The Characterization of the Assyrians in Isaiah: Synchronic andDiachronic Perspectives, Mary Katherine Y. H. Hom, T&T Clark, 2012(ISBN 978-0-567-63171-8), viii + 235 pp., hb $130

A revised version of Mary Katherine Y. H. Hom’s dissertation at theUniversity of Cambridge, The Characterization of the Assyrians in Isaiahtraces the development of the role of the Assyrians through Isaiah 1–39,with one chapter devoted to the only occurrence of the Assyriansoutside of 1–39 (Chapter 19 is devoted to Isaiah 52:1–6). Hom identifiesthe movement of the characterizations of the Assyrians in Isaiah in alinear fashion: early in the text, the Assyrians are viewed as a simpletool wielded by the divine warrior in judgment over Israel. The Assyr-ians then become haughty and their arrogance causes Yahweh to turnhis anger from Israel to the Assyrians, sparing Israel and punishingAssyria.

Chapter 1 opens with a brief literature review, in which Homacknowledges that her subject is not a common one, citing works byDavid Bostock, Peter Dubovsky, Danna Nolan Fewell, and PeterMachinist. Hom then moves into discussing her method: She exegeteseach passage in which the Assyrians are explicitly or implicitly men-tioned in the final form of Isaiah. She defines her purpose as threefold,with the first two motivations expected: ‘to attend to an oft-neglectedapproach to texts that concern the Assyrian, [and] . . . to appreciate theoverall narrative artistry and meaning conveyed through Isaiah 1–39;52:1–6’ (p. 4). Her third purpose, however, is what separates this workfrom what has gone before: ‘to establish a standard from which diach-ronic inquiry may develop’ (p. 4). She argues that neither the synchro-nic nor the diachronic alone ‘can account for the final form of the text aswe have it’, (p. 5) and therefore we need to redirect and attempt tofollow the lead that Brevard Childs took in his Isaiah commentary.

Chapter 2 discusses Isaiah 1:5–9, and highlights the Assyrians’ role as‘agents of destruction and abuse’ (p. 15); the Assyrians are essentially atool of Yahweh used to punish Judah. Chapter 3 views Isaiah 5:25–30 asdescribing the invaders again as tools of Yahweh’s punishment thathighlight Yahweh’s sovereignty. Chapter 4 discusses Isaiah 7:3, 17–25,in which the function of Assyria as a tool is continued. A contrast isshown in verse 3 between Ahaz and Yahweh, in that Ahaz assumes thathe can ‘manipulate [Assyria] for his own means’ (p. 23), while Yahwehis the actual owner of that tool. Chapter 5 concerns Isaiah 8:1–10, and itagain displays Assyria’s military dominance as a tool of Yahweh;Assyria is compared to the river Euphrates in that its size and furyfloods its opponents. At this point, however, the people cry out toYahweh, and Yahweh will not abandon his people (p. 35). Chapter 6focuses on Isaiah 10, in which Assyria is still a tool of Yahweh, his rodand staff, but Hom feels that the word ‘woe’ that begins verse 5 sets ‘a

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tone of judgment and inform[s] that reader that punishment is aheadfor Assyria’ (p. 36). Hom identifies the problem with Assyria in that theAssyrian king takes a haughty stance and takes credit for his ownsuccesses. This is the major turning point in which judgment is nolonger pointing at Judah but now at Assyria. Chapter 7, a mere twopages in length, discusses Isaiah 11:11–16, in which Assyria is includedin a list of nations in the ancient world, including Egypt, causing Homto view Assyria as superseding Egypt as the worst abuser of Israel andJudah. Chapter 8 refers to Isaiah 13–14, which highlights how thedestruction of Assyria is fulfilled not only when Assyria falls, but also,as Hom quotes Blenkinsopp, that ‘the destruction of Babylon representsthe final fulfillment of the anti-Assyrian prophecies’ (p. 63). Chapter 9moves the attention to Isaiah 19, which is something of an oddity in theAssyria texts in Isaiah; the first half of Isaiah 19 refers to the conversionof Egypt to Yahweh, while verses 23–25 view Assyria as joining Egyptand Israel in Yahweh worship. This stands out from the rest of theAssyria material in Isaiah. Chapter 10 discusses Isaiah 20:1–6, and thefocus seems to be a warning to the Israelites to not ally with the Egyp-tians for protection against the Assyrians, but instead to rely onYahweh. Chapter 11 moves to Isaiah 21, which Hom refers to as‘elusive’ (p. 85), mentioning that it is multilayered in the sense thatapplications are apparent to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and possi-bly even the Persians. Although viewed as tools of a sovereign God, theAssyrians also face punishment, and the multilayered text brings tomind the fact that each empire, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and eventhe Babylonians eventually are brought to their knees by Yahweh as heprotects his people. Chapter 12 refers to Isaiah 23:13, which highlightsthe power of Assyrian (with the ability to destroy Chaldea), but under-stands that ‘YHWH’s [arm] reaches farther’ (p. 93). Chapter 13 under-stands Isaiah 27:12–13 to imply that Yahweh will bring his people out ofexile and back into the Promised Land. Chapter 14 discusses Isaiah 28,which uses a metaphor of overflowing water to represent Assyria’spower, but the prophet does not use the word, ‘Assyria’ at all; contraryto Assyria’s boastfulness, the silence regarding her name is a dismissalof her power in contrast to the power of Yahweh. Chapter 15, discuss-ing Isaiah 30, highlights the entire reversal of events: first the ‘Judeandependence on Egypt’ (p. 120) is condemned and they are punished byAssyria, the tool of Yahweh; then the people call out to Yahweh;Yahweh promises blessing; Yahweh punishes the boastful Assyrians.This reversal is a microcosm of the greater view of Assyria throughoutall of Isaiah 1–39. Isaiah 31, discussed in Chapter 16, repeats much ofthe material presented in Isaiah 30. Chapter 17, moving the reader’sattention to Isaiah 33, highlights the power of Yahweh in first using theAssyrians as a tool, and then destroying them for their boastfulness.Chapter 18, which covers all of Isaiah 36–39, is an extended comparison

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of the characterization of the Assyrians in the ‘two major versions of theHezekiah narrative’ (p. 161). Chapter 19 discusses the only inference ofAssyria outside of Isaiah 1–39, which is in Isaiah 52:1–6, where they aretypologically connected to the Babylonians.

Hom’s concluding chapter, Chapter 20, reinforces the progressionof the characterization of the Assyrians from a tool or instrument ofYahweh to a boastful nation to the oppressors of Israel who are nowfacing the wrath of Yahweh. Hom has successfully put forth anexegetical journey of the characterizations of the Assyrians in Isaiah.Her writing is clear, her arguments of cogent, and her exegesisis solid. The volume would be of great use to students of Assyrio-logy and of Isaiah and the prophets, or even of biblical history ingeneral.

Matthew James HamiltonSouthwest Virginia Community College

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What Is a Lollard: Dissent and Belief in Late Medieval England, J.Patrick Hornbeck II, Oxford University Press, 2010 (ISBN 978-0-19-958904-3), xxvi + 241 pp., hb £71

Scholars today who are interested in the English Reformation and itsantecedents have to steer a cautious course between the Scylla of Prot-estant orthodoxy from Foxe to A. G. Dickens and the Charybdis ofrevisionists such as Richard Rex and Eamon Duffy. Where what ourauthor would call the ‘lollards’ (lower case) or, better, medieval dis-senters are concerned, this is not so much because those writersespouse extreme positions but because the picture they paint is mono-lithic. In fact, a moment’s thought is enough to realize that these people,ranging from Oxford academics to village laborers, covering the bestpart of 150 years and spread in a scattered way over a country with apre-modern communications system, could never have formed a cen-tralized movement the beliefs of which could be described in an essen-tialist manner. It is this a priori probability that this Oxford doctoralthesis supervised, and later ‘shepherded’, by Diarmaid MacCulloch,who is also on the Editorial Committee of the Oxford TheologicalMonograph series in which this book is published, sets out to prove indetail.

I would advise the reader to skip the rambling, overlappingand somewhat incoherent Preface and Introductory Chapter, of whichmore later, and concentrate on the meaty details provided in the five

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