The Spirit Says: Inspiration and Interpretation in Israelite, Jewish, and Early Christian Texts by Ronald Herms, John R. Levison, and Archie T. Wright (review)

Abstract

opments in the different versions. Q. also addresses the complex relationship between the demotic version of Ahiqar and the Greek Life of Aesop, concluding that the Demotic text is the earliest witness to the “Egyptian Episode.” Kratz examines the Elephantine Ahiqar narrative and the Bisitun inscription to ascertain if they “are significant examples of the literature known to the Jewish (or, rather, Judean) colony and, if they were, how they fit into the historical and cultural context of the colony” (p. 302). He draws out the similarities between these two texts and the Hebrew Bible, especially the Book of Tobit. The final two articles consider the unprovenanced Papyrus Amherst 63. Together they offer a thorough presentation of this document and seek to relate it to the other Elephantine documents and the Judean community there. This excellent volume will draw the reader into the fascinating obscurities of the multicultural Elephantine society in the fifth and fourth centuries b.c.e. as it seeks to unravel those obscurities.