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Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts

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This is truly a diverse collection of essays. The only thing they have in common is they all address Old Testament historical narrative literature, in one way or another, and the authors approach the text from a conservative perspective.

Each chapter is written by a different scholar, and the depth and content varies from one to the next. The chapters are grouped into sections dealing with historical issues, archaeology, literary studies, and so forth. Although this probably reflects my own personal interests more than anything else, I found some of the chapters to be excellent, and others to be not so well-written. A few of the essays lacked clear organization of thought. In addition, some are cursory overviews of the material, while others make for more advanced reading. I especially enjoyed William Shea's chapter on the exodus pharaoh; Alan Ross's chapter on whether or not the Patriarchs knew the divine name; and Gordon Johnston's literary study of the book of Esther. Although Edwin Yamauchi's chapter is really not much more than an annotated bibliography, I always like reading his work. The contributions by Carl Rasmussen, Bryant Wood, and Eugene Merrill are also good, although maybe not as in-depth as I would have liked.