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INTRODUCING BIBLICAL HEBREW. By Alien P. Ross. Pp. 565. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2001. Cloth, $39.99.
In light of the current deluge of new textbooks introducing Biblical Hebrew, one could be excused for dismissing this book prematurely. It would be easy (and perhaps justifiable) to find nothing positive to say about the appearance of yet another introduction to Biblical Hebrew without genuinely considering its contributions. But this would be a mistake, at least in this case, and at least in a few particulars. The author himself claims his volume is "much more than a beginning Hebrew grammar" (p. 9), and I have to agree, although some teachers will see this as both a strength and a weakness.
The material is presented in four parts. Part 1 ("Signs and Sounds") contains six chapters introducing phonology. This portion is standard fare for the genre, although the first chapter offers a much more detailed explanation of elementary phonology than most beginning grammars. Part 2 ("Forms and Meanings") presents the fundamentals of Biblical Hebrew in thirty-four chapters. Features of the language are usually explained in a clear and straightforward manner, although occasionally one could have wished for more frequent cross-referencing, which would have been especially useful for beginners. So, for example, when explaining the adjectival use of demonstratives...