Joel

Joel. By James L. Crenshaw. AB 24C. New York: Doubleday, 1995, xiv + 251 pp., $32.50.

The publication of another commentary on the little book of Joel is always cause for rejoicing, particularly when a scholar of the caliber of James L. Crenshaw is the author and it happens to be in the distinguished Anchor Bible (AB) series.

In the AB format, Crenshaw provides a contemporary translation of the Hebrew text, an overview of the book, discusses introductory issues, and then proceeds with notes and comments on each outlined portion of the text. In a short review, one can only touch on a few of these matters. On the book's exact historical setting, Crenshaw remains agnostic (p. 28), but he accepts the majority consensus that the book is postexilic. The order of the Twelve in the MT and LXX is inconclusive, but the internal evidence favors a date in perhaps the fifth century (p. 23). He notes the reference to the captivity and deportation in 3:2, 3 (MT 4:2, 3); the omission of references to the classical enemies, Assyria and Babylonia (p. 24); oft cited postexilic Hebrew words such as hasselah and sop (p. 26); the quotations from presumed earlier authoritative biblical texts/traditions (pp. 27-28), and the theocratic form of the community (p. 28) among other things.

Crenshaw does an admirable job of presenting the history of the structural schemes proposed by various scholars and notes that the trend of scholarship is to recognize the structural unity of the book, with 3:3-8 (MT 4:4-8) seen as a later addition by some. After exploring the stylistic and rhetorical features of the book, which he notes is rich in simile and metaphor, the author deals with religious views of the book. Crenshaw takes modern commentators to task for assuming the guilt of the Jerusalemite faith community in their interpretations when the book does not even mention the reason for the locust plague and drought (pp. 40, 146). Turning to the day of Yahweh, Crenshaw believes "that the prophet interpreted a natural catastrophe in Judah, a severe infestation of locusts and a severe drought, in terms of the dreaded day of YHWH's visitation in wrath, only to transfer this divine manifestation to foreign nations after the Jewish community turned to YHWH and became fortunate recipients of divine compassion" (p. 50).

In his fresh translation of the Hebrew text into modern English idiom, Crenshaw says he has "tried to navigate in treacherous waters, steering between the Scylla of literalism and the Charybdis of paraphrase." In some cases, he has done an admirable job; in others, methinks he runs aground. The translation of 1:15b as ukesod misadday "like destruction from the Destroyer" transfers the alliteration in the Hebrew text and steers confidently between the shoals. Likewise, the rendering of lebab as "mind" and "inner disposition" in 2:12, 13 captures the meaning and contrast with a mere ritualistic tearing of clothing. However, the translation of ruhi ("my Spirit") in 2:28 (MT 3:1) as "my vital force" runs aground on the shores of Charybdis and conjures up visions of Star Wars and the Return of the Jedi. While the semantic range of rah may encompass such a rendering, it is by no means clear that the prophet saw the endowment of Yahweh's Spirit in this way (cf. Ps 51:11; Isa 48:16 for alternative OT views). Crenshaw's translation likewise hides the trinitarian possibilities present in full canonical context and the focus on the personal presence of Yahweh that lie in the semantic range of the original Hebrew. Here it would have been better if Crehshaw had stayed with the "surface meaning of the text," as he calls it (p. 52).

On the famous hammoreh lisdaqa in 2:23, Crenshaw opts for "the early rain in its season" based upon Schmid's research into the Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern philosophical background of sedeq as "order" in the structure of the universe (p. 155) and Joel's failure to interpret the text if he really meant to render it as "teacher of righteousness."

Crenshaw has given us an excellent technical commentary, reasonably priced, that shows great erudition and learning. For the scholar, researcher and graduate student, it is a fine addition to one's library, on a par with Wolff's in the Hermeneia series. It has a thorough bibliography, except for the strange absence of Douglas Stuart's commentary on Joel in Hosea-Jonah in the Word series. However, the pastor and lay reader should look elsewhere for robust, readable commentary and exegesis for sermon preparation and teaching Sunday School. The book's highly technical nature extends beyond the notes into the comments section on each pericope, and one is amazed that the AB claims it is aimed at the general reader with little or no formal training in Biblical studies.

David D. Pettus

The Criswell College, Dallas, TX

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Mar 1999
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