Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East - Softcover

Hays, Christopher B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0664237010 ISBN 13: 9780664237011

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014

Synopsis

This study considers the historical, cultural, and literary significance of some of the most important Ancient Near East (ANE) texts that illuminate the Hebrew Bible. Christopher B. Hays provides primary texts from the Ancient Near East with a comparison to literature of the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate how Israel's Scriptures not only draw from these ancient contexts but also reshape them in a unique way.

Hays offers a brief introduction to comparative studies, then lays out examples from various literary genres that shed light on particular biblical texts. Texts about ANE law collections, treaties, theological histories, prophecies, ritual texts, oracles, prayers, hymns, laments, edicts, and instructions are compared to corresponding literature in the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Writings of the Hebrew Bible. The book includes summaries to help instructors and students identify key points for comparison. By considering the literary and historical context of other literature, students will come away with a better understanding of the historical, literary, and theological depth of the Hebrew Bible.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher B. Hays is the D. Wilson Moore Associate Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"The Scriptures are exceedingly "respiratory": They breathe in the culture of their times, and breathe it back out in a different form. To the reader who learns to breathe the same air--the one who becomes familiar with the context--it is increasingly hard to believe that he or she once read the Bible without it. Reading the Hebrew Scriptures in context is an intoxicating high, like breathing pure oxygen: Everything is clearer and sharper, and the energy is immeasurably higher."--from the introduction

Edition details

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0664237010
• ISBN 13: 9780664237011
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288