The Context of Scripture. Volume II. Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World. Edited by William W. Hallo; Associate editor K. Lawson Younger, Jr. Leiden: Brill, 2000. xxvi and 438 pages. Cloth. $131.

In 1950 James B. Pritchard edited a volume entitled Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET), which eventually appeared in three editions and was matched by a volume of pictures from the Near East entitled Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (ANEP). Both of these volumes, but especially ANET, have been indispensable for serious students of the Old Testament wishing to understand that text within, or even over against, its ancient setting. Pritchard died in 1997.

Hallo and Younger plan a three volume replacement, The Context of Scripture (COS), drawing on the expertise of a large team of international experts. The first volume, published in 1997, was entitled Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World and contains myths, hymns, prayers, divinations, incantations, and rituals that were originally written in Egyptian, Hittite, West Semitic (Ugaritic), Akkadian, and Sumerian. The third volume, still in preparation, will contain archival types of documents. Each entry contains a brief summary, an up-to-date translation, brief notes explaining the translation, and a short bibliography. A central column lists chapter and verse of possible biblical parallels. The third volume will include full indices, including biblical parallels.

The contents of this volume under review deal with "monuments," structures or objects intended to last for all time as memorials to those kings or other mortals who built or dedicated them. Some of the documents fit that description better than others, but one finds here the reports of Egyptian military campaigns, international treaties, inscriptions on tombs and seals, the royal inscriptions of Hammurapi and the Assyrian Royal Annals (which record the names of Israelite and Judean kings and give the Assyrian view of battles mentioned--and sometimes not mentioned--in the Bible), law codes, and the like. Many of the West Semitic inscriptions also have immediate relevance for Old Testament studies, such as the Mesha inscription (Moabite stone), the Tell Dan Stele (which mentions the "house of David"), and the Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions (which mention Yahweh and his Asherah [his consort?]). Some of these seem hardly designed to last for all time since they were written on pottery, but any classification is difficult.

In the Introduction, Hallo addresses the question of the total absence of Israelite royal inscriptions from this volume. While a partial explanation may lie in the perishable materials on which Israelite and Judean kings may have written or the bad luck of archaeologists in missing the archives, Hallo attributes this absence primarily to the different and more restricted view of monarchy in Israel. This explanation is not overly convincing, however, since kings like Solomon and Josiah seem to have thought quite highly of themselves and their office, as attested also by Psalms 45 and 72.

Make no mistake about it, however, the three volumes in COS will be reliable and frequently used companions of Old Testament scholars in the next fifty years. Biblical commentaries and journal articles will regularly refer to them. I hope that the editors and publisher also consider publishing additional volumes that will serve as commentaries to this immense collection and help relate it, carefully and critically, to Israel, its Bible, and its theology.

Ralph W. Klein

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago