Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East.

• Author: Matthews, Victor H.
• Position: Book Review

Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East. By MARTTI NISSINEN, with C. L. Seow and Robert K. Ritner. Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 12. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2003. Pp. xix + 273, maps. $29.95 (paper).

This volume continues the tradition of fine scholarship exemplified in previous volumes in the SBL Writings from the Ancient World series. Along with The Context of Scriptures, ed. W. W. Hallo and K. L. Younger, Jr. (3 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1997-2002), it also contributes to the growing body of ancient Near Eastern texts in fresh translations available to scholars. The commissioning of this set of volumes by the Society of Biblical Literature and the increasing citation of these texts in the critical examination of biblical materials demonstrates a revival of an interest that had somewhat flagged as J. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Bible, 3rd ed. (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969) grew dated. This also opens up an opportunity for those who have not studied Akkadian or Egyptian both to familiarize themselves with the linguistic characteristics of these languages and, hopefully, spark an interest among students in studying them as well.

The author is somewhat apologetic about the SBL/WAW convention of providing transcriptions of the ancient texts rather than the "sign for sign" transliterations found in the technical literature. However, since the volumes in this series are designed to appeal to a more general audience of biblical scholars and historians, no concern is necessary. The inclusion of bibliographic references to the transliterations prepared for specialists as well as translations and explanatory/analytical treatments of the texts provide the full range of readers the opportunity to broaden their study.

Like M. Roth's compilation of legal documents in this series (Scholars Press, 1995), a collection of prophetic texts in a single volume is particularly useful to biblical scholars. Most of this prophetic literature has been scattered in various publications, some difficult to access and much of it in French or German (see, however, J. J. M. Roberts, The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays [Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002], 157-253, for a new translation of the Mari prophetic texts that complements Nissinen's work).

While the manner and the agency of the prophetic figures differ (being more closely tied to temple communities and more often transmitted...