ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF BIBLE LIFE & TIMES

Reader's Digest, 1997. 1st Edition Printing Unknown. Hardcover. As New/As New. Various artists color illustrations. CONDITION: UNREAD, but not quite perfect, 1997 Reader's Digest large (& heavy) hardcover (blue marbled boards with gold foil title) and dust jacket, first edition, no printing given. Problems: blank book plate inside front cover and tiny edge wear bottom DJ edge at spine. Wonderful color illustrations and photos. CONTENT: This is an unconventional biblical dictionary in that it contains only names of things, ideas, relationships, and physical objects, such as cistern, diamond, foods, husband, kitchen, and so on, as well as abstract ideas such as insult, mercy, patience, punishment, and purification. No places or events are included, nor are personal names, except as the author of the books of the Bible, as in Joel, Book of. There are no entries for Adam, David, Jesus, or Moses. On the other hand, there are hundreds of useful and well-illustrated entries, such as alabaster, almond, altar, amulet, antelope, apron, and Aramaic, to select but a few from the first part of the book. There are more than 1,500 such entries, with text running from about one-eighth to a whole page. All illustrations are in color, usually one or two to the page. Also in color are the occasional maps, tables of events, ancient measures (linear, liquid, etc.), and similar aids to understanding life in biblical times. Illustrations dominate spreads on special topics, such as Noah's Ark in the entry Ark of the Covenant. The text is accessible. Each entry contains a scriptural quotation at its beginning, taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (1989). At the end of the volume, besides an index, there is a glossary giving brief definitions of words not thought worth a full illustrated article in the main text. Typical glossary-only words include birthday and berries. It might have been a good idea to insert each of these into its proper place in the main text, with a see reference to the glossary. There are about 380 glossary-only definitions, and some are quite important, such as breaking of bread and blood of the covenant. Not all readers will locate the glossary, or remember to use it. On the whole, this is a very good book for giving a basic understanding of biblical life and times, an explanation of the Jewish way of life, and definitions of everyday things and events in the daily lives of the People of the Book and their immediate neighbors. The illustrations are excellent, and the text is clear and easy to read. The work is recommended to all public libraries, synagogues, church and Sunday-school libraries, seminaries, and others where a clear, easy-to-read, and well-illustrated alternative to more scholarly and comprehensive works is desired. (3 + lbs.)