The World Around the Old Testament: The People and Places of the Ancient Near East - Paperback

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.

Back Jacket

The best scholars in the modern world illuminate the various peoples in the ancient world of the Bible in this indispensable resource for students and teachers.
--William M. Schniedewind, University of California, Los Angeles

"For those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, The World around the Old Testament is an eminently useful and accessible resource. The volume features detailed, well-written, and informative articles on various peoples and places mentioned in the Bible, written by leading authorities in the field. The careful attention devoted to recent archaeological excavations and ancient inscriptions is most welcome."
--Gary N. Knoppers, University of Notre Dame

"The World around the Old Testament is a refreshing contribution to contextualizing the Hebrew Bible within its ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean context. The specialists for each area focus on their particular region while tying it into the larger framework of the Hebrew Bible."
--Tammi J. Schneider, Claremont Graduate University

"This is an especially important book. Nowhere else can one find, in a single volume, the kind of up-to-date and nuanced treatment of the ethnolinguistic groups of the ancient Near East that appears in this collection. Each chapter is written by a renowned scholar, and each carefully explains the sources that are used to reconstruct our understanding of the history, language, and religion of these cultures. The clear-eyed examination of current scholarly debates and the identification of key insights for the study of biblical texts also set this book apart. The World around the Old Testament will be a very productive resource for advanced students and scholars alike."
--Bruce Wells, Saint Joseph's University

Contributors
Pierre Briant
Walter Burkert+
Joel S. Burnett
Billie Jean Collins
Carl S. Ehrlich
Daniel E. Fleming
David F. Graf
Christopher B. Hays
Joel M. LeMon
Peter Machinist
Christopher A. Rollston
Mark S. Smith
David S. Vanderhooft
K. Lawson Younger Jr.

Author Biography

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 more than a dozen books, including Ancient Israel's History and Who Were the Babylonians?

Brent A. Strawn (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and professor of law at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He has authored or coedited various volumes, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law and What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East.