Chronicles is a historiographical work narrating the history of Israel. The first part focuses on the period until the end of King David's reign. The anonymous author, presumably one of the Jerusalem Kohanim of the Second Temple period, who wrote the work during the late Persian period or early Hellenistic period. He structured his book by employing the earlier Bible books and re-writing them, in addition to materials that preceded him, and others he conceived; all according to his theological perspective.

Chronicles is a historiographical work narrating the history of Israel. The second part continues with Solomon through the Edict of Cyrus. The anonymous author, presumably one of the Jerusalem Kohanim of the Second Temple period, who wrote the work during the late Persian period or early Hellenistic period. He structured his book by employing the earlier Bible books and re-writing them, in addition to materials that preceded him, and others he conceived; all according to his theological perspective.

This volume from the series of Mikra Leyisrael contains the commentary of the books Ezra and Nehemia , which provide important information on the return from Babylonia and Persia to Judea after Cyrus' decree and the rebuilt of Jerusalem.

This extraordinary commentary by an anonymous late twelfth-century northern French exegete interprets the Song of Songs solely according to its plain meaning as a story of two young lovers and their developing relationship. The exegete pays attention to every detail of the text, offering many enlightening insights into its meaning, all the while expanding upon the 'way of lovers' – the ways that young people in love go about their lovemaking. The French background of the exegete is made clear by many references to knights, coats of arms, weapons, chivalry, and of course, wine drinking, as well as numerous glosses in Old French. The edition is accompanied by an extensive introduction which analyzes the various exegetical, literary, and linguistic features of the text.

CONTENTS Nili Wazana: Preface List of Abbreviations Jeffrey H. Tigay: Professor Moshe Greenberg ז"ל Mordechai Cogan: Professor Moshe Greenberg ז"ל Jonathan Ben-Dov: Professor Shemaryahu Talmon ז"ל Michael Sigal: Professor Shemaryahu Talmon ז"ל Baruch J. Schwartz: Professor Jacob Milgrom ז"ל Biblical Studies Rimon Kasher: Walking in the Way of God in the Hebrew Bible Micha Roi: The Story of Elijah’s Flight (1 Kings 19): A Comparative Study on the Pattern of ̒Departure Stories’ in the Bible The Bible in Relation to the Ancient Near East Nili Samet: Sumerian City Laments and the Book of Lamentations: Toward a Comparative Theological Study Yigal Bloch: Sěgullâ – A Re-examination of the Meaning of the Term Based on Two Assyrian Documents from the Thirteenth Century B.C.E. Yoel Elitzur: Qīr of the Aramaean: A New Approach Amitai Baruchi-Unna: Genres Meet: Esarhaddon’s Prayer in the Inscription AsBbA and Akkadian Prayers from the ̒Washing the Mouth’ Ritual History of Exegesis Yaakov Raphael Garzon: Sharp Anti-Christian Polemics in Rashi’s Commentaries to Genesis 1:1 Aharon Mondschein: Studies in the Rhymed Opening Verses of R. Abraham ibn Ezra in his Long Commentary on the Book of Exodus Carmiel Cohen: ‘This will put the mind more at ease’: Gersonides’ Alternative for Talmudic Hermeneutics in his Commentary on the Torah Aharon Ofir Shemesh: Henry Baker Tristram, Scholar of Nature in the Bible: His Methods for Identifying Plants and Animals and his Commentary Book Reviews Naphtali Meshel: (The Biblical Encyclopaedia Library), Jerusalem 2009 (in Hebrew)> Yoram Cohen: Inscriptions. History, Historiography and Ideology. A conference in Honour of Hayim Tadmor on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 20 November 2003, Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2009 (in Hebrew)> Rimon Kasher: , The Early History of the Babylonian Exile (8th–6th Centuries B.C.E.), Haifa: Pardes Publishing House, 2010 (in Hebrew)> Dvora Dimant: at Qumran in their Ancient Context (STDJ 78), Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2008> Books Received (compiled by Yaakov Dolgopolsky) List of Contributors English Abstracts

CONTENTS Sara Japhet-Preface Nili Wazana-Professor Moshe Weinfeld Moshe Bar-Asher-Professor Moshe Weinfeld Biblical Studies Tova Ganzel-The Status of Functionaries in the Future Temple of Ezekiel Jacob Milgrom-The Unique Features of Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezekiel 40–48) Noam Mizrahi-Linguistic Analysis and Textual Criticism:The Syntax of Obadiah 19–20 in the Masoretic Text and the Ancient Versions Amos Frisch-The Concept of Kingship in Psalms Yael Shemesh-I find woman more bitter than death’ (Ecclesiastes 7:26): Is there Misogyny in the Bible? The Bible in Relation to the Ancient Near East Shawn-Zelig Aster-What Sennacherib Said, and What the Prophet Heard: On the Use of Assyrian Sources in the Prophetic Narrative of the Campaign of 701 BCE Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocryphal Literature Vered Noam-'You Shall Pass Through Fire’ (Numbers 31:23) – An Early Exegetic Tradition Michal Bar-Asher Siegal-The Problem of Evil in the Syriac Translation of the Book of Ben Sira: the Differences between the Hebrew and the Syriac Texts Reconsidered History of Exegesis Yeshayahu Maori-‘Aggadot Hallukot’ in Rashi’s Commentary on Scripture Gila Prebor-The Use of Midrash in Rashi’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes Sara Japhet-Rashbam’s Introduction to his Commentary on Lamentations Aharon Mondschein-‘The Masoretes fabricated explanations for full and deficient spellings’: On Abraham ibn Ezra’s Struggle against the(Ab)use of Biblical Spelling as an Exegetical Tool Book Reviews Eran Viezel-On: Joseph Cohen, Uriel Simon (eds.), R. Abraham IbnEzra: Yesod Mora Ve-Sod Torah – The Foundation of Reverence and the Secret of the Torah, an annotated critical edition, second revised and enlarged version (Sources and Studies, XI, The Institute for Jewish Bible Interpretation, Bar-Ilan University), Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2007, 272 pp. (in Hebrew) Ronie Goldstein-On: Mariano Gómez Aranda, El comentario de Abraham Ibn Ezra al libro de Job: Edición crítica, traducción y estudio introductorio (Serie A: Literatura Hispanohebrea, 6) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Filología, Madrid 2004, cxl, 342, 94 pp.; Mariano Gómez Aranda, Dos Comentarios de Abraham Ibn Ezra Al Libro de Ester: Edición crítica, traducción y estudio introductorio (Serie A: Literatura Hispanohebrea, 9) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Filología, Madrid 2007, cxxviii, 193, 70 pp. 339

SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

This commentary was first published in 1855 in the Aharon Yelink Edition of the 32 Hamburg manuscripts and was welcomed happily by the Jewish Sages of that generation, however it was quickly forgotten and its relation to RASHBAM was distrusted. The damaged edition, in which it was published, did not benefit it either, and it hardly left any impression on the Biblical research of the new age. The current essay is a revised scientific edition of the commentary, based on all the known wording testimonies known today: 3 complete manuscripts, 2 segments of other manuscripts and another written testimony of another manuscript which we do not hold. This edition is preceded by a comprehensive preface which deals with a wide range of subjects: identifying the commentary's author, its affinity to other essays by Rashbam, the sources of the commentary, the literary aspects of the commentary, allegoric commentary of Song of Songs and his message according to his time and era, verbal issues in the commentary and an introduction to this edition. Rashbam's commentary on Song of Songs is an important text which contributes to a variety of fields: the exegesis of the biblical text; the knowledge of Rashbam's figure and actions as one of the greatest bible commentators of all time; an understanding of the history of Jewish commentaries on the bible, especially literal-oriented (pshat) commentaries; and knowledge of the history of French and Ashkenaz Jewry of the 12th and 13th centuries.

SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

For contents please press Sample pages on the right of the cover photo. SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.

SHNATON - An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies – is the most important Hebrew Journal for the research of Biblical Verse and the world in which it existed. It includes article from all areas of research of Biblical Studies in which are included Biblical Verse, Ancient Near East and its History, Languages and Literature all of which are inter linked with Biblical Verse, External Literature, the Judean Desert Scrolls, Ancient translations and the History of Commentary through the generations. The Annual also includes a special critical section for comprehensive criticism of recently published books in these issues.