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The Unity of the Hebrew Bible (The Distinguished Senior Faculty Lecture Series)

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As Freedman acknowledges in his Preface, this book is the written version of three talks given at the University of Michigan in 1988. As lectures, they are little more than a sketch of the elements that distinguish the three main sections of the Hebrew Bible: The Primary History (Torah and the Former Prophets), The Latter Prophets, and The Writings. He spends a fair amount of time looking at the symetry of the Hebrew canon and comparing the word counts of the Bible's different components. Freedman later expanded his discussion on the Decalogue found in the lecture on the Primary History into a full book called THE NINE COMMANDMENTS (I recommend it highly). I found the chapter on The Writings to be especially interesting. Freedman sees strong connections between Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah (where David, Jerusalem, and the Temple are idealized) and the Psalms and Wisdom literature (usually attributed to David's heir Solomon). It is also, only in The Writings that King Cyrus of Persia is mentioned. There's lots here to think about, whether you buy all of Freedman's arguments or not. And after so many years of scholarly efforts to parse the Bible into bits and pieces, it's nice to see someone who is willing to stand back a bit and look at the canon as a whole.

When Freedman sticks to the text of the Hebrew Bible, he makes a good case for his theme. Some of his thoughts are forced and speculative. As much as he would like to see himself free of bias, objectivity remains elusive when he cites opinions and not primary sources, such as the text itself. The book is only 100 pages and requires further elaboration. For a better introductory work, I recommend Steven Dempster, "An Extraordinary Fact: Torah and Temple and the Contours of the Hebrew Canon," Tyndale Bulletin 48.1 (1997), pp 23-56, and 48.2, pp 191-218.