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.
I'm not sure what this says about this blog or the state of Biblioblogging...probably nothing either way...but I made the Top 50! I'm number 46 in the ranking of Top 50 Biblioblogs for October 2009.
For those interested in the history of the Ancient Near East, this is a great find:
Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that
confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the
second millennium B.C.
Irene Forstner-Müller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological
Institute’s (ÖAI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find
had occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is
today the city of Tell el-Dab’a in the eastern Nile delta.
Researchers are rethinking the 1st century BC population of the Roman Empire.
The first century B.C. was one of the most culturally rich in the history of the Roman Empire - the age of Cicero, Caesar and Virgil. But as much as historians know about the great figures of this period of Ancient Rome, they know very little about some basic facts, such as the population size of the late Roman Empire.
Now, a group of historians has used caches of buried coins to provide an answer to this question.
. . .
The model [developed by University of Connecticut theoretical biologist Peter Turchin and Stanford University ancient historian Walter Scheidel] using the coin distribution and less
controversial census data from earlier periods suggests that the
population of Rome did in fact decline after 100 B.C., suggesting the
census did likely begin to include women and children and that Ancient Rome wasn't substantially larger than historians had thought.
By these estimates the entire population of the Roman Empire - and not just its male population - was somewhere around 4 million to 5 million people by the end of the first century B.C.
This represents a 200% decrease in previous estimates of the empire's population during this period. Read more here.
Raviv Shapira, director of the southern
district of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority told Ynet that the
sight of the destruction was awful: "We came in the morning and found
the place in shambles," described Shapira, "They broke the staircase,
destroyed the walls, and painted on them. The worst is that the two
most ancient churches in Israel were destroyed, and 13-foot columns
were shattered with hammers along with artifacts and the authentic
marble alter, which is the most important (artefact) in the city."
The Oxyrhynchus Hymn (P. Oxy. XV 1786) is the earliest known manuscript
of a Christian hymn - dating from the 3rd century AD - to contain both
lyrics and musical notation. It is now kept at the Papyrology Rooms of
the Sackler Library, Oxford. The text, in Greek, poetically invokes
silence so that the Holy Trinity may be praised.
Scot McKnight thinks that pastors, ministers, and leaders of churches are in need of some changes in in focus. He writes:
Evangelical pastors have flipped in the last generation. 30-40 years
ago what most incited excitement was a new book by the arch-pastor and
expositor, John Stott, expositing a New Testament book or a J.I. Packer
book on theology. Today's evangelicals pastors are enamored with the
latest book on leadership, like that morsel of an idea in the book
called Tribes, or the latest book on management, or the latest fad in
creativity.
. . .
So let me say this: (too many) evangelical leaders have become too
enamored with management skills and techniques and have neglected the
nitty-gritty of soaking themselves in the great texts of the Old and
the New Testament.
He goes on to call for a new type of leadership conference in which participants ". . . [devote themselves to] two days of exposition of key biblical texts on pastoral theology and
ministry. And no one can bring up a modern management or leadership
expert; and no publisher or book table present can sell anything but
commentaries."
The new rules form part of the biggest overhaul to British
immigration in 40 years. A points system was introduced, with one
intention of combating extremism and prevent preachers of hate coming
in. Tier Five, however, which has caught Benny Hinn, was introduced to
stop ministers coming in as visitors and then making a quick buck by
speaking at events or 'working' while they are here.
Ministers of all faiths now need a letter of sponsorship if they are
to do religious work in Britain, even when, as at Excel, the event is
free.
I certainly understand why the UK would want to keep Hinn out, but there is a part of me concerned about what the larger implications and impact of these laws might be. If you're interested in how this might affect everyone, here's a snippet of the Tier System under the new immigration laws :
The five immigration tiers are outlined below. Click each Tier to get more information from workpermit.com:
Tier 2 Visas:
This is for skilled workers, professional sports people, and clergy
members who have a job offer or arrangement with a UK organization that
requires their services for an extended period of time. This tier will
encompass the current UK Work Permit rules and is expected to go live sometime in the third quarter of 2008.
Tier 3 Visas:
This tier is for a limited numbers of lower skilled workers to fill
temporary shortages in the labour market. The UK has indefinitely
suspended plans to implement this tier.
Tier 5 Visas: For youth mobility and temporary workers, such as those who come under Working Holiday
agreements with other countries. It will also cover temporary volunteer
workers, sports people taking part in events, and visiting clergy.
Tiers
3 and 5 are temporary migration schemes and if you apply for a visa
under one of these tiers, you will not be able to switch to a different
tier from within the UK. The UK has also suspended Tier 3 in favour of migrants from the EU; however, this may change depending on labor market demands.
If
apply under Tiers 1, 2, or 4, you will be eligible to switch to another
tier at any time after you are in the UK if you can meet the
requirements of that tier. Tiers 1 and 2 can potentially lead to
settlement if permanent residence requirements are met at the time of application.
Here's the summary of Sponsorship:
If you are applying under one of Tiers 2 through 5, you will be
required to have sponsorship from a licensed sponsor (an employer,
government, or educational institution). The certificate of sponsorship
assures the UK that you are able to perform the particular job or
course of study, or otherwise fulfills the requirements to enter the UK
under the specific tier.
Under Tier 1, you would not require a job offer and thus would not require sponsorship.
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.
Karyn inteviews 
