Bible Review

For more on acrostics in the Bible, see Harvey Minkoff, “As Simple as ABC,” BR 13:02.

For a fine study of the “judges” who do not “judge,” see Ellis Easterly, “A Case of Mistaken Identity: The Judges in Judges Don’t Judge,” BR 13:02. However, Easterly makes the same mistake most do when he says “only one judge—Deborah—in only one reference, judges in a legal sense.”

See Lawrence E. Stager, “The Song of Deborah—Why Some Tribes Answered the Call and Others Did Not,” BAR 15:01.

To give but two examples: In an effort to minimize the difference between his two daughters, Laban, speaking to the deceived Jacob, diminishes both Leah and Rachel by referring to them only as “this.” “Fulfill the week of this, and we will give you this also” (Genesis 29:27; emphasis added). Pharaoh’s servants, referring contemptuously to Moses, ask Pharaoh, “How long will this be a snare to us?” (Exodus 10:7).

See Victor Hurowitz, “P—Understanding the Priestly Source,” BR 13:03.

The author of the text seems to have in mind something like the ritual of the water of bitterness for unfaithful wives, outlined in Numbers 5:11–31, although the procedures here are rather different, in particular the application of the test to a man.

Joseph’s decision is inappropriate in the context of the Infancy Gospel, where Mary is Joseph’s ward and not his wife. Apparently, the author borrowed the phrase from Matthew 1:19 without taking into consideration the changed circumstances of his own narrative.

For more on Jesus’ family, see Richard J. Bauckham, “All in the Family,” BR 16:02.