbs (and which function of the conjugation is intended), and
to identify aspects of each word that may seem different from
what one might expect in the light of the context. For help in
the grammatical analysis, consult Biblical Hebrew grammars,
such as:
M. Greenberg, Introduction to Hebrew
Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch and A.E.
Cowley (Oxford: Clarendon, 1966 etc. [latest reprint has
expanded index]). PJ4564.G5 1966 (copies in JANES and
stacks) (abbrev. Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley or GKC)
P. Joüon, Grammaire de l'Hebreu Biblique.
Rome: Institut Biblique Pontifical, 1923. Revised Eng.
trans. by T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew
(Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1991). PJ4567.J7613
1991
Eduard König, Historisch-kritiches lehrgebaude der
hebräischen sprache (Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1881-
1897), 3 vols. JANES 492.15 K815.2.
Bruce K. Waltke and M.P. O'Connor, An Introduction to
Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns,
1990). JANES PJ4707.W35 1990
J. Blau, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 1976). PJ4567.B625
S.R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in
Hebrew and some other Syntactical Questions 2d ed.
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1881). JANES PJ4647.D7 1881, and repr.
in stacks PJ4647.D7 1969. The 1998 Eerdmans-Dove reprint
includes a valuable introduction by W. Randall Garr (see the
review by S.E. Fassberg in JQR 100 (1999):170-72).
A.B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax
Benjamin Davidson, The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee
Lexicon 2d. ed. (1850; repr. Peabody MA: Hendrickson,
2000) lists all attested forms of each word alphabetically
and parses them (including an identification of the
declension of each noun and an explanation of the declensions
on pp. 58-77 and 87-90).
Most of these have word and verse indexes to help you find
an analysis of the phenomenon or passage you are working on.
The most thorough is in König's Historisch-kritiches
Lehrgebaude. F.C. Putnam's A Cumulative Index to the
Grammar and Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (Eisenbrauns,
indexes several scholarly grammars and may have the most
thorough verse (though not word) index.
Of course there will be times when a text remains difficult.
You have two recourses: (1) conjectural emendation, based upon
plausible errors such as transposition, dittography, haplography
or the confusion of similar letters (for all these see the liter-
ature on textual criticism cited above), or (2) the philological
method.
3. The philological method applies the fruits of the compar-
ative study of ancient, especially Semitic, languages to the
Hebrew text. A rare word or structure in the Bible might prove
to be common in another language. But you should mistrust the
obsolete etymologies of BDB; consult rather HALAT/HALOT or,
better still, authoritative dictionaries of the languages in
question. In rough order of kinship to Hebrew, the cognate
languages are Rabbinic Hebrew, Moabite and Ammonite, Phoenician,
Ugaritic, Aramaic, Arabic, Akkadian, Old South Arabic, Ethiopic.
Do not be fooled by the multiplicity of definitions of words,
especially in Arabic; look for the root sense. Know the rules of
phonetic correspondence (they can be found in S. Moscati, An
Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic
Languages [PJ 3021 M6]); they work 99% of the time, so vio-
late them at your peril. If there does seem to be some irregu-
larity, consider the possibility of a loan word.
The following are some major dictionaries of the Semitic
languages:
Akkadian CAD and W. von Soden, Akkadisches Hand-
wörterbuch (Akkadian); based on the latter is
Jeremy Black et al., A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian.
Arabic. E. Lane, Arabic-English Dictionary (classical)
(now available on a CD-ROM). On using Arabic see
"On the Use of Arabic in Comparative Philological Study."
Aramaic. Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the
Targumim, the Talmud Babli, etc.; (2) Michael Sokoloff,
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the
Byzantine Period; A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian
Aramaic; A Dictionary of Judean Aramaic.
Ethiopic. A. Dillmann, Lexicon Linguae
Aethiopicae; note also Wolf Leslau, Ethiopic and South
Arabic Contributions to the Hebrew Lexicon.
Northwest Semitic inscriptions. J. Hoftijzer and K.
Jongeling, Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscrip-
tions.
Rabbinic Hebrew. (1) Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary
of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, etc.; (2) E. Ben Yehudah,
Thesaurus...
South Arabic. (1) J.C. Biella, Dictionary of Old South
Arabic, Sabaean dialect; (2) A.F.L. Beeston et al.,
Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic).
Syriac. (1) C. Brockelmann; (2) R. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus Syriacus; (3) J. Payne Smith, A Compen-
dious Syriac Dictionary.
Ugaritic. C. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (for
bibliography of more recent studies see the articles of
Dennis Pardee in Archiv für Orientforschung 34
[1987]:366-471; 36/37 [1989/90]:390-513)
A study devoted to words that appear only once in the Bible
(hapax legomena) is H.R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena
in the Light of Akkadian and Ugaritic.
However, there are many problems and pitfalls involved in
using comparative philology to understand the Bible. See the
important study by James Barr Comparative philology and the
Text of the Old Testament (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968;
recently reprinted by Eisenbrauns; VPL PJ4544 B37).
4. Never forget to examine the context of the passage you
are studying; it might give it an entirely different meaning, and
you will be embarrassed when this is pointed out to you.
5. Look for passages in the Bible or cognate literatures
similar or comparable to that which you study; similarities and
differences can alike be enlightening. But never forget that the
Bible, not to mention all ancient literature, is the work of many
people who do not use words and phrases in precisely the same
way. Parallels often point out the possible, rather than consti-
tute proof.
6. Try to envision social, economic or political factors
that may have affected your text. Note any relevant archeologi-
cal evidence. Even when dealing with linguistic minutiae, it is
important to remember that the Bible did not exist in a vacuum.
Presumably, for instance, many of the words found only once in
the Bible were very common in day-to-day speech.
7. Envision ramifications of your view in the Bible or in
material remains; see if such exist and if they are susceptible
of alternative explanation.
8. Do not be discouraged if some evidence doesn't fit or
argues contrary to your view. If such data did not exist, the
odds are that your solution would have been so obvious it would
have been seen long ago. But you should try to account for these
difficulties. Ideally, you should weigh several explanations of
a problem and see which fits best with known data.
9. At some point, of course, you must consider other schol-
ars' treatments of your text. If you do this at the beginning of
your research you will know where the issues stand and avoid
duplicating the work of others; if you do this after the bulk of
your own work you will have avoided being biased by the results
of others and perhaps will have seen something new. Some schol-
ars prefer the latter approach: they do their own work, then
correct it in light of the opinions of others, who often have
seen what they have missed. Of course, one can find one's own
medium between these two extremes.
Locating earlier treatments is a matter of both detective
work and luck. Experience will sharpen your research skills.
For example, you may know of a book on a subject tangential to
your own whose index can direct you to sources you really re-
quire. But there are several publications whose sole aim is to
facilitate your research. Every scholar should be familiar with
the following:
(1) Many journals periodically publish indices listing
everything that has appeared in the journal since the last index.
Most exhaustive is the Elenchus Bibliographicus Biblicus
(vols. 1-48 [1920-1967] bound with Biblica 1-48; in RS:
BS/410/B7; since vol. 49 [1968] bound separately; in RS:
Z/7770/E44 [RS]). This is a huge, yearly index of everything
published anywhere related to the Bible. It is difficult to use,
and its organization is altered every few years. Look first at
the index in the back. Unfortunately, it is several years be-
hind. In addition, the journals Orientalia and
Syria (both in JANES) publish yearly indices in the fields
of Assyriology and Epigraphy, respectively. Know, too, the
Annual Egyptological Bibliography.
(2) We have, in book form, the card catalogue of the Ecole
biblique et archeologique de Jerusalem, Catalogue de la
bibliotheque de l'ecole biblique de jerusalem (in
JANES: BS/417/E3/1983). It lists works (including articles) by
author, title, subject and by Biblical chapter and verse. Since
the Ecole has a huge biblical collection, almost everything ever
written is listed. A CD-ROM version of this catalogue is now
available.
(3) Index of Articles on Jewish Studies (known as
RAMBI from its Hebrew title Reshimat Ma'amarim be-Madacei
ha-Yahadut, includes articles on the Bible in Hebrew and other
languages, and is probably the most thorough source for Israeli and
Hebrew publications. For the on-line version see
http://www.library.upenn.edu/webbin5/facilities/count_use.cgi?
resource=RAMBI&method=catalog&proxy=Penn&gotourl=http://libnet.ac.il/
~libnet/rmb" (N.B. this should be entered as a single string
of characters, with no empty spaces) or see the link in Franklin under
the call number BM1.I634.
(4) Less compendious than the above, are (a) the journal
Old Testament Abstracts, a list of books and articles
loosely grouped by subject with an index in the back; (b)
Internazionale Zeitschriftenschau fur Bibelwissenschaft und
Grenzgebiete (in JANES: BS/410/I583) (abbreviated IZBG); and
Paul-Emile Langevin, Bibliotheque Biblique (in JANES:
BS/410/L35). Almost, but not quite, useless is (d) the Index
to Religious Periodical Literature. Its purview is simply too
broad to cover the field.
(5) Among encyclopedias, the following are noteworthy:
Entsyqlopedia Miqra'it (Encyclopaedia Biblica,
in Hebrew; 8 volumes plus index volume); in JANES:BS/440/E5.
Thorough and excellent, especially for matters historical
and archaeological, though the first three volumes, pub-
lished in the fifties, were not up to the standard reached
in the remaining volumes.
Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. 1992 (Ref BS440.A54
1992) (abbreviated ABD). Articles are generally thorough and
up-to-date, but finding the topic you want can sometimes be
maddening. An index may be planned.
The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (4 vol-
umes plus supplementary volume; in JANES and Ref:
BS/440/I63) (abbreviated IDB). Aging but still extremely
useful.
F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible. The original
edition is out of date, but the supplement has much valuable
material. JANES BS440.V7 Suppl. and VPL Yarnall 203
V688 Suppl.
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (11
volumes to date [German original is complete]); in JANES:
BS/440/B5713) (abbreviated TDOT). More useful than you would
think from its name, and the same is true of the Theolog-
ical Dictionary of the New Testament (RS). The trick to
using these is to think of a Hebrew or Greek word likely to
have an entry. The discussions are often very technical and
have little to do with theology. [On one occasion the pub-
lisher of the English translation, Eerdmans in Grand Rapids
Mich., was helpful in providing galley proofs of the English
translation of an article in not-yet-published volume; if
you need to try this, contact Alan Myers there, at 616-549-
4591, or amyers@eerdmans.com]
E. Jenni & Claus Westermann, Theological Lexicon of the
Old Testament, 3 vols. (Hendrickson, 1997) is a more
concise theological lexicon, also very useful.
Encyclopaedia Judaica (16 volumes; in JANES
and Ref: DS/102.8/E52 and E53) (abbreviated EJ).
For older views, a handy and thorough source is Hasting's
Dictionary of the Bible; it often has the fullest and
most clearly presented collection of the Biblical data,
though it is very out-of-date regarding extrabiblical data.
M. Avi-Yonah and E. Stern's Encyclopedia of Archaeologi-
cal Excavations in the Holy Land is a handy reference
tool for archaeological excavations, listed by site (unfor-
tunately there is no index of artifacts found).
Of course you will want to consult commentaries regularly.
For a compendium of rabbinic interpretation on the Torah, partic-
ularly Midrash, consult M.M. Kasher's Torah Shlemah. Most of the
classical medieval Jewish commentaries, such as Rashi, Ibn Ezra,
Rashbam, Radak (Kimhi), Ramban (Nachmanides), and Seforno, are
printed in non-critical editions in Miqra'ot Gedolot. There
are critical editions of the rabbinic and medieval commentaries
(including many further medievals such as Bekhor Shor, Hazzekuni,
and Ralbag [Gersonides]; some of Abravanel is now out in a ctitical
edition). There are now also two critical editions of Miqra'ot
Gedolot: Torat Hayyim on the Torah alone, and Bar Ilan
University's Miqra'ot Gedolot HaKeter edited by Menahem Cohen
(Genesis, Former Prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Psalms have
appeared as of November, 2005).
Modern commentaries are too numerous to list here, but two
that have particularly valuable methodological introductions must
be mentioned: Moshe Greenberg's commentary on Ezekiel, vol 1. pp.
18-27, and Adele Berlin's commentary on Zephaniah, pp. 17-31,
both in the Anchor Bible Series. For further methodological
observations by Greenberg, see his Studies in the Bible and
Jewish Thought, pp. 209-243.
This is hardly a complete list of the tools of the trade.
Please consult your teachers for further tips on resources, as
well as advice on writing a paper. But this at least should give
you a good start in producing a well crafted essay.
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
Knowing the location of places named in the Bible is often important for
understanding the meaning of a passage. Identifying Biblical places can
be difficult because many places were destroyed or abandoned over the
centuries or underwent changes of name. Identifying places mentioned in
ancient texts is a highly specialized discipline known as Historical
Geography. Sometimes the Bible identifies places or gives their location,
particularly when an old name had already been replaced by a newer one
that was better known to readers. Because of the Bible's own interest in
geography, it contains itineraries and lists of the towns of the Israelite
tribes and descriptions of their borders. Frequently, historical
geographers begin with less explicit clues in the Biblical text, such as
the names of nearby places and landmarks and indications of the direction
of one place relative to another. Information in the Bible is supplemented
from several other sources: references to places in other ancient texts,
which are studied by the same methods; archaeological evidence about which
sites were occupied in certain periods; identifications of Biblical
places in ancient translations of the Bible and other postbiblical texts,
including Josephus, rabbinic literature, the writings of Church fathers,
Christian pilgrims, and Arab geographers; and Arabic place-names which
sometimes preserve the ancient names. All of these sources must be sifted
with care, since they are not always reliable and are frequently based on
conjecture rather than unbroken tradition.
The results of such research are scattered in an extensive body of
scholarly literature. They are periodically summed up in Biblical
encyclopedias and reference works devoted to historical geography. The
single most useful source is the Hebrew Entsyklopedia Mikra}it, published
in Israel by the Bialik Institute and the Hebrew University's Museum of
Jewish Antiquities, which cites all the major suggestions that had been
made about each place, and the evidence on which they are based, as of
the time the articles were written. Because the available evidence is
incomplete, there is uncertainty and disagreement about the
identification of many places. Archaeological exploration regularly opens
new options, particularly in Jordan.
Further bibliography:
The classics:
· F.M. Abel, Geographie de la Palestine (Paris: 1933-38)
· G.A. Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (repr. New York:
Harper & Row, 1966)
· G.A. Smith and J.G. Bartholomew, Atlas of the Historical Geography of
the Holy Land (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915)
Recent works:
· J.J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the OT
(Leiden, 1959)
· A.F. Rainey, "The Toponymics of Eretz-Israel," BASOR 231 (1978): 1-17
(with further bibliography)
· Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, revised by Anson F. Rainey
(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979)
· G.I. Davies, The Way of the Wilderness (Cambridge, 1979)
· S. Ahituv, Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents (Jerusalem
and Leiden, 1984)
· N. Na'aman, Borders and Districts in Biblical Historiography
(Jerusalem: Simor, 1986)
· Z. Kallai, Historical Geography of the Bible (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1986)
· C.G. Rasmussen, Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible (Grand Rapids:
Zond-ervan, 1989)
· E. Stern, ed., The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in
the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society & Carta; New York :
Simon & Schuster, 1993)
· Y. Aharoni, M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, revised by A.F.
Rainey and Z. Safrai (1993); fourth edition, The Carta Bible Atlas
(Jerusalem : Carta, 2002)
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*Abbreiations:
CAJS = Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, 420 Walnut St.
JANES = Judaica and Ancient Near East Seminar, 4th floor east,
VPL
Ref = Reference room, first floor VPL
RS = Religious Studies Seminar, 3rd floor east VPL (combined
with Medieval Studies Seminar)
VPL = Van Pelt Library
jtigay@sas.upenn.edu
Last updated October 15, 2003