Ancient Israel

The history of Israel is a crowded field, and you should spend your dollar wisely. Perhaps the most inspirational and also scholarly (though not always conservative) book available is John Bright’s A History of Israel (Westminster, 1959). Although Bright holds views on critical questions relating to books such as Isaiah and Daniel that will not be acceptable to many evangelicals, his work is still the one major Old Testament history that combines theological with historical insights to make the period live. The only other major technical work on the contemporary market is The History of Israel, by M. Noth (Harper & Row, translation, 1960), a book that is at once more radical in its criticism and less readable than Bright. For a somewhat shorter survey by a foremost evangelical scholar, F. F. Bruce’s Israel and the Nations (Eerdmans, 1963) is highly recommended, though it lacks (as does Noth) any treatment of the patriarchal age. More complete than Bruce, and equally conservative, is the new Old Testament Times (Eerdmans, 1970), by R. K. Harrison. Harrison, like Bright, draws heavily on archaeological material and constantly translates the contribution of the Ancient Near East into non-technical language, making his book extremely useful for the average Christian. Another new work, this one from L. J. Wood, A Survey of Israel’s History (Zondervan, 1970), represents a more “fundamentalist” approach, but is carefully documented. A well-known synopsis is W. F. Albright’s short but invaluable book, The Biblical Period From Abraham to Ezra (Harper & Row, 1963). It is especially important as the personal statement of America’s leading archaeologist and is quite worth the purchase for the footnoting alone.

Three books that look at Israel’s history more by corresponding literary unit of the Old Testament than by chronological period merit mention. M. A. Beek’s A Journey Through the Old Testament (Hodder and Stoughton, translation, 1959) is a personal and warmly devotional guided tour through Old Testament Scripture led by a Dutch pastor and professor with an evident delight in the journey. A shorter book, more theological in its outline, is R. Rendtorff’s God’s History: A Way Through the Old Testament (Westminster, translation, 1969). Although much of the same material will be found in a good introduction or a history of Israel, either of these two volumes will give you a brief, useful survey of the subject. S. J. Schultz’s The Old Testament Speaks (Harper & Row, 1960) is a college textbook presenting the history of Israel in much the same form as do the words of the Bible, but the author makes no real attempt to interact with either critical or theological questions.

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SERIES Three series on Ancient Israel are worth noticing. The “Old Testament History Series” (Baker), all volumes written by C. F. Pfeiffer, is to consist of eight short, conservatively oriented monographs on periods from the patriarchal age to the intertestamental era. Six have already appeared. The author’s interest is archaeological and historical rather than literary or theological, but the volumes are a useful addition to available material. Different in outlook, though also intended for popular consumption, is the “Backgrounds to the Bible” series, edited by B. Vawter (Prentice-Hall, 1966 ff.). The volumes vary from the elementary presentation of E. Maly’s The World of David and Solomon to the rather technical and scholarly work by J. L. McKenzie, The World of the Judges; the authors are all Roman Catholics of a more liberal perspective. Four volumes on Ancient Israel have been published in a third series, the “New Clarendon Bible” (Oxford, 1966 ff.). They provide survey information, together with commentary on various Old Testament portions, and are designed for use as textbooks.

SPECIAL STUDIES Just a few of the many studies on particular periods of Israel’s history may be mentioned. For the troublesome problem of the exodus, there is still nothing to compare with H. H. Rowley’s From Joseph to Joshua (British Academy, 1950), though one should also consult the many articles referred to that favor an earlier date for the event.

For the equally thorny problem of the chronology of the monarchy, the last word (well, almost!) has been spoken by E. R. Thiele in his Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Eerdmans, 1965). Not a book for bedtime reading, but its conclusions have been so influential that it should not be overlooked.

A third general period in Israel’s history for which new light is still forthcoming is that of the exile and return. D. J. Wiseman’s Chronicles of Chaldean Kings (626–556 B.C.) (British Museum, 1956), though not primarily on Israel, provides basic additional information on the capture of Jerusalem. The author, professor of Assyriology at the University of London and editor of the Tyndale Old Testament commentaries, can be expected to provide us with more of this kind of important material in the future, particularly relating to the dimly lit period of the post-exilic community in Jerusalem. For a reliable, more biblically oriented, popular survey of available material on the exile, A. Parrot’s short book Babylon and the Old Testament (SCM, 1958) may be recommended.

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CULTURE You will want at least one book dealing with religious, cultural, social, and political backgrounds of the Old Testament. Perhaps the best popular treatment of these aspects of ancient Hebrew culture is still Canon E. W. Heaton’s Everyday Life in Old Testament Times (Batsford, 1956). The Old Testament World (Fortress, translation, 1966), by M. Noth, is useful for the advanced student; it deals with matters such as chronology, archaeology, and textual criticism, in addition to the religious and cultural forms of the world in which God’s Old Testament people lived and moved. However, the standard cultural history on Israel is still R. deVaux’s Ancient Israel (McGraw-Hill, translation, 1961), a truly outstanding book that will appeal to scholar and beginner alike. The author draws his material from his many years of archaeological and biblical study in the Holy Land, and includes sections on family, civil, military, and religious institutions. For a sociological and psychological analysis of the same data, J. Pedersen’s classic (though frightfully expensive) work, Israel: Its Life and Culture (Oxford, revised, 1959), is without peer. Although few pastors or students will be able to afford Pedersen, they should be aware of its existence and familiar with its general contents, since it has had great influence in Old Testament scholarship.

Ancient Near East

Perhaps the most important development of the twentieth century for Old Testament studies is the wealth of new data available for reconstructing the world into which the biblical revelation came. A basic book for methodology and direction in this field is K. A. Kitchen’s Ancient Orient and the Old Testament (Inter-Varsity, 1966). Kitchen has succeeded in showing why historical and linguistic backgrounds are important and calls for a radical break with nineteenth-century biblical scholarship and its superimposed structure of Western philosophical presuppositions.

But more than methodology is required. Any study of the Old Testament is going to call for sound knowledge of the history of the Ancient Near East. Naturally the ideal is to learn the languages of the period, read the documents, and learn first-hand; but for most students or pastors this is impossible. However, an excellent selection of historical work is available from which a basic library may be constructed. Perhaps the best serious treatment in the English language is the multi-volume Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge, various dates). For Volumes I and II a revised edition is in process of publication (don’t use the older set, which is badly out of date). On a more popular level, and dealing with material from a more directly biblical standpoint, is J. Finegan’s Light From the Ancient Past (Princeton, revised, 1959). A paperback edition is now published in two volumes, the first of which sketches Old Testament backgrounds and is recommended as a basic book for pastor and layman. Equally important, but on a more interpretative level, are two attractive paperbacks by C. H. Gordon that attempt to get behind the biblical material by pointing out cross-cultural data from various parts of the Eastern Mediterranean world. The Ancient Near East (Norton, revised, 1965) gives a succinct overview from Homer’s Greece to Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilization (Norton, revised, 1965) is built on the thesis that the world of Homer is one with the world of the Bible, with evidence cited from Minoan Crete and the Ugarit tables in support of the idea. Each of these books has stimulated its share of controversy, but is invaluable in giving an overview of a world that (as its author clearly demonstrates) was a living, culturally inter-related society. Additional cultural parallels and contrasts across this society are covered in S. Moscati’s popular The Face of the Ancient Orient (Routledge and Kegan Paul; 1960), while a short résumé of the area for beginners is found in S. J. Schwantes’s A Short History of the Ancient Near East (Baker, 1965).

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SOURCES Source materials from various parts of the biblical world are available (in translation) either in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. B. Pritchard (Princeton, revised, 1969), or in Documents from Old Testament Times, edited by D. W. Thomas (Nelson, 1958). ANET is the standard, but DOTT, though less comprehensive, is adequate for most purposes and is available in paperback; the introductory comments concerning each of the documents are very helpful.

ILLUSTRATIONS No study of the biblical world is complete without the visual dimension, and this is supplied by The Ancient Near East in Pictures (Princeton, revised, 1969), edited by J. B. Pritchard. This is the standard academic collection of archaeological pictures related to the world of the Old Testament. For color photography at its best, the National Geographic Society’s Everyday Life in Bible Times (1967) has no peer. Those who wrote for the volume are all top biblical scholars, rounding out a presentation equally at home on the coffee table or in the study. Many other good collections of color photographs of the Ancient Near East are available, such as Views of the Biblical World (five volumes, Jerusalem: International, 1961) and an abridgment of it, Our Living Bible. Such collections are usually expensive but can often be obtained at discount prices.

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MESOPOTAMIA Information on the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, an area rich in biblically related material, may be had from many sources. In addition to the Cambridge Ancient History, mentioned above, there are the excellent full-length surveys by H. W. F. Saggs (The Greatness That Was Babylon, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1962) and A. L. Oppenheim (Ancient Mesopotamia, Chicago, 1964). S. N. Kramer, a specialist in the Sumerians, a people whose highly developed civilization provides a backdrop for the earliest patriarchal period (Abraham came from Sumeria), has contributed two worthwhile books in his field. The Sumerians (Chicago, 1964) is the best general treatment available, while History Begins at Sumer (Doubleday, 1959) highlights twenty-seven “firsts,” including the first flood narrative and the first law code.

For specific biblical parallels, the short survey by G. Larue, Babylon and the Bible (Baker, 1969), is very helpful (though he ignores the Book of Daniel). E. Yamauchi’s Greece and Babylon (Baker, 1967) traces early contacts between Mesopotamia and the Aegean area, with an analysis of the critical problem of Daniel thrown in. Babylonian flood and creation accounts are covered definitively in two volumes by A. Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago, 1963) and The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Chicago, 1963). They are marked by carefully documented arguments and cautious conclusions; both books are available in paperback and would make a valuable addition to any student’s library. Another monograph of direct interest to the biblical student is C. H. Gordon’s short summary, Hammurapi’s Code (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965). This booklet will answer many questions about relationships between Moses and the great Babylonian lawgiver.

EGYPT Moving to the land of the Nile, where cultural parallels are somewhat less frequent but where history touches on that of the Hebrews at various points, we find again an abundance of available material. We recommend J. A. Wilson’s readable paperback The Culture of Ancient Egypt, (Chicago, 1951), but it needs to be read in connection with some standard history. Such a history is J. H. Breasted’s dated A History of Egypt (1905, currently published by Bantam), which is probably the best until the revised Cambridge Ancient History volume appears. A. Gardiner’s Egypt of the Pharaohs (Oxford, 1961), however, has the advantage of half a century’s additional research. K. A. Kitchen’s article on “Egypt” in the New Bible Dictionary is especially commendable.

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One topic of particular interest to the Bible student is the exodus from Egypt. Much has been written on it, particularly in journals and standard histories of Israel, and the reader should be aware of the differences that exist in dating that event; there is no consensus even among evangelical scholars. A short, popular treatment of the period is C. F. Pfeiffer, Egypt and the Exodus (Baker, 1964). The same author has written Tell el Amarna and the Bible (Baker, 1966), covering the important correspondence between the “heretical” Pharaoh Akhenaton and his vassal-kings in Palestine during the period claimed by many conservative scholars for the exodus.

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