The Book and Those Who Study It, philosophy homework help – HUMANITIES

Introduction and Overview: The Book and Those Who Study It
Read: Chapter 1 -The Old Testament Story (pgs. 1-20. This chapter is designed to introduce you to the academic study of Scripture.) Genesis 1-11 – Since you will be reading almost all of the entire Old Testament, it is a good idea to get a jump on it. Study Questions (Please respond to and answer questions 1, 4, 9, 11, 17 on pg. 21 of your textbook. 1. What is the Old Testament, and how did the term originate? 2. Why did the Israelites begin their story with the Exodus?3. How did the Septuagint affect the way various Christian groups view the biblical canon today?4. What are the three major concerns of literary and historical studies of the biblical text? 5. What are some ways in which modern technology is making a contribution to archaeology? Introduction and Overview: The Book and Those Who Study It Read: Chapter 2 -The Old Testament Story (pgs. 23-35. This chapter will introduce you to the cultural, political, social and religious background out of which the Old Testament comes.) Genesis 12-25:11 – (The story of Abraham and Sarah) Study Questions (Please respond to and answer questions 2, 4, 7, 8 and 10 on pg. 36 of your textbook) Explain the significance of the following groups of people: Sumerians, Akkadians, Amorites,Hurrians, Arameans, Habiru, and Hittites.Who were the Hyksos? What role might they have played in the early history of Israel?What are the four major divisions of Palestine from west to east?How did the Shephelah function in biblical times to protect the area of Judah?What were the two major north-south roads in ancient Palestine, and why were they so important? Israel Looks at the Beginning: Genesis Read: Chapter 3 -The Old Testament Story (This chapter introduces the student to the Jewish narrative of the origins of creation and to the story of its ancestors.) Genesis 25:12-50 – (The story of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, from Isaac to Joseph.) Study Questions (Please respond to and answer questions 3, 5, 9, 15 and 20 on pg. 59 of your textbook.) Compare the portraits of God in 1:1-2:4a to those in 2:4b-3:25. What do they say about Israels understanding of God?What is the theological importance of the biblical Flood story?How are the covenant accounts in Genesis 13:14-17, 15:17-21, and 17:1-21 alike, and how do they differ?How do you account for the similarities between the stories about Sarah and the Pharaoh (Gen. 12:14-20), Sarah and Abimelech (20:1-18), and Rebekah and Abimelech (26:6-11)?How do the stories about Joseph differ from other patriarchal stories?G
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Ninth Edition
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The Old Testament Story
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John H. Tullock
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Professor Emeritus
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Belmont University
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Revised by
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Mark McEntire
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Professor of Religion
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Belmont University
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Prentice Hall
Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River
Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
CHAPTER
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The Book and OThose
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Timeline
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1200 B.C.E. First mention of Israel on the Merneptah
C Stele in Egypt
500 B.C.E.
Approximate date for the completion of the final form of the Torah
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200 B.C.E.
100 C.E.
400 C.E.
1000 C.E.
1450 C.E.
1535 C.E.
1611 C.E.
Approximate date for the beginning of translation of the Hebrew
scriptures into Greek
Approximate date for the closing ofLthe Hebrew canon
Approximate date of the copying ofE
the Vatican and Alexandrian
Codices of the Septuagint
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Copying of the Leningrad Codex
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Invention of the printing press by Gutenburg and the production
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of the first printed Bible
First complete English translation of the Bible by Coverdale
Completion of the King James Version
1 of the Bible
Chapter Outline
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
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The Old Testament: What Is It?
How It Began
How It Developed
The Work of Scholars
Archaeology as a Tool for Understanding
Why Study the Old Testament?
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
2
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
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This chapter serves as an introduction to the academic study of the Old Testament. The first task is
O we realize that different religious
to define Old Testament, a task that becomes more difficult when
communities understand and use this collection of literature in
Rdifferent ways. The next step is to
describe the process by which the Old Testament came into being, a task that can only be hypoD
thetical at many points because of a lack of evidence. The remainder of the chapter describes how
scholars of various types approach the Old Testament, by examining
O different methods of reading,
and how the historical study, including archaeology, is applied to the understanding of the text.
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THE OLD TESTAMENT: WHAT IS IT?
Definition
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The Old Testament is a set of texts that originated among the people
E who, at differing times in their
history, have been called Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews, and which became their sacred scriptures.
Sa period of more than a thousand
The Old Testament is actually a library of books, produced over
Jesus, the Apostles, and members of
years (1200–200 B.C.E.).1 This was the Bible that was known to S
the early Christian church—especially in the period before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in
I After 70 C.E., the collection of
70 C.E., when the church was still viewed as another Jewish sect.
Christian writings (which began with some of Paul’s letters andC
the earliest of the Gospels) began to
be viewed as sacred. And thus having the status of scripture, Christians began to refer to the Hebrew
A writings as the New Covenant or
Bible as the Old Covenant or the Old Testament and their sacred
the New Testament. They took the term covenant from the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31–34).
“Tell me a story” is the frequent plea of a child. It is through stories that we transmit to our
L of life. So it has always been with
children our values, our family traditions, and much of our view
humankind, and so it was with ancient Israel. Its stories took
Emany forms: the accounts of the
creation of the universe and of people, its legal system, the oracles of its prophets, the songs of its
I
singers, and the wisdom of its sages. All these are part of the Old Testament story.
The Literary Forms That Carry the Story2
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NARRATIVE. In our culture, we normally expect narrative to be the means of communicating a
story. Thus, we are not surprised that much of the Old Testament is made up of narrative material.
Readers soon discover, however, that stories that come from a 1
very different time and place follow
very different conventions. One of the most striking examples 8
is the lack of descriptive language in
these stories. The most important human character in the Old Testament is Moses. He dominates
7 a word about his physical appearfour large books, from Exodus to Deuteronomy, yet there is not
ance. Readers are not told whether he is tall or short, large or small,
1 or has blue eyes or brown. The
stories of the Old Testament have a density and economy about them that makes them significantly
different from most contemporary written stories. The story ofB
Cain and Abel, in Genesis 4:1–16, is
one of the most powerful and influential stories in all of WesternU
culture, yet it is slightly less than 200
words long in Hebrew and was translated to slightly less than 400 English words in the King James
Version of the Bible. John Steinbeck’s classic novel, East of Eden, is in many ways a modern retelling
of the Cain and Abel story, and in its most commonly published form is nearly 700 pages long.
The narratives in the Bible often make use of, or are supplemented by, other literary forms
such as laws, songs, genealogies, and lists. Yet these forms are woven into the narrative in such a
way that they become a vital part of it. Narrative is the principal literary vehicle from Genesis
through 2 Kings, in major portions of the prophetic books, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Jonah, and Haggai, and in the less familiar books of the Old Testament, such as 1 and 2
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Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel, and Ruth.
What is unusual about all this is that narrative was not a common
literary device in other surO
viving literature from the ancient Near East. Outside of legal codes, most of what is known about its
R primary function is to impart
gods, goddesses, legendary heroes, and kings is told in poetry. Poetry’s
a sense of emotion and praise for its subject, while narrative serves
D to give the stories a sense of time
and place, to flesh out their characters, and to impart a sense of the flow of life to what is being told.
There are at least two stories in the Old Testament that O
are told twice, once in prose narrative and once in poetry. The first is the crossing of the sea byN
the Israelites as they were pursued
through the wilderness by Pharaoh’s army, after their escape from slavery in Egypt. Exodus 14
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tells the story in prose, then the Israelites, led by Moses, sing the “Song of the Sea” in Exodus 15,
which tells the story again in a different way. The powerful poetry of Judges 5 conveys the sense of
celebration for the LORD’s delivery of Israel by the hand of Deborah from a powerful enemy. This
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“Song of Deborah” is preceded by a prose account of the same story in Judges 4.
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The Old Testament contains numerous sets of laws, which have been
placed into the narrative of the exodus from Egypt and theSjourney through the wilderness.
Closer examination of these laws later will reveal that they seem
S to come from different times and
places, but their placement within a story provides a powerful and dynamic way of preserving
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and presenting legal material.
LEGAL MATERIALS.
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One would naturally expect Psalms and the Song of Songs to be poetry. What might
A of the Bible is that large porcome as a surprise to those who have not used modern translations
tions of the books of the prophets are also in poetic form. The line between poetry and prose is not
always clear. They are perhaps better understood as two ends of a continuum rather than two disL
tinct categories. The first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, is typically
understood as prose, and is
printed that way, but careful reading of this text reveals that it E
has many of the qualities of poetry.
POETRY.
WISDOM LITERATURE. Although wisdom literature—Proverbs,
Job, Ecclesiastes—is almost
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entirely in poetic form, it is a special category because of its subject matter. It discusses matters of
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everyday life in a way that is not closely connected to specific religious traditions and ponders difH of existence. In structure, it
ficult, philosophical questions about suffering and the meaning
ranges from extended wisdom poems to one-line proverbs. Except for Chapters 1 through 2 and
42:7–16, Job is an extended poetic drama in the form of a dialogue between Job and his friends,
followed by two speeches by God. The book of Ecclesiastes is 1
a mixture of prose and poetry.
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As it stands now, the Old Testament starts at the beginning of all things—the Creation—but this
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order is probably not how the story of Israel was first told. Throughout
the Old Testament, the
one theme that continually appears is the Exodus. This was theBsupreme event in Israelite history.
Israel became a people through this event and those that followed. Thus, it is commemorated in
song, in story (Exodus to Deuteronomy), and in numerous U
references in Psalms (such as 66:6;
The Crucial Event
68:7–18; 78:11–55; 114; 135:8–12; and 136:10–22), as well as in other places in the Bible. A classic
summary of the Exodus story is found in Deuteronomy 26:5–9:
You shall make this response before the LORD your God: “A wandering Aramean was
my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and
there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us
harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our
a mighty hand and an outoppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with G
stretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with
O signs and wonders; and he
brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
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The Exodus event made Israel aware of itself as a people with common experiences that united
them. Just as a baby first notices its fingers and toes, leading toDthe awareness of itself as a person,
so Israel became aware of itself as a people. When the “Who am
OI?” question is answered, there inevitably follows the question, “Where did I come from?” The “Aramean” in Deuteronomy 26:5 is
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Jacob, whom all Israelites came to understand as their ancestor.
When people begin to ask these kinds of questions, they
, begin to look at their history. So
Israel, in times of literary activity, had historians who gathered together the memories and traditions of the people and began to weave them into a story. In this story, they not only explained
J back through the patriarchs to
their own origins in the Exodus, but also carried that explanation
the origin of the human race and even to the universe itself. As the nation grew, the history was
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expanded and revised, either in written or oral form. Then, when the tragedy of the Babylonian
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Exile struck and it looked as though not only historical materials,
but also the words of the
prophets, the wisdom materials, and the songs of the people might
be
lost,
a concerted effort was
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made to gather together and preserve the literary heritage.
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HOW IT BEGAN
How did the Old Testament come to be written? Did someoneA
just suddenly decide, “I’m going to
write the Old Testament”? Or was it a more complicated process?
To answer this question with certainty is impossible. A New Testament writer, for whom
L wrote as they were moved by the
the Old Testament was the Bible, spoke of how “Holy men of old
Spirit of God” (2 Pet. 1:21). Yet even that statement, setting forth
E the conviction that God was the
initiator of the process that led to the writing, also suggests that the development of the Old
I
Testament was an historical process. The following is a suggested
scheme of how the Old
Testament may have been developed.
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First the Event
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Nothing happens without a cause; something must trigger it. The Old Testament grew out of the
events and circumstances of the life of the people of Israel.1Although the Exodus and related
events served as the catalyst for the development of the sacred literature of the Israelites, many
events before and after that crucial event contributed to the 8
material resources from which the
Old Testament was constructed.
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First, things happened. The people to whom things happened B
told others about their experiences.
Just as every family has a fund of stories about various relatives,
U much of the Old Testament is
Then the Story—the First Interpretation
composed of stories that came from the oral tradition of the people who were to be known as
Israel. Not all the stories, however, were based on actual events. Some stories, known as
etiologies, for example, were created to answer “why” questions. Other stories, like Jotham’s fable
about the trees (Judg. 9:7–15), or Samson’s riddle (Judg. 14:14), were told to make a point. Telling
the stories over the centuries also had its effects on their nature and their subsequent interpretation. The study of how literary texts are interpreted is called hermeneutics.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Then the Reinterpretation
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When things happen to us, we interpret them in the light of existing circumstances. Later, however, as we look back, we may view a particular event in an O
entirely different way than we did
when it happened. Time and circumstances may have given us
Ra different insight into its significance for us. For instance, an event once seen as a disaster may later be looked on as something
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very positive and meaningful for us.
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The Old Testament grew from such hindsight. At some point in the life of Israel as a people,
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someone, or a number of someones, looked back at the past and concluded that God had been at
Then the History—the Continuing Interpretation
work in the lives of the people—calling their ancestors out of paganism, making himself known
to them, leading them from the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys to Palestine and eventually
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into Egypt and bondage. But even that bondage, a disaster by most normal standards, was God’s
E Moses, and prepared him, as
way of preserving the Israelites as a people. God raised up a leader,
the adopted son of the Egyptian princess and as a Midianite
Sshepherd, for the difficult job of
leading a band of slaves and a mixed multitude of others into the Sinai desert, there to weld this
S
motley group into a people united in covenant to God.
Furthermore, God led them to a land—a land that hadI been promised to their ancestors,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After a long and difficult period, the land became theirs. But their
Csome kind of national unity, they
troubles were not over. After many years of struggle to achieve
finally settled on a monarchy as the kind of government they A
would have. After a sputtering start
under Saul, the storytellers describe a remarkable growth during David’s time, when the nation
reached its greatest territorial limits, enabling it to withstand any challenge. Solomon gained the
fruits of his father’s success, enjoying a time of peace and great
L economic prosperity. Yet, he
sowed seeds of discontent that would come to full flower under his son Rehoboam, whose unwise
E
policies resulted in the kingdom’s splitting into two separate states.
For two centuries, the two parts of the once proud kingdom
of David limped along—
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sometimes as enemies, sometimes as allies. At times, in their periods of friendship, they comG
bined forces to bring a measure of prosperity to their people. But for most of the time, they were
Hand Assyria. Finally, in 721 B.C.E.,
like pawns, toyed with by the great powers of the time—Egypt
Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was blotted out of existence by the Assyrian giant who destroyed
its cities and deported all that was left of its upper classes, replacing them with foreigners who
1 the Samaritans.
were to intermarry with the poor people left in the land, producing
Judah, the Southern Kingdom, struggled on for just over
8 a century, but it too fell, this time
to Babylonia, the nation that had succeeded Assyria as the terror of the Near East.
7 Judah’s surviving leadership were
As had been the case with Israel, most of the members of
deported, but different factors were at work that allowed the1people to keep their identity. The
prophets had warned that such an occurrence was likely if Judah persisted in its wrongdoing.
Seemingly, the stability of the government in the south gave B
the people a greater sense of unity,
aiding them in holding together in the time of national disaster.
U Then, too, the Babylonians seem
to have contributed to the situation by settling the people in communities in which they could
follow the advice of the prophet Jeremiah and live as normal a life as possible (Jer. 29).
In response to the trauma of the Exile and the threat of annihilation, Jewish scholars began
in earnest to collect and shape the literature of the people. Although history writing may have
begun earlier, the Exile gave the work a new sense of urgency. Along with the writing of history,
poetry was collected, the law was codified, and the words of the great prophets were arranged and
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
preserved. Much of the Old Testament as we now know it took shape during the Exile and immeG
diately afterward.
With the people now convinced of the importance of the
O preservation of their traditions,
the period following the Exile, while not a time of glory, was a time of collection, preservation,
R of the Old Testament early in
and interpretation that reached its climax in the final canonization
the Christian era.
D
HOW IT DEVELOPED
The Process
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Did the process of forming the literature of the Old Testament begin during the Exile? The answer
most certainly is “No.” The development of the Old Testament may be compared to a river and its
tributaries. A river does not begin full sized. Rather, it is a J
combination of dozens of smaller
streams that have joined together to form the river. So it was with the Old Testament. Some will be
E
quick to point out that it began with God. Even so, God worked through human agents, and it is
S
the work of these human agents that is being discussed. The common
belief that God directly dictated the words of the Bible is called plenary verbal inspiration.
This
view
is not assumed here.
S
The first tiny streams were the oral traditions: the poems of victory, the stories of the ancesI and passed on for many genertors, and the memories of great events that were treasured, gathered,
ations. These oral treasures were the means by which families preserved
their values and their sense
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of who they were. Not only did they remember heroes, they remembered villains as well. Both
Athe people preserved the stories—
played roles in events the community deemed important. Thus,
from exalted stories, such as that of the call of the patriarch Abraham from the paganism of Ur of
the Chaldees, to less than exalted stories, such as the account of how Jacob outwitted both his
L blessing. The most frequently told
brother Esau and his father, Isaac, to secure the birthright and the
story of all, however, was that of God’s marvelous delivery of their
E ancestors during the flight from
Egypt. The storyteller was the teacher and the story was the medium through which he taught.
I
At shrines in which clans (extended families) gathered for worship, the stories were combined into larger units to form cycles of tradition, each withGits own distinctive point of view.
Finally, someone conceived the idea, through what religious people call inspiration, that the stoH
ries of God’s dealings with the people needed to be written down or put into a complete story so
that they could be preserved.
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Exactly when the smaller streams of tradition were combined to form a connected story is a matter
of dispute. Scholars of a more conservative bent argue for a 7
date as early as the time of Moses.
Others see the smaller streams of tradition continuing either in
1an oral or a written form until the
time of David and Solomon. They say it was during this period that the first attempts were made
B
to write a history of Israel. The process continued until the post-Exilic
period and embraces not
only the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), or Torah,
but
also
all the major historical
U
The Written Story
books: Joshua through 2 Kings, as well as 1,2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
According to this view, the stream of tradition that began with the Exodus stories was chosen as the mainstream. To it were added the stories of the ancestors (people like Abraham, Sarah,
Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel) and the stories of the Creation. This edition of the history
of Israel (characterized by referring to God by the personal name YHWH and designated by scholars
by the letter J) was largely composed of materials from the southern part of Israel. It flowed on for
a hundred years or so, until it was joined by another stream of materials from the northern part of
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
the country identified by the use of a more general or “family” name for God—Elohim (E). These
Gso mingled with the mainstream
materials started with stories about Abraham, but they became
that it is difficult to determine just how much each contributed
Oto the total volume.
The next tributary was of such volume and force that it became dominant in the historical
R B.C.E.), the book of the law was
materials. During the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (640–609
found in the temple when repairs were being made (2 Kings 22:8).
D Scholars conclude, on the basis
of the religious reforms that followed and that seem to be based on the contents of the book of
O Some argue that Deuteronomy
the law, that this book was essentially the book of Deuteronomy.
was written less than one hundred years before its discovery. Yet,
N it is usually agreed that a major
part of the materials it contains is from an earlier time.
,
Like a river whose whole character is changed by the joining of a major tributary, so the
character of the presentation of the history of Israel is changed by the reform growing out of the
discovery of the Deuteronomic materials (D). Beginning particularly with the book of Judges,
J
Israel’s history is interpreted in a distinct fashion. It is viewed as following a cycle: Israel sins, judgE God raises up a leader to deliver
ment comes through the oppression of an enemy, Israel repents,
the people from their enemies. To see a clear example of this, read
S Judges 3:7–11. Less obvious examples are found in the history of the monarchy (1,2 Sam.; 1,2 Kings).
S saw a floodtide of materials
The exile in Babylon (586–538 B.C.E.) and the years following
enter the stream. Because the danger of the extinction of the people
brought a new reverence for
I
the sacred traditions and a zeal for preserving the sacred literature, the people established a uniC
fying symbol. Torah—now expanded to mean not only the Pentateuch,
but also the history and
sayings of the great prophets, the wisdom of the sages, and the
sacred
songs
of the people—gave
A
them a sense of unity and purpose that was to enable them to survive many centuries of adversity.
Just as today, when the dangers of losing natural beauty have led to government action to preserve some streams as scenic rivers, so the Jews moved to preserve
Ltheir most meaningful literature by
designating it as sacred. The final contributors to this literary river were the priests of the Exilic and
E an editorial process and through
post-Exilic periods. They gave the material its final form (P) through
collecting those books known as the Writings, which include theIlast edition of the history as found in
1,2 Chronicles, plus Ezra and Nehemiah. All that remained was the climax of the process of canonizaG
tion sometime prior to 100 C.E. So, as the river finally reaches the ocean, the Hebrew Bible became the
H offspring, Christianity.
possession of the world through the Jewish community and its major
The Final Product: The Canon3
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The word canon originally referred to a reed used for measuring, such as a yardstick. When
8 for religious folk, is held to be
applied to literature, it has come to mean a body of writing that,
sacred because it contains God’s message to the faithful. The process
7 by which these books achieved
that status is thus called canonization. For Jews and Christians alike, then, the Old Testament, or
1
the Hebrew Bible, is sacred literature.
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Although the process of canonization took place over a long period of
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time, the following approximations are commonly used:
THE HEBREW CANON.
1. 400 B.C.E. The Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy), or Law, achieved sacred status.
2. 200 B.C.E. The Nebi’im, or Prophets, became canonical. There was a twofold division of the
Prophets:
a. The Former Prophets—the books of Joshua, Judges, 1,2 Samuel, and 1,2 Kings.
b. The Latter Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve, generally known to
Christians as the Minor Prophets.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
3. 100 C.E. Not later than this date, the Kethubim, or Writings, had achieved canonical status.
These include Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the G
Song of Songs, Lamentations, 1,2
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, and Daniel. O
The question might legitimately be asked, “Why were these
R books included and not others?”
That there were others is abundantly clear. The Dead Sea Scrolls alone had manuscripts and
DJewish sects developed their own
fragments of nearly a thousand religious writings, while other
sacred books. Basically, two tests determined what books would
O be in the Old Testament canon.
These primarily were the tests of time and usage. The literature, oral and written, which continN
ued to speak to the believing community over the years, was judged to have the breath of Divine
about it. Admittedly, the survival of the community that used ,the literature also had to be a factor
in the development of the canon.
A common assumption is that the rabbis of Jamnia, an academy established by Johanan ben
J around 100 C.E. This assumpZakkai after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., declared the canon closed
tion is increasingly challenged today because it drastically oversimplifies the issue. By that time the
E
vast majority of Hebrew canon had been determined. At most there may have been some remaining
S
disagreement about a few books. The most disputed were probably
Song of Songs, Esther, and
Ecclesiastes. All three of these books are part of the collection
known
as the Megilloth (Festival
S
Scrolls), which are traditionally read as part of synagogue services on the days of Jewish festivals.
I factor in favor of their canonizaThe regular use of these books on festival days was likely a major
tion. Books that just missed the canon likely did so because of the
Clanguage in which they were written. The Wisdom of Solomon and II Maccabees were likely written originally in Greek. Sirach and I
Acentury C.E. the Greek translations
Maccabees were probably first written in Hebrew, but by the first
of these books had become dominant and the Hebrew versions may have disappeared. Obviously,
books that existed only in the Greek language could not be included in the Hebrew canon.
L
THE GREEK CANON (Septuagint).
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, used by the
E
Jewish community of Alexandria in Egypt, differed from the Hebrew canon as to what books should
be included in the Kethubim. It contained some fifteen extra Ibooks or additions to books in the
Hebrew canon: 1,2 Esdras; Tobit; Judith; the additions to the
G Book of Esther; the Wisdom of
Solomon; Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach; Baruch; the Letter of Jeremiah; the
H 1,2 Maccabees. Roman Catholic
additions to the book of Daniel; the Prayer of Manasseh; and
Christians include these within their canon. Various groups of Orthodox Christians accept these and
a few additional writings, such as 3,4 Maccabees and Psalm 151, as part of their canon. Some readers
within these traditions attempt to chart a middle course between1these ways of conceiving the canon
by referring to these writings, which are in some canons but not8others, as deuterocanonical.
The Septuagint influenced the great fourth-century scholar Jerome in preparing his
7 of the Bible for many centuries.
Vulgate translation, which became the standard Latin version
Thus, both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles include
1 the Apocrypha in their canon.
Although other Christians do not consider the books of the Apocrypha canonical, most modern
translations include them, because they are studied for their B
contribution to understanding the
history of the period in which they developed.
U
THE WORK OF SCHOLARS
How do we know that the Old Testament developed in this or any other way? That it exists
is ample evidence that it developed somewhere, somehow, and at some time. Because there
are no time machines to transport us back through the ages to watch the Bible being written,
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Canon List
Hebrew Canon
Greek Canon/Catholic Old Testament
24 Books
46 Books
Law
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel*
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Tobit
Judith
Esther (plus Greek additions)
I Maccabees
II Maccabees
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel (plus Greek additions)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Former Prophets
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
Latter Prophets
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
The Twelve
Writings
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
G
O
R
D
O
N
,
J
E
S
S
I
C
A
L
E
I
G
H
1
8
7
1
B
U
Protestant Old Testament
39 Books
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
*The Greek tradition actually refers to the books of I and II Samuel and I and II Kings as I, II, III, and IV Kingdoms.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
9
10
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
we must depend upon those who can discover and interpret clues about its beginnings and
G
growth.
But the following questions arise: “Why go to all that trouble?”“Why
not just accept it as it is?”
O
Those who ask such questions probably would agree that one needs to understand the Old
Testament—or the Bible as a whole, for that matter—as much asRpossible. Just as we can understand
others better if we understand their background, so we can understand
the Bible better if we underD
stand its background. If we study the results of their efforts, all types of biblical scholars can contribute
O or theologians, form critics or arto our understanding of the Bible. These include textual specialists
chaeologists, literary historians or redaction critics, those who look
N at particular parts, or those who
try to look at the message of the Bible as a whole. We need, then, to describe briefly some (but not all)
,
of the kinds of scholarship that are used to aid us in understanding and interpreting the Bible.
Textual Criticism
J
First are those scholars whose concern is the biblical text itself. Sometimes called lower criticism, the
E
concerns of textual criticism are of basic importance to all who study the Bible seriously for any
S of the Bible, either from the Old
reason, because no one possesses a single original copy of any book
or the New Testament. The oldest complete copy of any Old Testament
book is a manuscript of the
S
book of Isaiah, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which dates to about the time of Christ. This
I several hundred years before the
means that the original copy of the book of Isaiah was written
Dead Sea Scroll Isaiah was copied. The Dead Sea Scrolls, however,
C contain less than half of the contents of our Old Testament. The oldest complete copy of the TANAK in Hebrew is a manuscript
A 1000 C.E. Modern versions of the
commonly called the Leningrad Codex, which was written around
Old Testament are essentially translations of this manuscript. There are two virtually complete
manuscripts of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, that were written in the
L
fourth or fifth century. Modern translators also consult these manuscripts
when doing their work.
In addition to the ancient Greek translation in the Septuagint,
E the TANAK was translated into
other ancient languages, such as Aramaic and Syriac. Aramaic translations of individual books and
I
collections of books are called Targums. No copies of these translations written earlier than the
Middle Ages exist. The most significant Syriac translation is called
G the Peshitta, but, again, the oldest
existing copies are centuries removed from the actual translation process. Because these Aramaic
H
and Syriac translations contain significant amounts of elaboration and are not represented by reliable early manuscripts, they play a minor role in modern Bible translation. They are most significant as indicators of how early faith communities struggled to understand
and use the Bible.
1
Although the lack of availability of ancient manuscripts of the Bible is a problem, there are
8 ancient manuscript. There is far
more copies of biblical manuscripts than of any other kind of
more manuscript evidence for the prophets of Israel than there
7 is for Plato and Aristotle. That
such a profusion of manuscripts exists creates something of a problem, however, in that they dif1 of the textual scholar. Through a
fer in places. Investigating such differences requires the talents
vast knowledge of the ancient languages, the textual specialist
B is able to compare the various
manuscripts and thus better estimate what the original copies said. It should be pointed out that
most of the variations in the text involve only about 5 percentU
of the total material.
Literary and Historical Studies
In the second place, there are scholars who study the text from the literary and historical standpoint. Although there is a great degree of unanimity about the aims of textual criticism, there is
far less agreement about the result or, in some cases, even the need for literary or higher criticism.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher
G
O
R
D
O
N
,
Countless persons over many centuries are responsible for
the dedicated and painstaking work that has made it possible
for us to have the Old Testament available today. Perhaps nobody is a better representative of these persons than Aaron
Ben Moses Ben Asher. Aaron was a member of a famous
family of scribes and lived during the tenth century of the
Common Era. The members of this family were the most
prominent members of a large group of scribes called the
Masoretes, whose work spans much of the Middle Ages.
Before the work of the Masoretes, there was no standard way
to write copies of the Hebrew canon with the necessary
J
markings of vowels, accents, and punctuation required for
understanding it. Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher labored all of
E
his life to produce a standardized system for making copies
of the text, all of which were handwritten because the printS
ing press would not be invented for another 500 years.
S
Two codices produced by the Ben Asher family, the
Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex, are our best repreI
sentatives of the Hebrew text that lies behind our Old
C
Testament. The Leningrad Codex is our oldest complete
copy of the Hebrew scriptures and modern versions of the
A
Old Testament are, more than anything else, translations of
this book. This codex is believed to be a copy of another
codex that was written by Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher himL a copy of a Hebrew Bible, imagine
self. We know little else about the life of this man, but if you can find
sitting at a rough desk by candlelight, with a pen and an ink bottle,E
making copies of this text for most of
your life. On the other hand, we do know that Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher lived in Teberias, on the beauI so he and his family had a pleastiful western shore of Lake Genesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee,
ant setting in which to do their important work.
G
H
Literary and historical studies are directed toward three basic concerns: source (was there an
1
author or authors?), form (in what form or style was the composition
written or spoken?), and
history (how did the present book develop?).
8
The first concern can be illustrated by the question “Who wrote the Pentateuch?” Perhaps
7 of responses than this one.
no other question in biblical studies has evoked a wider variety
1
Many readers are aware of the idea that Moses
B may be unaware of the source of
wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, but they
this assumption. A few texts in the Pentateuch (e.g., Exodus 17:14
U and Deuteronomy 31:9) refer to
Moses writing something, but it is unclear what he was writing. At some point in Israelite tradition, it became common to refer to the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy as “the books of
Moses.” It is unclear what this phrase originally meant. It could have been an acknowledgment that
Moses is the main character throughout most of the Pentateuch. It also became common practice
in Israelite tradition to associate written collections with famous figures of the past, for example,
the book of Psalms with David, or the Wisdom Literature with Solomon. Mosaic authorship of the
MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
11
12
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
G
O
A Text-Critical Problem
R
I Samuel 13:1 presents a problem for anyone studying the Bible, because manuscripts differ in what
D
they say at this point in the text.
The Standard Hebrew (Masoretic) text says:
O
Saul was ________ years old when he began to reign, andN
he reigned over Israel for two years.
Some Greek (Septuagint) manuscripts omit 13:1 entirely, while others
say:
,
Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned over Israel two years.
Some Syriac manuscripts say:
J
E
This manuscript situation raises numerous difficult questions. Why does the Hebrew text not give
S
Saul’s age at the beginning of his reign, and should English translations supply one of the numbers
from the other ancient versions? Could all of Saul’s reign, as presented
S in I Samuel, really have taken
place in only two years, or has part of the number been omitted? In the Christian Bible, this issue is
I years. How should a contemporary
complicated by the report in Acts 13:21 that Saul reigned for forty
version of the Bible present the problems associated with this number?
C
A
Saul was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned over Israel.
Pentateuch thus turns out to be a tradition of unknown origin.
L Because of this, it is difficult to
construct rational arguments for or against this idea. The simple observation that this material
E to other questions and proposals
does not look like something that a single person wrote has led
about who may have written it and, more importantly, how and
I why it may have been written.4
G of the Pentateuch began to be
The Mosaic authorship
questioned as early as the twelfth century by certain Jewish rabbis.
H Then, in the 1700s, two individuals, H. B. Witter, a German pastor (d. 1711), and Jean Astruc, a French physician (d. 1753),
noticed the alternation of the divine names Elohim in Genesis 1 and YHWH Elohim in Genesis 2.
Others then noticed, among other things, third-person references
1 to Moses; repetitions (Gen. 12,
20, 26; Exod. 20, 24; Deut. 5); and differing names for the same place or person (Mount Sinai and
8
Mount Horeb; Jethro and Reuel).
The resulting process of source criticism led to the classical
7 expression of the Documentary,
or JEDP Hypothesis, in the late nineteenth century by Julius Wellhausen, a German biblical
1
scholar. It proposed that Israel’s history was written in four stages:
THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS.
J.
B
A history using YHWH as the principal name for God, written in the time of Solomon
U
or shortly thereafter.
E. A history using Elohim as the principal name for God, written around 750 B.C.E.
D. A history influenced by the finding of the Book of Deuteronomy during the reign of
Josiah (621 B.C.E.). This history is generally dated around 550 B.C.E.
P. A history written by the priests around 450 B.C.E., adding legal materials related to
worship and geneological lists.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
In this scheme, P typically represents a writer, or writers, with priestly concerns, who produced their own material and compiled other materials to G
mold the books of the Pentateuch
into something close to their present form. Although this O
hypothesis possessed tremendous
explanatory power, it suffers from a number of weaknesses. Two of these are its exaggerated
R
sense of certainty about a historical framework based on little evidence
and its reliance on a developmental view of Israelite religion. In these and other aspects,Dthe Documentary Hypothesis was
very much a child of its time in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the
O
twentieth century.
N
Another German
scholar introduced the first
,
important modification of Wellhausen’s views. Instead of emphasizing completed documents,
Hermann Gunkel shifted the emphasis to the building blocks of those documents—the oral stories, poems, legal materials, wisdom sayings—that the author(s)
J used to put the final product
together. This is called form criticism5—the study of the smaller units that make up the larger text.
Form critics look for the distinctive types of speech patternsE
that characterize a certain kind of
life situation. For example, a person who has had a lifetime involvement
in sports, either as a fan
S
or as a participant, is likely to use figures of speech from sports to describe other aspects of life.
So, one might say after failing to achieve a goal, “I struck out!”S
Israel’s prophets, familiar with the legal activity they saw
I taking place at the city gate, were
fond of using legal language to describe God’s judgment of the people. As an illustration of this,
C
read Micah 6:1–8, in which is found an indictment (6:1–2); the case presented against the defenA
dant (6:3–5); the defense (6:6–7); and the verdict (6:8).
A further challenge to Wellhausen came from a group of Scandinavian scholars led by Ivan
Engnell. Coming from a culture in which oral literature was a part of the heritage, Engnell and his
group challenged Wellhausen on two points: (1) the age of theLmaterials and (2) the nature of the
“documents.” Wellhausen proposed that each of the “histories”E(J, E, D, or P) reflected the time in
which it was written, whereas Engnell and his colleagues argued that the basic materials from which
I themselves, having been a part of
J, E, D, and P were developed were much older than the documents
the oral tradition of the Israelite people (see the Song of DeborahG
and Judges 5 as examples). Even the
so-called documents could have been passed down in oral form before being recorded in written
H the history of these traditions.
form. This, in turn, has led to an area of study that attempts to trace
MODIFICATIONS OF WELLHAUSEN’S VIEWS.
Redaction criticism studies how various sources were combined into
larger units. Three kinds of sources were used: written, oral,1
and what might be called editorial
additions. The redactor was a theologian with a message shaped
8 by the units of material that were
selected and by the narrative transitions that were added. An example of this would be the story
7 Although the Chronicler’s history
of David’s life (1 Sam. 16 to 1 Kings 2:12 and 1 Chr. 10:1–29:30).
repeats much of the material found in 1 Samuel and 1 Kings, there
1 are important omissions—for
example, David’s affair with Bathsheba. By the Chronicler’s time (the post-Exilic period), David
B
was seen as the ideal king, so much so that the Jews envisioned a new day when a new David, the
U redactor, or editor, saw no good
Messiah, would come to deliver Israel from its enemies. So, the
purpose in bringing up David’s indiscretion with Bathsheba.
REDACTION CRITICISM.
More Recent Trends in Old Testament Studies
A marked shift in emphasis has occurred in Old Testament studies in recent years. There has been
a movement away from examining the pieces that make up the literature to examining the finished
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
13
14
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
product. This has taken two forms in particular: (1) studies that examine the text for its literary
merit and (2) studies that center on the question of what theG
finished text had to say to the particular audiences to which it was addressed.
O
R Bible as a whole is examined as a
THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE. Differing from earlier works, the
work of literary force and authority. It is seen as a work that demonstrates
“the remarkable ingeD
nuity of biblical authors” in creating literature that is so entirely credible that it shaped the minds
and lives of intelligent men and women for two millennia andO
more. The text is not only read for
its beauty but also for its meaning as a whole.6 In this textbook,
N there are introductory paragraphs before each Old Testament book that discuss the literary aspects of that particular book,
,
because most, if not all, of the thirty-nine books in the Protestant Old Testament have a discernible organization as pieces of literature. Before each book is studied, this textbook will
attempt to illustrate its structure.
J
One additional problem concerns the treatment of books that appear in pairs or as part of a
E the books of Chronicles, Ezra
larger group. These include the books of Samuel, the books of Kings,
and Nehemiah, and the Book of the Twelve. Each of these groupings
appears to have been origiS
nally perceived as a single work or scroll. This is why the Hebrew Bible counts only twenty-four
S
books in its contents rather than thirty-nine, even though its contents
are identical to those of the
Protestant Old Testament. In these cases, the discussion will attempt
to
give attention to both levels
I
of structure—that of the individual books and that of the scroll containing the whole grouping.
C
The Bible shares the aim of those A
who study it as literature, insofar as
it emphasizes the canonized text. But it differs in that it assumes that a given segment in its final
form was designed to speak to problems of that time. As one well-known critical scholar recently
asked, “Should we not ask what the final author (or authors)
L of the book wanted to tell the
reader?”7 The redactor or editor was much like a student writing a dissertation. A subject is
E thesis being proposed. Thus, the
selected, and sources are examined and selected to support the
editors or redactors were theologians who had something to say,
I who selected the materials from
available sources, and, when needed, created materials that supported the point or points that
G
were to be made in the finished product.
CANONICAL CRITICISM.
H
There is growing interest in how common folk lived.
Sources for this approach include physical remains, such as garbage pits and village ruins; written
1 sources; and comparisons with
sources, including the biblical texts and texts from similar ancient
similar present-day societies. A major problem that this approach
8 has to deal with is this: In comparing Israelite society with other societies, just how similar is the society in question to ancient
Israelite society? Furthermore, most archaeological evidence 7
is mute and thus is subject to often
conflicting interpretations. Despite these problems, this approach
1 makes valuable contributions
to our understanding of Israelite society.8 In addition to sociohistorical approaches that may not
differ significantly from other historical ways of studying OldB
Testament texts, some sociological
methods make more deliberate use of data from contemporary
U societies. For example, observations about the lives of modern exiled people may shed light on texts that are about or were
shaped by the Israelite experience of exile, and studies of modern nomadic cultures may help us
understand biblical stories, like Genesis 12–36, that present nomadic characters and settings.
THE SOCIOHISTORICAL APPROACH.
DEVELOPERS OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT. Present-day scholars emphasize the role of three
major groups in the development of the narrative materials in the Old Testament (Genesis–
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Numbers; Deuteronomy–2 Kings; 1,2 Chronicles–Ezra–Nehemiah). First, the priestly redactors
G because, apart from Genesis,
are credited with giving Genesis through Numbers its final form,
much of the material is concerned with legal and cultic matters—the
areas of special interest to
O
the priest. Second, the Deuteronomistic editors are seen as responsible for Joshua through
R
2 Kings, with Deuteronomy being the bridge between the Genesis–Numbers
narrative and what
is commonly called the Deuteronomic History. The latter influence
may
spill
over
into the narrative
D
portions of Jeremiah. Another group of historians produced an alternative vision of Israel’s hisO These historians are sometimes
tory from the Creation to the Exile in the books of Chronicles.
referred to collectively as the Chronicler. The story of IsraelN
after the Exile is continued in the
books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which are often linked to Chronicles.
,
ARCHAEOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING
J
Archaeology is increasingly in the news. Whether it is the report of the inscriptional reference to
E
the “house of David,”9 the uncovering of a complete city gate in the ancient Canaanite city of
10
Laish, or the making of popular movies that portray a breedS
of archaeologist that is as outdated
as the horse-drawn carriage, archaeology is a subject that draws attention.
S
Because archaeology is a term that is often misunderstood, certain questions should be
examined: “What is archaeology?”“How does the archaeologistIknow where to dig?”“What digging
methods are used?” “What is the value of archaeology?”
C
Basic Matters
A
THE PURPOSE OF ARCHAEOLOGY. Contrary to the popular image of an archaeolgist as a fortune hunter, archaeology is a serious scientific discipline dedicated
L to the search for truth about
ancient cultures by studying the material remains of those cultures. Remains may be such simple
E
things as broken pottery, animal bones, seeds, remains of buildings,
and, if the archaeologist is
fortunate, written materials. Biblical archaeologists in particular
are
interested in the peoples
I
mentioned in the biblical story, and especially the Israelites. Even here, the archaeologist does not
G
set out to prove the Bible. Instead, the purpose is to shed light on the Bible by trying to underH
stand its peoples and their culture more thoroughly.
THE PRACTICE OF ARCHAEOLOGY. Sites in biblical lands are called tells. These are flattopped
1 basically the same site. Such sites
hills, built up over centuries of construction and destruction on
were limited in number because of the lack of available water
8sources. The discovery of how to
make lime plaster made possible the development of cisterns—cavities dug into the soft rock and
7 be stored in them. This made it
then plastered to make them waterproof so that rainwater could
possible to build in an area that previously had been inaccessible.
1 The important city of Samaria
was one such site.
B by 5 meters. For two reasons,
The tell is divided into squares, each one measuring 5 meters
only selected squares are excavated: (1) the limits of financialUresources and manpower and (2)
the need to leave areas for later scholars to examine when increased knowledge may lead to a
more accurate evaluation of what is found. As the selected squares are excavated, only a few
inches of soil are removed at a time. The sides of the square are kept as straight as possible, and
adjoining squares are separated by a dirt wall, or balk. This is essential in determining the various
levels of occupation. Any important finds are photographed, and charts are kept depicting their
exact location in the square.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
15
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Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
Formerly, the emphasis was on digging such areas as the city gate, because this was the
G was carried on; and the homes
center of governmental functions; the areas in which worship
of the city’s rulers—palaces and monumental buildings. O
Present-day archaeologists, while
not ignoring these important features of tells, are turning more and more attention to
R lived and the types of societies
the dwellings of the common people to determine how they
they had.
D
One way to accomplish this is through a combination of ethnology (the study of contemOof ancient peoples and their culporary peoples and their cultures) and archaeology (the study
tures). The contemporary peoples live in traditional societies,Nusing methods that have changed
little throughout the centuries. On Cyprus, until the 1950s, grain harvesting used methods like
,
those spoken of in the Bible (Isa. 41:15–16). Ethnoarchaeology “not only provides technological
details . . . useful in archaeological interpretations,” but also shows how that technology fits “into
people’s lives and what they thought of it.”11
J
E of the trade are hand tools, beTHE SKILLS AND TOOLS OF ARCHAEOLOGY. The basic tools
cause excavation must be done carefully and systematically.SSuch small tools as trowels, hand
picks, and a variety of brushes are used to carefully expose the finds. Earth that is removed is
SInterpretation of what is found
sifted for smaller items that might escape visual detection.
involves many scientific disciplines—physical and culturalIanthropologists to study physical
changes and social organizations; paleobotanists and paleozoologists to study the remains of
C
ancient plant and animal life, to name but a few.
Various types of electronic gear are increasingly important.
The computer is used for
A
recording and analyzing data, while ground-penetrating radar, echo sound, and other such techniques are used for at least two purposes: to determine those areas in which digging would be
most fruitful and to detect underground structures, which would
L prohibit digging altogether or
where there is neither time nor resources available to dig.12
E a major emphasis in present-day
Such electronic tools are useful especially in area surveys,
archaeological work. In years past, such surveys consisted of Iexamining surface features of tells.
Judgments were made on the basis of such features as to the occupants of the tell and when they
G
occupied it. With modern electronic tools, a much wider range of data can be collected, leading
to much sounder judgments about the nature of a given site. H
One of the early techniques for dating was developed by two pio1 They noticed that pottery found
neer archaeologists, Sir Flinders Petrie and William F. Albright.
at the same level in different tells over an area had the same basic8features. From this, they developed
a method of dating, based on the changes in pottery. Epigraphical dating is based on written
materials and involves the changing styles of letter formation.7Broken pottery was the most convenient material upon which to write, particularly in Israel. Formerly,
it was scrubbed to discover
1
writing, but now it has been discovered that simply dipping it in water is the better method.14 The
B materials. For example, both
carbon-14 test can be used on any plant-based samples of surviving
epigraphy and carbon-14 tests were used to date the Dead SeaU
Scrolls.
DATING WHAT IS FOUND.
These scrolls are undoubtedly the most famous archaeological
discovery of the twentieth century. It began in 1947 when a Bedouin boy found the first manuscripts in a cave near the Dead Sea. When experts recognized their value, a systematic examination was made of other caves in the area, leading to the discovery of a veritable treasure of both
biblical and nonbiblical manuscripts. This discovery made available manuscripts or portions
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
G
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Important Discoveries
R
The following are a few examples of discoveries that have had an impact on biblical studies:13
D
THE ROSETTA STONE. This trilingual inscription, discovered in O
1801 by an engineer in Napoleon’s
army, made possible the translation of thousands of previously unreadable Egyptian inscriptions.
Although its impact on the interpretation of the Bible is indirect,N
it nevertheless gave insight into the
history of a people who were intimately involved with the Israelites.
,
THE GILGAMESH EPIC. In the mid-nineteenth century, Austen Henry Layard, a British explorer, discovered an ancient Assyrian library at Nineveh. Later, while translating the clay tablets, George Adam
J story that had remarkable paralSmith, a young assistant at the British Museum, came across a flood
lels to the biblical flood story. Unfortunately, the tablet was broken. Subsequently, Smith returned to
E
the site of the discovery and, within five days of digging, found a tablet containing the rest of the
story. This story, whose hero is Utnapishtim, predates the biblical
S story, suggesting that the biblical
storyteller was familiar with it and used materials from it for his own purposes.
S
THE BENI HASAN MURAL. This wall painting, found in a large rock-hewn tomb near the village of Beni
I
Hasan, 150 miles north of Cairo, dates to the early nineteenth century B.C.E. The painting portrays a
group of Asiatics who have come to Egypt either to trade or to seek
C mining rights. Where in Asia they
originated is unclear, but the picture suggests the types of trading relationships described in the stoA
ries of the patriarchs in Genesis.
THE GEZER HIGH PLACE. Discovered by R. A. S. Macalister in 1902, this site has been interpreted as
dating from times ranging from 2500 B.C.E. to 1600 B.C.E. It consists
L of a series of ten upright stone
pillars and a large rectangular block of stone with a depression cut into its top. Although the purpose
E for the upright stones is that they
of the basin is something of a mystery, the most likely explanation
served as witnesses of some sort of covenant ceremony, like the
I one described in the story of the
confrontation of Jacob and Laban (Gen. 31:43–54; see also Josh. 24:25–27).
G
THE TEL DAN INSCRIPTION. The Tel Dan Inscription now consists of three fragments from what was
likely a larger stele produced by or for an Aramean or Syrian H
king in the ninth century B.C.E. The
pieces were found in 1993 and 1994 in the excavation of a mound identified with the ancient city of
Dan in northern Israel. Most interest in these fragments results from the appearance of the phrase
1 King David, or at least to the
“house of David” on one of them. If this is a reference to the biblical
royal dynasty in Israel that traced its origins to him, then it is the
8 oldest such reference outside the
Bible by several centuries.
7
1
B
of manuscripts of every Old Testament book except two, some of which are 1000 years older than
U from nearly 1000 nonbiblipreviously known manuscripts. In addition, there are manuscripts
cal books.
The Value of Archaeology
A major aim of archaeology is to discover as much as possible about ancient peoples. Ideally, the
archaeologist does not set out to prove anything, but tries to let the evidence speak for itself.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
17
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
ROMAN AGE—63 B.C.—A.D. 325
HELLENISTIC AGE—300 B.C.—63 B.C.
IRON AGE
IRON III—600 B.C.—300 B.C.
IRON II—900 B.C.—600 B.C.
IRON I—1200 B.C.—900 B.C.
BRONZE AGE
LATE BRONZE—1550 B.C.—1200 B.C.
MIDDLE BRONZE—2100 B.C.—1550 B.C.
EARLY BRONZE—3000 B.C.—2100 B.C.
CHALCOLITHIC AGE—4500 B.C.—3000 B.C.
NEOLITHIC—7000 B.C.—4500 B.C.
STONE AGE
18
MESOLITHIC—9000 B.C.—7000 B.C.
PALEOLITHIC
—9000 B.C.
G
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LEVEL OF FIRST
C SETTLEMENTS
VIRGIN SOIL
A
FIGURE 1–1 Cultural and archaeological ages of the past in Palestine. This illustration shows how
a tell was built up by layers, over the centuries, as cities were built and destroyed. From Compass
Points for Old Testament Study by Mark H. Lovelace. © 1972 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.
L
E
I
Sometimes it speaks for what is described in the Bible, at others it is neutral, and at still others it
is contrary to what the Bible describes. If one turns up writtenG
materials, the task of interpretation
is clarified somewhat. Most of the evidence that is found, however,
H is mute. That is the reason why
often in archaeology, two interpreters will take the same evidence and reach seemingly opposite
conclusions.
1
Despite these limitations, because of the work of archaeologists,
we know more about
the lives of the peoples of biblical times than we discern from reading the Bible alone. We
8
know the kinds of houses they lived in, their customs, what languages they spoke, the foods
7 importantly, we are far richer in
they ate, and even how they made out property deeds. More
the manuscript evidence for biblical books, and our ability
1 to understand these texts is far
greater, thanks to archaeological discoveries. All in all, archaeology has proven to be a useful
B
tool in biblical interpretation.
U
WHY STUDY THE OLD TESTAMENT?
People study the Old Testament for a variety of reasons. Many people study it as an aid to understanding our language and culture, because much of our great literature has been influenced by
Old Testament themes and figures of speech. Even nonreligious people read such Old Testament
books as Job, Proverbs, or Psalms with appreciation for their literary merit.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
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FIGURE 1–2 The Gezer High Place.
L
E of the sacred about the Old
But for devout Jews and Christians alike, there is a sense
Testament, or the Hebrew Bible. They view it as inspired literature—inspired
on a higher and difI
ferent level from other great literary works. But even so, there are differences as to how the Bible
G
is inspired. Some hold that every word in the original manuscripts was dictated by God to persons
H own time. Others view biblical
whose only function was to write them down in the idiom of their
inspiration as a process in which persons encountered the Divine in their everyday living and
wrote down their reaction to that encounter.
Such a view would say that God’s power is unlimited1and surely includes the power of
self-revelation and that inspiration is the human reaction to8God’s self-revelation. The biblical
writers’ ability, however, to understand what God was revealing definitely was limited, and
that limitation is reflected in what is written about what7God has done or is doing in the
world. The Old Testament mirrors the strengths and weaknesses
1 of those people whose experiences are portrayed, including their understanding and misunderstanding of the nature of
B apostle Paul accepted slavery
God and of God’s will for their lives. For instance, the Christian
as part of his world and gave instructions about how slavesU
were to behave. Today, we do not
accept, nor do we believe that God approves of, slavery. What has changed—God’s will about
slavery or our understanding? The obvious answer is that God has not changed—rather, our
understanding of God’s will has changed. But even in the realization that a biblical character
could misunderstand God’s will, we learn one of the great lessons of our faith—that we, too,
are prone to error but can still be effective servants of God. This is part of what has been called
progressive revelation.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
19
20
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
G
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FIGURE 1–3 Archaeological sites. Artwork by Margaret Jordan Brown from Mercer Dictionary of
the Bible. © 1990, courtesy of Mercer University Press.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
21
G
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Codex, 10
Source Criticism, 12
Septuagint, 8
Hermeneutics, 4
TANAK, 10
Textual Criticism, 10
R
Pentateuch, 11
Tell, 15
Etiology, 4
D
Plenary Verbal Inspiration, 6
Canon, 7
Deuterocanonical, 8
O
N
Study Questions
,
12. What forms of evidence are cited to argue for the
1. What is the Old Testament, and how did the term
Key Terms
originate?
2. What do the abbreviations B.C.E. and C.E. mean?
3. Why is it unusual that the Old Testament has so
much narrative material?
4. Why did the Israelites begin their story with the
Exodus?
5. How were the early traditions about Israel
developed and passed on from generation to generation?
6. What are etiologies, and what is their purpose?
7. What were the high points of Israel’s story beginning
with the Exodus and ending with the Babylonian
Exile?
8. What is the meaning of the term TANAK?
9. How did the Septuagint affect the way various
Christian groups view the biblical canon today?
10. What is the basic concern of textual criticism?
11. What are the three major concerns of literary and
historical studies of the biblical text?
Endnotes
1. In keeping with more recent practices, B.C.E., “before the Common Era,” and C.E., “Common Era,”
will be used in this text instead of B.C. and A.D.
2. For this insight, I am indebted to Tamara Cohn
Eskenazi, “Torah as Narrative and Narrative as
Torah,” in Old Testament Interpretation: Past,
Present, and Future—Essays in Honor of Gene
M. Tucker. Edited by James Luther Mays, David L.
Petersen, and Kent Harold Richards (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1995), 14.
3. On the problem of the formation of the canon, see
John J. Collins, “Before the Canon: Scriptures in
Second Temple Judaism,” in James L. Mays et al.,
NIB, I, 225–241. For a look at how the differing
order of the Hebrew Bible by Jews and Christians
affects the interpretation of various books, see
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Genesis
through Deuteronomy)?
J major shift in emphasis has taken place in
What
OldE
Testament studies in recent years?
What three groups of redactors or editors have
Ssource-critics identified as being responsible
most
for the final form of the major narrative complexes
S
of the Old Testament?
What
I is the basic purpose of archaeology?
How are archaeological dig sites selected?
Care some ways in which modern technology
What
is making
A a contribution to archaeology?
What are the strengths and weaknesses in using
archaeology in biblical interpretation?
Learn at least one important fact about each of the
L
archaeological examples given in this chapter.
How
Edoes the inspiration of other great literature
differ from the inspiration of the Hebrew Bible? Or
doesI it?
G
H
James A. Sanders, “‘Spinning’ the Bible: How
1 and Christianity Shape the Canon
Judaism
Differently,”
BR, XIV, 3 (June 1998), 22–29. For a
8
discussion of the development of the Bible as a
7 work, see William M. Schniedewind, How
written
the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of
1
Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press,
B2004).
4. For a more thorough discussion of issues surrounding
U authorship, see Mark McEntire, Struggling
Mosaic
With God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch (Macon,
GA: Mercer University Press, 2008), 8–11.
5. Critic and criticism are used here to mean “one who
analyzes” or “the analysis of ” the materials for the
purpose of coming to a better understanding of
them. It does not imply a destructive purpose.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
22
Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It
6. James L. Crenshaw, “The Bible as Literature,” MDB,
515–519, is a good survey of this field of study. Two
books that use this approach are Robert Alter and
Frank Kermode, Introduction to the Literary Guide
to the Bible (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1987),
and Brian Peckham, History and Prophecy: The
Development of the Late Judean Literary Traditions
(New York: Doubleday, 1993).
7. A major work based on this interest is Rainer Albertz,
A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament
Period. Translated by John Bowden (Louisville, KY:
Westminster–John Knox Press, 1994), 2 vols.
8. Victor H. Matthews, Manners and Customs in the
Bible: An Illustrated Guide to Daily Life in Bible Times
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), is a
comprehensive work on this aspect of biblical life.
9. “David Found at Dan,” BAR, 20, 2 (March–April
1994), 26–39.
10. Avraham Biran,“The Discovery of the Middle Bronze
Gate at Dan,” BA, 44, 1 (November 1981), 139–144.
11. John C. Whitaker, “The Ethnoarchaeology of
GCyprus,” NEA, 63, 2 (June 2000),
Threshing in
62–63. Both NEA, 63, 1 and 2 (March and June
O
2000), are devoted to articles on ethnoarchaeology.
12. A fascinating
Rexample of this is described by Dan
Bahat, “Jerusalem Down Under: Tunneling Along
D Wall,” BAR, 21, 6 (November–
Herod’s Temple
December 1995),
O 30–47. See also Thomas E. Levy,
“From Camels to Computers: A Short History of
N Method,” BAR, 21, 4 (July–August
Archaeological
1995), 44–51, 64. Chris Scarre,“High Tech ‘Digging,’ ”
,
ARCH, 52, 5 (September–October 1999), 50–56,
presents a fascinating look at the use of electronic
technology in modern archaeology.
J
13. James L. Crenshaw,
Education in Ancient Israel:
Across the Deadening
Silence (New York: Doubleday,
E
1998), 39f.
S of these examples, I am indebted to
14. For a number
Michael D. Coogan, “10 Great Finds,” BAR, 21, 3
S
(May–June 1995), 36–47.
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
CHAPTER
2
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The Geographical
and Historical
O
N Old Testament
Settings for the
Prior to 1200 B.,C.E.
Timeline
3000 B.C.E.
2800 B.C.E.
2300 B.C.E.
1800 B.C.E.
1700 B.C.E.
1400 B.C.E.
1300 B.C.E.
1200 B.C.E.
Beginning of the Bronze Age
Rise of the Sumerian Empire
Rise of the Akkadian Empire
Frequent guess about the time of Abraham and Sarah
L and the possible arrival of
Beginning of the Hyksos period in Egypt
Joseph in Egypt
E
Height of Ugaritic culture
I
Rule of Pharaohs Seti and Ramses II in Egypt
G
Merneptah Stele mentions Israel at the Beginning of the Iron Age
Chapter Outline
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
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The Ancient Near East
Mesopotamia
Asia Minor
Africa
Syria-Phoenecia
Palestine
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The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
24
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
G
Chapter Two draws a historical and cultural map of the geographical area in which the Old
Oan arc from east to north to west
Testament story takes place. The discussion moves generally in
and then focuses on the area in which Israel is found in moreR
detail. Israel exchanged much with
the other cultures identified in this chapter. For example, nearly every type of literature found in
D
the Old Testament has matching material in the documents from these other cultures. By the end
of the chapter, a setting for the Old Testament is established, O
and material is revealed from these
other cultures that assists our understanding of the Old Testament.
N
,
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
In a remarkable photograph taken from the Gemini XI spacecraft
in 1966, the biblical world
J
from Egypt to Mesopotamia is captured in one magnificent view. One is struck by the dry,
barren look that characterizes much of this area, called theENear East. And dry it is. Deserts
abound—the Arabian Desert is on the east, the desert of the S
Sinai Peninsula is to the south, and
the great Sahara in the north of Africa pushes its way right up to the banks of the Nile River in
Egypt. In early times, there was settled life only where there S
were rivers. These rivers furnished
water for drinking and for irrigation, which made possibleI the development of agriculture.
Other regions might have, in the occasional oasis, enough water for nomadic herdsmen, but
C the domestication of the camel.
these oases were so far apart that desert travel was limited until
Nomads, until late in the second millenium B.C.E., traveled by
A ass or by donkey and thus were
limited in their range.
The watered areas of the Near East form a roughly crescent-shaped pattern known as the
Fertile Crescent. This fertile strip of land begins in the east at
Lthe Persian Gulf and runs northwestward, taking in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. North of this region, high
E
mountains form a barrier between the rivers and what we know today as southern Russia.
Mesopotamia, the name given to this region, literally means “in
I the midst of, or between, rivers.”
The mountains continue in the northwest, separating Mesopotamia from Asia Minor and the
G
Mediterranean Sea.
The center of the Fertile Crescent was Syria-Palestine, aH
narrow band of fertile land caught
in a vise between the Arabian Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. All the major roads from Africa
to Asia passed through this narrow strip of land, thus making it a prize to be seized by the great
1
powers of the time.
The southern end of the crescent was Egypt, the land of8
the Nile. Isolated from other major
civilizations by deserts and distance, it developed one of the earliest, most powerful civilizations.
MESOPOTAMIA
3000 to 2000 B.C.E.
7
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THE SUMERIANS. These people, named for their major area, Sumer, occupied a number of
city-states that dominated the lower Mesopotamian region from 3150 to 2350 B.C.E. and again
from 2060 to 1950 B.C.E. In this later period, Ur, one of the truly great cities of the ancient world,
was dominant. The Sumerians invented the earliest known form of writing (cuneiform) and
introduced counting by sixties (the method we use to count seconds and minutes). They were
conquered by the Elamites.1
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
Gilgamesh
G
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Archaeological expeditions in Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century produced a large collection of ancient texts
that tell stories of a great hero named Gilgamesh. This epic
figure likely has some connection to an actual king of Uruk
named Gilgamesh, but the significance of the literary hero
far outweighs that of the historical king. The mother of
Gilgamesh was a goddess and his father was a human, so he
resembles the half-human, half-divine giants described in
Genesis 6:1–4.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh torments his
subjects until they call upon the gods to save them. The gods send a wild man named Enkidu who wresJ
tles with Gilgamesh until they become friends and companions. Together
they battle and slay the great
Bull of Heaven, but Enkidu dies soon after this great feat. Devastated by the loss of his friend,
E
Gilgamesh wanders the earth. One of his heroic acts during this wandering period involves the killing
of a group of lions.
S
Most startling to readers of the Bible is the story of the flood that took place near the end of the
S by many centuries, Utnapishtim
Epic of Gilgamesh. In this flood story, which precedes the biblical story
is the figure who survives the flood on a boat along with his family
I and animals he has gathered. The
gods decide to flood the earth to kill all of the humans because the humans are so noisy that the gods
cannot sleep. Utnapishtim receives instructions on how to surviveC
the flood. The biblical story of Noah
obviously resembles the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, but the relationship between the two is difA
ficult to determine. The end of the epic sings with sadness about the loss of the glorious hero, and the
people give great offerings for his burial.
L
E
THE AKKADIANS. The first empire builder was SargonI of Akkad, who interrupted the
Sumerian dominance of Mesopotamia in 2350 B.C.E., establishing an empire that would last
G
until 2180 B. C . E . His people, the Akkadians, were Semites, a people from whom the later
Israelites came. The Akkadians moved northwest into H
Mesopotamia from the Arabian
Peninsula. Their language and literature continued to dominate Mesopotamia through their
heirs, the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Through archaeology, that language and literature
have come to us, furnishing a wealth of knowledge about1the religious and cultural life of
the region.
8
7
1
THE AMORITES (ARAMEANS). These people, known as Westerners, were originally seminoE., they appeared all over the Fertile
madic tribesmen from Arabia. In the 200 years after 2000 B.C.B
Crescent, causing great disruptions. After some time, they settled
U down, building new towns in
2000 to 1500 B.C.E.
northern and western Palestine and establishing two strong states in Mesopotamia around 1800
B.C.E.—Mari, located in the northeast, and Babylonia, in south-central Mesopotamia. Babylonia’s
most famous king was Hammurabi, best known for his famous law codes. From Mari, we have
the Mari Tablets, which shed light on many patriarchal customs.
Like the Akkadians, the Amorites were Semitic people. Their invasion of the Fertile
Crescent occurred during the general time of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
25
26
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
G
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FIGURE 2–1 This map of the ancient Near East illustrates the Fertile Crescent, which extends from
the Persian Gulf in the east to Canaan in the west. Artwork by Margaret
Jordan Brown. © Mercer
A
University Press.
L
E fits in well with the descriptions
What has been learned about the Amorites through archaeology
of the lifestyle of the patriarchs.
I
G
THE HURRIANS. The Amorite states also passed away, succeeded by the Hurrians, or Horites as
H
the Old Testament calls them. They absorbed the Amorite population
into a state called Mitanni,
and they also absorbed much of the Amorite culture. Fortunately, many of their writings were
preserved on clay tablets at Nuzi, one of their major cities. The discovery of these tablets has
helped clear up many obscure passages in the Old Testament.1
8
1500 to 1000 B.C.E.
7
ARAMEANS AND HABIRU. Again, as had happened 500 years
1 before, the Fertile Crescent was
overrun by seminomads from Arabia. Among them were people referred to as Apiru or Habiru.
B
Who they were has been the subject of much discussion. They appeared
in many roles—as outlaws,
as hired soldiers or mercenaries, as slaves, and as seminomadic
wanderers.
The similarity of their
U
name to the word Hebrew makes it tempting to say that they were the Hebrews. However, references to the Habiru come from places all over the Fertile Crescent, so they cannot be one and
the same as the Hebrews. Habiru refers to a much broader range of people. On the other hand,
the Hebrews seem to have belonged to the same class of people. In other words, not all Habiru
were Hebrews, but the Hebrews seem to have been Habiru. They were a social class from which
the Hebrews came.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
ASIA MINOR
G
Although it actually lay outside the bounds of the Fertile Crescent, Asia Minor
O in the Christian era. For many
was to play a very influential role in biblical history, especially
years, however, it was thought that it had little or no role in Old
RTestament history. Now we know
that central Asia Minor was the center of the Hittite Empire. The Hittites are known in the Old
D
Testament as the “sons of Heth.” Their capital was Hattusa. They pushed down from Asia around
1400 B.C.E. into what is now known as Lebanon and Syria, having
O won the area from the Mitanni.
Their greatest threat was to the power of Egypt, which controlled Palestine during that time.2
THE HITTITES.
AFRICA
3000 to 2000 B.C.E.
N
,
J
The part of Egypt comprising the fertile area—a narrow strip of land along
E
the Nile River—looks like a crooked tree with a fan-shaped top representing the Nile Delta. There
S
the river breaks up into many branches before entering the Mediterranean
Sea. This delta region
was a tempting target for hungry nomads throughout biblical
history,
because
its well-watered
S
lands produced food and pasturage in abundance, while other areas were devastated by drought.
At the same time, Egypt’s separation from the rest of theI Fertile Crescent by the land bridge
of Palestine and the Sinai Desert enabled its civilization to develop
C with a minimum of interruption from outside forces. This early period, before 2000 B.C.E., was the time of the building of the
A
great pyramids.
THE EGYPTIANS.
2000 to 1000 B.C.E.
L
Genesis 12:10–20 tells the story of Abram (Abraham) taking his family to
Egypt. This kind of emigration was common at that time. E
It also came at the time when the
Fertile Crescent was experiencing invasions by the Amorites, the
I Semitic tribesmen from Arabia.
From 1720 to 1570 B.C.E., Egypt was ruled by the Hyksos, or “foreigners.” The Hyksos were
G
among the first to use chariots and cavalry units for warfare. They also built cities with a distincH extending from the base of the
tive kind of protective wall. These walls had a steep slope, or glacis,
wall, which made it difficult for aggressors to attack the wall. The Hyksos kingdom included both
Egypt and Palestine.
1dynasty, founded by Ahmose I. In
The Hyksos were overthrown by the eighteenth Egyptian
the centuries that followed, the Egyptians dominated Palestine.
8 Their rule there was opposed by
the Hurrian (Horite) kingdom of Mitanni, or Naharin. Later, the Hittites took control of the
Hurrian Empire, but Egypt was still able to control Palestine 7
proper until late in the 1200s B.C.E.
Egypt’s last great rulers were Seti I (1308–1290 B.C.E.) and1Seti II (1290–1224 B.C.E.). These
pharoahs are often associated with the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt.
THE EGYPTIANS.
B
The word Cush appears in the Bible for theUfirst time in Genesis 2:13. It is the
location of one of the four rivers that flows out of the Garden of Eden. The name of the river, the
“Gihon,” is a traditional name for the Blue Nile, which is located in the area of Africa known
today as Ethiopia and the Sudan. Cush next appears in Genesis 10:6 as one of the sons of Ham,
along with Egypt and Put, again indicating an African identity for this place and corresponding
group of people. In 10:8, Cush is identified as the father of Nimrod, which creates some confusion,
because this “larger-than-life” character is associated with both African and Mesopotamian cities,
THE CUSHITES.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
territories, and people. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, Cush was regularly
G
rendered as “Aithiops,” so the Greek translators apparently associated
this word automatically
with an East African location, related to the area we refer toOtoday as Ethiopia.3 Cush and the
Cushites began to appear in Egyptian records in the early second millennium B.C.E. These terms
R with whom the Egyptians had a
clearly refer to a territory and group of people to their south,
long record of interactions.4
D
Cush, as a territory, and the Cushites, as a people group, appear in the Old Testament a total
Oambiguous. This takes place on a
of fifty-four times, and their precise identity remains somewhat
personal level, when a dispute arises in Numbers 12 between Moses
N and his siblings, Miriam and
Aaron, over Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman. This woman’s name is never provided by the
,
text, leaving her identity uncertain. The named wife of Moses, Zipporah, is identified in Exodus 2
as a Midianite. All of these examples would seem to confirm that the ancient Israelites encountered these people regularly, but that their origin was a mystery to the biblical writers, and that
J
they may have even used this sense of ambiguity and mystery deliberately. The lack of precision
Etradition has led David Tuesday
with which this term is used and understood in the biblical
Adamo to argue that the best English translation for these words
S that denote an area and a people group south and west of Egypt should be “Africa” and “Africans.”5
S
I
SYRIA-PHOENICIA
C
3000 to 2000 B.C.E.
A east by the Arabian Desert, is the
Syria, bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on the
northern portion of the land bridge connecting Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Its southern boundaries during the period of the Israelite kingdoms varied from period to period, but
L furnish water for the major
generally were marked by Mount Hermon, whose melting snows
sources of the Jordan River.
E
Because Syria was part of the corridor connecting the continents, its population varied
I
with each new outbreak of migration and conquest. Until recently, no major civilization was
known to have existed in Syria before 2000 B.C.E. Now, however,
G the discoveries at Ebla in northern Syria have radically changed that assessment. Ebla seems to have flourished in two periods,
H
the first of which was from 2400 to 2250 B.C.E. During this time, it was strong enough to challenge
the empire of Sargon of Akkad, who ruled the first great Near Eastern empire. The first period of
Ebla’s prosperity ended when the city was conquered and burned
1 by the Akkadian ruler NamarSin. Ebla flourished again between 2000 and 1600 B.C.E., as is evidenced by the discovery of an
8
elaborate palace complex. It is certain that the eventual decipherment
and translation of thousands of tablets found in the Ebla excavations will add much to
our
knowledge
of ancient Syria in
7
the second and third millennia. The initial suggestion, however, that they would have great signif1 6
icance for Old Testament studies now seems to be far less certain.
2000 to 1000 B.C.E.
B
U
The southwestern coast of Syria, known in biblical times as Phoenicia and Lebanon, was one of
the major strongholds of the Canaanite populations so frequently mentioned in the Old
Testament. Because the area possessed the finest natural harbors on the eastern end of the
Mediterranean Sea, coupled with an abundance of fine timber and a lack of agricultural land,
its economy was based on the sea. The Phoenicians developed a merchant fleet that became, in
effect, the navy and merchant fleet of the Israelite kings David, Solomon, Omri, and Ahab, who
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
G
O
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D
O
N
,
J
E
S
S
I
C
A
L
E
I
had trade agreements with the local kings, especially the kingsG
of Tyre. In addition, Israelite building programs used Phoenician architects, craftsmen, and vast quantities of the famous cedars
H
of Lebanon.
FIGURE 2–2 The Sphinx and the Great Pyramid—symbols of the grandeur of ancient Egypt.
Courtesy of H. Armstrong Roberts.
Farther north lay the city of Ugarit, a center for Canaanite culture and learning around
1400 B.C.E. Here were discovered the Ras Shamra texts, which, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, opened
1
up new areas of understanding in Old Testament studies. These texts provide us with a direct
view of many of the elements of the Canaanite religion that 8
early Israelites might have encountered and that many biblical texts may address.
7
The most famous of all Syrian cities was, and still is, Damascus, which was already an old
1 wanderers, and armies of the
city in the time of the patriarchs. Through it passed the traders,
ancient world.
B
PALESTINE
U
Its Importance
Possibly no geographical area in the Western world holds a greater fascination for more people
than Palestine. For three great religions, it is the Holy Land. Its strategic location made it the
object of a continual tug-of-war among the ancient empires. Each one coveted its territory, not
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
29
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Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
because it possessed vast land or rich resources, but simply because anyone going anywhere
north or south in the ancient Near East had to cross PalestineGto get there. On the west, the barrier was the Mediterranean Sea. Although some small ships sailed
O its waters, it was not a major
means of travel for many centuries. To the east lay the vast reaches of the Arabian Desert, virR The famous ship of the desert,
tually impassable to the donkey-riding traders of early times.
.C.E. Thus, all land traffic between
the camel, did not come into common use until after 1000 BD
Africa, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia was funneled through Palestine. This area is also referred
O
to as the Levant.
Geographical Features
N
,
As one moves eastward from the Mediterranean coastal area, four major divisions of the land are
evident. First is the coastal plain itself. The plain, broader in the southern region, becomes narJ
rower, generally speaking, as one goes north. In the south it is known as the Plain of Philistia after
E
its most famous inhabitants, the Philistines. They were a seafaring
people who settled there,
either after having been repulsed in an attack on Egypt or as
mercenaries
placed there by the
S
Egyptians after being conquered by them.7 They had five major cities—Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon,
S control.
Ekron, and Gath. Not until David’s time was the area under Israelite
The northern border of the Philistine territory was theI Yarkon River, one of the few freeflowing streams in Palestine. From the Yarkon north to Mount Carmel was the Plain of Sharon,
Ccontrol rather late.
covered in biblical times by forests. It, too, came under Israelite
Mount Carmel, a major landmark jutting out into the Mediterranean,
divided the Plain of
A
Sharon from the Plain of Acco, or Acre, a much smaller plain extending northward to the
“Ladder of Tyre,” where, once again, the mountains meet the sea. This latter feature marked the
boundary at times between Israel and its northern neighbors.
LWhile David controlled the Plain
of Acco, Solomon had to give it up to pay his building debts to Hiram, king of Tyre. The second
E In the north, the hills of upper
major division as one moves eastward is the central hill country.
Galilee vary in height from 2000 to 3000 feet, whereas lowerIGalilee (farther south) has hills of
2000 feet or less. Separating the Galilee hills and the Carmel range is the flat triangular Plain of
G
Megiddo. On this plain stood the powerful city of Megiddo, one of the great cities of the ancient
H
Near East.
As one moves southward, the mountains become progressively higher, pierced occasionally by valleys running west to east. This region is known as the hill country of Ephraim in much
of biblical history. Farther south, it becomes the hill country1of Judah. This region actually has
two parts: (1) the Shephelah, an area of low-lying hills, and (2)
8 the plateau on which Jerusalem
is located. Separating the Shephelah and the Judean plateau is a north–south valley that made
approaching the plateau from the coastal plain especially 7
difficult. There are basically four
approaches: (1) the Valley of Aijalon, which is the easiest and most
1 famous; (2) the Valley of Sorek;
(3) the Valley of Azekah; and (4) the Valley of Elah. The last three were more narrow and deep,
making major movements, such as by armies, more difficult.BIn biblical times, if whoever controlled the plateau also controlled the Valley of Aijalon, many
Uof the major defensive problems
were solved.8
South of Judah, the hill country begins to decrease in altitude. In the south is the Negev, an
area of rather flat land, primarily suited for raising sheep and limited agriculture. Beyond the
Negev lies the Sinai Desert.
The third division, the Jordan Rift, is a deep scar in the earth that stretches from the base of
Mount Hermon in the north all the way through Palestine and eventually into East Africa. In
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
Palestine it is the channel for the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee (its only large body of fresh
G
water), and the Dead Sea (one of the world’s most unusual lakes).
The Jordan, appropriately named the down-rusher, is O
formed from a number of smaller
sources—the primary ones being the Snir, the Dan, and the Banias Rivers—that rise near Mount
R swampy area now drained for
Hermon. In earlier times, the Jordan flowed into Lake Huleh—a
D
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8
7
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FIGURE 2–3 The highways of Palestine.
The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition, by John Tullock and Mark McEntire. Published by Pearson Learning Solutions.
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
31
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Chapter 2 • The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament Prior to 1200 B.C.E.
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FIGURE 2–4 Coral reefs such as these, and a lack of deep water, effectively prevented the Israelites
A
from developing seaports.
agriculture—before dropping rather rapidly into the Sea of
L Galilee. By the time the Jordan
reaches the Sea of Galilee, it is already more than 600 feet below the level of the Mediterranean.
From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is 65 miles, but by theE
time the waters of the Jordan reach
the Dead Sea, they have traveled 135 miles because of the Imeandering nature of the stream.
Unlike the Nile and the Tigris–Euphrates Rivers, whose waters give life to the land through which
G
they pass, the Jordan’s waters have contributed little, until modern times, to sustain life along its
H valleys, the Jordan River valley
path. There w…
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