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Summary: Professor makes simple error
Review: Notice that he lists Gen.32:3- 12 as Gen.32:4-13. I wonder how many points he takes off for that kind of mistake in his classroom?
Rating:
Summary: A treasure hidden under our very eyes.
Review: The fascinating untangling of the Flood story that Professor Friedman gave us in "Who Wrote the Bible?" is carried many steps forward in this captivating feast of detective work and biblical scholarship. A single, cohesive book has been 'hidden' under our very eyes in the biblical text. It begins in Genesis 2:4b with the writings of "J", but then it is scattered throughout nine biblical books, from Genesis to Kings. Yet all of its parts can be identified by their similar stylistic, thematic and vocabulary characteristics. He demonstrates with very convincing arguments that the similarities of the various components are far in excess than what could be expected by virtue of imitation or chance. And what emerges is 'the heart of the Bible', a single, cohesive and beautiful story, the mother of most of the beloved biblical stories that we learn since childhood, and the one that routed the cultural and religious development of the Western world. And it appears to be the work of a single author, possibly a woman. Professor Friedman's book is organized in three parts: introduction, a new translation into English of the entire 'hidden' Hebrew text, and scholarly notes to document and support his thesis. It is best to read them in order. The introduction captures the interest of the reader, who may find it difficult to put the book down once started. It describes the origin of the idea and the twelve years of research and discovery that led to the identification and concatenation of all the parts of the 'hidden' book. The translation begins with a title, 'In the Day". In the Hebrew Bible books are usually named with their first word, and the first word of this until now partially hidden treasure means just that. The last part of the work will be of interest to biblical scholars, but much of it is within reach for educated readers. The biblical text has been rendered into English with clarity and forwardness. Instead of the majestic wording of the King James version, where the idea often appears dim behind archaic expressions and clarifying words, Professor Friedman's English rendition faithfully reflects the economy of vocabulary and structure of the Hebrew language. The message is conveyed with a classic beauty that contrasts with the pedestrian, uninspiring English of some contemporary translations.
Rating: 
Summary: Friedman errors
Review: The translation was the best I have seen, but he still makes errors. He also has too way many verses from the original text. He did good tracing "J" in scoping out the original text, although there are some items in "J" that need to be deleted. Without a text to copy from after "J" Friedman gets lost. He is clueless as which verses should stay and which ones should go. He totally failed to catch the pattern of "J" in making the choice and in doing so has missed the real story and the real ironies. Kudos to him for discovering this ancient "prose" but he does not even know why they wrote the text. He actually thinks it is a prose story. He is wrong. When you know why the Iliad, or the Epic of Gilgalmish was written, then you will know why this book was written too.- It is an astrology/astronomy guide.
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