This is the final volume of an unique set. Editors Edwin Yamauchi and Marvin Wilson continue the high quality of work, here covering O-Z, that we found in the previous volumes. Many scholars joined forces to provide us with this special resource. The setup that even includes a few pictures at the end matches the previous volumes. Together these volumes make an attractive paperback set.
The feature that makes this a special set is what it chooses to cover. It does not limit itself to specific Bible words, but addresses daily life issues in the way we think of them. That means that things like sanitation, spectacles, trade, and viticulture get covered. There are also things that you would expect like slavery, taxation, and threshing and winnowing, but at more detail than you would imagine. Touchy subjects like prostitution and same-sex relations are well covered too. Those articles were solidly scholarly and conservative.
The best compliment I can pay this volume is that I never failed to learn more than I knew of information worth knowing. I recommend this volume and wish more such sets were modeled after it..
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
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Jimmy Reagan takes a look at the Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity O-Z Volume 4 in this review: