Books : Old Testament Parallels: Laws And Stories from the Ancient Near East
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 221.95
EAN: 9780809144358
ISBN: 0809144352
Label: Paulist Press
Manufacturer: Paulist Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 430
Publication Date: January 02, 2007
Publisher: Paulist Press
Sales Rank: 55735
Studio: Paulist Press
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Product Description:
An all-new translation of the most important ancient Near East documents that share parallel themes and issues with biblical stories.
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Rating:  -
This book is a classic that has been used in seminary Old Testament classes for two decades. This book is a great resource for anyone interested in Old Testament and comparative religious studies. Victor Matthews is a great scholar who takes the Bible very seriously. What you will find in this book is all the stories of the OT compared to similar stories from pagan mythology. Most books like this just paraphrase these myths or compare them on T-charts to Bible stories with the intention of showing similarities or differences. In this book, you get to read the myths for yourself and make up your own mind about the significance of the parallels. You might also look into the "IVP Bible Background Commentary" which Matthews co-authored. If you are just get started in Old Testament studies, I would also recommend the following:
Bernhard W. Anderson's "Understanding The Old Testament" or Lawrence Boadt's "Reading The Old Testament" and "Ancient Israel" edited by Hershel Shanks. Matthews has also written a good New Cambridge Commentary on Judges & Ruth.
Rating:  -
I first read this text when I was taking a course in surveying Ancient Middle Eastern languages and texts. I have however found it to be more interesting for study of ancient religion than linguistics. Many of the myths contain the imagery that Lovecraft should have used to make his terrors more terrible. The authors voices breath the dusts of their deserts and antiquity. They give a window on civilized homes haunted by the twin shades of starvation and inexplicable disease. They show us a world where warfare really meant covering your hands in the blood and entrails of your enemies. As a Sunday School teacher I have turned back to this text often to provide context for understanding the ancient Hebrew's captors, allies, enemies, and neighbors and to understand the wrath of their God's intense jealousy.
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"How manifold are thy works! They are hidden before men,
Oh sole God, beside whom there is no other. Thou didst create earth according to thy heart." (Akhenaten hymn /Psalm 104)
TaNaKh in Ancient Texts:
Many ancient texts from Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia discovered recently as a result of archaeological excavations, shed light and give various sorts of background information for OT books. Many of these texts provide historical information that clarify our knowledge of ancient biblical times. Some of the ancient texts have literary parallels to biblical narratives and could help students understand literary genres, and reconstruct the parallel culture and thought of ancient east Mediterranean peoples with whom the Hebrews had sojourned.
Those adoptions, parallels or allusions are only confirmations of the active role those Semites developed ultimately their religious thought to monotheism. This faith journey, with numerous contributors from Akhenaten, to Moses, to the prophets is exegetically described as: The history of Salvation.
Hebrew Bible Parallels:
The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) did not come to expression 'Ex Nihil,' even if still an unconscious belief of many orthodox Jews and fundamental Christians, to come close to the idea of revelation as mechanical dictation. The debate over who wrote the books of the Old Testament and when they were written has raged for over two centuries. While tradition ... Read More
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