East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures.

• Author: Routledge, Bruce
• Position: Book Review

East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures. By BURTON MACDONALD. ASOR Books, vol. 6. Boston: AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH, 2000. Pp. vii + 287. $29.95. [Distributed by David Brown Book Company, Oakville, Conn.]

In East of the Jordan, Burton MacDonald undertakes an extended study of Transjordanian toponyms in the Hebrew Bible. MacDonald's primary concern is with the case-by-case evaluation of proposed identifications for specific toponyms, focusing on topographic and archaeological evidence relevant to each site. In this sense, East of the Jordan makes a distinct contribution, falling somewhere between a form- or source-critical study of biblical geographic texts (cf. Wust, Untersuchungen zu den siedlungsgeographischen Texten des Alten Testaments) and a gazetteer of archaeological sites from Iron Age Transjordan (cf. W. Zwickel, Eisenzeitliche Ortslagen im Ostjordanland).

The book is organized in a very straightforward manner. After setting the parameters of his study, MacDonald provides a brief review of the history and methodology of biblical site identification. He then moves on in chapter three to present a good, up-to-date, summary of geomorphology, climate, soil and plant communities, and evidence for long-term climate change in Jordan. This chapter stands out from the obligatory "natural environment" section one finds in so many books in that it avoids superficiality without ever sacrificing accessibility. Indeed, I would recommend this chapter as a brief introduction to the ecology of Jordan for anyone lacking familiarity with the earth sciences. Hence, it is somewhat disappointing that the content of chapter three is not more thoroughly integrated into the remainder of the book and used to ask specific questions about issues such as site location and economic strategies.

In chapters four through six, MacDonald follows the internal chronology of the Pentateuch and looks in turn at the "Cities of the Plain," the Exodus itineraries, and the settlement of the Israelite tribes in Transjordan. The final four chapters of the book are concerned with defining the boundaries and settlements of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Gilead. In the chapter on Ammon, MacDonald ventures a little further from the primary methodology found elsewhere in the book, considering strictly archaeological arguments for the boundaries of Ammon in addition to those based on biblical texts.

In each of the seven chapters dealing with specific...