Admonition and Curse: The Ancient Near Eastern Treaty/Covenant Form as a Problem in Inter-cultural Relationships

Weeks presents here his findings on the differing forms treaties and covenants can take throughout ancient Near Eastern governments and cultures and what those forms can reveal about the people employing them. He presents his work in a terse manner, which allows him to be comprehensive in his evaluation of the evidence within the confines of such a diminutive book. Along with this terseness Weeks assumes an audience that is very well-versed in ancient Near Eastern treaty/covenants. This renders facile reading by the nonspecialist a challenge. His assumption of an expert audience is somewhat surprising, given the fact that the author says “the topic of treaty and covenant was a major concern in ANE scholarship in the 1950s–1960s. After that it virtually disappears” (1). But he is also sure to make the specialist work too by his frequent use of vague language to cite texts. The learned reader is forced into the footnotes to find out which text is being discussed. But despite the onus that Weeks places on his readers, his findings are worth the effort. Weeks shows himself to be a thorough and careful scholar who says the minimum that the evidence will allow rather than the maximum. He also displays a breadth of scholarship with his treatment and personal translation of treaty/covenant texts from Egypt to Hatti that is truly noteworthy. Almost all texts are presented in translation with discussion of linguistic aspects reserved only for necessary cases.