Readings From the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study

Trinity Journal, Fall 2004 by Clayton, J Nathan

Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, eds. Readings From the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002. 240 pp. $21.99.

Under the editorial guidance of Walter A. Elwell, the Encountering Biblical Studies series is providing a fresh new set of textbooks designed for biblical studies at the undergraduate level. Old Testament and NT survey texts represent the foundation for this series, which operates from a strong evangelical point of view. An anthology of readings from the first-century world correlates with the NT survey text. Upper-level college texts focusing on individual biblical books from both Testaments further complement the series.

In Readings from the Ancient Near East, Arnold and Beyer provide a collection of ancient Near Eastern texts that supplement their Encountering the Old Testament survey in this series (Baker, 1999). The stated goal for this compilation of readings is to "provide college students with a basic collection of the ancient Near Eastern texts that most closely parallel or complement the biblical text" (p. 9). To this end, the editors have put together ninety-one texts from a variety of monographs, journals, and larger anthologies. The reading of these texts is made more accessible to the undergraduate student by the updating of the English translations when necessary and by the simplification of the various symbols and markings inherent to the translation and presentation of ancient texts.

This anthology is organized around the major canonical divisions of the English Bible. Each of the larger sections is divided into several topical categories. The editors provide a brief introduction for each topic, which highlights both elements of comparison and contrast between a particular set of texts and their biblical counterparts. Brief historical notes, as well as pertinent source material references, introduce each text. The entire anthology is enriched by some helpful illustrations, a short bibliography of source material, and a topical index to the various readings.

Part 1 (pp. 13-133) covers texts that have points of contact with the Pentateuch. This first and longest section is divided into seven subsections that contain a total of thirty-eight different passages of varying length covering the following topics: Creation and the Flood; Tower of Babel; Ancestral Customs; Epic Literature; Covenants and Treaties; Law Codes; and Cultic Texts. This is the most extensive segment containing longer texts such as the Enuma Elish (pp. 31-50), as well as shorter readings like the Eridu Genesis (pp. 13-15).

In part 2 (pp. 134-72), the reader is presented with twenty-four texts that are related to the Historical Books of the Old Testament. This section is organized under the five topics of Royal Records from Mesopotamia, Chronicles, and Other Historiographie Lists, Non-Hebrew Monumental Inscriptions, Letters, and Other Hebrew inscriptions. In this section, some of the classic texts are provided, like the Merneptah Stela inscription (p. 160), as well as more recently discovered texts, such as the well-known Tel Dan inscription (p. 165).

Part 3 (pp. 173-206) is comprised of readings related to the Poetic Books. Sixteen texts are structured around three topics: Wisdom Literature, Love Poems, and Hymns Prayers. In the final major division of the anthology (pp. 207-26), the editors have gathered a total of thirteen texts that stand in correlation with the Prophetic Books and are organized according to the following three categories: Prophecies, Visions, and Apocalyptic; Divination and Incantation Texts; and Lamentations.

All in all, Arnold and Beyer have rendered a tremendous service to undergraduate teachers and students of the OT. Whereas the major anthologies remain too large and expensive for the average college student, and since many OT surveys often contain only brief segments of ancient Near Eastern texts, Readings from the Ancient Near East provides an affordable and well-balanced collection of such texts. Used in conjunction with OT survey texts, like the one Arnold and Beyer have produced, this anthology should serve as a very helpful introduction to the larger world of the Ancient Near East. Coupled with substantive teaching concerning the relationship of the Bible to its ancient world, this collection should then enable the student to gain a richer understanding of the OT in its historical and literary contexts.

J. Nathan Clayton

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School