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Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible

2019; Eisenbrauns; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5325/bullbiblrese.29.1.0072

2576-0998

Caleb Chow,

Archaeology and Historical Studies

In this volume, John Walton provides an updated version of this book, which tackled the monumental task of providing a cultural comparison between Israelite and ancient Near Eastern worldviews (2006). The 14 chapters of this volume are divided among five sections and followed by some concluding remarks that nuance the main arguments of this book. In addition to some expanded sections, updated references and bibliography, and new photos, this book also provides an appendix of ancient Near Eastern gods that has been expanded in this second edition. The many tables and “comparative explorations” spread throughout each chapter often interrupt the flow of reading, but their contents will likely serve as convenient references.The first section, consisting of two chapters, is dedicated to the history and methodology of comparative studies, with the first chapter summarizing the early history of comparative studies as well as its main principles and goals. The second chapter is devoted to the effects of comparative studies on scholarship and theology, noting both challenges they present to earlier paradigms and the resistant responses from both critical and confessional scholarship.The second section consists of one chapter dedicated to a summary of ancient Near Eastern literature Walton considers most relevant. He provides a brief introduction to each genre as well as a table with the titles of the texts arranged by culture of origin, listed alongside references of modern translations. In this second edition, the synopses and dates of composition of each text have been removed.Chapters 4–6 constitute the third section of this book concerning religion in the ancient Near East. Chapter 4 introduces the ontology, theogony, and divine assemblies of the ancient Near Eastern gods as well as their relationships with the cosmos, humanity, and each other. Chapter 5 then explores the role of temples and rituals, emphasizing how the temple was not intended to be strictly a place of worship like a church but rather the residence of the deity and a cosmic center. Chapter 6 continues discussing the needs of the gods by exploring state and family religion, admittedly with a far greater abundance of evidence for state religion. Although Walton rightly acknowledges that our knowledge of ancient household religion is largely dependent on archaeological evidence from private homes, he does not address what specific archaeological evidence there is or if it demonstrates how family religion reflected or differed from state religion.The fourth section discusses the cosmos. In ch. 7, Walton lays out the organization of the cosmos based on Mesopotamian and Egyptian texts, and in ch. 8, he then provides an overview of how the heavens, the celestial bodies, the earth, and the sea were understood to have functioned in relation to each other. In this section, Walton does not provide a systematic picture of what the Israelites themselves believed in regard to the cosmos but rather only points out where ancient Near Eastern thoughts are reflected in the biblical texts.The fifth, final, and longest section is dedicated to the discussion of people. Chapter 9 first discusses how ancient Near Eastern texts portray the origins and composition of humans, noting the differences between the various cultures’ interpretations. At first glance, the tenth chapter on historiography may seem out of place in this section, but given how the ancient world viewed the past as described in this chapter, the placement becomes all the more appropriate. Chapter 11 then narrows the scope of discussion to the individual lives of the ancient world and how they “encountered the present by trying to learn about the future” (p. 213) through the practice of divination, prophecy, omens, and magic. The many terms and categories related to the beliefs behind these practices are neatly organized in the tables and charts concerning prophetic oracles throughout the ancient world in comparison to the Hebrew prophets.Chapter 12 concerns the role of the city in the cosmos and how kingship connected the divine and human realms. Most useful in the second edition of this chapter is a table listing the royal rhetorical concepts seen in both biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts (pp. 262–65). In ch. 13, Walton distinguishes modern concepts of law from the Code of Hammurabi and the Torah. The final chapter then addresses the ancient perspectives of death and the afterlife, comparing and contrasting the ancient world’s beliefs on the subject within the cosmological framework described in the previous chapters. Walton also dedicates much of the chapter to the discussion of the cult of the dead and the ancestor cult but, much like ch. 6, a brief discussion of archaeological finds from tombs and graves would have better illustrated his points.One shortcoming in this volume is that, while Walton always points out the differences between biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources, he rarely addresses how historical and social circumstances within each culture’s history may have resulted in variations of belief at different times (the most notable exception being table 11.2 on pp. 226–27). This is somewhat compounded by the relative absence of any significant discussion of archaeological excavations, which would have more clearly illustrated the changes within each culture as well as the complex cultural dynamics between the various political entities. That said, throughout this volume Walton successfully introduces how the Israelites were immersed in the ancient Near Eastern “cultural river” (pp. 6–7, 313) despite their attempts to “resist some of the currents” (p. 6). Indeed, despite the title, the clearest cultural contrast Walton delineates in this volume is arguably between the modern world and the ancient world, making this book an essential addition for scholars, pastors, and students who would seek to understand the Hebrew Bible in its own (albeit dynamic and varied) cultural context.