Description:
In the first of three volumes of collected studies by Elias Bickerman, ten articles are reproduced with some updating in the notes, and appendices. Critical comment will center around three studies having direct bearing on the ancient Near East, and the Judaic tradition. They are "Couper une Alliance," a comparative study of covenant enactment; "The edict of Cyrus in Ezra I," in which Bickerman defends the essential authenticity of the Hebrew version of the edict; and "Two Legal Interpretations of the Septuagint," in which Bickerman shows how specific Greek renderings of Hebrew terms and passages reflect conditions in the Hellenistic world. Especial attention will be paid to the Greek rendering of the Hebrew term môhar "bride price" as pherne "dowry," and its implications for the institution of the dowry in later Judaism.