Ruth: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text

by Robert D. Holmstedt

Overview

Rather than devote space to the type of theological and exegetical comments found in most commentaries, this series focuses on the Hebrew text and its related issues, syntactic and otherwise. The volumes serve as prequels to commentary proper, providing guides to understanding the linguistic characteristics of the texts from which the messages of the texts may then be derived. In addition to this, Ruth, the newest volume in the series, handbooks on Amos, Genesis 1-11, and Jonah are also now available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932792911
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2010
Series:	Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible , #4
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert D. Holmstedt is Assistant Professor in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, where he teaches ancient Hebrew and West Semitic languages.

What People are Saying About This

An excellent linguistic pathway through Ruth. Students will find his systematic approach and his inclusion of pedagogic aids very helpful, and scholars will appreciate the breadth of his textual comments that make this much more than just a syntactical handbook or guide to grammatical forms.

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld

An up-to-date resource valuable for intermediate students. Holmstedt provides a strong focus on the connection between syntax and nuance of meaning.

K. Lawson Younger Jr.

Designed for the intermediate student to the advanced researcher, Holmstedt's Ruth is a wonderful paragon of an informed merging of traditional Hebrew grammatical analysis with insights from the modern linguistic analysis of Hebrew. With conciseness and clarity, Holmstedt demonstrates the great value of a linguistically informed analysis of biblical Hebrew, not only for the book of Ruth, but for biblical texts in general.

Victor H. Matthews

An excellent linguistic pathway through Ruth. Students will find his systematic approach and his inclusion of pedagogic aids very helpful, and scholars will appreciate the breadth of his textual comments that make this much more than just a syntactical handbook or guide to grammatical forms.

Editorial Reviews

This volume will benefit both students and scholars with an in-depth discussion of Hebrew grammar and syntax as well as some lexicography and etymology of obscure words. Overall, Holmstedt provides students of Biblical Hebrew with a technical, but accessible study of the text of the book of Ruth.

Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies - Adam J. Howell

This commentary on Ruth from the Hebrew text (phrase by phrase) is written with the awareness that Ruth or/and Jonah are usually the first Hebrew texts learners of biblical Hebrew read. Pages 1–50 summarize relevant aspects of Hebrew grammar, semantics, and pragmatics (how syntactic and semantic options are manipulated) that the student should be familiar with. Linguistic features show no clear needbased borrowing from Aramaic, so one thinks of the early Persian period as the time of writing. Holmstedt is attentive to nuances. For example, "due to the famine in Israel, someone from the town named ‘House of Bread’ [Bethlehem] had to leave to find provision as an alien in a foreign land" (p. 55). The comments in places explain the use of accents and the grammatical changes they induce in words/phrases.In short, the author has given students a valuable step-by-step introduction to reading the text of the Hebrew Bible.

Bible Today - James Chukwuma Okoye

Holmstedt's volume is a mine of information and insight... certainly a book that will repay investment.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament - D. W. Rooke

Designed for the intermediate student to the advanced researcher, Holmstedt's Ruth is a wonderful paragon of an informed merging of traditional Hebrew grammatical analysis with insights from the modern linguistic analysis of Hebrew. With conciseness and clarity, Holmstedt demonstrates the great value of a linguistically informed analysis of biblical Hebrew, not only for the book of Ruth, but for biblical texts in general.

An excellent linguistic pathway through Ruth. Students will find his systematic approach and his inclusion of pedagogic aids very helpful, and scholars will appreciate the breadth of his textual comments that make this much more than just a syntactical handbook or guide to grammatical forms.

From the Publisher