Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 02:1 (Nov 1939)
Article: Reviews Of Books
Author: Anonymous

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WTJ 2:1 (Nov 1939) p. 35

Reviews Of Books

Julius H. Greenstone: Numbers with Commentary (The Holy Scriptures). Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America. 1939. xxxviii, 373. $2.50.

There is need in the present day for a series of Old Testament commentaries of a popular nature which is based upon the traditional view of the authorship of the individual books. This need is particularly great, due to the fact that the world of Old Testament scholarship is still very largely under the influence of the documentary hypothesis, and hence, the energies of scholars are often directed largely to the analysis of particular passages and to the subsequent assignment of these passages to various documents. This naturally results in a lessening of endeavor to determine the exact meaning of the passages under consideration. One need but read certain recent commentaries to see that this is so. Hence, popular works which are based upon the so-called higher criticism of the Old Testament are, in the opinion of the reviewer, often of less help in aiding the reader to understand the Bible than could be desired.

The present volume, however, does make a serious attempt to interpret the Biblical text. The work is the third in a series on the books of the Old Testament. The first volume, a commentary on Micah by Max L. Margolis, appeared in 1908, and the second, The Book of Deuteronomy with commentary, by Joseph Reider, in 1937. These works were published by the Jewish Publication Society of America, which plans to issue additional volumes of the series in the future.

The series is intended “for the teacher, the interested pupil and the general reader, and the commentaries are therefore written in as simple and popular a form as is consistent with clearness and accuracy” (p. v). It is the opinion of the reviewer that the volume under consideration well fulfills this aim. Although obviously the product of capable scholarship, the work is nevertheless written in such a manner as to be exceedingly helpful to the layman who is not acquainted with the Hebrew language. In addition to this fact, the volume is provided with two maps for the help of the reader, one of the land of Canaan before the Israelitish occupation, and the other showing the probable route of the Israelites in their

WTJ 2:1 (Nov 1939) p. 36

journey from Egypt to the promised land. A third help is the splendid analysis of the book of Numbers which is given in the Introduction.

The commentary, as is to be expected, is written from the Jewish point of view. Thus the translation adopted follows the English version of the Jewish Publication Society. Likewise, constant reference is made to the better known Jewish exegetes of ancient and modern times. Herein is t...

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