The 2000-year story of Babylon sees it moving from a city-state to the centre of a great empire of the ancient world. It remained a centre of kingship under the empires of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids and the Parthians. Its city walls were declared to be a Wonder of the World while its ziggurat won fame as the Tower of Babel. Visitors to Berlin can admire its Ishtar Gate, and the supposed location of its elusive Hanging Garden is explained. Worship of its patron god Marduk spread widely while its well-trained scholars communicated legal, administrative and literary works throughout the ancient world, some of which provide a backdrop to Old Testament and Hittite texts. Its science also laid the foundations for Greek and Arab astronomy through a millennium of continuous astronomical observations. This accessible and up-to-date account is by one of the world's leading authorities.

In this book, Jason A. Staples proposes a new paradigm for how the biblical concept of Israel developed in Early Judaism and how that concept impacted Jewish apocalyptic hopes for restoration after the Babylonian Exile. Challenging conventional assumptions about Israelite identity in antiquity, his argument is based on a close analysis of a vast corpus of biblical and other early Jewish literature and material evidence. Staples demonstrates that continued aspirations for Israel's restoration in the context of diaspora and imperial domination remained central to Jewish conceptions of Israelite identity throughout the final centuries before Christianity and even into the early part of the Common Era. He also shows that Israelite identity was more diverse in antiquity than is typically appreciated in modern scholarship. His book lays the groundwork for a better understanding of the so-called 'parting of the ways' between Judaism and Christianity and how earliest Christianity itself grew out of hopes for Israel's restoration.

In Biblical Philosophy, Dru Johnson examines how the texts of Christian Scripture argue philosophically with ancient and modern readers alike. He demonstrates how biblical literature bears the distinct markers of a philosophical style in its use of literary and philosophical strategies to reason about the nature of reality and our place within it. Johnson questions traditional definitions of philosophy and compares the Hebraic style of philosophy with the intellectual projects of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Hellenism. Identifying the genetic features of the Hebraic philosophical style, Johnson traces its development from its hybridization in Hellenistic Judaism to its retrieval by the New Testament authors. He also shows how the Gospels and letters of Paul exhibit the same genetic markers, modes of argument, particular argument forms, and philosophical convictions that define the Hebraic style, while they engaged with Hellenistic rhetoric. His volume offers a model for thinking about philosophical styles in comparative philosophical discussions.

In Biblical Philosophy, Dru Johnson examines how the texts of Christian Scripture argue philosophically with ancient and modern readers alike. He demonstrates how biblical literature bears the distinct markers of a philosophical style in its use of literary and philosophical strategies to reason about the nature of reality and our place within it. Johnson questions traditional definitions of philosophy and compares the Hebraic style of philosophy with the intellectual projects of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Hellenism. Identifying the genetic features of the Hebraic philosophical style, Johnson traces its development from its hybridization in Hellenistic Judaism to its retrieval by the New Testament authors. He also shows how the Gospels and letters of Paul exhibit the same genetic markers, modes of argument, particular argument forms, and philosophical convictions that define the Hebraic style, while they engaged with Hellenistic rhetoric. His volume offers a model for thinking about philosophical styles in comparative philosophical discussions.

Fourth Maccabees is a superbly craft ed oration that presents a case for the Jewish way of life couched almost entirely in terms of Greek ethical ideals. Using an expansion upon previous scriptural narratives as an opportunity for philosophical exposition, its author delights in the Torah, the Law of Moses, as the divinely given path to becoming our best selves now. Moreover, drawing upon Greek logic tradition, he develops an elaborate rationalisation of that law based upon the promise of eternal life with God. In this collection of essays spanning two decades of study, David deSilva examines the formative training that produced such an author, the rhetorical craft present in his work, and the author's creative use of both Jewish and Greek literary resources. Finally, he demonstrates the book's enduring message and legacy in the Christian church, from theological influence on Origen to textual relations within Codex Sinaiticus.

The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics offers an engaging and informative response to a wide range of ethical issues. Drawing connections between ancient and contemporary ethical problems, the essays address a variety of topics, including student loan debt, criminal justice reform, ethnicity and inclusion, family systems, and military violence. The volume emphasizes the contextual nature of ethical reflection, stressing the importance of historical knowledge and understanding in illuminating the concerns, the logic, and the intentions of the biblical texts. Twenty essays, all specially commissioned for this volume, address the texts' historical and literary contexts and identify key social, political, and cultural factors affecting their ethical ideas. They also explore how these texts can contribute to contemporary ethical discussions. The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics is suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate courses in liberal arts colleges and universities, as well as seminaries.

The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics offers an engaging and informative response to a wide range of ethical issues. Drawing connections between ancient and contemporary ethical problems, the essays address a variety of topics, including student loan debt, criminal justice reform, ethnicity and inclusion, family systems, and military violence. The volume emphasizes the contextual nature of ethical reflection, stressing the importance of historical knowledge and understanding in illuminating the concerns, the logic, and the intentions of the biblical texts. Twenty essays, all specially commissioned for this volume, address the texts' historical and literary contexts and identify key social, political, and cultural factors affecting their ethical ideas. They also explore how these texts can contribute to contemporary ethical discussions. The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics is suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate courses in liberal arts colleges and universities, as well as seminaries.

Understanding a text from the narrator's point of view is crucial for the tasks of interpreting and translating the Bible. In this volume, Ethiopian scholar Daniel Hankore clarifi es the reading of Scripture by studying it in the light of Ethiopian Hadiyya culture and relevance theory, which facilitate Scriptural interpretation and translation. Hankore's analysis recognises the text of the Bible as a literary document or discourse while also considering its cultural context. He demonstrates that a correct understanding of the concept of the ancient Israelite vow in the framework of a social institution is key to facilitating an accurate reading and translation of this section of Genesis. The conclusion we can draw from this understanding is that the narrative of Jacob is a coherent whole. Furthermore the Dinah story is of vital importance to the narrative, a fact which has frequently been overlooked as has the connection between its different parts. Genesis 28:10-35:15 is revealed in a new light in this detailed study which focuses on relevance theory informed by Ethiopian cultural context and provides original theories about the place of the Dinah story in the narrative of Jacob. Daniel Hankore is Bible Translation Consultant at SIL Ethiopia Branch. 'This is a fresh and original contribution to the interpretation of Genesis. It also contains a full and thorough evaluation of more traditional, critical, and historical approaches to the issues raised by Genesis 25-35. It deserves to be taken most seriously by future scholars trying to understand these chapters of Scripture.' Gordon Wenham, Tutor at Trinity College, Bristol

Outside of the Bible, all of the known Near Eastern law collections were produced in the third to second millennia BCE, in cuneiform on clay tablets, and in major cities in Mesopotamia and in the Hittite Empire. None of the major sites in Syria that have yielded cuneiform tablets has borne even a fragment of a law collection, even though several have produced ample legal documentation. Excavations at Nuzi have also turned up numerous legal documents, but again, no law collection. Even Egypt has not yielded a collection of laws. As such, the biblical texts that scholars regularly identify as law collections represent the only "western," non-cuneiform expressions of the genre in the ancient Near East, produced by societies not known for their political clout, and separated in time from "other" collections by centuries. Making a Case: The Practical Roots of Biblical Law challenges the long-held notion that Israelite and Judahite scribes either made use of "old" law collections or set out to produce law collections in the Near Eastern sense of the genre. Instead, what we call "biblical law" is closer in form and function to another, oft-neglected Mesopotamian genre: legal-pedagogical texts. During their education, Mesopotamian scribes studied a variety of legal-oriented school texts, including sample contracts, fictional cases, short sequences of laws, and legal phrasebooks. When biblical law is viewed in the context of these legal-pedagogical texts from Mesopotamia, its practical roots in a set of comparable legal exercises begin to emerge.

In this book, Daniel J. D. Stulac brings a canonical-agrarian approach to the Elijah narratives and demonstrates the rhetorical and theological contribution of these texts to the Book of Kings. This unique perspective yields insights into Elijah's iconographical character (1 Kings 17-19), which is contrasted sharply against the Omride dynasty (1 Kings 20-2 Kings 1). It also serves as a template for Elisha's activities in chapters to follow (2 Kings 2-8). Under circumstances that foreshadow the removal of both monarchy and temple, the book's middle third (1 Kings 17-2 Kings 8) proclaims Yhwh's enduring care for Israel's land and people through various portraits of resurrection, even in a world where Israel's sacred institutions have been stripped away. Elijah emerges as the archetypal ancestor of a royal-prophetic remnant with which the reader is encouraged to identify.

Deborah was unique among women of her time. No other could describe herself as a mighty combination of judge, intercessor, prophetess, mother of Israel, and military strategist. She governed God's people with a nurturing heart and a soldier's strength. Deborah broke outside of her culture not out of rebellion but in obedience to God to set her people free.

Rise up in your area of influence and be a pillar in the kingdom of God.

Imagine the outcome if women in today s society boldly took hold of the same discerning spirit, courageous heart, and nurturing gift to see transformation in their homes and workplaces. The Deborah Anointing is available to you to overcome the cultural and social pressures and prejudices that women encounter. Through prophetic teaching and applicable prayers you will experience freedom, healing, and deliverance from:

- Fear and control issues

- Dry seasons in personal life, career, or ministry

- Disappointment, doubt, and indecision

- Delays on the promises of God

- And much more!

This new edition of a bestselling evangelical survey of the Old Testament (over 180,000 copies sold) has been thoroughly updated and features a beautiful new interior design. It is lavishly illustrated with four-color images, maps, and charts and retains the pedagogical features that have made the book so popular: * chapter outlines, objectives, and summaries * study questions * sidebars featuring primary source material, ethical and theological issues, and contemporary applications * lists of key terms, people, and places * further reading recommendations * endnotes and indexes The book is supplemented by web-based resources through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources, offering course help for professors and study aids for students.

ECPA Top Shelf Award Winner Is it really possible to enjoy the Old Testament? Christians know they are supposed to read the Old Testament. Yet many struggle to do so. They often find it confusing, theologically troubling, or just uninteresting. Eric Seibert understands this dilemma and provides a solution. His goal is to help people learn to love the Old Testament and actually want to read it. Seibert demonstrates how this part of the Bible is extremely valuable for Christians and offers dozens of practical suggestions and creative activities for hands-on interaction with the biblical text. Equipped with a variety of tools and approaches, readers discover how even the most seemingly dry passages can come to life. With Enjoying the Old Testament, readers of all ages will be inspired to pick up the Old Testament over and over again.

In this book, Molly Zahn investigates how early Jewish scribes rewrote their authoritative traditions in the course of transmitting them, from minor edits in the course of copying to whole new compositions based on prior works. Scholars have detected evidence for rewriting in a wide variety of textual contexts, but Zahn's is the first book to map manuscripts and translations of biblical books, so-called 'parabiblical' compositions, and the sectarian literature from Qumran in relation to one another. She introduces a new, adaptable set of terms for talking about rewriting, using the idea of genre as a tool to compare and contrast different cases. Although rewriting has generally been understood as a vehicle for biblical interpretation, Zahn moves beyond that framework to demonstrate that rewriting was a pervasive textual strategy in the Second Temple period. Her book contributes to a powerful new model of early Jewish textuality, illuminating the rich and diverse culture out of which both rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity eventually emerged.

This volume includes nine essays that move Ezekiel's creative reuse of older materials to the foreground of discussion. The essays highlight the transformation of earlier texts, traditions, and theology in Ezekiel. They explore the diverse ways that Ezekiel reshapes Israel's legal texts, rituals, oracles against foreign nations, royal ideology, conception of the individual, remembrance of the past, and hope for the future. The work concludes by noting the subsequent transformation of Ezekiel in scribal transmission and in the New Testament.

A Companion WORKBOOK to Help You Discover the Great Story of Scripture and Find Your Place in It Living God's Word is your pathway to read the Bible as it was meant to be read: as God's Great Story. This WORKBOOK is designed for use alongside the second edition of Living God's Word. While the textbook helps you see the big picture of what God is doing throughout the Bible, the WORKBOOK lets you reflect on and internalize what you are reading. Many Christians resolve to study the Bible more fervently, but often struggle to grasp the progression of Scripture as a whole. They encounter various passages each week through unrelated readings, studies, and sermons and it all feels disconnected. But once they see the Bible as God's Great Story, they begin to understand how it all fits together and they start see how their own lives fit into what God has done and is doing in the world. In Living God's Word, Second Edition, New Testament scholar J. Scott Duvall and Old Testament expert J. Daniel Hays help Christians consider how their lives can be integrated into the story of the Bible, thus enabling them to live faithfully in deep and important ways. Living God's Word explores the entire Bible through broad themes that trace the progression of God's redemptive plan. Each section deals with a certain portion of Scripture's story and includes: Reading/listening preparation Explanation Summary Observations about theological significance Connections to the Great Story Written assignments for further study These features--combined with the authors' engaging style--make Living God's Word an ideal book for those who want to understand the Bible better, for introductory college courses, Sunday school electives, or small group study. When used alongside the textbook, this workbook is the ideal resource for anyone looking to better understand how the entire Bible fits together as God's Great Story.

Never before has the problem of evil been a more urgent subject for our reflection. The Yahwist confronts the issue through a sequence of stories on the progressive deterioration of the divine-human relationship in Genesis 2-11. In Genesis 4 he narrates the initial slaughter of one human being by another, and strikingly, it is described as fratricidal. 'Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist' provides a close reading of J's story by using literary criticism and psychological criticism. It shows that the biblical author has more than an "archaeological" design. His characters - including God, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, plus minor characters - are paradigmatic. They allow J to proceed with a fine analytical feel for the nature of evil as performed by homo as homini lupus. No imaginative "mimesis" of evil has ever been recounted with such an economy of means and such depth of psychological insight. ANDRE LACOCQUE is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of 'The Trial of Innocence'; 'The Feminine Unconventional'; 'Romance, She Wrote'; 'Esther Regina'; and a commentary on Ruth. He is also the coauthor (with Paul Ricoeur) of 'Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies'. "Among Scripture interpreters, Andre LaCocque is a singular force because of his generative and restless mind that always seeks a new angle on the text. Here he continues his close reading of the early Genesis materials. LaCocque is an urbane intellectual who knows the world of myth and the critical claims of psychology. He is, at the same time, a most able and cunning reader of texts. The outcome of his interpretation is a vigorous, fresh reading of Genesis 4 as a primal statement of failure and possibility in Western culture. This book is an offer of his rich, suggestive interpretation and an example of how to connect what is ancient and thick to contemporary life." - WALTER BRUEGGEMANN "The master of a truly extraordinary range of techniques of interpretation, Andre LaCocque is able to extract deep theological, psychological, and moral meanings out of a deceptively simple and often under-interpreted chapter of the Bible. This sophisticated yet accessible book will repay the attention of many types of readers - Jewish or Christian, religious or secular, with training in Biblical Studies or without."- JON D. LEVENSON, Author of Creation and the Persistence of Evil

During the time of the divided kingdom, both the nation of Israel in the north and Judah in the south witnessed great miracles and great failures as their kings vacillated between serving God and following pagan practices. As God led the people through prophets such as Elisha, the clock on the nation's self-rule began to tick down. For to the east, the powerful kingdom of Assyria was threatening to conquer all the people in the land of Canaan. It was a time of decision: would God's people serve Him or divide their loyalties? In this study, pastor John MacArthur will guide you through an in-depth look at this historical period, beginning with the godly reign of Jehoshaphat in Judah, continuing through the ministry of the prophet Elijah, and concluding with the fall of both kingdoms. Studies include close-up examinations of Elisha, Naaman, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Obeying God in Every Situation" and "Renewing God's Word in Our Hearts." -ABOUT THE SERIES- The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates: Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text. Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context. Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life. Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.

The contributions of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the fields of systematics, ethics, sociology, and theology have become well known in recent decades. What has been overlooked, however, is the significant contribution he has also made to the study and interpretation of the Psalms. Bonhoeffer's approach to the Psalms is built upon an understanding of its relationship to prayer and to Jesus Christ the Crucified One. Employing methods drawn from both premodern and modern exegetes, Bonhoeffer develops a Christological interpretation of the Psalms which, in certain key aspects, has not been seen in the history of interpretation. His is an interpretation informed by the historical reality of Jesus Christ praying the prayers of the Psalms in his incarnation. As the church of today prays the Psalms, it is encouraged by understanding that they are also praying the very words which Jesus prayed. The Psalms are not only the prayerbook of the church, more fundamentally, they are the prayerbook of Jesus Christ. In this book, Pribbenow explores Bonhoeffer's unique Christological interpretation of the Psalms by means of a concentrated analysis of its development, coherence, and significance, tracing it from its formation at Berlin University, into the years of development at the Confessing Church Preacher's Seminary in Finkenwalde, and through the months of interrogation and imprisonment at the hands of the Third Reich.

First Order: Zeraim / Tractate Peah and Demay is the second volume in the edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. It presents basic Jewish texts on the organization of private and public charity, and on the modalities of coexistence of the ritually observant and the non-observant. This part of the Jerusalem Talmud has almost no counterpart in the Babylonian Talmud. Its study is prerequisite for an understanding of the relevant rules of Jewish tradition.

Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, claimed to have translated ancient scriptures. He dictated an American Bible from metal plates reportedly buried by ancient Jews in a nearby hill, and produced an Egyptian "Book of Abraham" derived from funerary papyri he extracted from a collection of mummies he bought from a traveling showman. In addition, he rewrote sections of the King James Version as a "New Translation" of the Bible. Smith and his followers used the term translation to describe the genesis of these English scriptures, which remain canonical for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Whether one believes him or not, the discussion has focused on whether Smith's English texts represent literal translations of extant source documents. On closer inspection, though, Smith's translations are far more metaphysical than linguistic. In Joseph Smith's Translation, Samuel Morris Brown argues that these translations express the mystical power of language and scripture to interconnect people across barriers of space and time, especially in the developing Mormon temple liturgy. He shows that Smith was devoted to an ancient metaphysics-especially the principle of correspondence, the concept of "as above, so below"-that provided an infrastructure for bridging the human and the divine as well as for his textual interpretive projects. Joseph Smith's projects of metaphysical translation place Mormonism at the productive edge of the transitions associated with shifts toward "secular modernity." This transition into modern worldviews intensified, complexly, in nineteenth-century America. The evolving legacies of Reformation and Enlightenment were the sea in which early Mormons swam, says Brown. Smith's translations and the theology that supported them illuminate the power and vulnerability of the Mormon critique of American culture in transition. This complex critique continues to resonate and illuminate to the present day.

Many of God's people through the ages have been called to endure times of hardship, loneliness, and suffering. Some, such as Daniel and Esther, were even members of a race carried away to a foreign land that had never heard of the God of Israel. Their lives were not easy, but even in the midst of trials, these men and women discovered that God was with them-and that He was actively leading the events in their lives. In this study, pastor John MacArthur will guide you through an in-depth look at the historical period of Israel's exile, beginning with the prophet Daniel being carried off to Babylon, continuing through the rise of the Persian Empire, and concluding with Esther's reign as queen. Studies include close-up examinations of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Esther, Haman, and others, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Standing Boldly for God" and "God's Sovereignty Over the Future." -ABOUT THE SERIES- The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates: Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text. Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context. Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life. Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.