He is the author of The Problem of Ezekiel, and The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man, and many other books. Rooted and shaped in the cultures of the ancient East, Israel has far surpassed them and reached a world of thought and concepts much like our own. Palestine lay at the heart of the ancient world; and it is sobering to consider how central it still is, in the vastly enlarged world of the scientific age.
The Sumerians came here sometime in the first half of the fourth millennium and built their extraordinary civilization here. It was heralded in the important campaigns of the thirteenth and twelfth centuries, but it broke out in wild fury throughout Western Asia in the ninth.
Suggested reading
Nevertheless, the more prosaic aspect of Palestine as the highway of nations represented its unique opportunity, which of all peoples Israel was the only one gifted to take advantage of. Here, at the crossroads of the world, the Hebrew people were susceptible to mental upheavals throughout the vast area from the plains and mountains of Iran to the mysterious regions where the upper Nile originates in central Africa. Jeremiah knew about the situation of his fellow citizens, captives in Babylonia, and Nehemiah received news about the situation in his homeland in the palace in Susa.
Perhaps more impressive is the evidence of modern excavations, which reveal the influences that have struck this small country in every century from all the cultures of the ancient East. The Bible was not the ingrained musings of some remote peasant folk; it was the achievement of a people whose painful lot it was to live at the crossroads of the ancient world; it collected the best that that ancient world had created and, under the genius of a people uniquely suited to their task, converted everything into forms and expressions of their own incomparable.
The Old Testament, Keystone of Human Culture by William F. Irwin
The Hebrew Thought of God
Now certain bold claims are made about the religions of the East in the time of Moses. The cosmic gods of the Near East were usually gods of the heavens, or else residing in the heavens. And here is the point: they are thus condemned in the name of the God of Israel.
And such is the depth of the Hebrew conviction that he applies it to the most exalted gods of his time. A significant contribution to this thinking came through the experience of the deported Jews in the Babylonian captivity.
What is Man?
Given the freedom of Israeli skeptical thought, it is not surprising that the answer to the question is yes. In fact, we find the basic and almost perfect in the creation accounts. The soundness of Israelite thinking ensured that the basis in the conception of the good life was the sufficiency of material things.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked and does not stand in the way of sinners. But in the Wisdom literature the attraction of learning and the life of the mind is presented clearly and powerfully.
God and Man
This raises the interesting question of the authority in the Prophet's own mind for his utterances which are not so sanctioned. And the function of the commentator, or whatever we choose to call him, has continued to offer. Testament times were satisfied that they possessed a valid revelation of God's character and will.
But in the perspective of the advancing centuries, these unattained norms were of inestimable importance. What preoccupies us more is the question of what was going on in the mind of the penitent. The Hebrew answer is well known, for it is given by the famous story of the Fall.
But the realism of the Hebrew mind ensured that such oversimplification would not ultimately suffice. But the effort to find a satisfactory answer to the problems of the righteous was somewhat better. The classic treatment of the problem is, as everyone knows, in the Dialogue on the Book of Job.
As for the stories of Pharaoh and Ahab, it is also noteworthy that the monarch's normal freedom is clearly implied. And so the writer continues through a poetic survey of the wonders of creation, to the closing thought: And here is the remarkable supremacy of the Hebrew mind over its apparent parallel with Plato.
The Theory of Law
It comprehends the universal elements in the laws of all nations, in "positive law" according to the terms of the definition. And this situation becomes meaningful for our present problem in light of the well-known cult of Baal. It would always respond in one particular way to the performance of the right rituals.
The appearance of such concepts in Israel is therefore clearly in the fashion of the fertility rites. The close connection of this thinking with the pervasive belief in the power of the blessing and the curse is immediately clear. It is therefore clear that a certain dualism ran throughout Israel's concept of the world.
The life of the strong was a happy life, because it was one of realized desires. Yet it must be recognized that the supremacy of positive law was deeply entrenched in Israel's concept of monarchy. Two incidents from the period of the kings are of great importance to the thinking of that time.
The function of this in the legal history of Israel is evident in the work of the prophets. The unprivileged state of both is obvious to any casual reader of the Old Testament. The rebellions encouraged by the prophets, especially the rebellions of the northern tribes at the time of a.d.
History and Nature
This is the site of the nature religions, and here is the scope and role of the nature gods. They are poems from the living religion as it flourished in Jerusalem for centuries. The nature motifs of the great festival, as known by contemporary pagan religions, have been retained and in some respects.
In any case, the Davidic dynasty was closely associated with continued hope, although much has been proven over the centuries. Indeed, it is revealing to remember that supporters of Herod's house also bestowed gifts on these -- not overly exalted -- men. But the standard form of expectation was that the Messiah would be from the family of David.
In the religious rite and in the hopes and beliefs associated with it, the seer-poet of the Exile saw parallels to the plight of his people. The strength, depth, and persistence of the Messianic hope can only be understood against this rich background. The prophet Amos carried out his mission around the time of the great earthquake in the middle of the eighth century.
Somewhere around this point volcanic imagery comes back into use and we hear of the Lord coming down and the. The order of nature was not interrupted, nor was the political status of the people changed. However, our conclusions regarding the nature of the eschatological event raise very serious doubts about this.
Nation, Society, and Politics
The vital root, as well as the essence of the Jewish sense of distinction, was. The meaning of the divine election of Israel as better minds understood it was revealed in the call of Isaiah. This was the essence of Isaiah's call -- and of Israel's call as well.
They were scholars in the ancient world, and scholarship is always greater than nationalism. It was no wonder that thoughtful people of the time looked back to the good old days of simplicity. It will be remembered that this was the background of the hideous episode in Bathsheba.
A similar situation is related with regard to the accession to the throne of young King Josiah (2 Kings 11:4-12). The realization that ultimate authority in choosing the monarch rested with the people was never abandoned. Nevertheless, the king was only the servant of the Lord, appointed to shepherd his people Israel.
This sense of responsibility - of the high ethical demands placed on a ruler - is strikingly expressed in Samuel's condemnation. The popularity of the theme is shown by the long commentary which a number of authors have attached to this oracle. In the days of the kingdoms, the priesthood had worldly power through its judicial functions.
The Hebrews and the Bible
It is certainly not the first time in history that theological doctrines are political facts of the first order. The fact that we must firmly understand is that the writers of the Bible were literary artists of the first order. Herein lies the really important primacy of the Bible as literature; it was the first in quality.
Comparably ingenious is that great sermon which makes up the warning chapters of Deuteronomy. But Israel produced a narrative literature that lived through the intervening periods to the sophisticated present and still stands tall in the catalog of storytelling art. The unconscious art of storytellers is well demonstrated in the story of Abraham's servant who goes to find a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24).
But whether these later accounts achieve the grandeur of the original remains an open question. Coincidence, it seemed, brought two important court officials into the prison with Joseph. 34: Go up and say to my father, The Lord has made me lord over all the land of Egypt.” The profound insight of the Hebrew writers.
That it was unique, practically unparalleled in the world of its time, every student of the ancient Orient knows. O my beloved, in the clefts of the rock, in the hide of the steep, let me see your beauty,. He smells the battle far away, the thunder and shouting of the chiefs (Job. 39:20-25).
