Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 92:366 (Apr 1935)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

BSac 92:366 (Apr 35) p. 244

Book Reviews

An Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament. By W. O. E. Oesterley, D.D., Litt.D., and Theodore H. Robinson, D.D., Litt.D. The Macmillan Co. New York. 454 pp.

The appearance of a work on Old Testament Introduction is an event. It promises further light upon ancient records which by their very remoteness from us take on a certain obscurity. So it was with a measure of expectancy that we picked up the present volume. In the preface, the authors declare their purpose of striking a mean between the elaborate work of Driver and the shorter Introductions, for example those of Gray and McFadyen. Some special features are to be noted, including greater stress upon historical background than is commonly given, and a note on the value of the Septuagint for the study of each book or portion of the Old Testament.

The opening chapters on the Canon and Text are much too brief for the importance of the subjects treated. The Pentateuch is dealt with from the documentary standpoint. Except for Deuteronomy, there is no consideration of these books as they now stand in our Bibles beyond a brief outline of a cursory sort. In addition to the discussion of the remainder of the books, which follows the English rather than the Hebrew order, there are special chapters on the forms of Hebrew poetry, the wisdom literature, and the prophetical literature.

The scholarship of the writers is unquestioned. They show great familiarity with the whole field surveyed, and they have been particularly careful to introduce the newer developments as seen in recent writings. This one feature makes the work sufficiently valuable to the student to warrant its purchase. There are comparatively few errors of a mechanical sort, and the publishers have maintained their usual high standard of workmanship. The bibliography is immense. This fact, however, makes the omissions all the more glaring. The names of conservative scholars are conspicuous by their absence. Their views, if discussed at all, are dismissed with a few words. Far more serious is the

BSac 92:366 (Apr 35) p. 245

total ignoring of our Lord’s attitude toward the Old Testament Scriptures and the Pentateuch in particular. It might be maintained that this testimony is not germane to the study of documentary origins, but there are many who will remain unconvinced about this conspiracy of silence. Here is a stumbling block in the way of divisive criticism that no specious explanations have been able to remove. Furthermore, the testimony of the books themselves as to authorship and date, and the testimony of tradition, receive almost no attention. The advance of archaeological discovery leaves the authors unmoved in their theories about the late origin of Israel’s religious ...