Books in Brief

Twin Disciplines

Amos, Hosea, Micah—An Archaeological Commentary

Philip J. King (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1988) 192 pp., $20.95 (hardback), $15.95 (paperback)

As the readers of BAR and Bible Review know, archaeologists are making enormous contributions to our understanding and appreciation of the Bible. What may not be as apparent, however, is this: Of the data relevant to the Bible in the possession of archaeologists, only a small portion ever comes to the attention of the nonspecialist. Not only are many archaeologists notorious for their procrastination in issuing reports, but the relevant data that does find its way onto the printed page is often lost to the interested reader amidst the details of stratigraphy and ceramic typology.

Professor King, whose twin disciplines of Biblical archaeology and Hebrew Bible place him in an ideal position to bring archaeological finds and Biblical texts into contact with each other, has made a unique contribution in the present book. In a lively narrative style accompanied by several dozen illustrations, he has placed before the reader the world of objects and events assumed, but often left unclarified, by the books of Amos, Hosea, and Micah.