Patronage in Ancient Palestine and in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader ed. by Emanuel Pfoh (review)

Reviewed by: Patronage in Ancient Palestine and in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader ed. by Emanuel Pfoh Hannes Bezzel emanuel pfoh (ed. ), Patronage in Ancient Palestine and in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader (Social World of Biblical Antiquity 12; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2022). Pp. xx + 464. £80/110/€90. In the past two decades, it has become increasingly clear that thinking in terms of patronage client structures is crucial for the understanding of ancient Levantine societies. That being the case, this model also offers a marvelous heuristic tool kit for a better understanding of the texts originating in these societies, among them the biblical writings. Emanuel Pfoh, who is well known for his groundbreaking contributions to the debate in question, now presents a collection of twenty-one articles that have been previously published from the mid-1990s until 2016—with one contribution (by Bernhard Lang) dating back even to 1982. It is obvious that the methodology and the argumentation in biblical exegesis as well as in archaeology have developed over these thirty-four years, so one might argue that the different articles could not provide a picture that would be totally consistent. But one might also say that this is a strength of this "reader"—to give the reader also a diachronic impression of which roads the discussion about patronage in the ancient Near End Page 407 East has taken during the past years, how it has changed, and how in some cases it has led to differing results. The volume divides into three parts: P. convincingly regards patronage client structures as a longue-durée phenomenon, and, accordingly, the first part of the book ("Patronage in Its Ancient Southwest-Asian Context") offers six articles, with topics stretching from the Middle Bronze to the Late Bronze eras in the second millennium b. c. e. . Part 2 ("Patronage in Palestine during the First Millennium BCE") has seven articles, and part 3 ("Patronage in the Hebrew Bible") contains eight articles. This overall structure is perfectly logical, but at the same time it illustrates a basic methodological challenge when one looks at the interrelation of parts 2 and 3. The differentiation between a historical view of the Levant in the first millennium and approaches dealing with the interpretation of biblical texts that originated—often in a complex redactional process—in the course of this period makes perfect sense. It testifies that P. is well aware of the problems that arise when one tries to read texts of the Hebrew Bible as historical sources. Accordingly, one should be aware of what a tendentially structuralist longue-durée approach can achieve and what it cannot. Methodologically, the approach becomes difficult when it goes beyond highlighting the sociological structures and interpreting certain historical phenomena against this background but also constructs these specific historical situations and phenomena (which, in Fernand Braudel's terminology, are to be situated, categorically differently, on the évenement or "event" level). An example of this is given—perhaps not incidentally—by the oldest contribution to the volume, Bernhard Lang's article on the famous "rent capitalism" in eighth-century northern Israel and Amos's critique of it, by which he means the historical Amos (pp. 186–201; see further discussion below). Here, the reconstruction of the socioeconomic situation of eighth-century Israel is based on an uncritical reading of the Book of Amos alone. Then, in a second step, the supposed eighth-century Amos is again interpreted against this assumed historical situation. This is classic circular reasoning, which, in addition, ignores that a great deal of the prophetic social critique may be dated much later and probably reacts to theological—and economic—problems of the Hellenistic era. But despite this punctual critique, it is perhaps exactly the diversity of the topics and approaches to the overall theme of the book that makes it a multifaceted, most interesting, and most stimulating reading. The reader will not enter the world of patronage–client theory unprepared: P. offers a marvelous "Introduction" (pp. 1–37), which carefully unfolds the history of the concept from the late nineteenth century c. e. (beginning with Fustel de Coulanges) and Max Weber onwards. The author diligently steers a course between demonstrating. . .