The Book of Psalms--Two reviews

Full text

238 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
Walter Brueggemann and William H. Bellinger Jr. Psalms (New Cambridge
Bible Commentary). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. xxvi +
639 pages. Paperback. Price US $34. ISBN 978-052160076-7.
Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner.
2014. The Book of Psalms (New International Commentary on the Old Testa-
ment). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014. xx + 1051 pages. Hardcover. Price US
$42. ISBN: 978-0-8028-2493-6.
Brueggemann and Bellinger Jr.
Walter Brueggemann and William Bellinger Jr. are distinguished professors in
the field of
OT
studies and the Psalter in particular. This jointly produced com-
mentary in a highly regarded series (the NCBC) will certainly not disappoint a
variety of readers—students, scholars, pastors, and higher-level teachers.
1
It is
segmented into the three usual commentary divisions: introductory material, a
sequential textual exposition (based on the NRSV translation) and application
of each psalm, followed by the essential indices of authors, biblical texts, and
subjects. This “new” series of Cambridge Bible Commentaries (the older set
being popular in the 1960-70s) seeks to “utilize recent gains in rhetorical criti-
cism, social scientific study of the Scriptures, narrative criticism, and other
developing disciplines to exploit the growing advances in biblical studies” (iii).
It also includes, as part of the introduction, a substantial listing of “suggested
readings on the Psalms” (13-26), which is helpfully divided into categories:
major commentaries, introductory works, literary studies, theological studies,
historical studies, and significant articles.
The book’s primary “Introduction” is relatively short, as commentaries
go (only 12 pages), with a third of it being devoted to a form-critical listing in
vertical columns of all 150 psalms differentiated into “Psalm Collections and
Psalm Types,” for example: (Ps 1) Book 1, Wisdom; (Ps 2) 1-41, Royal; (Ps 3)
David, Individual Lament; (Ps 4) 3-41, Individual Lament; (Ps 5) Individual
Lament.
2
This arrangement, which is not displayed in a very visually effective
manner, is explained earlier in several expositional sections, beginning with
“Matters of Organization.” An intervening section dealing with “Matters of
Poetry” is rather disappointingly brief (3-4), with passing reference being made
only to “parallel structures” – paired poetic lines where the second “echoes” the
first – and the “use of repetition and poetic images.” The authors come to what
is a major emphasis in their commentary when considering “Matters of
Method” (4-8). This begins with an overview of “form criticism,” as originated
1
All of these groups would presumably be included in the NCBC’s rather strange
designation of its general target readership: “a wide range of intellectually curious
individuals” (iii).
2
Several errors were detected, e.g., Pss 123 and 125 are not “Davidic”; Ps 127 (not
124) is ascribed to “Solomon.”

Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248 239
by Hermann Gunkel, and developed by Mowinckel, Westermann, Gersten-
berger, and Brueggemann, before ending with some of the more recent “canon
critical” perspectives of Brevard Childs and Gerald Wilson. A consideration of
psalmic “genre” is deemed foundational because it “provides a way to organize
one’s study of the Psalter and a comparative basis for studying individual
psalms as part of a category” (5). Five “primary types of psalms” are distin-
guished in the commentary: individual and community laments; hymns of
praise; individual and community thanksgiving psalms; royal psalms; and wis-
dom psalms. Other points of emphasis in the commentary are: “matters of cul-
tic setting” (6); “the matter of a psalm’s relationship to societal issues” (7); “a
psalm’s context in the Psalter” (7-8);
3
plus any pertinent “ancient Near Eastern
connections” (8).
In brief, the central textual commentary aims to provide “an exposition
of each psalm with attention to genre, liturgical connections, societal issues,
and the psalm’s place in the book of Psalms as a whole.” After a succinct exe-
gesis of the original text in strophic segments (with occasional Hebrew terms
transliterated and italicized), the authors include two types of excursive “Sup-
plementary Sections” (the titles of which are listed in the introduction on pages
xiii-xx).
4
“A Closer Look” presents a more detailed consideration of “particular
issues raised by the text” with respect to form, content, or function, while notes
on “Bridging the Horizons” suggest insightful “encounters between the world
of the psalm and the world of contemporary readers” (i), including certain con-
troversial subjects that pertain to current religious beliefs, social concerns, and
a globalized society. These two kinds of focused reflection are an especially
valuable feature of this commentary. For example, under the text-centered
“Closer Look” we learn about “The Temple—Where God Dwells” (Ps 3);
“Job’s Similarities to the Psalmist” (Ps 4); “Who Are the Enemies?” (Ps 6);
“An Acrostic Psalm” (Pss 9-10); and “The ‘Fear Not’ of Y
HWH
” (Ps 13). The
context-oriented “Bridging the Horizons” includes discussions as diverse as:
“The Drama of Prayer” (Ps 6); “An Appeal Against Injustice” (Pss 9-10); “Real
Presence” (Ps 12); “Crisis and Covenant” (Ps 18); and “Opposing Baal Wor-
ship” (Ps 30). Various topics can be followed up in relation to specific psalms
by using the relatively comprehensive “Subject Index” (633-639).
As a short sample of Brueggemann and Bellinger’s expert selection and
treatment of material, I will survey a selection of their pertinent comments on
3
Considering the organization of the Psalter as a whole: “The first three books
reflect the experience of the Davidic kingdom, initiated with the coronation of the
king in Psalm 2 and concluding with the demise of Jerusalem at the end of Psalm 89.
Books IV-V respond to the exile that originated from this crisis by asserting the reign
of Y
HWH
as a basis for the community’s future” (8).
4
There are over 250 of these interposed notes, none of which extends beyond a
page of text, and most comprising a single paragraph.

240 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
Ps 1. After reproducing the English (
NRSV
) text, they summarize the evidence
for viewing this psalm as an introduction to the entire Psalter, in close conjunc-
tion with Ps 2. The initial beatitude (“Blessed . . .”) alerts us to the fact that this
is a didactic “wisdom psalm” that offers “a poetic affirmation of the fruitful-
ness of a lifestyle attuned to God’s instruction” (28). The thematically focal
contrast between the behavior of the “righteous” (godly) [A] and that of the
“wicked” (ungodly) [B] is clearly reflected in the text’s alternating parallelism
of structure: A (1-3)—B (4-5) = A’ (6a)—B’ (6b), which also features an inclu-
sio established by a framing reference to the “wicked” in vv. 1a and 6b. This
structural device is supported by the fact that “the psalm’s first word begins
with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the last word of the psalm
begins with the last letter of the alphabet, giving the psalm’s perspective on life
a totalizing effect” (28).
In their comments on the first strophe of Psalm 1 (1-3), Brueggemann
and Bellinger focus on the key thematic terms contained in this poetic para-
graph. While it is important to distinguish the Hebrew synonyms ashre and
baruk,
contemporary readers will need to be cautious with the translation
‘happy’ [for ashre], for the term does not connote pleasing external
circumstances in life, but rather a deeper joy about the fruitfulness
of the way of living urged on readers of the psalm (29).
Within the theological frame of reference of this psalm, “the wicked are
those who oppose God’s instruction, and the righteous are those who live
according to that instruction” (29). As the preceding quote suggests, “law” in
English is not the best way to render the original torah, but rather words like
“guidance,” “teaching,” or “instruction,” for “Y
HWH
’s torah [is] a gift that pro-
vides a way to respond to the God who has given new life and as a means of
response to God’s granting new life to the community” (29). The prominent
tree—water imagery of v. 3 “is a strong poetic assurance that life according to
torah prospers” the people who abide by its divine principles.
Comments on the second half of Ps 1 (vv. 3-6) focus on the contrastive
imagery that characterizes the life and fate of the ungodly – useless windblown
or fire-bound chaff. In the final verse of the psalm, these thematic contrasts
converge as “God becomes the subject of the verbs;
5
God ‘knows’ the way or
path – the lifestyle – of the community of faithful ones,” which “thus connotes
Y
HWH
’s care for the life of the righteous” (30). In contrast, “the wicked” con-
tinue (from vv. 4-5) to forge their own determined way to inevitable self-ruin
(6b). There follows a “Bridging the Horizons” comment on “The Way of the
Righteous,” which observes that the key term “righteousness” of Wisdom liter-
ature implies “seeking to work out the divine-human relationship” above all the
5
Actually, only the first verb in v. 6a.

Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248 241
relationships of life by “embracing the tradition of God’s instruction” (30-31).
As the designated “preamble” to this sacred poetic corpus, Ps 1 suggests that
the whole “Psalter is now part of that divine instruction,” with a significant
emphasis on the nature and purpose of prayer “as the honest dialogue of faith
carried on in the community that worships God” (31).
Brueggemann and Bellinger have admirably succeeded in producing a
useful, jargon-free, intermediate-level guide to the book of Psalms that is “clear
in structure and lucid in style, up to date in scholarship and astute in applica-
tion.”
6
It is not a “scholarly” commentary in terms of text-based critical detail,
extensive footnoting,
7
or comprehensive exegetical discussion (for that, see the
book reviewed below), but it nevertheless provides an excellent model also for
scholars in its clarity of exposition and perceptive comments regarding the
everyday contemporary relevance of this consecrated collection of prayers and
praises. This commentary could readily serve as a point-of-entry didactic guide
that serious Bible students turn to in order to enrich their reading of this poetic,
precatory “little Bible,” as Martin Luther affectionately called it (1).
DeClaissé-Walford, Jacobson and LaNeel Tanner
Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, repre-
senting “the best and the brightest of a new generation of Psalms scholars,”
8
labored long (well over ten years) and hard (in various scholarly fora, xvi) to
collaboratively produce their substantial (over 1000 page) NICOT contribution
to research on the Psalter. Instead of an initial Table of Contents that lists the
individual psalms and a translation of their superscription (if any), as in
Brueggemann and Bellinger, deClaissé-Walford et alibi attempt to provide a
theme that covers a psalm’s main thought (viii-xiii). Often this procedure is
helpful, but at times this generalizing approach can be somewhat misleading, as
in the case of Ps 1: “The Way of Life” (viii), which unfortunately obscures the
crucial contrast that stands at the heart of this psalm’s message. This volume
begins with a scholarly Introduction (see further below), which includes a
“Select Bibliography” of four pages, continues with the detailed “Text and
Commentary,” and concludes with three lengthy indices, of: “Authors,”
“Names and Subjects,” and “Scripture and Other Ancient Literature.” I found
the second of these to be especially useful for a topical study; for example, the
entry under “Torah” includes 34 distinct references within the commentary.
6
From the endorsement by Susan Gillingham (back cover).
7
The limited number of footnotes is largely reserved for directing readers to
recommended sources to follow up on a particular text problem or point of linguistic,
theological, or literary significance, for example, footnote 4: “For a delightful
exposition of Psalm 1, see R. Alter, Art of Biblical Poetry (1985), 114-117” (31).
8
From the endorsement by J. Clinton McCann Jr. (back dust cover).

242 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
I will proceed with an overview of this commentary’s Introduction,
depending mainly on selected quotations to give readers a taste of some of the
many informative nuggets to be mined therein. The Psalter is aptly described as
“a great choir of witnesses” that “with great diversity of emotion and perspec-
tive . . . gives voice to the faith struggles, theological insights, and liturgical
witnesses of many different people” (1-2), who are nevertheless united in their
common trust in Yahweh and their dependence on the covenantal relationship
that sustains and binds them together in a community of faith. In section I,
“Title, Text, and Translation,” it is noted that the two designations found in the
Psalter itself – “prayers” (tephilloth) and “praises” (tehillim) – represent “two
fundamental types of psalms: prayers in time of need, or laments, and songs of
praise, or hymns” (citing James Limburg, 3). As part of a thorough considera-
tion of the Hebrew text, the relative quality of which is regarded as “fair” (3),
and its disparate lines of transmission, the authors propose that their “text-criti-
cal task . . . is to establish the text of each psalm as it may have been at the
beginning of the Masoretic tradition,” using all available ancient witnesses,
especially the Septuagint on account of its preference for “literal, nonidiomatic
Greek” (5). The commentary provides a new translation of each psalm with
critical notes, following “the traditional English versification” and keeping the
rendering “as literal . . . as possible” (7). One major exception is the decision
not to translate, but rather to transliterate the Psalter’s central concept, hesed,
thus treating it “as a loan word from Hebrew to English” (7). As part of the
extensive rationale supporting this decision, the authors observe that
hesed is a relational term that describes both the internal character
as well as the external actions required to maintain a life-sustaining
relationship. . . . hesed is both who the Lord is and what the Lord
does (8, original italics).
Section II of the Introduction, “Authorship, Superscriptions, and Date,”
leads off with the obligatory discussion of the meaning of le-dawid (“to/for/of
David”), concluding that “it is likely” that this familiar element of a psalm’s
superscription “did not originally indicate authorship” (10). The four compo-
nents of these often mysterious superscriptions are then described, to the extent
possible: “subcollection identification (authorship),” “directions for liturgi-
cal/musical performance,” “indication of genre” (which is perhaps the most
helpful), and “historical superscriptions” (12-13).
Section III deals with “Form Criticism and Historical Approaches to
Interpretation” (13). “Two broad approaches to form-critical interpretation of
the Psalter” are surveyed (14). The earlier method sought to “‘get behind’ the
texts of the psalms to the [original social and religious] ‘life-settings’ that pro-
duced the forms” (14), for example, Gunkel, Mowinckel, and Gerstenberger
(14-16). “A second form-critical approach . . . rather focused more directly on
the forms themselves” (16), which are closely analyzed as “literary” as well as

Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248 243
“theological” categories, for example, Westermann (“praise and petition”),
Brueggemann (“orientation-disorientation- reorientation”) (17). Jacobson, the
primary author of the commentary’s Introduction (except for section IV), criti-
cizes form-critical approaches for their “basically unquestioned assumption that
form and function cohere with each other” (18), whereas the reality often turns
out to be more complicated (or “artistic”!) than that, for example, “psalms that
share common thematic [also functional?] aspects, but which might differ in
literary form: royal psalms . . . pilgrimage psalms . . .” (19). The following “lit-
erary forms of the Psalter” are identified: “Prayer for Help (both the Individuals
and of the Community,” “Psalm of Trust,” “Hymn of Praise,” “Song of
Thanksgiving (both of the individual and the community),”
9
“Instructional
Psalm,” “Royal Psalm,” and “Liturgies” (19-21). In closing, Jacobson cautions
that “many of the psalms do not fit perfectly into one of the ‘forms’ of form
criticism,” and this approach serves simply “as a way into the interpretation and
understanding of a psalm” (21).
Section IV, by deClaissé-Walford, is by far the longest section in the
book’s Introduction and reveals the author’s scholarly specialty, which derives
from the approach known as “canon criticism” (e.g., Childs, Sanders, McCann
Jr.). In short, “the purposeful placement of psalms within the collection seems
to have given the final form of the Psalter a function and message greater than
the sum of its parts” (22). The five “books” into which the Psalter is divided,
each concluding with a deliberate doxology, plus clear collections of psalms
within the whole (e.g., Korahite, Asaphite, Ascents, etc.), would support this
conclusion, as does the additional detailed structural and thematic evidence that
deClaissé assembles in this instructive section. Representing “a constitutive
document of identity for postexilic Israel,” the Psalter is posited as being a
poetic history of Israel’s survival as a nation (cf. Brueggemann and Bellinger
8):
Books One and Two (Psalms 1-72) chronical the reigns of kings
David and Solomon; Book Three (Psalms 73-89) tells of the dark
days of the divided kingdoms and their eventual destructions; Book
Four (Psalms 90-106) recalls the years of the Babylonian exile dur-
ing which the community of faith had to rethink their identity as the
people of God; and book Five (Psalms 107-50) celebrates the com-
munity of faith’s restoration to the land and the sovereignty of God
over them (38).
Section V of the Introduction, “The Poetry of the Psalter,” considers
only two distinctive features, “parallelism” and “evocative language.” Various
permutations of parallelism are described and illustrated, but the literary device
9
This is quoted exactly as written; note the difference from the earlier similar title
of “Prayer for Help.” Jaconson’s form-critical inventory is very similar to that
proposed by Brueggemann and Bellinger above.

244 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
itself is rather minimally defined as “the juxtaposition of two or more gram-
matical elements” (39). A broader perspective would view lexical-semantics
and phonological correspondence as being also integrally involved in this
(normally) paired lineal convergence of form, content, and function.
10
On the
other hand, deClaissé correctly calls attention to the fact that parallelism is
manifested in biblical poetry beyond the cola level, including “between stanzas
and even between psalms” (41).
11
The Psalter’s “evocative language” includes
features such as “metaphor, simile, hyperbole, imagery, drama, intensity, repe-
tition, and so on” (42) which serves to complement a psalm’s “theological
meaning,” thus conjoining artistic form with religious content to accomplish its
manifold communicative function in relation to both God and fellow members
of the community of faith.
In section VI, “Themes and Theology,” Jacobson observes that
the various form-critical categories express the main themes of the
Psalter: pleas for help . . . praising testimony, trust in the midst of
crisis, thanksgiving . . . and instruction on walking in God’s ways
(43).
Other macro-themes are suggested, for example, “the Lord reigns,”
“God as refuge,” “the Lord is faithful,” but “in the end, what is of enduring and
vital significance to the psalms is that they do testify to the character and activ-
ity of the Lord” (45). Section VII, “Analysis of Contents,” presents a canon-
critical analysis of the Psalter’s organization, based on the lengthy discussion
of section IV (46); it is much more perceptible than the corresponding outline
given in Brueggemann and Bellinger. The commentary’s Introduction con-
cludes, as already noted with a “Select Bibliography” (VIII).
Book One of the Psalter is preceded by its own separate Introduction (by
R. Jacobson). Much of this is devoted to a discussion of Psalms 1-2 as “the
two-part introduction” to this initial collection, both thematically and structur-
ally, that is, a prominent literary inclusio: the first and last psalms in the group,
1/41, both lead off with the pronouncement “Happy is/are . . .” (ashre). Thus,
these two psalms – the first instructional, the second royal – function to point to
two primary ways that God is working to effect God’s will in the world:
“through God’s Word (which forms a specific community of followers) and
10
Furthermore, it is not quite accurate to say that “at its most recognizable level,
parallelism happens between phrases” (40, my italics), with the two poetic lines (cola)
of Ps 96:1 given as an illustration. These lines a better described as “clauses,”
“predications,” or given their fundamental oral essence, “utterances.”
11
Non-adjacent, or remote, parallel lines often serve an important text-demarcational
function in poetic discourse – not only inclusio, but also to mark the respective
beginnings (aperture) and endings (closure) of different stanzas (cf. Ernst R.
Wendland, Translating the Literature of Scripture, Dallas: SIL International, 2004,
123-128).

Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248 245
through God’s messiah (who also gathers a specific community of followers
around him)” (57). Psalms 1-2 could also be viewed as an introduction to the
Psalter as a whole, for they suggest “two ways of reading the psalms – as wis-
dom and as prophecy” (57).
R. Jacobson also offers the textual commentary on Ps 1, which will be
briefly overviewed in partial comparison with that of Brueggemann and
Bellinger, given above. The proposed title for this psalm, “The Way of Life,”
has already been critiqued. The commentary (throughout the Psalter) begins
with a consideration of poetic structure. In contrast to the outline of
Brueggemann and Bellinger, Jacobson sets forth a chiastic structure that under-
scores “a basic contrast between the wicked and the righteous” (58):
St. 1 The way of the wicked (v. 1)
St. 2 The Torah of the Lord (v. 2)
St. 3 The prosperity found in the Torah (v. 3)
St. 4 The judgment of the wicked (vv. 4-6)
Besides the obvious imbalance in “stanza” length, this scheme appears
to obscure the more natural development of the psalmist’s paraenetic message.
Thus, the first stanza could also be interpreted as describing the Torah (cp.
stanzas 2-3) – however, by way of contrast through activities that the observer
avoids. Furthermore, stanza 4 is not only about “the judgment of the wicked,”
for the Lord’s vindication of the righteous is actually the climax of the unit
(vv. 5b-6a). Finally, the proposed structure excludes this final summary verse,
where the contrast between the righteous and the wicked reaches its peak. This
example illustrates a problem that all such structural summaries face (my own
included): they may certainly instruct and enrich one’s understanding of the
text; on the other hand, they might also complicate, confuse, or conceal the
psalm’s poetic organization as well as its primary sense and significance.
The commentary continues with the author’s relatively literal rendering
and annotation of the Hebrew text. A helpful comment occurs with reference to
the verb “meditate” (haga) in v. 2b, which “should not be understood to imply
an internalized, cognitive meditation” (59), but rather some sort of verbal rumi-
nation, perhaps even a “recitation” (cf. Ps 2:1, where this text-linking catch-
word describes the hostile “murmuring” of pagan peoples against the Lord).
Most modern commentators, including Jacobson (60), doubt that there is any
implication in v. 4 of an eschatological judgment of the wicked; in contrast,
this seems to be the allusion present in the
LXX
’s expanded rendition of the
chaff being blown away “from the face of the earth.”
The commentary’s third, text-focused section presents a closer analysis
on a stanza by stanza basis. In the case of Ps 1, the first three verses are treated

246 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
separately, while vv. 4-6 are considered together as a unit. Jacobson notes that
in the beginning “the poem expands upon the difference between the righteous
and the wicked by describing both groups in terms of the other” (60), the for-
mer as individuals, the latter as an antithetical assembly. After introducing the
thematically central notion of the torah, “instruction,” in v. 2, its individualized
agent “this one” (the “joyful” person of v. 1) is described by “one of the most
striking similes in the Psalter” (61), namely, as a tree that has been
“(trans)planted” beside a constant source of life-giving water, the point being
that “the environment created by the wicked cannot extinguish the righteous”
(62) – just the opposite, in fact, occurs. The “sharply disjunctive” transition
“Not so . . .” (lo’ ken) introduces the contrast in imagery between the righteous
(well-founded tree) and the wicked (floating chaff) which is underscored by
“the lack of balance in terms of poetic length,” namely, four full cola versus
one (62). In vv. 5-6 “the meaning of the psalm is enhanced through a brilliant,
threefold strategy of poetic delay”: the attribute “righteous” occurs for the first
time; it appears in the plural form, as a “community”; and “God – the ‘proper
subject’ of all theology – finally is named as an actor,” who “watches over” his
faithful people (62-63). “A subtle syntactic change” distinguishes v. 6 as the
summary climax of the psalm: “In the first colon, the way of the righteous is
the object of the verb; in the second, the way of the wicked in the subject” (63,
original italics). Thus, the righteous are the objects of God’s gracious care,
while the wicked choose their own fate and hence “march down the path of
self-destruction” (63). These are indeed cogent hermeneutical insights.
Every exegetical section in the commentary is followed by one or more
“Reflections” (corresponding to Brueggemann and Bellinger’s “Supplementary
Sections” – “A Closer Look” and “Bridging Horizons”). Jacobson includes two
reflections on Ps 1: “God’s Way of Life” and “The Tree of Life and Streams of
Water.” The first involves an interesting contrast between the “my way” of the
contemporary American “self-made man” and the way set forth by the divinely
moved singer of Ps 1. The message is that choosing our own way in life “leads
only to our own destruction,” but following “the way of God’s instruction is a
gift for those who cannot guide themselves” (64), which is everyone, by sinful
nature. This is not a teaching of “work-righteousness,” but rather “the psalm
offers the free and gracious gift of a better way” (64), that which is clearly
enunciated in and empowered by God’s Torah – his holy Word. These thoughts
are reinforced poetically in Jacobson’s ensuing reflection on “The Tree of Life
and the Streams of Water.” “In the ancient world, the tree was a symbol of
divine blessing,” metaphorically applied in the psalm to the righteous person
“transplanted next to a stream” – the life-sustaining waters of “God’s instruc-
tion” (64). “Like a tree the quietly, invisibly, constantly receives strength and
life through its roots, so we are given God’s Word as a steady source of life”
(64). As in the case of Brueggemann and Bellinger’s periodic “Supplementary
Sections,” so also it is this sequence of insightful “Reflections” that distin-

Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248 247
guishes – and refreshes – the commentary of deClaissé, Jacobson, and LaNeel
Tanner.
Either one, ideally both, of these commentaries would be a most profita-
ble addition to any scholar or student’s library on the Psalter. A person might
benefit most by beginning with the shorter, more accessible text, and then pro-
ceed to fill in the inevitable information gaps by accessing its longer textual
complement. In any case, the result of such delightful daily instruction and ver-
balized reflection (Ps 1:2), whether in the Psalms or any other portion of
Scripture, will surely be a fruitful harvest of life-giving spiritual nourishment
(Ps 1:3), and the assurance that this way of life is “known” by the Lord
(Ps 1:6a).
Ernst R. Wendland, Department of Ancient Studies, Stellenbosch University,
Private Bag XI, Matieland, 7602. Email: erwendland@gmail.com.

248 Book Reviews / Boekresensies, OTE 29/1 (2016): 228-248
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US$32.99. ISBN 978-0-310-28298-3
Mark J. Boda, The Book of Zechariah. (The New International Commentary on
the Old Testament). Grand Rapids, MI, Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2016.
xxiii + 911 pages. Hardcover with dust cover. Price US$58.00, £26.99. ISBN
978-0-8028-2375-5
Bo H. Lim and Daniel Castelo, Hosea. (The Two Horizons Old Testament
Commentary). Grand Rapids, MI, Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2015. xii + 260
pages. Paperback. Price US$25.00, £16.99. ISBN 978-0-8028-2700-5
Ernest C. Lucas, Proverbs. (The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary).
Grand Rapids, MI, Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2015. xiv + 407 pages.
Paperback. Price US$28.00, £18.99. ISBN 978-0-8028-2710-4
Elizabeth Robar, The Verb and the Paragraph in Biblical Hebrew: A
Cognitive-Linguistic Approach. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics
78). Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015. xii + 220 pages. Paperback. Price not
mentioned. ISBN 978-90-04-28301-5
Mark R. Sneed, Was there a Wisdom Tradition? New prospects in Israelite
Wisdom Studies. (Ancient Israel and its literature 23). Atlanta, GA: SBL Press,
2015. xi + 325 pages. Paperback. Price not mentioned. ISBN 978-1-62837-099-
7