The World around the Old Testament: The People and Places of the Ancient Near East

by Bill T. Arnold (Editor), Brent A. Strawn (Editor)

Leading Experts Introduce the People and Contexts of the Old Testament

What people groups interacted with ancient Israel? Who were the Hurrians and why do they matter? What do we know about the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and others?

In this up-to-date volume, leading experts introduce the peoples and places of the world around the Old Testament, providing students with a fresh exploration of the ancient Near East. The contributors offer comprehensive orientations to the main cultures and people groups that surrounded ancient Israel in the wider ancient Near East, including not only Mesopotamia and the northern Levant but also Egypt, Arabia, and Greece. They also explore the contributions of each people group or culture to our understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.

This supplementary text is organized by geographic region, making it especially suitable for the classroom and useful in a variety of Old Testament courses. Approximately eighty-five illustrative items are included throughout the book.

Genres: History, Old Testament, Ancient History, Biblical Studies, Religion

560 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Bill T. Arnold (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Encountering the Book of Genesis, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, and a commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel. He is also the coauthor (with Bryan E. Beyer) of Encountering the Old Testament.

Reviews

[Charity U · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 13-chapter book is perfect for understandings of the Old Testament. While Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts is my favorite for backgrounds in the cultural sense, this book is perfect for backgrounds of surrounding people groups. Each chapter looks at a different one: Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, etc. It gives history, rulers, culture, and more. This would have been so helpful when I taught Isaiah last fall and researched the Assyrians; but I look forward to continuing to use it in years ahead!

[Benjamin Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and dense, this was a school assignment. It presents by people groups, not by time period, so you need to already have the big picture of the ANE for it to be profitable (note that I don't really have that).
Furthermore, it has a very low view of the scriptures. At numerous points it presents the scriptures as being unreliable or ahistorical, potentially being cobbled together at a later date.

[Dawid Łaziński · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of various articles, excerpts and papers, each dedicated to one of the peoples that left their mark on the history of the Near East. While the title suggests some deep connection with the Old Testament, it is de facto an introduction to the history of various states and empires that pop up along the biblical story. And it’s clearly them and not the scripture that plays the main role. Also it’s a very uneven anthology. Some of the works offer an engrossing narrative while others stand closer to a dull enumeration of dates and places.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read half this book as part of my research for my MA thesis, and then came back and read the rest several months later. So some of the contents of the book are a bit fuzzy at the moment.

I found it odd that a (generally) evangelical publisher, with evangelical-leaning editors, put out a resource authored primarily by non-evangelicals with a low view of the OT's hostorical accuracy. On the other hand, that does indicate they selected their contributors not for their theology but for their expertise in the history of the cultures on which they wrote their chapters. So there's some pro/con happening there, depending on who you are. But that's not a major factor in most of these chapters.

Here are my bare-minimum thoughts on each chapter:

Daniel Fleming, Amorites - Helpful and informative. 4/5

Christopher Hays/Peter Machinist, Assyria - The longest chapter by far. Engaging and full of useful information. 5/5

David Vanderhooft, Babylonia - Felt anticlimactic after Hays/Machinist, largely because this chapter was 1/3 the length of theirs. But it was still solid. 4/5

Mark Smith, Ugarit - Extremely helpful, as is everything Smith writes on Ugaritic subjects. 5/5

Joel LeMon, Egypt - Better treatments are out there, but not this brief. In a book like this, I would have liked a little more on the biblical narratives set in Egypt -- the chapter on Assyria proves he could have written a little more. 3.5/5

Billie Jean Collins, Hittites and Hurrians - I didn't come in with a great understanding of the Hittites, and I left with a better one. I appreciated (in contrast with other authors) his willingness to offer the range of explanations given for historical issues related to the OT. 4.5/5

K. Lawson Younger, Jr., Arameans - Well-organized, and it gave me all the information I was looking for. Younger wins some extra points with me for being, to my knowledge, the only Evangelical contributor. 5/5

Christopher Rollston, Phoenicia - Pretty good, but he got a little too hung up talking about the alphabet (important as that is). 3.5/5

Joel Burnett, Transjordan - Solid. I learned plenty. 4/5

Carl Erlich, Philistia - One of the chapters I learned the most from, I think. 4.5/5

Pierre Bryant, Persia - Not particularly well organized. Bryant gets caught up in minutia, cites himself more than anybody else, and doesn't spend hardly any time on relevant Biblical connections (Ezra/Nehemiah, Esther, etc.). He also had the audacity to write his chapter in French. 2.5/5

David Graf, Arabia - I went in wondering what relevance this chapter would have to OT studies, and I left in the knowledge that the answer is: very little. Raised some interesting issues I'd like to read up on, but otherwise didn't enjoy. Lost the forest for the trees, and didn't even describe the trees well enough for me to appreciate them. 2/5

Walter Burkert, Greece - An excellent closing chapter. Burkert articulates the connections between early Greece and the ancient Near East. This is also probably the most engagingly written chapter. 5/5

Total: 52.5/65 (80/100)

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that is sorely needed for students of Old Testament historical criticism. For decades, Aemelie Kuhrt's two-volume "The Ancient Near East" has been the standard textbook for a survey of the ancient Near East. Much time passed and research has progressed since the publication of that book. Moreover, Kuhrt's book is the work of one author covering several millennia of ancient history. Arnold and Strawn's contribution fills in the gaps present in the wake of the decades following the publication of Kuhrt's formidable work. The editors have managed to assemble a cadre of experts on the nations surrounding Israel in the ancient world to contribute thorough studies on these lands and their impacts upon ancient Israel. The names they procured for this volume are quite remarkable, and most can be easily considered THE experts in their respective fields. The result is a book that compensates for the lack of depth in Kuhrt's contribution with up-to-date research. This book, however, will not elimate the need for TANE since it lacks the introductory flavor and breadth, but serves as a superb compliment to it.

The one complaint I have about this book is the maps and figures. The photographs are black-and-white, making detail difficult to see. The reader also often finds the author mentioning a certain artifact, but no picture is available. Further, the dizzying array of geographic references in each chapter begs for more detailed and frequent maps. Perhaps this is an ill that could be remedied in a later edition.

In sum, every student of OT historical criticism needs this book on her shelf. Kudos the editors for assembling an all-star roster of contributors, each of whom enhances the quality of introductory material available for study of the ANE.

P.S.- This volume will not appease the dwindling number of biblical minimalists. If you fall in this camp, it will not appease you.

[Luke Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a helpful resource, providing a wealth of important information on the peoples and places neighboring ancient Israel. Each essay in the volume covers a specific group/place (e.g., “Assyria and the Assyrians” or “Philistia and the Philistines”). My favorites were the essays on Egypt and on Assyria, written by Joel LeMon and Christopher Hays, respectively.

It took me a while to get through this book (I started it in May of this year). This was partially because of the nature of the book—it’s more of a reference book—and also because I had to return it to the library a handful of times. This is a book that I should add to my personal library, as it would be most helpful as a reference work to consult when studying, researching, or writing on a specific topic.

Glad that I found the time to finish it before the end of the year! Happy New Year’s Eve, and I’m looking forward to many more great reads in 2023!

[Jonathan Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, it’s a very excellent volume with lots of great information and a helpful introduction to all the various ancient peoples. However, the quality of the essays vary widely, and some articles assume more advanced knowledge than your average reader.

[Hany Abdelmalek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only lost one star cause some of the authors pretended like the Old Testament accounts meant less than “real” archeology and such.