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A couple of weeks ago I received my review copy of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary on the Old Testament (ZIBBCOT) Volume 5:  The Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon from Zondervan.  On first note, I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with this newly published commentary series on the Old Testament.  If you are a reader of this blog and want a solid introductory commentary to the Hebrew scriptures that addresses their cultural and literary context in the broader ancient Near Eastern world, this commentary would make an excellent choice.  I have already recommended this book to several of my friends who have expressed interest in gaining an understanding the Hebrew scripture from the perspective of its cultural and literary settings. 

Perspective and Methodology of the Series

Like most Zondervan publications, ZIBBCOT has a decidedly evangelical and conservative perspective in its scholarship.  Prior to receiving the review copy, I was very interested to see how the commentary series would deal with the cosmologies, theologies, and mythologies of the ancient Near East and their comparative relationship to biblical texts.  There was a period of time when Biblical parallels to other ANE texts would have been downplayed by conservative scholars, as many seemed to fear the implications of making too many close comparisons between the inspired text of the Bible and ancient pagan texts.   After all, if the Hebrew scriptures talk about mythological creatures as if they are real or borrows hymns to pagan gods, what does that mean in terms of divine inspiration of the canonical texts and their "timeless meaning?"

I must say that in my review of this work, there seems to be no such fear in the approach of the various authors represented in this volume.   In the introduction to the series, General Editor, John H. Walton, directly addresses this issue: 

For over a century, studies comparing the OT and the ancient Near East have hovered on the fringe of hermeneutics and exegesis.   Since these studies were at times exploited by critical scholars for polemical attacks against the biblical text, evangelicals were long inclined to avoid or even vilify them.  They viewed the idea that the OT borrowed or adapted ancient Near Eastern ideas or literature as incompatible with Scripture's inspiration. [ix]

He then points out that the reality that the ever increasing knowledge of ancient Near Eastern culture, literature, and history has ultimately resulted in "a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the text."  He then adds:

There is, however, nothing inherently damaging to orthodox theology and beliefs about the Bible if its authors were interacting at various levels with the literature current in the culture.  All literature is dependent on the culture in which it arises--it must be, if it intends to communicate effectively.  Even when a text engages in polemic and correction of culture, it must be aware of and interact with the current thinking and literature. [ix-x]

While Walton seems to too quickly assume that the authors of the biblical texts were either always diametrically opposed to or corrective of the pagan world around them, he is clear that a lack of comparative knowledge of the ancient Near Eastern context also results in a serious lack of knowledge in understanding the Hebrew scriptures: 

In terms of this methodology and perspective, the authors do an excellent job in making the lay reader aware of the cultures in which the biblical texts were composed.    This task is accomplished within the commentary text, through special side-notes, and impressive visuals.  A good example of the discussion of Behemoth, Leviathan, and the chaos of water/sea in the commentary on Job.  Rather than explaining away the mythological background of these concepts, Izak Conzelman and the editors give the background and meaning of Lotan, Tannin, Marduk, and other ancient Near Eastern examples of the defeat of the sea and monsters of the deep [see 297-299]:

In the Hebrew Bible the Leviathan is a mythological sea monster defeated by Yahweh . . . 

. . .  because God is the only one that can control the Leviathan and Behemoth, as argued by Job, they can only be supernatural and should best be understood against the mythological background of the book of Job.  The Leviathan embodies the cosmic evil par excellence, and the combination of these two animals is also important.  The hippopotamus and the crocodile occur together as forces of chaos in Egyptian mythology, representing the god of confusion, Seth, who is defeated by the god Horus.  This may indicate the mythological symbolism behind the texts. [298]

I have seen too many conservative commentators attempt to avoid the mythological background of these texts by simply focusing on Behemoth and Leviathan as literal references to the hippopotamus and crocodile (or elephant).  It is refreshing to see that conservative scholarship is now recognizing that an "either/or" approach does not work when placing the biblical texts in their ancient Near Eastern contexts.  The mythological, symbolic, and literal cannot be separated in these instances.  While this may cause difficulties in our doctrines concerning the Bible, it was not an issue for the authors of the text.  I also believe the general student of the Bible needs to be aware of these issues, and this commentary does a good job of introducing them in a "user-friendly" manner.

In the introductions to the texts, authors also do not shrink from discussing historical and/or textual difficulties within the texts.  While the authors do typically agree with conservative opinions on debated issues, contrary opinions and conclusions are regularly given voice without an over-biased response.  I was impressed that the authors regularly confess that their conclusions are the minority opinion on many of these issues.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Ultimately, I must admit that the aspect of this commentary that continues to draw and impress me is the "Illustrated" part.  This commentary is full of quality color photographs and images.  These include artwork, archeological remains, texts, inscriptions, etc., of the ancient Near East--not to mention many well done charts, graphs, and artist rendered visuals.    These images were gathered from a wide variety of sources, and many of them are actually under the creative commons license, which means they can be reproduced for teaching purposes. They are also often combined with explanatory notes that assist the reader in placing them within the biblical context.  This element alone has so impressed me that I'm on the verge of saying this is a "must have" type commentary for the pastor and lay reader who is researching/teaching the biblical texts.  I hope I am not wrong in predicting that this will increasingly be an aspect of commentaries in the future.  There is simply no comparison with actually seeing images of a cherub or the tree of life as it was depicted in the ancient Near East rather than simply hearing the words or a written description.  The only thing I could ask for is that Zondervan makes this work available in a digital format so that we can use all the creative commons images for our own teaching of the material!

The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary:  Volume 5 covered in this post was supplied for review by Zondervan.

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