Hoffman, Joel. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language. New York: NYU Press, 2006.

Hoffman traces the history of the Hebrew language from its antiquity to modern times. This book filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the language especially as it pertains to the differences in spelling, grammar and pronunciation of Hebrew in its different stages of development. People who have studied biblical Hebrew will benefit from his chapters on the Masoretes since most students are familiar with the Tiberian tradition but most likely never heard of the Babylonian or Palestinian families. Hoffman walks the reader through what we can learn from the Dead Sea scrolls followed by a tour of the different dialects in the Hebrew Bible and post-biblical Hebrew. I especially appreciated his chapter on Modern Hebrew with the fascinating story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who brought Hebrew back to life. Some readers may find some portions of the book a bit tedious, especially his discussion on spelling. But people like me who can’t get enough of Hebrew will appreciate the balance between a popular treatment of the subject and his attention to the details of the language.

Rachel is weeping for her children
She refuses to be comforted by her children
Because they are gone

“Jeremiah could not have known that he was right in writing down his thoughts to ensure their preservation. Along with Psalm 122 and the rest of the Jewish canon, they would later be translated into Greek, buried in caves in Qumran, translated into Latin, analyzed by medieval grammarians who sought (and failed) to preserve their ancient sounds, and preserved for the future in a codex kept in Leningrad, eventually to be used as the foundation for a modern spoken language of Hebrew” (Hoffman 2004: 212-3).

Wright, N. T. The New Testament and the People of God. 1st ed. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1992.

Superb! What a great introduction to 2nd Temple Judaism and 1st century Christianity! N. T. Wright first lays out his epistemological presuppositions and then works through different elements of Israel’s worldview in order to understand Christianity’s self-understanding.  He maps out the worldview of first-century Judaism (or Judaisms), considering its symbols: Temple, Land, Torah, and racial identity. This worldview is explained in terms  of creational monotheism, election, and eschatology. The result is a highly enjoyable and challenging read that lays the foundation for his other volumes.

“The great story of the Hebrew scriptures was… inevitably read in the second-temple period as a story in search of a conclusion. This ending would have to incorporate the full liberation and redemption of Israel, an event which had not happened as long as Israel was being oppressed, a prisoner in her own land. And this ending would have to be appropriate: it should correspond to the rest of the story, and grow out of it in obvious continuity and conformity” (Wright 1992: 217).

These are just a few books that I’ve read recently that have helped me get a little beyond the basics of Biblical Hebrew.

Arnold, Bill T., and John H. Choi. A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Bilingual. Cambridge University Press, 2003. This is a great book for a quick review of Biblical Hebrew syntax, and the wealth of examples makes it an enjoyable reading. Although it was written to be used as a reference, I recommend reading through the whole book at least once as it may help you get a general sense of syntactical issues and exegetical possibilities. This might be a good book to read before working through An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax by Bruce Waltke and M. O’Connor which is a much larger work and also highly recommended.

Garrett, Duane A. Amos: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text. Baylor University Press, 2008. Tucker, W. Dennis. Jonah: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text. Baylor University Press, 2006. These volumes are useful for those familiar with the basics of Hebrew syntax. The quality varies from book to book, and some passages are more insightful than others. There is some (unnecessary) repetition, so the reader may find himself skipping some sections if he is working his way through a volume. I found the handbook on Amos to be more helpful than the one on Jonah, but that may be due to the book’s genre and size. I recommend that the reader work on the Hebrew text first on their own and then work through the handbook (most will probably just use it as a reference). Often times the authors will point things out in the text that you may have missed in your first reading or will provide some much needed background on the passage. Let me give you an example from a small part in Jonah 1:3 (in red). וַיָּקָם יוֹנָה לִבְרֹחַ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֵּרֶד יָפוֹ וַיִּמְצָא אֳנִיָּה בָּאָה תַרְשִׁישׁ וַיִּתֵּן שְׂכָרָהּ וַיֵּרֶד בָּהּ לָבוֹא עִמָּהֶם תַּרְשִׁישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה Tucker points out that בָּאָה is a participle instead of a Qal qatal 3rd femine singular because the accent (which is not in the text above) is on the final syllable. Students familiar with the pronunciation of verbs like בוא will not be surprised by this observation, but it may take a trip to a commentary or article to know that some translators assume this to be a future predicate particle yielding the translation “about to go to Tarshish.” However, Tucker also says that הנה usually appears when impending action is indicated so this reading may not be justified (see NIV). He then talks about Sasson’s contention that בוא “typically directs the movement toward the narrator of the story.” After observing that Tarshish does not have the directive he, this may well imply that the ship has returned from that city. Tucker does not decide on the correct reading, and the student is responsible to evaluate what makes sense. Although this is a small example (and not all comments may be contain this much information), it gives you a flavor of what the handbook does. As you can see, it is more than a parsing guide. Although I think these handbooks can be very helpful if used properly, I still wish something could be written with the same goal of helping students get into the text, but that would also follow the format and approach in Readings in Biblical Hebrew (see below). Update: There is a scathing review by John Engle in the Review of Biblical Literature on Garrett’s Amos. He concludes “that it offers only limited guidance to its readers due to its large number of errors and uncertain methodologies.” My suggestion is that you read the review, mark his observations and then enjoy the rest of the book. That Engle could hardly find anything good to say about a 300+ page book may indicate that his concerns, though legitimate they may be, ignore the usefulness of this resource of which there are not many.

Ehud Ben Zvi, Maxine Hancock, and Richard A. Beinert. Readings in Biblical Hebrew: An Intermediate Textbook. Yale University Press, 1993. This is an intermediate level Hebrew reader that inductively introduces the student to passages in the historical, legal, prophetic and wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible. This textbook is sort of a continuation of the introductory grammar by Kittel. You will be exposed to lots of genres and the notes are fantastic. Because the textbook inductively introduces the student to Hebrew syntax, A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax may be a good complement. You may be wondering how this book may differ from the Baylor handbook series. If we take the same example from Jonah, which is not covered in this book, Zvi and Beinert may start by asking the reader what the function of the accent is in determining how one parses בָּאָה and whom or what this verb is modifying. They may include notes (which may contain different translations of the verse) and a “For Further Thought” section with background information and questions. The main difference is that the handbook is designed to be a reference whereas Readings is like a professor walking you through the passage without giving all the answers but enough to orient the student. Sadly, I think this is the only one there is. I am a bit surprised that nobody has seen fit to write other volumes.

Wilson, Marvin R. Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989.

This is a balanced look at the Jewish roots of Christianity (the best I have read so far) and an excellent book for someone who knows little about Judaism and is wondering what it means to say that Christianity has Jewish roots. He traces the history of the synagogue and the Church touching on their theological conflicts. Wilson also takes some time to talk about Hebrew thought and why it is foundational. A few selected studies cover subjects like marriage, Passover and the last supper, the land and learning.  This would be a great book to read before Levine’s The Misunderstood Jew. Both books will show different perspectives and concerns and will raise important questions for both Jews and Christians.

“The Protestant tradition, especially Lutheranism, has tended to see the leitmotif for Paul’s understanding of the Gospel in the emphasis on justification by faith as opposed to the works of the law. Though this theme is certainly important to Paul, we are in essential agreement with Davies, who finds the locus of Paul elsewhere, namely, in his ‘subordination of the Law to Christ as in Himself a new Torah—new not in the sense that He contravened the Old but that He revealed its true character, or put it in a new light.’” (Wilson 1989: 28-9, quoting W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, p. xxxiv).

Levine, Amy-jill. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. HarperOne, 2006.

To me, the main value of this book is seeing the perspective of someone who is committed to Judaism but also  happens to be a New Testament scholar.  She begins by drawing an analogy—a tad strained, she admits—that, I believe, shapes the way she writes the book: “the Torah functions for the synagogue as Jesus does for the church: it is the ‘word’ of the divine present in the congregation” (Levine 2006: 17). Therefore, looking carefully at the worldview of each community is important if one is to understand the relationship between the two.  She has many things to say about the interaction between Jews and Christians throughout history and the different ways that each misunderstands the New Testament. Although some will quibble about Levine’s exegesis of some passages, she does challenge Christians to take a closer look at those passages more critically, and I personally found her discussion of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-collector to be illuminating. All in all, it is a fascinating read even when there are points of disagreement.

You may also want to watch a video of her lecture entitled Reassessing Jewish-Christian Relations, 2008.

“When Jesus is located within the world of Judaism, the ethical implications of his teachings take on renewed and heightened meaning; their power is restored and their challenge sharpened. Jews as well as Christians should be able to agree on a number of these teachings today, just as in the first century Jesus’s followers and even those Jews who chose not to follow him would have agreed with such basic assertions as that God is our father, that his name should hallowed, and that the divine kingdom is something ardently to be desired. Conversely, the failure to understand the Jewish Jesus within his Jewish context has resulted in the creation and perpetuation of millennia of distrust, and worse, between church and synagogue” (Levine 2006: 20).