crain@griffon.missouriwestern.edu

Chapter One: Bible as Literature
Forms of Literature
Kinds of Literature
Chronological Table of Literature
Metaphors and Symbols in the Bible
Literature Links
Chapter Two: History and Chronology
Brief Chronological Overview
Major Moments in Jewish History
Synopsis of the Bible
History Links
Outline of the Bible
Periods of Bible History
More History Links
Chapter Three: Contributing Civilizations
Assyria
Babylonia
Links to Ancient Civilizations
Chronology: Babylonians to Judas Maccabeus
More Civilization Links
Chapter Four: Themes and Sub-themes in the Bible
Kinds of Literary Criticism
Common Themes in Literature
Bible Themes: Mercy, Justice
Bible Themes: Human Limitation
Bible Themes: Unity, Marriage
Bible References to Marriage
Bible Themes: Harlotry, Divorce
Bible Themes: Sibling Rivalry
Judah and Edom
Children of Promise
Bible Themes: Garden, City
Babylon
Bible Themes: Divided Self
Feminine Symbolism
Analogical Language
Chapter Five: Structure and Form
Name and Order of the Books
Numbering and Sequencing of the Books
Visual Structure
Structure and Form Links
Lineages
Chapter Six: Characters in the Old Testament 
Adam
Abraham
Men and Women in the Bible Link
Tamar, Judah's Daughter-in-law
Tamar, David's Daughter
Hagar
Glossary
Index

Introduction to the Bible as Literature
 

Bible
Bibles and More
Parallel King James and Revised Standard 
Apocrypha
Synopsis of Apocrypha
Non-Canonical Works
Tools for Bible Study
Christian Classics
On-Line Old Testament Text
Ancient World Web
Comparative Religion
Electronic Religious Studies Page
Old Testament Study Links
Philosophy
Philosophy On-line 
Fundamentals of Judaism
Reading the Old Testament, interactive and electronic
 
 

Section A: Five Reasons to Read the Bible

First, a word to my students. To be a teacher is the noblest profession I know; to be recognized as a teacher is the greatest honor I can achieve. To be a teacher, though, one must have people willing to learn, willing to be taught. Please understand, though, that roles often reverse: the best students are teachers, just as the best teachers must be students. My students help me to shape my thoughts--theirs is the very essence of what is said in the words that follow. Together, we learn; together, we teach: the words which result have an in-breathed, shaping life. 

For some time now, I have taught the Bible as literature. The very idea scares some of us: how can we
approach a sacred book in this way? We may ask this in yet another way: how can anyone without spiritual aid understand the Bible? Our serious lack of knowledge--true often of those who go to church as well as those who do not -- concerning what the Bible contains spurs me to risk our learning at least something together! For those who need reasons to read the Bible, I propose minimally the following: 

1. The inquiring mind would want to read the Old Testament to learn about three major world
religions---Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The Old Testament records the faith of the Hebrew people. It chronicles their growth into a nation, its successive captivities and exiles, its survival in the faith that gave birth to three world religions. The Hebrews acknowledged their creation as an act by Yahweh, who created them in Divine image. This natural, spiritual, and moral likeness meant for the Hebrews, and countless millions who have enlarged upon their faith, that creatures of intellect, will, and emotion commune with their Creator as regenerate beings.

2. The Bible contains a symbol system uniting the temporal and the eternal; it deserves at least the careful attention we would give any "good" literature. Literature consists of a system of meaningfully created symbols. We use symbols to relate a progressive knowing to the already known. What we know, conditioned by our Western world experience, we limit to what can be experienced or demonstrated. We have used "revealed" to acknowledge our movement into meta-physics: our "felt" connection with a "Something" beyond logic. That which is revealed, we have expressed metaphorically: the infinite becomes God, Person, Father, Son, Spirit, Shepherd, Bread, Light, Word; in each utterance, the Eternally Transcendent, objective, distant and outside, reveals itself immanent, historically present with us now. Divine Force becomes Personal Presence.

3. As a symbol system, the Bible challenges our minds but satisfies our hearts. No matter how little or much we follow the call of our minds and study human thought, we end up sooner or later confronted with its limitations. Contained from the beginning, we have experienced our connection with that which contains us and which, necessarily, becomes our own outside. Western rationality has explored countless times the shapes of our containment, telling us what we can think and prescribing boundaries for that thinking; it has spurned metaphysics as the accounting of that "Outside" which cannot be known. It has left us empty and disillusioned or restless and seeking. The Bible from the outset acknowledges and responds to Outside Shaping Force, moving us metaphorically into relationship with a Divine Person, expressing our urgent response to an in-breathed Word. The breath of God is in the Bible a symbol of Creative Activity or Power: God by breath formed the heavens and "revealed" Divine Word. The "image of God" reflects just this creative activity: God and mortal speak! The Invisible etches itself in the face of Nature and speaks itself in the Word that was in the beginning God. In our examination of the Bible, we will need to suspend mere rational analysis and begin in the good will of "faith expressed." After all, what more can we do with a book which begins in primeval time--the creation of the world--and ends in the death of history and time itself--the Eternal? Still, given even this, the Bible clearly establishes itself as historical revelation, the acts of God in human history. In that history, the careful reader will explore to limits the rational systems erected over the centuries and see beyond the merely possible into the very necessary expression of faith. We can engage in no higher activity than pursuit of a knowledge of God!

4. The Bible, tightly unified in its own controlling themes, explores all the common questions of human
existence. All the common subjects of literature are found in the Bible: individuals in nature, society, and in relation to God and other humans; growth and initiation, time, death, and alienation. Perhaps the most unifying theme of the Bible is that of relationship: human beings created by God in God's image for relationship and activity; this thread runs through all sixty-six books of the Bible, uniting them and
providing an unparalleled explanation of what ultimately it means to be human and how humans should
behave. The explanation is, of course, one we can accept or reject.

5. It’s unlikely that we would ever exhaust the meaning unfolding itself in the Bible. I have discovered that
my every reading of any portion of the Bible brings me new insight; just when I think I have gained a
comprehensive understanding of its overall structure, themes, and history, I am startled by yet another
revelation. For example, are you aware the oak tree holds importance for the Hebrews due to the
Babylonians? Do you know the Bible uses a three-twelve paradigm: three major prophets (Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel) --twelve minor; three patriarchs-twelve sons; repeated in the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes at Qumran. Indeed, it must be admitted that this anthology of books gives the impression of a planned layout and represents to a large extent a complete literary unit in which the material is logically arranged and fairly strictly grouped together. Given the time covered, the number of writers, and the languages involved, one marvels at the Bible’s overall unity. It’s enough to lead one to the notion of Spirit superintending writers so that while writing in their own styles and personalities, the result was God’s Word written--in this sense, authoritative, trustworthy, and in some ultimate way, without error!

Section B: Structured Approach to Understanding the Bible as Literature

Oxford Companion to the Bible

The most basic of all artistic principles is unity, and one of the things that has set off the literary approach to the Bible from other approaches is a preoccupation with unifying patterns and literary wholes. Literary unity consists of various things: the structure of a work or passage, a dominant theme, an image pattern, or progressive development of a motif. Whatever form it takes, unity is evidence of an artistic urge for order, shapeliness, and wholeness of effect.
 
The Literary Unity of the Bible. The central protagonist in the overall story of the Bible is God. The characterization of God is the central literary concern of the Bible, and it is pursued from beginning to end. Hardly anything is viewed apart from its relation to the deity.

The Bible is also unified by its religious orientation. It is pervaded by a consciousness of the presence of God. Human experience is constantly viewed in a religious and moral light. One result is that the literature of the Bible invests human experience with a sense of ultimacy. A vivid consciousness of values pervades biblical literature.

Literary archetypes also unify the Bible. Archetypes are master images that recur throughout the Bible and throughout literature. They are either images (light, water, hill), character types (hero, villain, king), or plot motifs (journey, rescue, temptation). The Bible is filled with such archetypes or master images, which lend an elemental quality to the Bible and make its world strongly unified in a reader’s imagination.

An approach to the Bible as literature can be to build 1. an understanding of what kinds of literature are present in the Bible, what historical period this literature represents, and a knowledge of where samples of each can be found; 2. an overview of biblical chronology, major dates and happenings appropriate to understanding how to read the various books of the Bible; 3. an appreciation for the major civilizations contributing to the Hebrew-Christian tradition; 4. a repertoire of themes and subthemes important to understanding why the Bible can be viewed as a unified anthology; and, as time permits, a series of character studies which illuminate the general themes embraced by the Bible as a whole. Eventually, an appendices may include an approach to understanding the Apocrypha and perhaps a brief comparison of the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian faiths.

Methods of Bible Study
Religious Studies

Return To Top

 
Chapter 1:The Literature of the Bible

Section A: Introductory EssayWhy read the Bible as literature? A short answer is that it is literature, some of our oldest and finest, and reading it as literature makes sense. This introductory essay focuses on the forms of literature discovered in this amazing anthology, the use of figurative language, critical tools common to literary and biblical study, and themes embraced broadly in literature which are also found in these books.Section B: Forms of Literature

Myth : Ostensibly historical events that serve to unfold part of the world view of a people or nation; myth organizes, shapes, or provides patterns and principles as opposed to strict fact. As myth, the Bible is concerned with explaining universal truths, and providing an explanation of origins and destinies. Even early history, if we believe Herodotus, contains myth. Another definition or approach--anonymous; supernatural accounting for natural events; makes concrete and particular a
perception of human beings or a cosmic view; a projection of social patterns onto a supernatural level;
explains divinity, creation and religion; demonstrates human perception of deepest truths; gives order and frame of meaning to human experience; reveals archetypal imagination embodying and suggests
universality; a narrative stirring us with the strange and familiar, contains primordial ritual and ceremony;
a repository of racial memories; a structure of unconsciously held value systems; an expression of the
general beliefs of a race, social class or nation; a unique embodiment of ideology (306). Genesis 1-11 (White 22) introduces two creation stories (1:1-2;4 and 2:5-25), the fall (3:1-24), first brothers Cain and Abel (4:1-24), and Seth (4:25-26), the first man's descendants (5:1-32), the Nephilim (6:1-4), the flood (6:5-9:17), Noah's descendants (9:18-32), the tower of Babel
(11:1-9), and the genealogy of Abraham (11:10-32).

Other examples of myth include Yahweh's fight with the dragon (Isa. 27. 1, 51. 9), Sheol, that fearful monster which, with open jaws, swallows up men, and from which Yahweh alone can rescue (Psalms 49.15, 86.13) , the morning star which tried to set its throne above that of God and was hurled into the depths (Isa. 14. 12 ff.), a primitive man who listened at a meeting held by God (Job).

Much smacks on fairy tale: foundling who lay naked and bare, but finally rose, through marriage, to a high position (Ez. 26.4 ff), the unlucky man who escapes the danger of a lion only to meet a bear, or who is bitten by a serpent in the safety of his own house (Amos 5.19), a dreadful sword from which there is no escape and from which only God can bring rest (Ez. 21), of the wonderful tree with no equal (Ez. 31.4 ff), all kinds of animals with the power of speech (Gen. 3.1, Num. 22.30), the giving of a choice of wishes (1 Kings 3.5, 2 Kings 2.9, 4.2) or the granting of a child, long desired, to a couple.

Legends instruct and explain smoothly, simply, in their own way, not with learned discussion and profound thoughts, and provide answers to all kinds of questions: (Kuhl, The Old Testament) Why is the area around the Salt Sea dead and deserted? Legend knows that the vale of Siddim was here (Gen. 14.3), a garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt (Gen. 13.10). The high stone pillar on the Jebel Usdum is Lot's wife (Gen. 19.26); the serpent crawls on its belly and eats dust (Gen. 3.14); the sexes are attracted to each other by an act of God (Gen. 2.22 ff); cultic custom of not eating thigh muscle (Gen. 32.32), meaning of Abram's name (Gen. 17.5); explanation for Isaac's name (he laughed--Gen. 17.17, 18.12, 21.6).

In the early books, we find narrative history, but within that history, we also find myth and legend. Paul Tillich in the Dynamics of Faith tells us "Myths are symbols of faith combined in stories about divine-human encounters" and then defines myth as using "material from our ordinary experience. It puts the stories of the gods into the framework of time and space although it belongs to the nature of the ultimate to be beyond time and space" (49). The nature of myth is such that the gods reveal themselves under a fate "which is beyond everything that is" (48), organized into hierarchies, sometimes into a trinity of gods, a duality of them, or into savior-gods who mediate, sometimes sharing the suffering and death of humans (49). Tillich goes on to point out that a criticism of myth has been its division of the divine but that even when only one god is present, this "one God is an object of mythological language" (49). Tillich then summarizes: "all the stories in which divine-human interactions are told are considered as mythological in character" (51). The reader should note that such a definition of myth merely confirms its existence in human consciousness and argues myth must be accepted as myth, not science; that is, science cannot address the substance of myth, the existence of the divine or the "beyond space and time." Myths are not deceptions or untruths but vehicles for expressing universal
insights into the nature of the world and human society (Harris 5).

Acknowledging myth as present in the Bible frees the reader in several important ways. As historical narrative, the Bible introduces its reader to a time before formal history, "to a people who lived thousands of years ago and shows us how much we are like our ancestors and how much they have had to do with our own forming as a part of the human family" (White 2). Importantly, though, the Bible is not secular history but primarily a religious book in which its authors speak through the perspective of faith (2). To try to reduce the Bible to history is to engage in literalness and to deny the function of symbol and myth to point beyond themselves to something else; as Tillich remarks, such literalness "deprives God of... ultimacy" (52). The historian is always concerned with what really happened, and certainly, much did happen, but the case is rightfully made that its authors were interested more in the theological importance of what happened than in the happenings themselves.
Reading: Genesis 1-11 Primeval history, universal in scope; Divine act brings humanity and history into existence, enables humanity to exist, multiply, diversify, and disperse upon the earth. Belongs to the Pentateuch, the first five books traditionally ascribed to the authorship of Moses; the Pentateuch is narrative which extends from the creation of the universe into the entrance of one people, the Hebrew, into their "promised land" or Canaan, the people coming to be known as the Israelites.

The Pentateuch narrative, after the first eleven chapters on primeval history, tells the story of Israel's ancestors, Abraham's migration from Ur of the Chaldees (Mesopotamia) through Canaan into Egypt, the Hebrew exodus from Egypt, their sojourn at Sinai and origins of moral law, their wanderings in the wilderness (Numbers), and their entrance into Canaan. Deuteronomy develops this latter story and continues the development of moral, religious (Leviticus is largely concerned with religious ritual), and secular law. Some have noted that Genesis ends with a coffin in Egypt while Deuteronomy ends with Israel or the development of a people's identity.

Concerning the literature, most critics agree that an epic literature circulated orally among the people as story, song, and proverb. This tradition is, it is held, later reinterpreted and eventually takes a written form. Scholars have detected a southern (Judean) and northern (Ephramitic) influence, these letters originally deriving from "J" for "Jahveh" or "Yahweh" and "E" for "Elohim." The other two sources are "P" for Priestly and "D" for Deutoronomic. The Priestly writers contributed through the Babylonian exile, and the Deuteronomic account covers Joshua through Second Kings. We know that parts of Deuteronomy were discovered in written form in 612, or during the reign of King Josiah.

The student must think of the Bible in written form as being a rather late creation, its story dipping back into the oral tradition and remote past, with the story of Israel's ancestors beginning in history about 1700 BCE

The books, form , and structure of the Bible will be addressed in a later section.

Links:

Names of God

Genesis

Exodus

Exodus and Numbers 

Deuteronomy

Notes on Genesis

Moses
 
 

Epic:
 

The Bible is, in fact, epic in its account of human and national origins (Harris 58). The first eleven chapters of Genesis establish the creation of the world as a divine action then survey the primeval history of humanity. History is viewed as the "inevitable outworking of divine purpose" (60). Already present is an insistence upon an "eternal, omnipotent Creator who exercises undisputed control of the universe, bringing chaos and light out of darkness through the power of his word alone" (61). In contrast to science, the account of Genesis is that God does, in fact, create something from nothing. More importantly, though, are the evolving themes: a people created by God in the image of God (activity and relationship); disobedience, revolt, and separation; covenants and a promised blessing to all of humanity. In the Biblical epic, human beings constitute the apex of creation, "made little less than a god" (Psalms 80), separated from God in a conscious act of willful revolt. But from the beginning, the initiative comes from the intervention of the infinite in the finite, and on these two levels, the drama of the Bible is from the beginning that of relationship.

Other Kinds of Literature:

•narrative--a recounting of events; chronological or containing a plot (Holman and Harmon 308). An
example of biblical narrative is the story of Abraham in Genesis. Genesis 12-25.
•epic--a long narrative poem, elevated style, characters in high position, heroic, depict a development of
episodes important to the history of a nation or race (171). Much of the Bible is epic literature accounting
for the development of the Judeo-Christian world. Read Genesis 26-50 Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.
•short story-- a relatively brief fictional narrative in prose; contains a unity of effect, theme, character, tone, mood, and style; contains plot. Biblical examples are Ruth, Jonah, Esther.
•folk tales--short narratives (199) handed down through oral tradition but eventually getting written down; cumulatively written. Samson in the book of Judges 13-16 captures the popularity of the folk hero).
•apocalypses--literature depicting an ultimate destiny (usually destructive) of the world; character of catastrophe is grandiose, imminent, unrestrained, wild; suggests final judgment. (Daniel in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New Testament are examples of this kind of literature.) Outline of Revelation.
•poetry--exists in many forms; marked by regularity of rhythm surpassing that found in prose, basic pattern evidencing variety but returning to basic rhythm; concrete; inversions frequent; simple, sensuous, impassioned language; pleases by appealing to emotions and intellect; highly imaginative (365). Psalms and Proverbs both consist largely of poetry. The Psalms are devotional lyrics. Biblical poetry is noted for accent and parallelism rather than meter.
•love lyric--a type of poetry, subjective, marked by imagination, melody, emotion, single impression (273). The Song of Solomon is a good example.
•battle ode--public, solemn, elaborate, dignified, musical, complicated (divided into strophes, anti
strophes, and epodes (329); directed to a single purpose and theme. An example is the song of Deborah found in Judges 5.
•epigram--a pithy saying, often antithetical, compressed; shows balance and polish (173). These exist in abundance in Proverbs.
•epiphanies--a showing forth of divine being; an event in which the essential nature of something--a person, situation, or object--is suddenly perceived; a grasp of reality achieved in a quick flash of recognition; sudden insight or new light (174).
•elegy--a sustained, formal poem setting forth a meditation on death or other solemn theme.
•gospels--found solely in the New Testament; form was invented by author of Mark and imitated by the later Gospel writers; record the story of Jesus as it was known by his contemporaries; not simple histories of the life of Jesus but further exemplifying the view that history is an arena in which the divine makes itself known; actually speak of things beyond history, addressing meaning; intention of writers is to produce faith (White 144).
•biography-- a written account of a person's life, a life history.
•letters--notes and epistles, correspondence (264).Paul's letters were immediate and direct, addressing the needs of particular Christian communities, giving spiritual direction; they continue to have a universal dimension, a timelessness, in that what was true for
the people of these communities continues to be true for people of contemporary times (White 129). Paul's letters to the Galatians, I and II Corinthians, and Romans are excellent examples of the epistle.
•law--a binding custom or practice of a community; a prescribed rule of conduct or action which is enforced by a controlling authority. The Old Testament, in particular, assumes human behavior is under Yahweh's authority as well as one's relationship with
neighbors(29). The beginning of law for the Hebrew people is expressed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Exodus 20:22-23:19 contains absolute,
conditional, ritual, moral, and religious laws. The materials from Exodus 35 to Numbers 10 (including all of Leviticus) have to do with laws. Israel's religious tradition is deeply embedded with the notion that Yahweh rewards obedience and punishes disobedience
(91). A special relationship exists between the law of the Old Testament and the New Law or covenant of the New Testament. One must understand the human situation in the Old and New Testaments is that of alienation from God. This alienation is caused by sinned or willful rebellion or disobedience to divine law. Both the Jews and the Gentiles are alienated by their measures, whether Law or heart; the New Testament emphasizes faith rather than obedience as the means whereby the individual is to be reconciled with God. As seen in the New Testament, the Law defines sin; it is not the cause of sin (137).
•sermons--a religious discourse delivered as part of a service. Paul's sermon at Antioch is a good example (Acts 13: 15-41); another example is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.
•codes--a system of principles or rules. Leviticus, a book of worship, is filled with codes detailing how the Levitical priests were to minister in the sanctuary; it contains codes for dealing with sacrifices, setting forth the distinction between clean and unclean foods,
describing the ritual for the ceremony of the atonement, and laws governing Israel's life as a holy people.
•puns--plays on words based on the similarity of sound between two words and divergent meaning. Matthew 23:24 contains an example: galma for gnat and gamla
for camel.
•liturgy--performed as part of a worship service. Again, Leviticus provides several examples.
•parables--short, illustrative stories teaching a lesson. A true parable parallels, detail for detail, the situation that calls forth the parable for illustration. Christ told many parables--Luke 15:11-32 provides an example in the prodigal son.
•hymns--poems expressing religious emotion and intended to be sung by a chorus; many of the psalms fit this definition.
•songs--from the beginning, there was not the written but the spoken workd; there was not literature but singing and reciting. The Old Testament contains many songs, often older than the text surrounding them. These were often quite short and were sung, during dancing, to the accompaniment of musical instruments. They would often be sung in chorus (Ex. 15. 20-1; Num. 21. 17; 1 Sam. 18. 6-7). People sang at their work: at the completion of a well (Nu. 21.17-18), while harvesting and treading the grapes (Jer. 25.30, 48.33), at social gatherings and feasts (Amos 6.4 ff.; Isa. 5.11 ff.); men rejoiced and forgot their cares (Isa. 22.13), not always with moderation (Is. 28.8); they told riddles (Gen. 31.27); they mocked physical imperfections in song (bald head, 2 Kings 2. 23; faded beauty, Isa. 23. 15-16; they inflamed the tribes to fight with song (Jg. 5.12 Song of Deborah); they sung deriding the enemy (Num. 21.27), lamented an only son (2 Kings 2. 12, 13.14).
•proverbs--briefly and memorably express some recognized truth about life; these are found in abundance in proverbs.
•laments--poetry expressing grief. The book of Lamentations is a small psalter of communal laments over Jerusalem, following its destruction by the
Babylonians in 587 B.C.
•acrostics--compositions usually in verse which are arranged in such a way as to spell words, phrases or sentences. Lamentations contains an example: the first four chapters contain stanzas for each of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the
fifth has the same numbers of verses as the alphabet.
•oracles--hidden or divine knowledge revealed through utterance, usually poetic; a wise, authoritative decision or opinion. Isaiah 6-9 consists of oracles set in their
own historic context.Oracles contain Yahweh's answer to questioners seeking advice and help.
Literary Genres (Oxford Companion to the Bible):

Literary Genres in the Bible. The most common way to define literature is by its genres or literary types. Through the centuries, people have agreed that certain genres (such as story, poetry, and drama) are literary in nature. Other types, such as historical chronicles, theological essays, and genealogies, are expository (informational). Still others can fall into either category. Letters, sermons, and orations, for example, can move in the direction of literature by virtue of experiential concreteness, figurative language, and artistic style.

The Bible is a mixture of genres, some of them literary in nature. The major literary genres in the Bible are narrative or story, poetry (especially lyric poetry), proverb, and visionary writing (including prophecy and apocalypse). The New Testament letters frequently become literary because of their occasional nature, figurative language, and rhetorical or artistic patterning. Other literary genres of note in the Bible include epic, tragedy, gospel, parable, satire, pastoral, oratory, encomium, epithalamion (wedding poem), elegy (funeral poem), and a host of subtypes of lyric poetry (such as nature poem, psalm of praise, lament, love poem, psalm of worship, hymn).

Genre study is central to any literary approach to the Bible because every genre has its own conventions, expectations, and corresponding rules of interpretation. A biblical story, for example, is a sequence of events, not a series of ideas. It is structured around a plot conflict, not a logical argument. It communicates by means of setting, character, and event, not propositions. In short, the literary genres of the Bible require us to approach them in terms of the conventions and procedures that they possess.

Literary Forms in the Gospels(Oxford Companion to the Bible) 

An analysis of the teaching of Jesus reported in the four Gospels reveals a variety of literary forms. Sometimes he conveyed his teaching by means of parables; at other times he used proverbs and plays on words (puns). Many passages in the Gospels are arranged in strophic, or poetic, form, and frequently one is struck by the vigorous, picturesque language by which the teaching is convey
ed. Examples within each of these categories, considered in reverse order, include the following.

Picturesque Speech
Like other persons of the Near East, Jesus made use of striking contrasts and vivid metaphors. Using exaggerated and colorful expressions, he frequently drew attention to the ridiculous and the illogical behavior of the self-righteous. For example instead of saying in prosaic and commonplace terms that some people are inconsistent when judging others and themselves, Jesus put it thus:
Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ... You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
(Matthew 7.3 ,5)

By taking into account the presence of picturesque expression in the Gospels the reader can sometimes avoid misinterpreting the meaning. For example, the hard saying preserved in the third Gospel, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14.26), must be understood in the light of the frequent use of overstatement as characteristic of the speech of Near Easterners. It is obvious that Jesus, so far from intending to increase the sum total of hatred in the world, states a principle in a startling, hyperbolic manner, and leaves it to his hearers to discover whatever qualifications are necessary in the light of his other pronouncements. The saying means that in order to be a follower of Jesus one must be prepared to choose between natural affection and loyalty to the Master. The same idea is expressed in Matthew’s less rigorous version of Jesus’ saying: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10.37).

One should, of course, be alert to the danger of diluting Jesus’ teaching by finding overstatement in passages where it is not present. For example, Jesus’ command to the rich man who inquired what he should do to inherit eternal life, "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me" (Luke 18.22), should not be discounted as exaggerated hyperbole, meaning merely, "Sell ten percent of what you own. ..." The context makes it absolutely clear that the questioner as well as the disciples understood Jesus’ words in their literal sense.

Poetic, Rhythmical Parallelism
Hebrew poetry, illustrated in the Old Testament Psalter, is characterized by parallelism of members. Sometimes the parallelism is synonymous and sometimes antithetic (see "Parallelism" in "THE FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY").
In view of the frequency of Jesus’ quotations from and allusions to the Psalms, it is not surprising that we find much of his teaching cast into the mold of Semitic poetry. Synonymous parallelism appears in the saying recorded in Luke 6.27–28:
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
Antithetic parallelism is illustrated by Matthew 7.17–18:
Every good tree bears good fruit,
but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Besides these two basic types of parallelism, several other kinds have been identified. What is called step parallelism, for example, occurs when the second line takes up a thought contained in the first line and, repeating it, makes it, as it were, a step toward the development of a further thought, which is the climax of the whole. An example of step parallelism is found in Luke 9.48 (the italics indicate the repeated member which serves as a step, and the vertical line stands before the climax):
Whoever welcomes this child in my name
welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me |welcomes the one
who sent me.
For other passages that exhibit an elaborate rhythmical pattern, see Matthew 6.19–21; Matthew 23.16–22; Mark 2.21–22; Mark 9.43–48; Luke 11.31–32; Luke 17.26–30.

Plays on Words
The Old Testament contains not a few instances of plays on words (for examples see "Paranomasia" in "THE TECHNIQUES OF HEBREW POETRY" and the notes on Genesis 11.9; Jeremiah 1.11–12; Amos 8.1–2). The text of the Gospels, which has been transmitted to us in Greek, contains more than one instance where the original Aramaic of Jesus’ mother tongue probably involved a word-play. It is understandable that very few such puns in Aramaic could be reproduced in Greek. In one case, however, it happens that the Greek word pneuma, just as the Aramaic r´hâ, means both "wind" and "spirit." In John 3.8 Jesus is quoted as saying to Nicodemus, "The pneuma blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the pneuma. "

One of the most noteworthy of Jesus’ sayings about the church involves a play on words. According to Matthew 16.13ff. at Caesarea Philippi, in response to Jesus’ question to his disciples who they thought he was, Simon Peter confessed, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." After declaring that Peter had spoken this by divine revelation, Jesus retorted, "And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek Petros ], and on this rock [Greek petra ] I will build my church." In Jesus’ mother tongue the play is even closer, for in Aramaic the word kÙphâ serves as a proper name (Cephas) and also means "a rock, a stone." Jesus’ statement therefore would have been, "And I tell you, you are KÙphâ, and on this kÙphâ I will build my church" (there remains a difference in gender, for the common noun is feminine and the proper name is, of course, masculine; compare French pierre (f.), "a stone," and Pierre (m.), "Peter").

Another passage which probably involved a pun is Matthew 23.24, where the Greek text is unable to reproduce the jingle that is present in what is presumed to be the original Aramaic. In his condemnation of the inconsistency of certain scribes and Pharisees, Jesus reproached them for "straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel." Since in Aramaic the word for "gnat" or "louse" is qalmâ and the word for "camel" is gamlâ, the pun provides added piquancy to the picturesque speech used by Jesus: he is describing a punctilious Pharisee who, in view of Leviticus 11.41ff., which forbids the eating of what swarms or crawls on the earth, is careful to strain out a qalmâ that may have fallen into his food or wine, but is quite unconcerned over gulping down a whole gamlâ!

Proverbs
Every language has pithy sayings or maxims that express a truth crisply and forcefully. Because proverbs frequently express only one side of a truth, it happens that mutually contradictory proverbs may circulate, each of which is true when applied to the appropriate life-setting. The common saying, "Penny wise, pound foolish," correctly describes one who is scrupulous about small transactions, but is extravagant in great ones. On the other hand, the proverb, "Take care of the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves," is also true. More than once the Bible presents two proverbs that, though contradictory, are both true when applied to appropriate circumstances. In Proverbs 26.4 the writer cautions his reader, "Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself"; in the very next verse, however, he advises, "Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes." It is left to the reader to know when it is appropriate to heed one or the other of these two antithetical proverbs.

It is not surprising that Jesus sometimes cast his teaching in the form of proverbs. Since, however, these brief, salty sayings stress one side of a truth, they should not be exalted as maxims of inflexible conduct. On the contrary, one categorical statement must be interpreted in the light of another that may counsel the opposite of the first. For example, Jesus’ command, "Do not judge, so that you may be not judged" (Matthew 7.1), has sometimes been taken as a blanket prohibition against making judgments concerning right and wrong, good and evil. In the same context, however, the evangelist includes another of Jesus’ pithy sayings, one which presupposes the necessity of forming judgments: "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine" (Matthew 7.6). To obey this command against desecrating what is holy, one obviously must judge who is doggish and who is swinish. Spiritual prudence will know when it is appropriate to follow one precept and when it is appropriate to follow the other.

Similarly Jesus’ proverb-like prohibition, "Do not resist an evildoer" (Matthew 5.39), is not to be taken to mean that his disciples are never to resist evil in any kind of way. In the light of Jesus’ other teachings as well as his use of force to drive out the money-changers from the temple precincts (Mark 12.15), it is clear that the principle that he inculcates in this crisp maxim is non-retaliation for a malicious wrong inflicted by a personal enemy.

Parables
In all the teaching of Jesus there is no feature more striking than the parables. Although other religious teachers had made use of parabolic stories (see Judges 9.7–15; 2 Samuel 12.1–6), in quantity and in excellence his parables are acknowledged to be outstanding. About sixty examples, from what was probably a larger number, have been preserved in the synoptic Gospels; these comprise more than one third of Jesus’ recorded words. The fourth Gospel nowhere uses the word "parable," but it contains several parabolic sayings in the form of allegories (for example, John 10.1–18; John 15.1–11).
The old definition of a parable as "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning" contains a certain amount of truth, but one must beware against seeking an elaborate allegorical meaning for every detail in a parable. That is, many details in Jesus’ parables are present in order to make the story "live," and were not included primarily to instruct or edify the hearer. Defined more precisely, in Jesus’ teaching a parable is a comparison drawn from nature or common experience in life and designed to illustrate some moral or religious truth, on the assumption that what is valid in one sphere is valid also in the other. The distinctions between parable and simile and metaphor are not easily defined. Often there is scarcely any difference, for all of them involve an aspect of comparison, but generally the metaphor and simile are short while the parable is more extended. "You are the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5.13) is a metaphor; "Be wise as serpents" (Matthew 10.16) is a simile; but "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened" (Matthew 13.33) is a parable.

The proper method of interpreting Jesus’ parables is to make a thorough inquiry into the "life-setting" in his ministry when the parable was first uttered, and to seek out the chief point that, in that setting, it was intended to teach. In other words, To whom did Jesus speak the parable? and, Why did he speak it? Usually the details in a parable provide nothing more than the necessary background in order to make the story realistic, and are not to be assigned, point by point, special meanings in the manner of an allegory.

An analysis of Jesus’ parables reveals that most of them are intended either (a) to portray a type of human character or disposition for warning or example, or (b) to reveal a principle of God’s government of the world and humankind. In other words, Jesus’ parables usually teach a certain kind of conduct that his hearers are to emulate or avoid (matters of ethics), or they disclose something of the character of God and his dealings with humankind (matters of theology). Examples of the former class of parables include The Two Builders (Matthew 7.24–27), The Two Sons (Matthew 21.28–32), The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18.9–14), and The Good Samaritan (Luke 10.30–37); examples of the latter include the several parables concerning the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13; Matthew 20.1–15), The Seed Growing Secretly (Mark 4.26–29), The Great Supper (Luke 14.16–24), and The Lost Coin (Luke 15.8–10). Most parables of Jesus have two levels of meaning. One is the story itself, which usually reflects some aspect of daily life in the Near East. The other, deeper level of meaning (which may be paradoxical or surprising), is an open-ended invitation awaiting the hearer’s response. In this respect the parable is not effective until the challenge inherent in the parable is freely accepted and acted upon.
Finally, it should be observed that when Christian teachers and evangelists retold Jesus’ parables in the early church, they occasionally introduced small changes so as to apply the stories to new situations or to bring out the application more vividly. An example of the latter is the slight modification in the order of the wording in Matthew and Luke’s retelling of the parable of The Wicked Tenants. According to Mark 12.8, when the owner of the vineyard sent his son to the tenants to get some of the fruit, they "killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard." Matthew and Luke, however, finding in the parable a parallel to what happened to Jesus when he was crucified outside the city walls, altered the sequence of the clauses so as to read, "they threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him" (Matthew 21.39; Luke 20.15).

There was also a tendency to turn parables that Jesus addressed to the crowd, or to opponents, into parables for the disciples. For example, according to Luke 15.4–10 Jesus told the parable of the Lost Sheep as an answer to criticisms leveled against him by Pharisees and scribes (Luke 15.2). When Matthew recounts the same parable (Matthew 18.12–14), however, it is no longer addressed to Jesus’ opponents; it has now become part of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples (Matthew 18.1), that is, to the church, on the subject of how Christians are to relate to other Christians (see also Matthew 18.15–17).
In other cases the parables of Jesus were remembered long after the circumstances that gave rise to them had been forgotten. More than once, therefore, we find that the Evangelists, impressed by the sublimity of Jesus’ teaching, recount his parables without mentioning the specific situation in which they were first narrated.

Section C: Chronological Table of Old Testament Literature

 
Chapter 2 History and Chronology 

Section A: ChronologyIn order to read the Bible with any degree of understanding at all, students should familiarize themselves with a brief chronological structure which can be easily memorized and used to place books appropriately in the era they describe. While students will quickly discover that almost no one agrees on the early traditions, time and sometimes even setting, most chronological structures tend to agree with what happens with the monarchy in 1000 BCE

Links:
Overview
Overview and Bible Study
Expanded Overview
Biblical Dates
Summary Chronology

Brief Chronological Overview
Outline of Bible History

Event or Period Approximate Dates Abraham and the Patriarchs -1750-1700 BCE
Moses and the Exodus-1290-1250 BCE
Joshua and the conquest of Canaan-1210 BCE
The Judges (tribal Confederacy)-1210-1020 BCE
The monarchy-1020-587 BCE
The Prophets-1250-450 BCE
Division of Israel and Judah--922 BCE
The Babylonian exile-587-539 BCE
The Postexilic period-539 BCE -135 CE
The period of Hellenism-323-63 BCE
The Maccabean period-165-63 BCE
The Roman period-63 B.C.E.-135 CE
The birth of Jesus-4 BCE
The founding of Christianity-30 CE
Paul’s ministry-33-65 CE
Development of Christian literature-50-120 CE
Completion of the Bible-After 100 CE

Students will quickly discover that the Exodus has an early (1400s) and late dating; I have given students the late date, or the thirteenth rather than fifteenth century BCE A somewhat expanded history includes the following:

Major Moments in Jewish History

Approximate Date
1750 B.C.E.-Abraham called to his role
1250 -Exodus led by Moses
1210-Invasion of Canaan led by Joshua
1210-1020-Period of tribal confederacy
1020-Saul becomes first king of Israel 1000-David becomes king
961-Solomon becomes king
922-Israel and Judah divide
721-Israel falls to Assyria
621-Josiah’s reform
587-Judah falls to Babylon
539-Jewish exiles return to Jerusalem
520-515-Temple rebuilt
458 or later-Period of Ezra and Nehemiah 332-Alexander the Great conquers Palestine
167-Maccabean War
63-Palestine becomes a Roman protectorate
70 C.E-Temple destroyed
90-Canon of Jewish sculpture established
135-Jews expelled from Palestine

Kings of Israel and Judah
Saul 1020-1000 BCE
David 1000-961 BCE
Solomon 961-922 BCE

Division of Monarchy 922 BCE
Israel Ten Tribes Northern Kingdom c. 922-721 BCE (fell to Assyria) Jeroboam c. 922-901
Nadab c. 901-900
Baasha c. 900-877
Elah c. 877-876
Judah Two Tribes Southern Kingdom c. 922-587 BCE (fell to Babylon) Rehoboam c. 922-915
Abijah (Abijam) c. 915-913
Asa c. 913-873 Kings of Israel and Judah
continued Zimri c. 876 (7 days) OMRI DYNASTY Omri c. 876-869
Ahab c. 869-850
Ahaziah c. 850-849
Jehoram c. 849-842 JEHU DYNASTY Jehu c. 842-815
Joahaz c. 815-801
J(eh)oash c. 801-786
Jeroboam II c. 786-764
Jehoshaphat c. 873-849
Jehoram c. 849-842
Ahaziah c. 842
Athaliah= c. 842-837
Joash c. 837-800
Amaziah c. 800-783
Uzziah (Azariah) c. 783-742
Jotham (regency) c. 750-742, (king) c. 742-735 Zechariah (6 mos.) c. 746-745
Shallum (1 mo.) c. 745
Menahem c. 745-738
Pekahiah c. 738-737
Pekah c. 737-732
Hosea c. 732-724
Israel falls 721 BCE
Jehoahaz (Ahaz) c. 735-715
Hezekiah c. 715-687
Manasseh c. 687/6-642
Amon c. 642-640
Josiah c. 640-609
Jehoahaz II (Shallum) c. 609 (3 mos.)
Jehoiakim (Eliakim) c. 609-598
Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) c. 598-597 (3 mos.)
Zedekiah (Mattaniah) c. 597-587
Judah falls 587 BCE

Students will find that understanding this overview will help them considerably when they read, for example, Isaiah and can place this prophecy within the eighth century BCE Isaiah, of course, dates itself: "The vision of Isaiah concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah" (1.1). Knowing Isaiah's date tells the student that Isaiah begins this prophecy prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom (722/21) to the Assyrians. If they read closely, they will understand why Isaiah has been said to contain a First, Second, and Third period, the context responding to different times.

Section B: History

Exodus and Numbers
Moses

An understanding of the history involved (in its simplest form) is also a requirement for appreciating the literature of the Bible. For example, Oxford University Press provides the following kind of brief synopsis.

Using the Old and New Testament

Judaism has no Old Testament, although it shares with Christians the Old Testament tradition as it appears in the books embraced by Christians. Jewish tradition tells the Old Testament story in three parts: Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy), Prophets (Former: Joshua through Kings; Latter: Isaiah through Malachi), and Writings (the rest of the books).
Name of God

Original Hebrew contained only consonants; as a result, the Hebrew name for God is represented by the Tetragrammaton, YHWH. Pronunciation of the name has been lost, but pious Jews did not pronounce the name anyway, circumlocution it by using adonai (the Lord) and hasshem (the Name). JEHOVAH is a combination of YHWH and the Masoretic adonay.

Narrative
The narrative of the Hebrew Bible is a continuous story--from the tale of Abraham coming out of Babylonia through the Exodus under Moses. After the exodus out of Egypt, the story tells of the conquest and settlement of Canaan, the founding of the Monarchy (Saul, David, Solomon), the division of Israel (Southern Judah and Northern Kingdom with Samaria as capital), the destruction of Israel or the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians in 721/22 BCE followed by the destruction of Jerusalem (the Southern Kingdom) in 586 BCE by the Babylonians. Successively, other civilizations involved with these people are the Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

The Old Testament story is from the creation of the world to the building of the second temple to the prophetic predictions of age of peace under the Messiah's rule; a subplot is one in which the people of Israel rebel against YHWH.
 
 

Links:
History Links
More History Links
Brief History
History of Israel
History of Jerusalem

Brief Historical Overview

 

Outline

The Story of Moses and the Exodus

I. Preparation for the Exodus
A. The Hebrews become slaves (Ex. 1:1-22)
B. The introduction of Moses (2:1-22)
C. The call of Moses (2:23-4:17)
D. Moses’ return to Egypt (4:18-31)
E. The first encounter with Pharaoh (5:1-5)
F. The ten plagues (7:8-10:29, 12:29-34)
G. The institution of the Passover (12:1-28, 43-51)

II. The Exodus
A. The departure from Egypt (Ex 13:17- 14:14)
B. Crossing the Sea of Reeds (14:15-31)
C. The desert experience (15:22-18:27)

III. The Covenant and the Law
A. The arrival at Sinai (Ex 19:1-2)
B. The Covenant promised (19:3-8)
C. The Ten Commandments (20:1-7)
D. The Book of the Covenant (20:22-23:19)
E. The Covenant affirmed (24:1-18)

IV. The First Failure
A. The Golden Calf (Ex 32:1-35)
B. The relation of the Covenant to the Law (34:10-28)

V. The Departure from Sinai
A. Leaving Sinai (Num 10:1-36)
B. Spying out Canaan (13:1-33)
C. Rebellion, and the consequence (14:1-38)
D. The unsanctioned invasion of Canaan (14:39-45)

Outline

The Golden Era of Jewish History I. Joshua
A. Preparation for conquest (1:1-5:12)
B. Conquest of Jericho (5:13-7:26)
C. Conquest of Ai and other events (8:1- 9:20)
D. North and South subdued (10:1-12:24)
E. Land apportioned and tribes described (13:1-21:45)
F. End of Joshua’s rule (22:1-24:31)

II. Judges
A. Summary of settlement of Canaan (1:1- 2:5)
B. Age of the Judges (2:6-3:6)
C. The individual judges (3:7-16:31)
1. Othniel (3:7-11)
2. Ehud (3:12-30)
3. Shamgar (3:31)
4. Deborah (4:1-5:31)
5. Gideon (6:1-8:35)
6. Abimelech’s abortive kingship (9:1-57)
7. Tola (10:1-2)
8. Jair (10:3-5)
9. Jephthah (10:6-12:7)
10. Ibzan (12:8-10)
11. Elon (12:11-12)
12. Abdon (12:13-15)
13. Samson (13:1-16:31)
D. David and Benjamite stories (17:1-21:25)

III. 1 Samuel
A. The story of Samuel (1:1-7:17)
B. Samuel and Saul (8:1-15:35)
C. Saul and David (16:1-31:13)
1. David flees (22:1-26:25)
2. David among the Philistines (27:1- 31:13)

IV. 2 Samuel
A. David becomes king of Judah (1:1-2:46)
B. David king of all Israel (5:1-8:18)
C. History of David and his family (9:1- 20:26)
D. Other events (21:1-24:25)

V. 1 Kings
A. Solomon becomes king (1:1-2:46)
B. Solomon’s reign (3:1-11:43)
1. The wisdom (3:1-4:1)
2. The builder (5:1-9:25)
3. The trader (9:26-10:29)
4. The king’s decline (11:1-43)
C. The divided kingdom (12:1-22:54)
1. The two kingdoms until Elijah (14:1-16:34)
2. The Elijah cycle (17:1-2 Kings 1:18)

VI. 2 Kings (the divided kingdom continued)
A. Stories about prophets (1:1-13:25)
1. Elisha cycle (2:1-8:29)
2. Anointing of Jehu (9:1-37)
B. Till the fall of the North (14:1-17:41)
C. Till the fall of the South (18:1-25:30)

 
 

History Divided into Periods 

1. Patriarchal: Dated from the first third of the second millennium (2000-1700 BCE)
Story of Patriarchs: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph (spouses also play a role: Sarah, Isaac's Rebekkah, and Rachael)

Central theme: God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) of a land and a people (Israel) through whom all other people would be affected.

2. Exodus, Election, Covenant

Details surrounding the exodus are lacking, although we know the people to become Israel come out of Egypt. Disputed details include the pharaoh of the exodus, the route of the exodus, and the location of Sinai as well as the origin of the person name of Israel's God.

The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt who escaped under Moses' leadership. Moses is the central figure in Israel's history from Exodus through Deuteronomy.

3. Settlement

The Israelites cross into Canaan (called Palestine by the Romans). Excavation points to 1200-900 BCE in the Iron Age for this crossing.
Joshua and Judges record the settlement. Whether the settlement was a blitzkrieg, rapid and definitive, or a lengthy and complicated process is still being debated; Joshua suggests the former. Judges suggests the latter, with settlement being completed under David and Solomon.

The period of the judges records charismatic, military leadership and portrays the tribes as being loosely confederated. There was no king in Israel, and people did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 21.25).

Outline of Judges
 

4. The United Monarchy
1020 BCE onward
Israel sets up strong, central role to survive Philistine threat.
People demand to be like other nations (1 Samuel 8.20).
Kingship occasions a serious theological crisis: the conflict is between secular and spiritual interests. Yahweh is sole king, and the earthly king is to be Yahweh's representative.

Saul (1020 BCE): Israel's first king; his major challenge was to contain the Philistines (I Samuel 13-31); Saul is unable to prevail over the Philistines; he commits suicide. Saul is basically a good person who was thrust into a role for which he was unprepared.

David (1000-961 BCE): (2 Samuel 9-20, I Kings 1-2)

David is one of Israel's heroes, and he becomes the model for the Messianic king of the latter scriptures. The narrative brings a disarming candor which allows readers to see the human side of this ideal king. David is a military leader who unites the Judah and Israel into one kingdom. He rules over Judah from Hebron and expands his kingdom. David captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and established his capital there on neutral grounds. Jerusalem becomes known as Zion or the City of David. David ruled over the United Kingdom for thirty-three years.

Solomon (1 Kings 1-11)
Solomon is a political rather than a military leader. He is praised for consolidating the kingdom and for establishing administrative districts; he is also known for his trade and commerce and distinguished himself with elaborate building projects, such as the temple and adjacent palace complex. He used forced labor and taxed heavily. The kingdom, united for seventy years, fell apart at Solomon's death.

5. The Divided Kingdom
Egypt was in constant conflict with both the Northern and the Southern kingdoms; internecine war continued until Israel (the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 721/22). The Northern Kingdom was larger and stronger than
Judah (Southern), but Judah was more stable and survived into 586/7, when it was conquered by Babylonia.

6. EXILE

During the last two decades of its history the Kingdom of Judah was caught in a power struggle between imperial Egypt and Babylonia, each striving to fill the power vacuum left by Assyria. The last three kings of Judah—Jehoiakim (609—598 BC), Jehoiachin (three months), and Zedekiah (597—587 BC)—were undistinguished. During Jehoiakim’s reign in 605 BC the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian pharaoh Neco in battle at Carchemish, placing Judah under the control of Babylonia. This was a turning point in Judah’s history. Jehoiakim (see Jeremiah 36) refused to listen to Jeremiah’s prediction of the impending Babylonian destruction. In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as thousands of leading citizens, among them Ezekiel, who became a prophet in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then appointed Zedekiah as a puppet in place of the exiled Jehoiachin. Jeremiah was a kind of adviser to Zedekiah, who sought his counsel but seldom followed it. Jeremiah, a realist, urged Zedekiah (Jeremiah 37—38) not to rebel against Babylonia, but instead to capitulate. As a result, Jeremiah was accused of being a traitor. Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonians, and in 587—586 BC Nebuchadnezzar attacked and destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, deporting many of its inhabitants to Babylon. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, was taken to Babylon, was imprisoned for treason, and died there. At the same time the fortified towns of Judah, including Lachish, were also destroyed.

(Oxford Companion to the Bible)
 
 
 

7. THE POSTEXILIC PERIOD

This is the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Sheshbazzar, governor of Judah appointed by Persian Cyrus, leads exiles back to Jerusalem. The temple is rebuilt under Zerubbabel in 520 BC The help of the mixed race, Samaritans from Samaria, is refused. The Samaritans build their own temple on Mount Gerizim.

In 445 BCE Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem.

Ezra functions as leader of the people, enforcing strict observance of the Jewish law. Ezra calls for endogamy, disturbed by the number of mixed marriages that have resulted during the exile.

 

 
 

Links:
Notes to I, II Kings

Monarchy
Kings
General History

Return To Top

 
Chapter 3 Contributing Civilizations 

The student is helped considerably in understanding the Bible when equipped with a basic knowledge of the civilizations contributing to the Hebrew-Christian faith. The Old Testament world is identified with the area we know as the "Fertile Crescent." This area includes the Nile River valley and delta, the Mediterranean coast of Syro-Palestine and the Tigres and Euphrates river valleys. More generally, the student should remember that the Old Testament, in addition to Egypt, is heavily influenced by the Assyrians and Babylonians; as we move closer to the New Testament era, the contributing civilizations are the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. This means simply that the Hebrews are influenced heavily by the Assyrians and Babylonians, as well as the Greeks; the middle period shows Persian influence, and the New Testament must be read relative to Greek and Roman cultures.

Actually, the ancient Near East included the region of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor in the North, Syro-Palestine and Egypt in the west, and the Arabian peninsula in the south. We now know this area as Iraq and Iran occupying most of ancient Mesopotamia and Saudia Arabia controlling most of the Arabian peninsula. The people we know as the Israelites originated in Northern Mesopotamia. Abraham migrated from Ur in Mesopotamia northward to Harlan and finally into Canaan. Haran is located between the Tigres and the Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia. Jacob, in Genesis 28. 1-9, is identified as sojourning among Amorites, and Abraham in Ezekiel 16.3 is identified as an Amorite.

Later in Israel's history, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians all control the land of Palestine. Assyria was responsible for the destruction of the Northern ten tribes (721 B.C.E) and was followed by Babylonia in 586 BCE, who usurped power from the remaining Southern (Judah) kingdom. The Hebrews were deported into Mesopotamia by the thousands, some not to return; under the Persian Cyrus, some Hebrew exiles did return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, which had been destroyed in 586 BCE

Students should be able to recognize at least some of the important leaders of these contributing civilizations:

Assyria
Resources for the Study of Mesopotamia

1830-330
Before Christ
1830 Sargon I
1750 Amorite Dynasty, Part of Empire of Hammurabi
1500 Rise of Hurite Kingdom; Subjugation of Assyria
1400 Mitanni becomes vassal of Hittites
1266 Shalmaneser I
1112 Tiglath-pileser I
883 Asshurnasirpal II Empire extended into northern Mesopotamia
858 Shalmaneser III
745 Shalmaneser V besieges Syria
721 Sargon II destroys kingdom of Israel, deports inhabitants
704 Sennacherib lays siege to Jerusalem, devastates Babylonia
680 Asshurbanipal
625-612 Decline, fall of Nineveh

Babylonia
1830-33-
before Christ
1830 Babylonian-Amorrite (Babel)
1750 Apogee of Babylonia (Hammurabi); kingdom extends over Mesopotamia and part of Assyria and

Elam
1700 II Babylonian Dynasty
1500 III Babylonian Dynasty
1112 New Babylonian Dynasty; Nebuchadnezzar
I 900 Decline in power of Babylonia; hegemony of Assyria
745 King of Assyria assumes kingship of Babylonia
605 Nabopolassar captures Nineveh (NeoBabylonian Empire or Chaldean)
538 Nebuchadnezzar II subjugates and destroys Judah; end of Chaldean empire under Nabonida and
Balthasar Persian Empire Cyrus the Great (559-529)
529 Cambyses
521 Darius I Hystaspia
485 Xerxes I (Ahasuerus of Esther)
464 Artaxerxes
I 424 Xerxes II
424 Darius II
404 Artaxerxes
385 Artaxerxex II
385 Artaxerxes IIl
387 aRSES
335-330 Darius III
333 Kingdom of Alexander the Great

 

The following links suggest a beginning study of these civilizations and their mythology:

Links:

Diogenes Link
Religion: A Starting Pont for Studying World Religions
Ancient Religions
Assyrian-Babylonian Mythology
Ancient Religions
Sumerian Mythology
Canaanites
Judaism
Zoroasterism
Hittite Religion
Ancient Hebrew History
 

Beginning students often do not realize that four hundred years elapsed between the closing of the Old Testament book of Malachi and the opening of the New Testament. Palestine was a subject region within four successive world empires, beginning with the Assyrians and concluding with Alexander's Greek Empire of 331-146 BCE Alexander's leading generals divided the empire, with the kingdom of Ptolemy controlling Palestine from 323 BCE until 198, when it lost its control to the Syrian Selucids. The Syrian Selucids ruled until the Jewish Hasmonean family gained independence in 143 BCE This Jewish independence lasted until the Roman Pompey gained control in 63 BCE The Romans continued to occupy Palestine throughout all o f New Testament history.
 

Some of the important chronology of the period involves the following:
From the Babylonian Exile to Judas Maccabeus

587-538 Babylonian captivity
538-515 Return from captivity; reconstruction of temple
445 Nehemiah reconstructs walls of Jerusalem.
458-398 Ezra reestablishes observance of Mosaic law.
332 Alexander the Great conquers Palestine.
305-285 Ptolemies (Egypt) rule Palestine.
199 Seleucid Kingdom (Syra) occupies Palestine.
168 Antiochus IV Epiphanies establishes hellenizing policy: tries to abolish Judaic religion for ecumenical one worship, one religion with temple dedicated to Olympian Zeus.Judas Maccabeus revolts; from family of Mattathias ; revolt is righteously against foreign domination and

favors rigorism with respect to Jewish law.
167-165 Mattathias lead Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV.
165-160 Judas, third born, wages war after death of Mattathias.
160-142 Jonathan, fifth son of Mattathias, acknowledged as high priest and leader of the Jews. Struggles against Bacchides and combats Appolonius. Attracted by peace proposals , Jonathan goes to Ptolemais to meet Trypho but is taken prisoner and killed.
142-134 Simon Maccabeus, brother of Jonathan and Judas, becomes leader of Jews, gains independence of Judea from Demetrius II. Combats Antiochus VII, defeats him by means of his son John. Simon is betrayed and slain during a banquet by Ptolemy, governor of Jericho.(The struggle of Judea has been largely against Greek hellenizing influences; the Mattathias family is aroused by pagan
sacrifices in their own temple. The family revolts in an effort to return emphasis to Jewish laws and customs. Emphasis is on the Torah and rigorism. Jews returning from exile look with some disdain at Jews who have remained behind and Jews who have intermarried with foreign cultures; recall Ezra's reform. The 400 silent years between the Old Testament and the New Testament is the time when the canon is established: the Maccabeus books are an important history written, but generally, emphasis is on establishing and interpreting the canon, with emerging books being excluded. This is a time of Jewish expansion; although only about fifty thousand Jews return from exile, they have now grown to about 120, 000. The Persian rulers had been very tolerant towards the Jewish religion; under Greek pressure to adopt their culture, Jews reacted by revolt, withdrawal, and simply intermingling. The various sects begin to shape themselves.

Links:
More Complete Chronology
Between the Testaments
Roman Contribution
Historian Herodotus
Josephus' Antiquity of the Jews
Ancient World Sources
Ancient Greeks
More Sources for Study of the Ancient Greeks

Chapter Four: Themes and Sub-themes in the Bible
 
 
 

Probably one of the most interesting approaches to studying the Bible is thematic. While the Bible as a whole consists of historical narratives, biographies, autobiographies, poetic literature,
prophetic messages, and letters addressed to churches and individuals, these writings evolved over long periods and were only later collected and arranged categorically according to subject matter. The literature Each of the books evidences its own unity, but surprisingly, when read as an anthology, the anthology itself contains an amazing unity arising out of the overall dominant theme: relationship to God and to other human beings.

Reading the Bible as literature simply makes sense: first, it contains a variety of literary forms; as a book and a collection of books, it can be approached critically, as can any other literature; more importantly, though, the Bible must be read as literature for two reasons: its expression of truth through figurative language, especially symbols, and the unity of theme which connects the sixty-six
books into one. Perhaps one other admission can be justified: no one should miss reading the Bible simply because in it one will discover a thorough explanation of the ways in which the infinite grasps the finite which is unparalleled in any other work. Concern with ultimacy permeates all of human endeavor.

All of the tools important to literary study are equally important to take to a reading of the Bible (White 9). Most Bible versions include a brief description of literary critical approaches; the New Oxford Annotated Bible, for example, include a section entitled "Modern Approaches to Biblical Study" subdivided into literary criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, traditional or historical criticism, and other ways of reading the text.

•Historical criticism--places literature in its original setting and seeks to understand original intention or

meaning.
•Textual criticism--focuses on the original and exact wording of a text and attempts to understand what
changes have happened to the text in its transmission through the years.
•Redaction criticism--attempts to separate the work of editors from that of the original author and work. It shows when the editor becomes author and what view point or purpose is being expressed.
•Form criticism--tries to recreate the material in its original form, literary or oral.
•Hermeneutics--attempts to explain the meaning of a text or to interpret the text.

The most compelling reason for studying the bible as literature is its thematic unity, although this is contested by many who see inconsistencies in the overall story. In literature, theme is defined as a central idea. A distinction is normally made between nonfiction and fiction, poetry, and drama; the Bible, of course, is a unique blend of all these. In nonfiction, the theme is the general topic of subject of discourse; in poetry, fiction, and drama, it is the abstract concept that is made concrete through representation in person, action, and image (Holman and Harmon 475). Put another way, a theme consists of the ideas and values that a literary work expresses. As one reads, an overall sense of form and meaning in the work begins to emerge; expectations begin to be confirmed or denied, modified or strengthened, until one settles on a final understanding or comes to some resolution.

All of the common subjects of literature are found in the Bible: individuals in nature, society, and relation to God and other humans; growth and initiation, time, death, and alienation are all important subjects. While it may be difficult at this remove from the original writings to determine how much of our interpretation is a culturally learned construct, it certainly is possible to trace some dominant and sub-themes in the Bible as we have inherited it. In fact, this is a fairly simple approach to interpretation. Some evidence exists that in the early years of Christianity, universal meanings actually could be read by the appropriately informed individuals to contain historical meaning and reference. For example, early Essene thought expected to see a new millennial kingdom connected with Herod. According to some, a baptism with water was historically the first level of an initiate's membership in this kingdom; the second level was initiation by wine, and so the interpretation runs, Jesus' changing water into wine was a socially radical move: it meant that the kingdom of God was equally accessible by all. A reading of themes at this level certainly requires special knowledge as well as holds some threat to traditional teachings, so we will settle for the simpler literary theme. In literature, a theme must make a direct or implied statement about a subject; the following are all common themes found in literature--and important in degree in the Bible, also, although the perspective of faith would certainly render them differently than herein stated:

•Nature is at war with individuals and proves our vulnerability (Grassi and DeBlois 36-37).
•People are out of place in nature and need technology to survive.
•A human being is in harmony with Nature as the highest point of its evolution.
•People are destroying nature and themselves with uncontrolled technology.
•Society and a person's inner nature are always at war.
•Social influences determine a person's final destiny.
•Social influences can only complete inclinations formed by Nature.
•A person's identity is determined by place in society.
•In spite of the pressure to be among people, an individual is essentially alone and frightened.
•God is benevolent and will reward human beings for overcoming evil and temptation.
•God mocks the individual and tortures him or her for presuming to be great.
•God is jealous of and constantly thwarts human aspiration to power and knowledge.
•God is indifferent toward human beings and lets them run their undetermined course.
•There is no God in whom people can place their faith or yearning for meaning in the universe. •Marriage is a perpetual comedy bound to fail.
•Marriage is a relationship in which each partner is supported and enabled to grow.
•An old man marrying a young woman is destined to be
a cuckold (a victim of adultery).
•Parents should not sacrifice all for a better life for their children.
•There are few friends who will make extreme sacrifices.
•A boy or girl must go through a special trial or series of trials before maturing.
•Manhood or womanhood is often established by an abrupt, random crisis, sometimes at an unusually early age.
•Aspects of childhood are retained in all of us, sometimes hindering growth, sometimes providing the
only joy in later life.
•A person grows only in so far as he or she must face a crisis of confidence or identity.
•Enjoy life now, for the present moment, because we all die too soon.
•By the time we understand life, there is too little left to live.
•Death is a part of living, giving life its final meaning.
•There is no death, only a different plane or mode of life without physical decay.
•Without love, death often appears to be the only alternative to life.
•An individual is isolated from fellow human beings and foolishly tries to bridge the gaps.
•Through alienation comes self-knowledge.
•Modern culture is defective because it doesn't provide group ties which in primitive culture make alienation virtually impossible.

As I said earlier, the central theme of the Bible is that human beings are created by God in God's image (not in appearance, but in relationship and activity); this thread runs through all sixty-six books of the Bible, uniting them and providing an unparalleled explanation of what ultimately it means to be human and how humans should behave.

Biblical Themes

Mercy, Justice

The Bible as a whole tells the story of the relationship between the infinite and human beings. Its purpose is not primarily to record history or a scientific view of the universe. Rather, the Bible records a drama which is the story of God's dealings with human kind. Overall, the story is one in which human beings are allowed to multiply, diversify, and intersperse throughout the earth. The order of the universe is always threatened by disorder, a return to primeval chaos, and only Yahweh's blessing ensures continued existence. Through trials and tribulations (much is to be suffered), people move toward the horizon of God's future but not always willingly; they frequently rebel. The redemptive story is one in which both God's mercy and God's justice play together simultaneously, neither one very well understood by the fallible human creature. On an individual level, God's grace redeems the person; on the playing fields of time, however, justice is measured through generations and nations.

Understanding the two-fold nature of God causes difficulty for individuals first coming to grapple with concepts related to Bible study. While God in the Old Testament has many names, two must be accounted for in particular: Adonai and Elohim. These two names reflect two roles, not a division in God. The roles are those of the compassionate and merciful God (Adonai) and the strict and just God (Elohim). These two roles are reflected throughout the entire anthology, both aspects functioning to describe the essence of God. Unfortunately, they become severely divided in the way many today approach a study of the Old and New Testaments: many see the God of the Old Testament as the God of justice and the God of the New Testament as the God of mercy. This failure to see a unity accounts in part for the severe separation today between people and religions, although I do not mean this statement to minimize real and important differences. On the other hand, most differences grow out of interpretation and the focusing on one aspect only. The Old Testament might, for example, be said to focus more on the metaphysical nature of God while the New Testament emphasizes God's physical nature. This separation can be useful, but if too narrowly insisted upon, it misses entirely the theological point that "the Lord your God is one."
 

Readings: Jonah and Habakkuk
Related commentary

One of the supreme challenges the student faces in understanding the Bible at any level is language and its limitations. If we accept the existence of higher cognitive states, we also have to admit language is inadequate to describe them. Words exist as symbols, removing us from reality: if, for example, a circle exists in pure form, then we must distinguish the pure reality from the name, the definition, the representation, and knowledge of the circle that exists in the interior state. The fullness of reality as it exists and is experienced can never be fully expressed. In fact, the modern scientific age has largely despaired of questing for meaning on any level other than the literal, and all of us have been affected by this. We are centuries removed from the mythology and symbolism which permitted the ancients to express an Eternal which transcends shallow, one dimensional experience.

Human Limitation: Tolerance for the Unknown

To read the Bible, students will need to suspend disbelief in the possibility of reaching knowledge of higher realities: to know the secrets of the kingdom of God (in Christianity), the hidden pattern of creation which underlies the foundation of the world. On the other hand, the student must also guard against a view which reduces everything to symbol, leaving nothing of the literal. The twin offenders in Bible study are th