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 TH E B I B L I CAL WO RL D

The Biblical World is a comprehensive guide to the contents, historical settings, and
social context of the Bible. This new edition is updated with several new chapters as
well as a new section on biblical interpretation.
Contributions from leading scholars in the field present wide-​ranging views not
just of biblical materials and their literary and linguistic context, but also of the social
institutions, history and archaeology, and religious concepts. New chapters cover
topics such as the priesthood and festivals, creation and covenant, ethics, and family
life, while a new section on biblical interpretation discusses Jewish and Christian
bible translation and key thematic emphases, and modern reader-​response and cul-
tural approaches.
This revised edition of The Biblical World offers an up-​to-​date and thorough
survey of the Bible and its world, and will continue to be an invaluable resource for
students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament and their history and
interpretation, as well as anyone working on the societies, religions, and political and
cultural institutions that created and influenced these texts.

Katharine J. Dell is Reader in Old Testament Literature and Theology at the Faculty
of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St Catharine’s College.
She has written extensively on the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament including
The Book of Proverbs in Social and Theological Context (2008), Interpreting
Ecclesiastes: Readers Old and New (2013), and The Solomonic Corpus of ‘Wisdom’
and Its Influence (2020); and has also written introductory textbooks, including Who
Needs the Old Testament?: Its Enduring Appeal and Why the New Atheists Don’t
Get It (2017).
 T HE ROU T L E D GE WO RLDS

THE SUMERIAN WORLD THE ANDEAN WORLD

Edited by Harriet Crawford Edited by Linda J. Seligmann and
Kathleen Fine-​Dare
THE OCCULT WORLD
Edited by Christopher Partridge THE SYRIAC WORLD
Edited by Daniel King
THE WORLD OF INDIGENOUS
NORTH AMERICA THE FAIRY TALE WORLD
Edited by Robert Warrior Edited by Andrew Teverson
THE WORLD OF THE REVOLUTIONARY THE MELANESIAN WORLD
AMERICAN REPUBLIC Edited by Eric Hirsch and Will Rollason
Edited by Andrew Shankman
THE MING WORLD
THE SHAKESPEAREAN WORLD Edited by Kenneth M. Swope
Edited by Jill L. Levenson and
Robert Ormsby THE GOTHIC WORLD
Edited by Glennis Byron
THE WORLD OF COLONIAL AMERICA and Dale Townshend
Edited by Ignacio Gallup-​Diaz
THE IBERIAN WORLD
THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WORLD Edited by Fernando Bouza, Pedro Cardim,
Edited by Augustine Casiday and Antonio Feros

THE MODERNIST WORLD THE MAYA WORLD

Edited by Allana Lindgren and Stephen Ross Edited by Scott Hutson and Traci Ardren

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD, THE WORLD OF THE OXUS

SECOND EDITION CIVILIZATION
Edited by Philip F. Esler Edited by Bertille Lyonnet and
Nadezhda Dubova
THE ETRUSCAN WORLD
Edited by Jean MacIntosh Turfa THE GRAECO-​BACTRIAN AND
INDO-​GREEK WORLD
THE SWAHILI WORLD Edited by Rachel Mairs
Edited by Stephanie Wynne-​Jones and
Adria LaViolette THE UMAYYAD WORLD
Edited by Andrew Marsham
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD, SECOND
EDITION THE ASANTE WORLD
Edited by Peter Linehan, Janet L. Nelson, Edited by Edmund Abaka and
and Marios Costambeys Kwame Osei Kwarteng

THE ELAMITE WORLD THE SAFAVID WORLD

Edited by Javier Álvarez-​Mon, Gian Pietro Edited by Rudi Matthee
Basello and Yasmina Wicks
THE BIBLICAL WORLD, SECOND
THE FIN-​DE-​SIÈCLE WORLD EDITION
Edited by Michael Saler Edited by Katharine J. Dell

THE GNOSTIC WORLD

Edited by Garry W. Trompf, Gunner
B. Mikkelsen and Jay Johnston

​www.routledge.com/​Routledge-​Worlds/​book-​series/​WORLDS
THE BIBLICAL WORLD

Second Edition

Edited by

Katharine J. Dell
 Second edition published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Katharine J. Dell; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of the Katharine J. Dell to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,

and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Routledge 2004

British Library Cataloguing-​in-​Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-​1-​138-​93292-​0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-01847-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-​1-​315-​67889-​4 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Newgen Publishing UK
 CONTENTS

List of figures  x
List of tables  xiv
List of contributors  xv
Preface  xxvii
List of abbreviations  xxix

Introduction  1
Katharine J. Dell

PART I THE BIBLE 3

1 The Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible  5

Eryl W. Davies

2 The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha  19

Adele Reinhartz

3 The Dead Sea Scrolls  31

George J. Brooke

4 The New Testament  47

Mary Marshall

5 Early Christian Apocrypha  63

Andrew Gregory

v
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t e n t s —​​​​​​​

PART II THE CANON 85

6 Law  87
Sandra Jacobs

7 Historiography  115
Anselm C. Hagedorn

8 Prophecy  137
Janet E. Tollington

9 Wisdom  151
Katharine J. Dell

10 Apocalypticism  172
Christopher Rowland

11 The Jewish and Hellenistic novel  189

Lawrence M. Wills

12 The Gospels and Acts  206

Kylie Crabbe

13 Letters in the New Testament and in the Greco-​Roman world  233

Harry Gamble and Matthew V. Novenson

PART III DOCUMENTS 253

14 Cuneiform myths and epics in the Ancient Near East  255

Frances Reynolds

15 The Hebrew and Aramaic languages  279

John Huehnergard and Jo Ann Hackett

16 The Greek language  300

Courtney J. P. Friesen

17 Text and versions: the Old Testament  314

Marieke Dhont

18 Text and versions: the New Testament  332

David C. Parker

19 Hebrew inscriptions  352

Graham Davies

vi
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t e n t s —​​​​​​​

20 The Cairo Genizah  368

Benjamin Outhwaite

21 Greek and Roman inscriptions: Jewish inscriptions  385

James K. Aitken

22 Christian inscriptions in a (post-​)biblical world  394

Joseph Verheyden

PART IV HISTORY 407

23 Biblical archaeology  409

Felicity J. Cobbing

24 Palestine during the Bronze Age  429

Robert S. Homsher and Melissa S. Cradic

25 Palestine during the Iron Age  452

James E. Harding

26 Israel’s ancestors: the patriarchs and matriarchs  480

J. Cheryl Exum

27 Israel at the time of the united monarchy: David and Solomon  498
Benjamin J. M. Johnson

28 Exile, migration, and diaspora after the fall of Jerusalem in the

sixth century BCE  519
Jill Middlemas

29 Israel under Persia and Greece  538

Lester Grabbe

30 Judaea under Roman rule: 63 BCE–135 CE  554

Sarah Pearce

31 Israel’s neighbours  576

Jonathan Stökl

PART V INSTITUTIONS 593

32 Religion in Israel: pre-​exile and in exile  595

Casey A. Strine

vii
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t e n t s —​​​​​​​

33 Warfare  611
Thomas M. Bolin

34 Priesthood and festivals  629

Deborah Rooke

35 The Arts: representational (architecture, artefacts), performative

(music, drama), literary (poetry, psalmody)  646
Susan Gillingham

36 Family and everyday life  665

Arthur J. Keefer

37 Judaism at the turn of the era  681

Lutz Doering

38 The first churches: social life  705

Justin J. Meggitt

39 The first churches: religious practices  726

Justin J. Meggitt

40 Creation and covenant  743

Philip Johnston

41 Salvation in Jewish thought  761

Norman Solomon

42 Salvation in Christian thought  782

Paul Foster

43 Ethics  797
Carly L. Crouch and Tarah L. Van de Wiele

44 New Testament christology: interpretations of the identity

and role of Jesus  813
Catrin H. Williams

45 Interpretations of the identity and role of Paul  834

David G. Horrell

46 Death and afterlife  855

John J. Collins

47 Purity and sacrifice  871

Nathan MacDonald

viii
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t e n t s —​​​​​​​

PART VI BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION PAST

AND PRESENT 887

48 Jewish Bible translations  889

Isaac Kalimi

49 Jewish Bible interpretation  906

Alison Salvesen

50 Christian Bible translation  918

Peter J. Williams

51 Early Christian biblical interpretation  933

Mark Edwards

52 Modern biblical interpretation  944

William R. Telford

53 Reader-​response criticism and recent readers  969

Brittany N. Melton and Heath A. Thomas

54 The Bible in contemporary culture and society  987

Hugh Pyper

General index  1003

Index of modern authors  1023
Index of biblical references  1029

ix
 FIGURES

2.1 Judith and her Maidservant, Sandro Botticelli  23

2.2 Susanna and the Elders, Jacob Jordaens  24
5.1 The Meeting at the Golden Gate, Giotto di Bondone  67
5.2 Detail from the so-​called “Sarcophagus of Stilicho”  68
5.3 Jesus brings clay birds to life. Wooden ceiling panel from the
Church of St Martin in Zillis, Switzerland  69
5.4 The Martyrdom of Andrew, illumination from the Très Riches Heures
du duc de Berry  73
5.5 Martyrdoms of Paul, Peter, Andrew, John the Evangelist, James and
Bartholomew; illumination from the Liégeoise Psalter  74
5.6 Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, illumination from the
Benedictional of St Æthelwold  75
5.7 Life cycle of St John the Evangelist, illumination from The Trinity
Apocalypse  77
6.1 Stained glass window depicting Moses with the Tablets  88
6.2 The Code of Hammurabi  90
6.3 Moses and Aaron with the Ten Commandments, Aron de Chavez  98
9.1 Solomon dictates the Proverbs, Bible Historiale  153
9.2 Statue of Sophia at Ephesus  154
9.3 Job Visited by his Wife, Georges de La Tour  157
9.4 Statue of Job from outside Yad Vashem  159
11.1 Fragment from Qumran (4Q550d)  194
11.2 Susanna and the Elders, Rembrandt  196
11.3 Haman leading Mordecai before the throne of Ahasuerus and Esther  198
11.4a Judith and Holofernes, Donatello  200
11.4b Judith and Holofernes, Caravaggio  201
12.1 A canon table from the Lindisfarne Gospels  207
12.2 Image of the Four Evangelists from The Book of Kells  208
12.3 The baptism of Christ, scene from the Antwerp-​Baltimore Quadriptych 
215
12.4 The Adoration of the Magi, Giotto di Bondone  218
12.5 The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt  221
12.6 The Resurrection of Lazarus, Juan de Flandes  223

x
 —​​​​​​​ F i g u r e s —​​​​​​​

12.7 The Ascension of Christ, Hans Süss von Kulmbach  226

13.1 Private letter on papyrus from Arsinoe (P.Duk.inv. 98r)  234
13.2 Papyrus showing Ephesians 1:1‒11  239
13.3 St Paul writing, illustration from the St Gallen manuscript  243
13.4 Manuscript of the apocryphal Correspondence of St Paul and Seneca  245
14.1 The Burney Relief, also called the Queen of the Night  259
14.2 Yazılıkaya rock relief nos 42‒46 showing Tessub and family  260
14.3 Cuneiform clay tablet of Enuma Elish from Babylonia  262
14.4 Gypsum wall panel relief from the Central Palace, Nimrud, showing
two scribes  265
14.5 Baal Stele from Ugarit  270
15.1 Family tree of Semitic languages  280
15.2 An Amarna tablet from Shechem  283
15.3 A page of the Leningrad Codex of the Hebrew Bible containing
Genesis 11:612:1  285
15.4 A fragment of a text from Qumran (4Q109 Qohelet a = Ecclesiastes)  293
15.5 Examples of early alphabetic pictographs, illustrating the acrophonic
principle  296
15.6 A Ugaritic abecedary  297
16.1 Linear B tablet  301
16.2 The Codex Vaticanus  304
16.3 An early New Testament papyrus, showing Acts 10.31‒41; 11.2‒14  306
18.1 A page from the Codex Sinaiticus, showing John 1.1–​38  338
18.2 The text of Acts 2.1‒2 in the Codex Bezae  342
18.3 Codex Vaticanus showing Acts 2.1–​2  343
18.4 A manuscript of Acts and the Catholic epistles  344
18.5 Manuscript once in the possession of Archbishop Laud, showing
Acts 8.37  346
19.1 The Shebna Inscription, or The Royal Steward Inscription  359
19.2 A sixth century BCE ostracon from Lachish  362
20.1 The original Hebrew text of Ben Sira 35:11–​26  372
20.2 Solomon Schechter at work in Cambridge University Library  374
20.3 A close-​up of MS. B of the Zadokite Fragment, now known as the
Damascus Document  375
20.4 The Aramaic Levi Document  376
20.5 A single leaf from a Masoretic Bible of the eleventh century  379
20.6 A scroll of the Palestinian Targum to Exodus 20:21–​21:8; 21:13–​23:3  381
23.1a A view of Tell el-​Hesi (23.1a), and Petrie’s section drawing of the
and b mound (23.1b)  411
23.2 Megiddo excavations, 1926  414
23.3 William Foxwell Albright, John Garstang, and Père Vincent in the
library of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem  418
23.4 Section drawing from W. F. Albright’s excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim  418
23.5 Section drawing from K. Kenyon’s excavations at Tell es-​Sultan,
ancient Jericho  421
23.6 Kathleen Kenyon analysing pottery from the Jericho excavations  422
24.1 Remains of the Chalcolithic sanctuary at Ein Gedi  431

xi
 —​​​​​​​ F i g u r e s —​​​​​​​

24.2 Map of key regions in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East  432
24.3 Excavations of the EB IB temple at Tel Megiddo, facing east  435
24.4 Map of select Bronze Age sites  440
24.5 A sequence of Middle to Late Bronze Age temples at Pella, facing west 
441
24.6 Excavations of a LB II courtyard house at Tel Megiddo, facing south  444
25.1 Relief panel from the South West Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh  456
25.2 Assemblage of Philistine bichrome ware, ca. eleventh/​tenth
centuries BCE  458
25.3 Looking across the Valley of Elah from Khirbet Qeiyafa
towards Tel Azekah  463
26.1 Isaac Blessing Jacob, Matthias Stom (or Stomer)  489
26.2 Abraham Casting out Hagar and Ishmael, Guercino
(Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)  491
27.1 Photo of Stepped Stone Structure  501
27.2 Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon  503
27.3 The Tel Dan Inscription  504
27.4 Map of David’s kingdom  507
31.1 Map of Israel and neighbours in c. eighth century BCE
according to the Hebrew Bible  577
31.2 Stele of Mesha, king of Moab  584
31.3 Amman Citadel Inscription  586
32.1 Relief panel from the South West Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh  602
33.1 Jericho, Neolithic Tower  614
33.2 Jerusalem, Broad Wall  615
33.3 Hazor, Iron Age city gate  616
33.4 Lachish, Assyrian siege ramp  617
33.5 Masada, Roman siege ramp  618
35.1 Relief from Ashurbanipal’s throne room, Nimrud  648
35.2 Cherub and ‘palmette’ on ivory, from Samaria  648
35.3 Front view of a decorated cultic stand from Tell Taanach  650
35.4 Scene from Pithos A found at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud  651
35.5 The Ark of the Law from one of the lintels of the synagogue
at Capernaum  652
35.6 Wall painting: the wilderness encampment and the miraculous
well of Be’er  653
35.7 Alabaster relief from Assurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh  655
35.8 Stele from Ramases II, Abydos  656
37.1 Herod’s Temple Mount  682
37.2 Synagogue of Gamla  685
37.3 Magdala synagogue stone table  686
37.4 Immersion pool, Masada  692
37.5 Stone vessel assemblage, Jerusalem, Shuafat  693
38.1 Seat from the theatre at Miletus  709
38.2 The entrance of the synagogue at Sardis  718
39.1 The Nash Papyrus  731
45.1 Map showing places and areas mentioned in the text  836
45.2 Jewish eschatology  840

xii
 —​​​​​​​ F i g u r e s —​​​​​​​

45.3 Pauline eschatology  840

45.4 Roman coins naming Octavian as CAESAR DIVI F[ilius]  842
46.1 The Resurrection, a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer  865
47.1 Holy and Common; pure and impure  874
47.2 The areas and altars of the tabernacle  878
50.1 The end of the Lindisfarne Gospels, showing the ‘gloss’  922
53.1 Eco’s Modified Communication Diagram  971

xiii
 TABLES

6.1 Patriarchal transgressions in the Pentateuch  92

6.2 Treaty elements in the Pentateuch  93
11.1 Novel comparison: Esther in Greek Esther and a lady in
Ninus Romance  197
16.1 Greek alphabet, letters, and pronunciations  302
24.1 Approximate dates for the early chronological periods discussed
in this chapter  430
24.2 Approximate chronology of dates and regions mentioned in
this chapter, with emphasis on dates for the southern Levant  433
27.1 Iron Age chronology schemes  500
52.1 Biblical methods and approaches  952
52.2 Taxonomy of biblical methods and approaches  955

xiv
 CONTRIBUTORS

James K. Aitken is Reader in Hebrew and Early Jewish Studies at the Faculty of
Divinity, University of Cambridge. His research focuses on second temple Judaism,
including the use of Hebrew and Greek among Jews. Publications include The
Semantics of Blessing and Cursing in Ancient Hebrew (Peeters, 2007); No Stone
Unturned: Greek Inscriptions and Septuagint Vocabulary (Eisenbrauns, 2014); and
the T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2015).
Thomas M. Bolin is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College,
De Pere, WI. His main academic interests include post-​exilic literature, wisdom litera-
ture, and reception history. His publications include Ezra-​Nehemiah (Liturgical Press,
2012); and Ecclesiastes and the Riddle of Authorship (Routledge, 2017).
George J. Brooke is Rylands Professor Emeritus of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis,
University of Manchester. He has special interests in the study of the Jewish literature
of the late Second Temple period, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls. Amongst his recent
publications are The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament: Essays in Mutual
Illumination (Fortress, 2005); Reading the Dead Sea Scrolls: Essays in Method (SBL,
2013); and he was co-​editor of T&T Clark Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls (with
Charlotte Hempel; Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2018).
Felicity J. Cobbing is Chief Executive and Curator of Collections of the Palestine
Exploration Fund in London. She has excavated in Jordan and has travelled widely
in the Levant conducting archaeological tours. Her interests include the archaeology
of the Levant in the Bronze and Iron Ages, how it relates to biblical texts and history
and the history of scholarly research in these areas. She is co-​author of Beyond the
River: Ottoman Transjordan in Original Photographs (with Rauf Sa’d Abujabar; PEF/​
Stacey International, 2006); The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration
Society (with Rachel Hallote and Jeffrey B. Spurr; ASOR Annual Vol. 66, 2012); and
Distant Views of the Holy Land (with David M. Jacobson; Equinox, 2015).
John J. Collins is Holmes Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Yale University.
His primary interests are Second Temple Judaism, Apocalypticism, and the Dead
Sea Scrolls. He is the author of The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography (Princeton

xv
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t r i b u t o r s —​​​​​​​

University Press, 2013); The Apocalyptic Imagination (3rd ed., Eerdmans, 2016);
and The Invention of Judaism: Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul
(University of California Press, 2017).
Kylie Crabbe is Senior Research Fellow in Biblical and Early Christian Studies, in
the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University. Her
research interests include questions of eschatology, divine and human agency, and
disability and impairment in canonical and non-​canonical early Christian and Jewish
texts. Her book, Luke/​Acts and the End of History (BZNW 238, Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 2020), explores how the understandings of history in Graeco-​Roman and
Second Temple Jewish texts illuminate Lukan eschatology.
Melissa S. Cradic is Curator at The Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology at Pacific School
of Religion in Berkeley, CA and Lecturer in the Department of History at University at
Albany, SUNY. As a field archaeologist and museum curator, her research focuses on mor-
tuary practices, residential burials, and ancestor veneration in the 2nd millennium BCE
Levant. Her publications include ‘Embodiments of Death: The Funerary Sequence and
Commemoration in the Bronze Age Levant’ (Bulletin of American Schools of Oriental
Research 377, 2017); ‘The Amorite Problem: Resolving an Historical Dilemma’ (with
Robert S. Homsher; Levant 49, 2017); and ‘Residential Burial and Social Memory in
the Middle Bronze Age Levant’ (Near Eastern Archaeology 81, 2018). She is currently
co-editing the volume Megiddo VII: The Investigation of Two Elite Bronze Age Tombs
(Tel Aviv University Press, forthcoming).
Carly L. Crouch is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and Ancient Judaism
and Chair of the Department of Textual, Historical and Systematic Studies of Judaism
and Christianity at Radboud University and Research Associate in the Department of
Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures of the University of Pretoria. She is author of
a number of books, including War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East (De Gruyter,
2009); The Making of Israel (Brill, 2014); and Israel and Judah Redefined (Cambridge
University Press, 2021), and editor of several volumes, including Forced Migration,
Political Power and the Book of Jeremiah (Taylor & Francis, 2018) and Cambridge
Companion to Hebrew Bible and Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Eryl W. Davies is Emeritus Professor and formerly Head of School of Philosophy
and Religion, Bangor University. His main academic interests include the ethics of
biblical narrative, feminist biblical criticism, and land and inheritance issues in the
Hebrew Bible. He is the author of The Dissenting Reader: Feminist Approaches to
the Hebrew Bible (Ashgate, 2003); The Immoral Bible: Approaches to Biblical Ethics
(T&T Clark, 2010); Biblical Criticism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury/T&T
Clark, 2013) and Narrative Ethics in the Hebrew Bible: Moral Dilemmas in the Story
of King David (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2021).
Graham Davies is Fellow of Fitzwilliam College and Emeritus Professor of Old
Testament Studies, University of Cambridge. His research interests include Exodus,
Biblical Archaeology, and Hebrew semantics. He is the author of Ancient Hebrew
Inscriptions: Corpus and Concordance, 2 vols (Cambridge University Press, 1991,
2004); The Schweich Lectures and Biblical Archaeology (Oxford, 2011); and Exodus
1‒18, 2 vols (ICC, London: Bloomsbury/​T&T Clark, 2020).

xvi
 —​​​​​​​ C o n t r i b u t o r s —​​​​​​​

Katharine J. Dell is Reader in Old Testament Literature and Theology at the Faculty
of Divinity in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St Catharine’s College. She
has written extensively in the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament including The
Book of Proverbs in Social and Theological Context (Cambridge University Press,
2008), Interpreting Ecclesiastes: Readers Old and New (Eisenbrauns, 2013), and The
Solomonic Corpus of ‘Wisdom’ and Its Influence (Oxford University Press, 2020);
and has also written introductory textbooks, including the recent Who Needs the
Old Testament?: Its Enduring Appeal and why the New Atheists Don’t Get It (SPCK/​
Cascade Books, 2017).
Marieke Dhont is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Divinity,
University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard
University. Her primary research expertise pertains to Hellenistic Judaism and Jewish-​
Greek literature, including the Septuagint and the study of its translation technique.
She is author of Style and Context of Old Greek Job (Brill, 2018) and co-​editor of
The T&T Clark Handbook of Hellenistic Jewish Literature in Greek (Bloomsbury/
T&T Clark, forthcoming).
Lutz Doering is Professor of New Testament and Ancient Judaism and Head of the
Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum in the University of Münster, having previously
taught at Kings College London (2003–​2009) and Durham University (2009–​2014).
Academic interests include the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Jewish-​
Hellenistic literature, early rabbinic texts, Jewish law and its reception in early
Christianity, the Synoptic gospels, the Catholic epistles, as well as ancient Jewish
and Christian epistolography more widely. He is author of Schabbat: Sabbathalacha
und ​ praxis im antiken Judentum und Urchristentum (TSAJ 78; Mohr Siebeck,
1999), Ancient Jewish Letters and the Beginnings of Christian Epistolography,
(WUNT 298; Mohr Siebeck, 2012), and, most recently, a translation and com-
mentary on Tosefta Shabbat for the Stuttgart Tosefta: Seder II: Moëd 1: Schabbat
(Kohlhammer, 2019).
Mark Edwards is Professor of Early Christian Studies, Faculty of Theology and
Religion, University of Oxford. His principal interest is Late Antique thought and cul-
ture. Recent books include Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (Routledge,
2009); Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries (Routledge, 2012);
Religions of the Constantinian Empire (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Aristotle
and Early Christian Thought (Routledge, 2019).
J. Cheryl Exum is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield.
Her research interests include literary criticism of the Hebrew Bible; feminist and
gender criticism; cultural studies; the Bible in art, music and film; and ancient Near
Eastern love poetry. Among her books are Tragedy and Biblical Narrative: Arrows
of the Almighty (Cambridge University Press, 1992); Fragmented Women: Feminist
(Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives (JSOT Press, Trinity Press International, 1993;
2nd edn., Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2016); Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural
Representations of Biblical Women (Sheffield Academic Press, 1996; 2nd revised
edn., Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2012); Song of Songs: A Commentary (Westminster
John Knox, 2005); Art as Biblical Commentary: Visual Criticism from Hagar the

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Wife of Abraham to Mary the Mother of Jesus (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2019); and
Samson and Delilah: Selected Essays (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2020).
Courtney J. P. Friesen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Classics,
University of Arizona. His research and teaching cover the Hellenistic world, with
particular interests in Greek drama, Hellenistic Judaism, and early Christianity. He is
the author of Reading Dionysus: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Cultural Contestations
of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians (Mohr Siebeck, 2015).
Paul Foster is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, the School of
Divinity, University of Edinburgh. His academic interests include the Gospel of
Matthew, the Synoptic Problem, the non-​canonical gospels, the Apostolic Fathers,
and New Testament textual criticism. He is the author of The Gospel of Peter (Brill,
2010); and Colossians, BNTC (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016).
Harry Gamble is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia. His
academic interests include Early Christian history, literature, and thought. He is the
author of The Textual History of the Letter to the Romans (Eerdmans, 1979); Books
and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts (Yale University
Press, 1997); and The New Testament Canon: Its Making and Meaning (Wipf &
Stock, 2002).
Susan Gillingham is Emeritus Professor of the Hebrew Bible, University of Oxford,
Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and Director of the TORCH
Psalms Network in the Faculty of Theology and Religion. She served as President of
the Society for Old Testament Study from 2018 to 2019. Her chief research interest is
the Book of Psalms. Her major work is a three-volume commentary, Psalms Through
the Centuries (Wiley-Blackwell Publishing: 2008; 2018; forthcoming 2021) which
examines the two-and-a-half-thousand-year reception history of every psalm in both
Jewish and Christian tradition, through sermons, translations, commentaries, litur-
gies, art, music, poetry, and political/social discourse. She is presently working on a
theological and literary introduction and commentary on the Psalms in the Penguin
World Classics Series, due out in 2022.
Lester Grabbe is Emeritus Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the
University of Hull, England. He is the author of Ancient Israel: What Do We
Know and How Do We Know It? (Bloomsbury/​T&T Clark, 2017 (revised edi-
tion)) and is working on a four-​volume History of the Jews and Judaism in the
Second Temple Period (Bloomsbury/​T&T Clark), three volumes of which (on
Persian Yehud, the Early Hellenistic Period, and the Hasmonaean period and
Herod the Great) have been published. The fourth and final volume (from Herod
to Bar Kokhva) is in press.
Andrew Gregory is Chaplain and Fellow of University College, Oxford. His
research focuses on the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, especially
the Apostolic Fathers and Early Christian Apocrypha. His publications include The
Reception of Luke and Acts in the Period before Irenaeus (Mohr Siebeck, 2003); The
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha (contributor, and co-​editor with
Christopher Tuckett; Oxford University Press, 2015); and The Gospel according to
the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites (Oxford University Press, 2017).

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Jo Ann Hackett is Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas

at Austin. Her academic interests include Northwest Semitic languages and Biblical
studies. She is the author of The Balaam Text from Deir ‘Allā (Scholars Press, 1984);
A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (Hendrickson, 2010); and co-​editor of An
Eye for Form (with Walter E. Aufrecht; Eisenbrauns, 2014).
Anselm C. Hagedorn is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism, Universität
Osnabrück, Germany. His research interests include biblical and Greek law, Song of
Songs, the Minor Prophets, History of the Persian Period, and Deuteronomy. He is
the author of Between Moses and Plato: Individual and Society in Deuteronomy and
Ancient Greek Law, FRLANT 204 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004); Die Anderen
im Spiegel. Israels Auseinandersetzung mit den Völkern in den Büchern Nahum,
Zefanja, Obadja und Joel, BZAW 414 (De Gruyter, 2011); and co-​editor of Law
and Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean: Interdisciplinary Approaches (with R. G.
Kratz; Oxford University Press, 2013).
James E. Harding is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/​Old Testament Studies at the
University of Otago, New Zealand. His academic interests include gender and sexu-
ality in the Hebrew Bible, the reception history and theological interpretation of bib-
lical texts (particularly the David and Jonathan narrative), and the book of Job. He is
the author of The Love of David and Jonathan: Ideology, Text, Reception (Equinox
Publishing, 2013) and of numerous articles and essays.
Robert S. Homsher has taught a wide range of archaeology courses at San Francisco
State University and Harvard University while conducting several years of archaeo-
logical excavation and survey throughout the Middle East. His research has focused on
the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, with emphasis
on issues relating to urbanism, warfare, and human-​environmental dynamics. He now
brings his expertise to bear on contemporary environmental challenges by leading
geospatial research and analysis in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His
recent written work includes an introduction to Genesis (Thornwillow Press, 2020).
John Huehnergard is Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of
Texas at Austin. His academic interests include Semitic languages and linguistics. He
is the author of A Grammar of Akkadian (Eisenbrauns, 2011); An Introduction to
Ugaritic (Hendrickson, 2012); and co-​editor of The Semitic Languages (with Na’ama
Pat-​El; CRC Press, 2019).
David G. Horrell is Professor of New Testament Studies and Director of the Centre
for Biblical Studies at the University of Exeter. His main interests are in the inter-
pretation of the letters of Paul and 1 Peter, from a variety of social-​scientific, eth-
ical, and ecological perspectives. He is the author of An Introduction to the Study
of Paul (3rd ed., Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2015); Solidarity and Difference: A
Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics (2nd ed., Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2016);
The Making of Christian Morality: Reading Paul in Ancient and Modern Contexts
(Eerdmans, 2019); and Ethnicity and Inclusion: Religion, Race and Whiteness in
Constructions of Jewish and Christian Identities (Eerdmans, 2020). He is also
co-author of Greening Paul: Rereading the Apostle in a Time of Ecological Crisis
(Baylor University Press, 2010).

xix
 — Contributors —

Sandra Jacobs is a teaching fellow at Leo Baeck College, and also a research
associate in Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College, London. Her aca-
demic interests include the body and its representation in biblical and ancient
Near Eastern sources, the development of Hebrew and Aramaic law in relation
to their cuneiform pre-cursors, and also the subject of female agency in early
Judaean archival records. She is the author of The Body as Property: Physical
Disfigurement in Biblical Law, LHBOTS 582 (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2014,
repr. 2015).
Benjamin J. M. Johnson is Director of the Honors College and Associate Professor
of Biblical Studies at LeTourneau University. His academic interests include biblical
narrative, the Historical Books of the Old Testament, narrative criticism, and
Septuagint studies. He is the author of Reading David and Goliath in Greek and
Hebrew: A Literary Approach (Mohr Siebeck, 2015) and editor of Characters and
Characterization in the Book of Samuel (with Keith Bodner, Bloomsbury/T&T
Clark, 2020) and Characters and Characterization in the Book of Kings (with Keith
Bodner, Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2021).
Philip Johnston is Affiliated Lecturer, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
His academic interests include Psalms, Prophets, and Israelite views on death. He is
the author of Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament (Apollos,
2002); and co-editor (with David G. Firth) of Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and
Approaches (Apollos, 2005), and Interpreting Deuteronomy: Issues and Approaches
(Apollos, 2012).
Isaac Kalimi, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (em.), is an Ordinary Member
of Academia Europaea – The European Academy of Sciences, Humanities and
Letters; an Honorary Corresponding Member of the Belgian Royal Academy for
Overseas Sciences; and Honorary Member of the Scandinavian Society for Iranian
Studies (Sweden). He has published numerous books and articles in biblical studies,
ancient Israelite history and historiography, rabbinic literature and Jewish exegesis,
including: The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles (Eisenbrauns,
2nd edn. 2012; R.B.Y. Scott Book Award 2006, the Canadian Society of Biblical
Studies); Untersuchungen zur Jüdischen Schriftauslegung und Theologie (Echter
Verlag 2018, Franz-Delitzsch-Preis 2019); and Writing and Rewriting the Story of
Solomon in Ancient Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Arthur J. Keefer is a schoolmaster and chaplain at Eton College, where he teaches
theology, philosophy, and religion. His main academic interests include Old
Testament interpretation, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and philosophical interpretation
of the Bible. He is the author of Proverbs 1‒9 as an Introduction to the Book of
Proverbs (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2020) and The Book of Proverbs and Virtue
Ethics: Integrating the Biblical and Philosophical Traditions (Cambridge University
Press, 2021). He is also an associate editor of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical
Wisdom Literature (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
Nathan MacDonald is Reader in the Interpretation of the Old Testament at the
University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College. He previously taught
and researched at the University of St Andrews and Georg-August-Universität

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Göttingen. He is the author and editor of numerous books including Deuteronomy

and the Meaning of ‘Monotheism’ (Mohr Siebeck, 2003); Not Bread Alone (Oxford
University Press, 2008); What did the Ancient Israelites Eat? (Eerdmans, 2008) and
Priestly Rule (De Gruyter, 2015).
Mary Marshall is Fellow and Tutor in Theology at St. Benet’s Hall, University of
Oxford. Her research focuses on the Gospels and includes non-​canonical texts. Her
particular interest is in the presentation of and attitudes expressed towards Jews
within early Christian narratives. Her monograph, The Portrayals of the Pharisees
in the Gospels and Acts (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2014), illustrates one facet of
this work.
Justin J. Meggitt is University Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion, University of
Cambridge and Visiting Researcher, Stockholm University. His main academic inter-
ests include earliest Christianity, historical Jesus, magic, apocalypticism, religion, and
violence. He is the author of Paul, Poverty and Survival (T&T Clark, 1998) and Early
Quakers and Islam: Slavery, Apocalyptic and Christian-​Muslim Encounters in the
Seventeenth Century. (Swedish Science Press, 2013).
Brittany N. Melton (PhD, University of Cambridge) is Assistant Professor of Biblical
and Theological Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University and Research Fellow at
the University of the Free State. She is the author of Where is God in the Megilloth?
The Ambiguity of Divine Presence and Absence (Brill, 2018), and co-​edited Reading
Lamentations Intertextually with Heath A. Thomas (forthcoming 2021 with
Bloomsbury/T&T Clark).
Jill Middlemas is currently Adjunct Professor in the Biblical Studies Department
at the Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen University, Denmark. Much of her work
has been dedicated to the situation of those who remained in the land after the fall
of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE, notably The Troubles of Templeless Judah
(Oxford University Press, 2005); and The Templeless Age: An Introduction to the
History, Literature, and Theology of the ‘Exile’ (Westminster John Knox, 2007).
More recently, her interests lie in placing biblical exegesis in conversation with the
post-modern context, as explored in her Lamentations: An Introduction and Study
Guide (T & T Clark, 2021).
Matthew V. Novenson is Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Christian Origins
and Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at the University of
Edinburgh. With research interests in the letters of Paul, early Christology, and Jewish
messianism, he is the author of Christ among the Messiahs (Oxford University Press,
2012); and The Grammar of Messianism (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Benjamin Outhwaite is Head of the Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University
Library. His main research interests are the Medieval Hebrew language, and the
copying and transmission of the Hebrew Bible in the Middle Ages.
David C. Parker is Professor Emeritus of Digital Philology, Institute for Textual
Scholarship and Electronic Editing, University of Birmingham. His research interests
include textual criticism and manuscripts of the New Testament, and he is currently
editing the Gospel of John for the International Greek New Testament Project in the

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Editio Critica Maior. He is the author of The Living Text of the Gospels (Cambridge
University Press, 1997); An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their
Texts (Cambridge University Press, 2008); and Textual Scholarship and the Making
of the New Testament: The Lyell Lectures 2011 (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Sarah Pearce is Ian Karten Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Southampton.
Her research interests include Jews and Judaism in the Graeco-​ Roman period,
Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt, Philo of Alexandria, and Josephus. She is the
author of The Land of the Body: Studies in Philo’s Representation of Egypt (Mohr
Siebeck, 2007); The Words of Moses: Studies in the Reception of Deuteronomy in
the Second Temple Period (Mohr Siebeck, 2013); and editor of The Image and Its
Prohibition in Jewish Antiquity (JJS Supplements, 2013).
Hugh Pyper is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Interpretation, Sheffield Institute for
Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield. He is President of the Society
for Old Testament Study, 2020-​21. His research interests include contemporary use of
the Bible in many cultural contexts (including Scottish), masculinity, and queer theory
in biblical texts, postcolonial readings of texts, Kierkegaard and children’s Bibles.
He is the author of An Unsuitable Book: The Bible as Scandalous Text (Sheffield
Phoenix Press, 2005); The Unchained Bible: Cultural Appropriations of Biblical
Texts (Continuum, 2012); and The Joy of Kierkegaard: Essays on Kierkegaard as a
Biblical Reader (Equinox, 2012).
Adele Reinhartz is Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at
the University of Ottawa, Canada. Her main research interests are New Testament,
Second Temple Judaism, and religion and film. She is the author of Befriending the
Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John (Continuum, 2002); Bible
and Cinema: An Introduction (Routledge, 2013); and Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews
and Anti-​Judaism in the Gospel of John (Lexington Books, 2018).
Frances Reynolds is the Shillito Fellow in Assyriology in the Faculty of Oriental
Studies and a Fellow of St. Benet’s Hall, at the University of Oxford. She is interested
in Babylonian and Assyrian intellectual history, literature, and religion. Her books
are The Babylonian Correspondence of Esarhaddon and Letters to Assurbanipal and
Sin-​šarru-​iškun from Northern and Central Babylonia (Helsinki University Press,
2003); and A Babylon Calendar Treatise: Scholars and Invaders in the Late First
Millennium BC (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Deborah Rooke is Lecturer in Old Testament Hermeneutics, Regent’s Park College,
Oxford; Visiting Tutor in Old Testament, St. Stephen’s House, Oxford; and Senior
Associate, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Her academic interests
include cult and ritual in the Hebrew Bible, gender and sexuality in the Hebrew
Bible, and Handel’s Israelite oratorios and the Old Testament. She is the author of
Zadok’s Heirs: The Role and Development of the High Priesthood in Ancient Israel
(Oxford University Press, 2000); Handel’s Israelite Oratorio Libretti: Sacred Drama
and Biblical Exegesis (Oxford University Press, 2012); and editor of Embroidered
Garments: Priests and Gender in Biblical Israel (Sheffield Phoenix, 2009).

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Christopher Rowland, Dean Ireland Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture

Emeritus, University of Oxford, is the author of The Open Heaven: a Study of
Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity (SPCK, 1982); Blake and the Bible
(Yale University Press, 2010); and The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism
and the New Testament (with Christopher Morray-​Jones, Brill, 2009); and Radical
Prophet: The Mystics, Subversives and Visionaries Who Foretold the End of the
World (I B Tauris, 2017). His research and writing include the nature and history of
apocalypticism.
Alison Salvesen is Professor of Early Judaism and Christianity, Oriental Institute,
University of Oxford; Polonsky Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish
Studies; and Tutor in Oriental Studies, Mansfield College, Oxford. Her main aca-
demic interests include early translations and reception of the Hebrew Bible, and
Syriac studies. She is the author of I‒II Samuel in the Syriac Version of Jacob of
Edessa, Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Leiden, 10 (Brill, 1999) and main
editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Norman Solomon is a former Fellow in Modern Jewish Thought at the Oxford Centre
for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He is the author of The Talmud: A Selection (Penguin
Books, 2009); Torah from Heaven: The Reconstruction of Faith (Littman Library
of Jewish Civilization, 2012); and Historical Dictionary of Judaism (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2015).
Jonathan Stökl is Reader in Hebrew Bible/​Old Testament, King’s College London.
His research interests include Bible in the ancient Near East, prophecy, priests, and
ritual. He is the author of Prophecy in the Ancient Near East: A Philological and
Sociological Comparison, CHANE 56 (Brill, 2012); and co-​editor Prophets Male and
Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean and the
Ancient Near East (with Corrine L. Carvalho; SBL, 2013), and Exile and Return: The
Babylonian Context, BZAW 478 (with Caroline Waerzeggers; De Gruyter, 2015).
Casey A. Strine is Senior Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature,
Department of History, University of Sheffield. His research interests include migration,
prophecy, archaeology, Ezekiel, and Genesis. He is the author of Sworn Enemies: The
Divine Oath, the Book of Ezekiel, and the Polemics of Exile (De Gruyter, 2013); and
co-​author of When the Son of Man Didn’t Come: A Constructive Proposal on the
Delay of the Parousia (Fortress, 2016).
William R. Telford, formerly Senior Lecturer in the Dept of Theology and Religion
at Durham University, is Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, Durham. His research
interests include the historical Jesus, the Gospels (esp. the Gospel of Mark), methods
of biblical interpretation, and the Bible in literature and film, and he has published
on these subjects in a number of books, journals, and edited works. His work on the
Gospel of Mark includes Writing on the Gospel of Mark (DEO Publishing, 2009);
The Theology of the Gospel of Mark (Cambridge University Press, 1999); and The
Barren Temple and the Withered Tree: A Redaction-​Critical Analysis of the Cursing
of the Fig-​Tree Pericope in Mark’s Gospel and its Relation to the Cleansing of the
Temple Tradition (JSOT Press, 1980).

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Heath A. Thomas (PhD, University of Gloucestershire) is University President and

Professor of Old Testament at Oklahoma Baptist University and Fellow in the Kirby
Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge, UK. He is the author of several
monographs exploring intersections between Lamentations, the Minor Prophets, and
Critical Theory, including Poetry and Theology in the Book of Lamentations: The
Aesthetics of an Open Text (Sheffield Phoenix, 2013) and Habakkuk (Eerdmans, 2018).
Thomas has published dozens of articles and essays on this theme as well. He co-edited
Reading Lamentations Intertextually with Brittany Melton (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark,
2021), Great is Thy Faithfulness? Reading Lamentations as Sacred Scripture with
Robin Parry (Pickwick, 2011), and Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an
Old Testament Problem with Jeremy Evans and Paul Copan (IVP Academic, 2013).
He resides in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Janet E. Tollington is Affiliated Lecturer of the Divinity Faculty, Cambridge University.
Her main academic interests are exilic and post-​exilic prophets, feminist biblical inter-
pretation, and the books of Judges and Ruth. Her publications include Tradition and
Innovation in Haggai and Zechariah 1‒8 (Sheffield, 1993); ‘The Ethics of Warfare
and the Holy War Tradition in the Book of Judges’ in Ethical and Unethical in the
Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue (ed. Katharine J. Dell; T&T Clark,
2010); and ‘God, Women, and Children’ in The God of Israel (ed. Robert P. Gordon;
Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Tarah L. Van de Wiele is Honorary Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious
Studies at the University of Nottingham and Head of Research at Lift Ventures. Her
research focuses on the Psalter, systems of justice and morality in the ancient Near
East, and sacred languages. Her current focus is Digital Humanities, developing
research methodologies for large text databases.
Joseph Verheyden is Professor of New Testament Studies in the Faculty of Theology
and Religious Studies at the University of Leuven. His research areas include syn-
optic studies, apocryphal literature, reception history of the New Testament, and
New Testament background. Recent publications include the following co-​edited
volumes: The Gospels and Their Stories in Anthropological Perspective, WUNT
409 (with J.S. Kloppenborg; Mohr Siebeck, 2018); Gospels and Gospel Traditions
in the Second Century. Experiments in Reception, BZNW 235 (with J. Schröter
and T. Nicklas; De Gruyter, 2019); Studies on the Use of the Labels “Pagan” and
“Paganism” in Controversies, BETL 312 (with D. Müller; Peeters, 2020); Theological
and Theoretical Issues in the Synoptic Problem, LNTS 618 (with J.S. Kloppenborg;
Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2020); and Essays on dating and Contextualising Christian
Writings from the Second and Early Third Centuries, BETL 319 (with J. Schröter and
T. Nicklas; Peeters, 2021).
Catrin H. Williams is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of
Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, UK; and Research Fellow, Department of New
Testament, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. She has pub-
lished widely on the Gospel of John. She is the author of I am He: The Interpretation
of ‘Anî Hû’ in Jewish and Early Christian Literature (Mohr Siebeck, 2000); and is
the co-​editor of John’s Gospel and Intimations of Apocalyptic (with Christopher
Rowland; T&T Clark, 2013); Engaging with C.H. Dodd on the Gospel of John

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(with Tom Thatcher; Cambridge University Press, 2013); and most recently John’s
Transformation of Mark (with Helen Bond and Eve-Marie Becker; Bloomsbury/T&T
Clark, 2021).
Peter J. Williams is Principal of Tyndale House, Cambridge. His publications include
Studies in the Syntax of the Peshitta of 1 Kings (Brill, 2001); and Early Syriac
Translation Technique and the Textual Criticism of the Greek Gospels (Gorgias
Press, 2004).
Lawrence M. Wills is Biblical Scholar in Residence at Stonehill College, Massachusetts.
His research interests include Hebrew Bible, New Testament, ancient Jewish novella,
and the relations of Jews and Christians in the Ancient World. He is the author of The
Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Cornell University Press, 1995); The Quest of
the Historical Gospel: Mark, John, and the Origins of the Gospel Genre (Routledge,
1997); Not God’s People: Insiders and Outsiders in the Biblical World (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2008); Introduction to the Apocrypha: Jewish Books in Christian Bibles
(Yale University Press, 2021); and co-editor (with Jonathan Klawans) of Jewish
Annotated Apocrypha (Oxford University Press, 2020).

xxv
 PREFACE

I am pleased to have been given the opportunity to edit a second edition of The
Biblical World, succeeding the first edition published in 2002 and edited by John
Barton. My thanks go to the contributors, old and new, especially for their patience
in waiting for this ambitious project to come to completion. My thanks also go to the
three research assistants that have (consecutively) helped me in this task –​Andrew
Niggemann, Suzanna Millar and Andrew Lee. I would also like to thank the Faculty
of Divinity in the University of Cambridge which has provided the financial support
for such assistance. Finally, thanks are due to the publishers Routledge/​Taylor and
Francis and in particular to Amy Davis-​Poynter and to Elizabeth Risch.

Katharine J. Dell

xxvii
 ABBREVIATIONS

AB Anchor Bible
ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel
Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
ADPV Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-​Vereins
AGJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des
Urchristentums
AJEC Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity
AnBib Analecta Biblica
ANEM Ancient Near East Monographs
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte
und Kultur Romsim Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Part 2,
Principat. Edited by Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgant
Haase. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1972‒.
ANTF Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ASOR American Schools of Oriental Research
ATANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments
AThR Anglican Theological Review
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BEATAJ Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des
antiken Judentum
BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium
BEvT Beiträge zur evangelischen Theologie
BHT Beiträge zur historischen Theologie
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar, Altes Testament
BZABR Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische
Rechtsgeschichte
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

xxix
 —​​​​​​​ A b b r e v i a t i o n s —​​​​​​​

BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago, 1956‒2006.
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series
CurBR Currents in Biblical Research
CBRL Council for British Research in the Levant
CEB Common English Bible
CIIP Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/​Palaestinae
CRINT Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
CTH Catalog der Texte der Hethiter (Konkordanz der hethitischen
Keilschrifttafeln)
DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
DMOA Documenta et Monumenta Orientis antique
DSD Dead Sea Discoveries
DSI De Septuaginta Investigationes
DSS Dead Sea Scrolls
EBAF Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française
EPRO Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire romain
ESV English Standard Version
ET English Translation
ETCSL Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
ExpTim Expository Times
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
GRBS Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
HB Hebrew Bible
HBM Hebrew Bible Monographs
HeBAI Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel
HeyJ Heythrop Journal
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
HTR Harvard Theological Review
HTS Harvard Theological Studies
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by George
A. Buttrick. 4 vols. New York: Abingdon, 1962.
IDBSup Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: Supplementary Volume.
Edited by Keith Crim. Nashville: Abingdon, 1976.
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
IJudO Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis
Int Interpretation
JANEH Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

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 —​​​​​​​ A b b r e v i a t i o n s —​​​​​​​

JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient

JHebS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
JIGRE Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-​Roman Egypt. Edited by
William Horbury and David Noy. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
JIWE Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe. Edited by David Noy.
2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, 2010.
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JSJSup Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
JSPsup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series
JSQ Jewish Studies Quarterly
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
KAI Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. Herbert Donner
and Wolfgang Röllig. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1966‒69.
KJV King James Version
KTU Die Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit. Edited by
Manfried Dietrich, Oswald Loretz, and Joaquin Sanmartín.
Münster: Ugarit-​Verlag, 2013.
LHBOTS The Library of Hebrew Bible/​Old Testament Studies
LNTS The Library of New Testament Studies
LSTS The Library of Second Temple Studies
LXX Septuagint
MPI Monographs of the Peshitta Institute
MT Masoretic Text
NEA Near Eastern Archaeology
NIV New International Version
NKJV New King James Version
NLT New Living Translation
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
NTOA Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus
NTS New Testament Studies
NTTSD New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents
OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
OIS Oriental Institute Seminars
OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
ORChrAn Orientalia Christiana Analecta
OTE Old Testament Essays
OTL Old Testament Library
OTM Oxford Theological Monographs
OTR Old Testament Readings
OTS/​OtSt Oudtestamentische Studiën
PEF Palestine Exploration Fund

xxxi
newgenprepdf

—​​​​​​​ A b b r e v i a t i o n s —​​​​​​​

PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly

PLOSONE Public Library of Science One
PTMS Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series
RB Revue biblique
RRBS Recent Research in Biblical Studies
RSV Revised Standard Version
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SBLEJL Society of Biblical Literature Early Judaism and Its Literature
SBLSemS Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies
SBLSymS Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series
SBTS Sources for Biblical and Theological Study
SD Studies and Documents
SEAL Sources of Early Akkadian Literature
SHCANE Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East
SJ Studia Judaica
SJT Scottish Journal of Theology
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
SNTW Studies of the New Testament and its World
SO Symbolae Osloenses
SOTSMS Society for Old Testament Studies Monograph Series
STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah
SVTP Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha
TA Tel Aviv
TANZ Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited
by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by
Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1964‒2006.
TENTS Texts and Editions for New Testament Study
TSAJ Texts und Studien zum antiken Judentum
TynBul Tyndale Bulletin
UF Ugarit-​Forschungen
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
VWGTh Veröffentlichungen der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für
Theologie
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament
WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
ZABR Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtgeschichte
ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die
Kunde der älteren Kirche
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

xxxii
 INTRODUCTION

Katharine J. Dell

T he Bible can be read and appreciated on many different levels. It can be viewed
essentially as a historical document telling of the lives of key individuals and of
a long stretch of history from around 2000 BCE to the time of Jesus Christ and after.
Yet it is also a work of literature, the voices of many authors heard by generations of
readers through the pages of the numerous books that make up the canon of scrip-
ture, combining a huge variety of different genres in its prose and poetry. Of course,
many read the Bible for theological insight and this is in many ways the key focus
of the Bible –​the revelation of the divine and exploration of the divine-​human rela-
tionship across millennia. Those of faith come to the Bible for religious inspiration,
spiritual sustenance and for the witness of events that reveal God in human life. The
‘canon’ of the Bible is different for Jews and Christians and yet both come to its pages
for knowledge of the wellspring of their beliefs. The Bible is also a cultural artefact
and an icon of immense significance. It has been read by every generation since its
inception and it goes on being read around the world by millions of people every day.
This volume explores not only the contents of this library of books that cumu-
latively form the Bible, but also the world from which these books originate. Part
I gives an overview of the contents and themes of each of the two Testaments but also
looks at key material from the same periods of time, including apocryphal material
which was left out of many ‘canons’ and yet was, in part, regarded by certain groups
as scriptural. Into this group also comes the Dead Sea Scrolls, an amazing find that
has shed so much light on the biblical world that it needs to be considered as a source
text. Part II treats the major genres of material that make up the biblical canon,
as found both in the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament, so
enabling us to subdivide the different types of literature and postulate diverse social
settings for their production. Part III broadens out the scope of enquiry into the
wider cultural world of the ancient Near East to consider the documents from other
nations, the various languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) in which they, and the
biblical material, were written and textual matters concerning versions and transla-
tions of texts. Into this section of documents also comes another key find, the Cairo
Genizah and articles on Hebrew, Greek and Roman inscriptional material that is
essential for our wider knowledge of the world surrounding the Bible.

1
 —​​​​​​​ K a t h a r i n e J . D e l l —​​​​​​​

The quest for a historical context for the Bible is an ongoing one and so Part
IV addresses some key issues in this quest, such as the nature of biblical archae-
ology and information on archaeological finds in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Concern
then moves towards the periods of time represented in the literature and so ques-
tions of historicity and the facticity, or not, of the biblical material arise. The key
periods covered in the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible are then followed by those of
the New Testament. An article on Israel’s neighbours also joins this group –​how can
we understand the testimony of a nation and a people without knowing something
of the lives and beliefs of the peoples surrounding them geographically? From ‘his-
tory’ we move to institutions in Part V which includes religious practice, the practice
of warfare, the priesthood and festivals, and so on. The family is a key component
of human life throughout history and this is represented alongside culture and the
arts. The early church and its social life and religious practices are also explored. Key
themes of both Testaments are explored in the rest of this section, themes that interact
with the social institutions of each biblical period as society grows and changes.
Finally, in Part VI interest moves towards the reader and interpreter. How do those
of different faiths read these texts? Jewish and Christian approaches to reading that
have been traditional for many centuries are explored here alongside more modern
biblical readings.
There has been a sea change in biblical studies over the last thirty years in favour
of a recognition of the relativity of everything that we read. Depending on our stand-
point, our age, our gender, our cultural norms, our geographical location and so on,
readings can be diverse and manifold. The final chapters of this volume draw these
points out and the volume ends with an enquiry into the cultural relevance of the
Bible in the modern world.

2
 PART I

THE BIBLE
 CHAPTER ONE

THE OLD TESTAMENT/​

HEBREW BIBLE

Eryl W. Davies

TERMINOLOGY
The English word Bible derives from the Greek biblia meaning books, and it is pref-
erable to regard the Old Testament as a collection or library of books rather than a
single volume, since it contains a large variety of texts of different genres, emanating
from different periods in Israel’s history. But the very term ‘Old Testament’ itself
requires explanation, for it is important to remember that this is a Christian term
applied to a body of Jewish writings. It belonged to the Jewish people before any
Christian ever read it, and thus from the Jewish point of view it is important that the
book is read and studied in its own terms and not as part of a larger whole. Moreover,
from a Jewish perspective the term ‘old’ can have pejorative connotations of some-
thing that has been superseded and is no longer useful, something old-​fashioned or
obsolete, and thus out of deference to Jewish sensibilities the term Hebrew Bible,
rather than ‘Old Testament’, is now commonly used in academic circles.
Jewish tradition divides the Hebrew Bible into three sections. The name com-
monly used by the Jews for the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) is
Tôrâ (which means ‘law’ or ‘teaching’); the second section is called the Prophets
or Nebî’îm, and the final section is referred to as the Writings or Ketûbîm. The
Jewish name for what Christians refer to as the Old Testament is Tanak, an
acronym formed from the first letters of the Hebrew names for the three main
parts of the canon. The discussion below will follow the traditional Jewish tripar-
tite division of the Hebrew Bible; it should be noted, however, that the Christian
Old Testament follows the order of books encountered in the Greek translation
of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint), the main difference being that the historical
books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah are placed in chronological order along
with the other ‘historical’ books (Samuel and Kings) rather than in the Writings,
and the Prophets are placed at the end.

5
 —​​​​​​​ E r y l W. D a v i e s —​​​​​​​

OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENT OF THE THREE MAJOR

SECTIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT/​H EBREW BIBLE
The Torah
The Torah or Pentateuch consists of five books known to us by their Graeco-​Latin
names: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books were
traditionally ascribed to Moses and were viewed as the authoritative basis of reli-
gious life in ancient Israel. During much of the twentieth century, however, they
were regarded as a compilation from four main sources (known as the Documentary
Theory and pioneered in the nineteenth century), all of them much later than Moses,
and spanning a period of several centuries, and thus reflecting successive phases in
Hebrew life and religion. The five books contain a considerable amount of legal
material set within a narrative framework, and they span the period from the cre-
ation of the world to the point where the people of Israel stand on the verge of the
Promised Land.
Genesis falls into two parts: ­chapters 1–​11 (often referred to as the ‘Primeval
History’) describe the creation of the world, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden,
the story of Cain and Abel, the flood and God’s covenant with Noah, and the story
of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages. These chapters draw on
myths that in various forms were widely known in the ancient Near East, such as
the Assyrian Gilgamesh epic and the Old Babylonian Atrahasis epic. Chapters 12–​50
contain the story of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. A promise is
made to Abraham of possession of land and progeny, and a recurring theme in these
chapters is the fulfilment, or non-​fulfilment, of the posterity aspect of the promise.
There is considerable anxiety as to whether Abraham will have a son, and even
when a son is born there is an element of uncertainty about his survival (Gen. 22).
The divine promise is further threatened by the barrenness of the wives of the patri-
archs (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel), and fraternal rivalries endanger the lives of heirs to
the promise (Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers). Throughout Genesis the divine
promise of land is also repeatedly affirmed (Gen. 12:1, 7; 13:14–​15; 28:4; 35:12) but,
for the most part, it remains no more than a promise.
Moses is the central figure in the four remaining books. The beginning of the book
of Exodus depicts the Hebrew tribes suffering oppression in Egypt under the Pharaoh,
and God appointing Moses to lead them towards the Promised Land. During the
wilderness wandering God enters a covenant with them and his will is revealed in
the Decalogue (Ex. 20:1–​17) and in a collection of laws known as the Book of the
Covenant (Ex. 20:22–​23:33). The closing chapters recount, among other stories,
the construction of the tabernacle, the incident of the golden calf and the setting up
of the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. Leviticus is almost exclusively concerned
with legal matters and it contains various regulations concerning sacrifice and offer-
ings, the institution of the Aaronic priesthood, laws about the clean and unclean, the
ritual of the day of Atonement and regulations concerning vows and tithes. Numbers
contains a variety of material without any clear principle of arrangement. The title
refers to the numbering of the people in a census with which Numbers opens. The
remainder of the book consists of laws mainly concerned with the priests, Levites
and points of ritual, intermingled with stories describing events during the wilderness

6
 —​​​​​​​ T h e O l d T e s t a m e n t / H e b r e w B i b l e —​​​​​​​

wandering. Deuteronomy purports to be a long address delivered by Moses to the

Israelites on the eve of their entry into Canaan. The book is usually divided into three
main sections: ­chapters 1–​11 provide expositions of the historical events and the gen-
eral principles on which the specific laws of the central part of the book are based;
the second section (chapters 12–​26) contains a mixture of civil, religious and criminal
laws, the most important of which was the demand that Israel’s worship should be
centralized at one legitimate sanctuary, and that its religion should be purged of all
heathen contamination. The third section (­chapters 27–​34) contains a list of blessings
and curses, the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses and the account of his death and
burial in the land of Moab.
Looking at the Pentateuch as a whole, it is clear that the theme of the land occu-
pies a central place. In Genesis, it is a commodity promised to Abraham and his des-
cendants; Exodus describes the escape of the Hebrews and their forty-​year journey
through the wilderness of Sinai; Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy recount the
vicissitudes of the journey through the wilderness, as the people move towards the
Promised Land. Viewed in this broader perspective it is clear that possession of land
was not an accident of history but the result of the divine promise made to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. At times, this promise looked as though it would not be fulfilled, as
the Israelites continually rebelled against God and against Moses, but despite the dis-
obedience of the people, God’s ultimate purpose would not be thwarted. Of course,
such lack of faith on the part of the people could not go unpunished, and the gener-
ation which left Egypt was destined to die in the wilderness; even Moses and Aaron
would not be permitted to enter the land of Canaan because of their lack of faith
(Num. 20:12). Yet, the Pentateuch ends on a positive note, with the new generation
established on the eastern side of the Jordan and on the border of Canaan, ready to
enter the land that had been promised them by God (Deut. 34:4).

The Prophets
The next section of the Hebrew Bible consists of the Prophets, and since the eighth
century CE this section has been divided into two parts: the Former Prophets and the
Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets include the historical books of Joshua, Judges,
Samuel and Kings, and between them they cover a period of several centuries, from
the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, through to the introduction of the monarchy
and the division of the kingdom to the conquest of Israel by Assyria in the eighth
century and that of Judah by Babylon in 587 BCE. It may seem strange that these
historical books were classified as the ‘Former Prophets’ (despite the fact that they do
contain accounts of the activities of some important prophetic personalities in ancient
Israel, such as Deborah, Samuel, Elijah and Elisha). The reason for the classification
lies in the assessment of the nature of these historical records. Far from providing an
impartial survey of Hebrew history from the settlement in Canaan to the exile, these
books contain a religious interpretation and evaluation of events and leaders in the
history of Israel and Judah, and bear testimony to the working out of the prophetic
word in the life of the nation. The historical reliability of these books has proved
highly contentious in recent years; here, it is sufficient to note that it is impossible
to write anything like a satisfactory history of ancient Israel based on this biblical
account due to the highly selective nature of the material which has been preserved.

7
 —​​​​​​​ E r y l W. D a v i e s —​​​​​​​

Certain periods are dealt with in great detail (such as the account of the institution of
the monarchy and the establishment of the kingdom in 1 Sam. 7ff.), whereas Omri’s
twelve-​year reign is dispensed with in a mere six verses (1 Kgs 16:23–​28)!
The Latter Prophets comprise Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the so-​called Book
of the Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi). These twelve ‘Minor Prophets’ were
regarded in Jewish tradition as a single book, for the quite practical reason that
they could be written on a roll of manuscript approximately the same size as those
required for each of the three Major Prophets. The Latter Prophets consist, for the
most part, of prophetic oracles that challenge abuses of power and misguided policies
on the part of the kings of Israel, and condemn the morals and religious practices
of the priests, as well as other officials of state and the people at large. One of the
earliest written records of prophetic orations appears to be that of the prophet Amos
(eighth century BCE), but the prophetic books contain records of their pronounce-
ments down to the period of the Babylonian exile and on to the Persian period, the
last of the biblical prophetic texts probably dating from about the middle of the fifth
century BCE. The Prophets spoke as representatives of Yahweh, mediating his word
to their contemporaries, and their oracles frequently began with the words ‘thus says
the LORD’. Their basic message was that God had been faithful to the relationship
he had established with Israel and had fulfilled the divine obligations within that
relationship, but Israel had been unfaithful and must face the consequences; hence,
God’s judgment would result in Israel’s imminent destruction and suffering, and even
Jerusalem and the temple would not be exempt from God’s judgment. Occasionally,
later redactors added a message of hope to the announcement of judgment, indicating
that God would continue to be faithful to the relationship in spite of Israel’s sin.

The Writings
The third section of the Hebrew Bible is a diverse collection of books traditionally
known as the Writings, and these contain a variety of different genres (historiog-
raphy, fiction, dialogue, hymns, proverbs etc.) and subject matter.
The book of Psalms is a collection, or rather several collections, of religious
poems which became the hymn book of the Jewish people (and later of the Christian
Church). The Psalms are usually categorized into various groups, such as Torah
Psalms, Historical Psalms, Entrance Liturgies, Royal Psalms and (by far the most
common) Individual and Communal Psalms of Lament. This compilation of 150
works of poetry embraces the whole range of the people’s response to God, from
joyous adoration of his care for their welfare to the agonizing cries of perplexity
caused by the suffering of the pious and the seeming silence or absence of God.
The book of Proverbs is an anthology of sayings which provide sound instruction
and down-​to-​earth practical advice enabling people to succeed in life, both socially
and morally. Scholars recognize that both Egyptian and Mesopotamian wisdom lit-
erature exercised influence on the book of Proverbs, and these wisdom traditions
were similarly concerned to recommend a course of behaviour that would set the
individual on the road to a long, happy and successful life.
In contrast to the book of Proverbs, which contains several distinct compilations
on a variety of different subjects, the book of Job is an extended dialogue exploring

8
 —​​​​​​​ T h e O l d T e s t a m e n t / H e b r e w B i b l e —​​​​​​​

the theme of undeserved suffering. The Prologue in c­ hapters 1–​2 sets the scene for the
rest of the book and indicates that Satan had received permission by God to tempt
Job in order to prove his lack of faithfulness. Job is depicted as a good and pious
man, whose innocence is asserted not only by himself (6:30), but by the narrator (1:1)
and even by God himself (1:8; 2:3); yet, instead of enjoying a successful and pros-
perous life as a reward for his conduct, he suffers severe afflictions, including illness,
loss of worldly property and family bereavement. The book provides no satisfactory
answer to the problem of the suffering of the innocent, but it does raise questions
concerning the doctrine of retribution whereby goodness is rewarded and wickedness
is punished.
The Writings also include five short poetic and narrative compositions known
as the Megilot or ‘festal scrolls’, which came to be associated in the minds of the
believing community with significant occasions in the religious calendar. The book
of Ruth was associated with the Feast of Weeks and tells of a widowed Moabite girl,
Ruth, who married a Jew, Boaz, to whom she bore a son, Obed, who was the great
grandfather of King David.
The Song of Songs (the prescribed reading for the Passover) celebrates human love
and sexuality, and would probably not have been included in the canon at all were it
not for the fact that it was attributed (wrongly) to Solomon and interpreted allegor-
ically in terms of the relationship between God and Israel (and later Christ and the
Church). This book, which links up with two other ‘wisdom’ books in the Writings
(Job and Proverbs), is an extended lyric poem in the form of a dialogue between two
lovers, and this enables the poet to explore the nature of love and longing from the
point of view of both the woman and the man. Neither is identified by name and
since they are, in effect, archetypal lovers rather than identifiable individuals, the
poem assumes a timeless quality, which makes it easier for readers to relate to the
lovers’ experience.
Lamentations describes the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 587 BCE and
was the prescribed reading on the ninth day of Ab, a day of fasting as the Jews re-
called the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and, later, by the Romans in
70 CE. The book comprises five poems, of which four are acrostic in form. Although
an anonymous composition, it was traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah
by Jewish tradition, possibly due to a misreading of 2 Chr. 35:25, which stated that
Jeremiah composed lamentations over Josiah and that these were later recorded in
‘the Laments’.
Ecclesiastes (read at the Festival of Tabernacles) raises fundamental questions
about the meaning of life and finds that there are no easy or convincing answers.
The English title of the book was adopted from the Vulgate (and originally from the
Septuagint); in Hebrew, the title read ‘The words of Qoheleth, the son of David, king
in Jerusalem’, and although here Qoheleth occurs as a personal name, elsewhere in
the book (cf. 7:27; 12:8) it stands for an office or function, usually taken to mean
‘preacher’ or –​ more probably –​‘teacher’ or ‘orator’. The general tone is set with the
refrain which occurs throughout the work (‘vanity of vanities, all is vanity’), which
suggests that life was ultimately devoid of meaning, since everything ends in death
and oblivion. However, although such a philosophy might lead to a feeling of des-
pair and misery, Qoheleth also emphasizes the positive aspects of life and the need to
make the most of whatever satisfactions it has to offer.

9
 —​​​​​​​ E r y l W. D a v i e s —​​​​​​​

The book of Esther, in its present form, is intended to explain the origins of the
Feast of Purim, a festival that was not prescribed in the Torah. It has been preserved
in two versions (Hebrew and Greek), and is a tale of love and hatred, persecution
and revenge. Much of the action takes place at court during the Persian period, and
the main characters are Esther, Mordecai (her cousin and guardian) and Haman, who
determined to massacre all the Jews living in Persia. The story provides an account of
Haman’s undoing, ending in his death on the very gallows that had been prepared for
Mordecai. The dominant theme of the triumph of Judaism over her enemies won an
immediate and lasting degree of popularity for the work, although protests continued
for some time concerning its inclusion in the canon of Scripture.
1 and 2 Chronicles tells the story of Israel from Adam to the destruction of
Jerusalem by Babylon. Although these books were accepted as authoritative by early
Christian and Jewish writers, they were largely ignored until the rise of historical
criticism in the nineteenth century, mainly because they were understood as merely
providing additions or supplements to the record contained in the books of Samuel
and Kings. Recent scholars, however, have recognized that the Chronicler was not
only expounding the earlier text of Samuel-​Kings but had access to other sources for
the composition of the work. Although its presentation of Israel’s history is clearly
coloured by the ideology and interests of the writers, many scholars are prepared to
accept that it does contain some material of historical value.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah continue the story of Chronicles to the time
when some of the Jews returned from Babylonian exile to rebuild Jerusalem and the
temple, and these books are therefore important sources of information for the his-
tory of Judah in the post-​exilic period. The books contain a wide variety of material,
including an account of the circumstances surrounding the return of Jews from their
exile in Babylon, the efforts to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, the dedication of the
newly-​built city wall, the presentation of the law by Ezra, and the controversial issue
of mixed marriages.
The book of Daniel, written partly in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic, tells the story
of a loyal Jew and his companions who rise to positions of influence in the Babylonian
court but who refuse to compromise their religious convictions (­chapters 1–​6); in the
second part of the book (­chapters 7–​12) Daniel receives a series of symbolic visions
of the future which are explained to him by angelic interpreters.
Although the Writings achieved a certain status as sacred Scripture in the Jewish
community, they never attained the central place of authority which Judaism assigned
supremely to the Torah and secondarily to the Prophets; indeed, some Jewish groups
(such as the Samaritans) did not even regard them as Scripture.

UNITY AND DIVERSITY

As we read the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible, we inevitably become aware of occa-
sional tensions and differences between biblical texts. Various passages, belonging
to different periods, evince shifting emphases and interests and often display con-
siderable variation in their moral and theological perspectives. Warfare provides an
interesting case in point, for while there are certainly prophetic passages which speak
of peace and harmony, other texts are infused with the language of violence. For
example, Zechariah looks forward to an age of peace in the land of Judah when old

10
 —​​​​​​​ T h e O l d T e s t a m e n t / H e b r e w B i b l e —​​​​​​​

men and women would sit watching children play in the streets (Zech. 8:4–​5), but
other passages in the same book imply that the peace envisaged will only come about
when Israel’s enemies have been quelled by Yahweh, who is depicted as marching out
as a warrior against them (Zech. 9:1–​8, 14–​15).
Given that the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible covers a period of perhaps a thousand
years or more, it is only to be expected that different moral viewpoints and con-
trasting theological perspectives should have found expression in its diverse writings.
Recent sociological studies have emphasized the pluralistic nature of Israelite society,
and have served as a reminder that the nation consisted of diverse groups that prob-
ably adhered to a wide variety of ethical and theological ideals. Hence, we cannot
suppose that anything like a moral or theological consensus existed in ancient Israel.
Yet some have argued that it is at least possible, in principle, to outline a ‘biblical
view’ concerning such issues as the nature of God and attitudes towards wealth, pov-
erty, justice and so on and that the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible is not just a random
jumble of isolated precepts with no underlying rationale. Rather, it presupposes at
least a measure of unity and homogeneity and –​despite its rich diversity –​ evinces
a broadly coherent ethical and theological vision. According to this view, once the
truths expressed in all the various passages are synthesized in the right way, the cen-
tral message of the Bible will emerge and will provide the community of faith with a
firm foundation upon which its beliefs can be based.
Such an assurance is generally welcomed by those who look to Scripture as a basis
for faith and practice, but who might understandably be alarmed by the seeming
inconsistencies within the biblical tradition, for the notion that there is a ‘general
drift’ in the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible has the reassuring effect of smoothing
over the contradictions and making the path straight for those who do not want to
be ruffled by any unexplained irregularities in Scripture. The downside of such an
approach, however, is that it can easily degenerate into a facile harmonization of
conflicting viewpoints, and while it ostensibly aims to gauge the dominant voice of
Scripture, that dominant voice is often defined in terms of the voice the individual
reader or interpreter wants to hear. Individual traditions are suppressed in the interest
of maintaining a coherent whole, and the plurality of perspectives is dissolved in an
attempt to achieve a harmony where patently no harmony exists.

THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT/​H EBREW BIBLE

In Christian theology the term ‘canon’ is used to refer to the normative collection
of sacred books of the Old and New Testament. The term itself is derived from
the Greek kanōn which, in classical Greek, was used to denote a ‘straight staff’ or
‘measuring rod’, though it was also used in a metaphorical sense to denote ‘rule’,
‘standard’ or ‘norm’. The term appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament
(the Septuagint) and in two passages in the New Testament (Gal. 6.16; 2 Cor. 10:13–​
16), where it is used with a similar range of meaning extending from the literal to
the metaphorical. The metaphorical use of the term is frequently encountered in the
early Church Fathers. Thus, Clement of Alexandria urged Christians to live according
to the ‘rule (kanōn) of faith’, and Irenaeus refers to the ‘rule of truth’ that defined
orthodox Christianity. It is only from the middle of the fourth century CE onwards,
however, that the term began to be used to refer to a list of books sacred to Christians.

11
 —​​​​​​​ E r y l W. D a v i e s —​​​​​​​

Thus, we find Athanasius claiming that the Shepherd of Hermas did not belong to
the canon, and he distinguished the books which he regarded as canonical from those
which he considered apocryphal. It is worth noting that Judaism has no term equiva-
lent to ‘canon’ in the sense of an official list of books regarded as authoritative or nor-
mative for a particular community. The rabbis and post-​rabbinic Judaism preferred
to designate this collection of sacred books as miqrā’, meaning that which is recited
(based on the custom of reading aloud for the assembled faithful in a predominantly
oral culture), or as the ‘sacred writings’ (kitbē haqqōdeš).
There has been much discussion over the years as to when and how the books of
the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible were vested with canonical status, and much still
remains obscure. In the fifteenth century CE the Jewish scholar Elias Levita suggested
that it was Ezra who was responsible for settling the contents of the Hebrew Bible,
and dividing it into three parts, and his theory was generally accepted by Jews and
Christians until the end of the nineteenth century. However, the discovery that some
of the biblical books (such as Daniel) probably derived from a period after the sup-
posed closing of the canon in Ezra’s time did much to undermine this theory, and a
new consensus began to emerge towards the end of the nineteenth century regarding
the formation of the Old Testament/​Hebrew Bible canon.
According to this consensus, the Josianic reform of 621 BCE, described in 2 Kgs
22–​23, marked the first step in the process of canonization, for in this passage we
are told of the discovery in the temple of a religious law book, which became the
law of the land through the policy of King Josiah. It was widely accepted that this
book should be identified with Deuteronomy, and hence 2 Kgs 22–​23 was thought
to reflect a significant first step in the establishment of the Torah as an authoritative
religious document. The next step in the development was the coming of Ezra to
Jerusalem in the fifth century BCE with a book of law which was accepted as norma-
tive by the Jewish community in and around the capital (Ezra 7:10, 25f.). Whether
the ‘law book’ of Ezra was the five books of Moses in approximately their final form,
or whether it consisted of only a part of the Torah, it is clear that the position of this
document had been assured at the very latest soon after Ezra’s lifetime.
The evidence concerning the prophetic books is less precise. The first clear indi-
cation of the existence of a prophetic corpus came from the early part of the second
century BCE. Writing at about 190–​180 BCE Jesus ben Sira, in his ‘Praise of the
Fathers’, provides a synopsis of the main events in Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings,
followed by allusions to the three Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel)
and the ‘twelve prophets’ (Ecclus. 44–​49; 49:7–​10). Presumably ben Sira had before
him at least the Law and the Former and Latter Prophets. Further evidence of the
authoritative position which the prophetic literature had attained was thought to be
provided by the book of Daniel (usually dated about 165 BCE) in which the book of
Jeremiah appears to be regarded as sacred Scripture (Dan. 9:2).
The third stage in the process of canonization concerned the Writings. Ben Sira’s
grandson, who translated his grandfather’s ‘Praise of the Fathers’ into Greek (c. 132
BCE), says in the prologue to the translation that his grandfather had devoted himself
to the study of ‘the law, the prophets and the remainder of the books which have come
down from the fathers’. Although he does not identify the books in question, it was
argued that this text implies that in his day the third section of the canon was begin-
ning to take shape. The final stage of canonization was assigned to a decision reached

12
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our colonists, both in the islands and on the continent, against the
establishment of episcopacy! That persons of all ranks, from Quebec
down to the two Floridas, are at this time prejudiced, and more than
prejudiced against it, is very notorious; but how will the very thought
of the introduction of Lords Bishops even make them shudder? if
their Lordships should think proper to countenance the expulsion of
such worthy and truly religious students, whilst those who have no
religion at all perhaps, may not only meet with countenance, but
approbation and applause.

Besides, if such proceedings should be continued, (which God

forbid!) what little credit may we suppose will hereafter be given to
future university-testimonials, that the bearers of them have behaved
studiously, soberly, and piously; and how must we in time be put
under a disagreeable necessity of having a new, or at least of
altering some part of our present most excellent ordination-office? As
it now stands, one of the questions proposed to every candidate for
holy orders runs thus: “Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by
the holy ghost?” But if all students are to be expelled that sing
hymns, pray extempore, attend upon, or expound a verse now and
then, in a religious church of England society, should it not rather,
Reverend Sir, be worded thus, namely, “Do ye trust that ye are NOT
inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you the office and
administration of the church?”

You will excuse this freedom, Reverend Sir.

Agitur de vitâ et sanguine turni.

Love to God, love to mankind in general, and love to that university,

that alma mater where I had the honour of being educated, and,
what is infinitely more, where I had the happiness of receiving the
witness of the Spirit of God in my heart, all together constrain me.

The news of these young mens expulsion hath made, and will
make the ears of all who have heard, or shall hear of it, to tingle: and
therefore if some do not speak, and use great plainness of speech
too, the very stones would, as it were, cry out against us. In respect
to myself, Reverend Sir, I hope, that in taking the freedom of
troubling you with this, I do not justly incur the censure of acting as a
busy-body in other mens matters. For, whatever other pretences
may be made, such as disqualification in respect to learning, age,
the being of trades, &c. &c. &c. (Nugæ tricæque calendæ) it is
notorious and obvious to all intelligent persons, that the grand cause
of these young mens expulsion was this, namely, that they were
either real or reputed Methodists. An honour this indeed,
unwittingly put on Methodists, whoever or whatever they be; since
scarce any now-a days can pray extempore, sing hymns, go to
church or meeting, and abound in other acts of devotion, but they
must be immediately dubbed Methodists. I say, dubbed Methodists;
for it is not a name given to them by themselves, but was imposed
on them by some of their fellow students and contemporaries in the
university.

I take it for granted, Reverend Sir, that you need not be apprized
that I am one of these Methodists; and blessed be God I have had
the honour of being one of them for about thirty-five years. If this is to
be vile, may I be more vile! If this be my shame, upon the most
mature and serious reflection I really glory in it. But then, lest any
more innocent youths should hereafter suffer barely for the
imputation of a nick-name, give me leave simply and honestly to
inform you, Reverend Sir, and through you the whole university, what
not barely a reputed, but a real Methodist is: “He is one of those
whom God hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, to bring them by
Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour;
wherefore they, who be endued with so excellent a benefit of God,
are called according to God’s purpose by his spirit working in due
season: they, through grace, obey the calling; they be justified freely;
and made the sons of God by adoption: they are conformed to the
image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously
in good works; and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain everlasting
felicity.” This is the true portrait of a Methodist, drawn at full length,
drawn to the very life, and that too not by an ignorant modern
dauber, but by those good old skilful scriptural limners, Cranmer,
Latimer, Ridley, in the xviith article of our church; an article that
deserves to be written in letters of gold; and yet, for holding of this
very article in its literal grammatical sense, agreeable to his
subscription at the time of matriculation, one of these young
students, as we have been informed, was expelled. If our information
be wrong in this or any other respect, the nation may soon be set
right by an authentic publication of the whole judicial proceedings.

If you should desire, Reverend Sir, a definition of Methodism

itself, as well as of a Methodist, you may easily be gratified. It is no
more nor less than “faith working by love. A holy method of living and
dying, to the glory of God.” It is an universal morality, founded upon
the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost: or, to
keep to the exact terms made use of in the last collect of our
excellent liturgy, it is “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost;” which we cannot go to
church or chapel on Sundays, holidays, or other common days,
without praying, not that it may be driven from, but be with us all
evermore.

If this be enthusiasm, the true Methodists confess themselves to

be enthusiasts. But then, they humbly apprehend, that they cannot
with any just propriety of speech be termed modern enthusiasts; for
it is an enthusiasm which our blessed Lord earnestly insists upon, in
that prayer which he put up when he was about to take his farewel of
his disciples, and which is a pattern of that all-prevailing intercession
which He is now making at the right hand of God, and demands that
all his disciples may be possessed of; “Father, I will that those whom
thou hast given me, may be with me where I am; that they may be
one with me, even as thou, O Father, and I are one: I in them, and
they in me, that they all may be made perfect in one.” An
enthusiasm, with which Peter and John were fired, when Annas the
high-priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many
as were of the kindred of the high-priest, seeing their boldness, and
perceiving that they were unlearned and ignorant men, marvelled,
and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. An
enthusiasm, with which the proto-martyr Stephen was filled, when he
cried, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost.” An enthusiasm, which Ignatius
supposed by some to be one of those little children which the Lord
Jesus took up in his arms, was absorbed in, when he stiles himself a
bearer of God; and for witnessing of which good confession, in order
to cure him of this enthusiasm, he was ordered by Trajan, the
Roman emperor, to be thrown to the lions. An enthusiasm, for which
Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, those glorious lights of the
reformation, those excellent compilers of our liturgy, articles, and
homilies, were burnt alive near Baliol college. And, to mention but
one more, too too recent an example, an enthusiasm, for being only
a little tinctured with which, six students, on March 11th, in the year
of our Lord 1768, were publicly expelled in Edmund-Hall chapel.

But think you, Reverend Sir, that this is the way to stop the
progress of this enthusiasm? Or rather, may we not imagine that this
very act of expulsion will be a means of furthering and promoting its
progress far and near? To speak my own thoughts, I am fully
persuaded, that if such unscriptural methods of stopping this
enthusiasm be pursued further, it will be only like cutting off the
Lyrnean head; instead of one, an hundred will spring up.

Indeed, if the picture of modern enthusiasts, drawn up and

presented to the public by your Right Reverend Diocesan, be a just
and proper one, supposing at the same time the Methodists are
thereby referred to, no matter how soon they are banished out of the
university, and out of the church also: for his Lordship is pleased to
tell us “that they act in direct opposition to the perverse pharisees of
old; these ascribed the works of the Holy Ghost to Beelzebub; and it
is no uncommon thing for these modern enthusiasts, adds his
Lordship, to ascribe the works of Beelzebub to the Holy Spirit.”
Surely his Lordship, by these modern enthusiasts, cannot mean
those who apply for holy orders, and profess before men and angels,
that “they are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon them
the office and administration of the church;” when the searcher of
hearts knows that they are moved only by secular views and worldly
hopes of preferment. This is ascribing the works of Beelzebub to the
Spirit of God with a witness: or, to use the words of a no less
learned, though less censorious prelate; I mean the moderate
Bishop Burnet, “it is a committing the horrid crime of Ananias and
Sapphira over again; it is lying, not only unto man, but unto God.”

This is a modern kind of enthusiasm, Reverend Sir, which the

true old Methodists always did, and I trust always will abjure, detest
and abhor. If worldly church preferments had been their aim, some of
them at least might have had worldly ladders enough let down to
them to climb up by: but having received a kind of apostolical
commission at their ordination, when those who profess themselves
lineal successors of the Apostles, said unto them, “Receive ye the
Holy Ghost now committed unto you by the imposition of our hands:”
they would fain keep up and maintain something of the dignity of an
apostolic character; and therefore, without ever so much as
designing to enter into any political cabals, or civil or church factions
whatsoever, without turning to the right hand or the left, or troubling
the world with so much as one single sermon or pamphlet, on the
bare externals of religion; they have endeavoured to have but one
thing in view, namely, to determine to think of nothing, to know
nothing, and to preach of nothing but Jesus Christ, and him
crucified; to spend and be spent for the good of souls, and to glory in
nothing save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto them and they unto the world.

It is true, by thinking and acting thus, the Methodists have been,

and it is presumed always will be, charged and condemned by men
of corrupt minds, as thinking and acting irregularly and disorderly:
but as such a charge, in the very nature of the thing, supposes a
deviation from some settled standing rule, they would humbly ask,
wherein the irregularity and disorderliness of this way of acting and
thinking doth specifically consist? Is it irregular and disorderly to be
“instant in season and out of season?” Is it irregular and disorderly to
do what every Bishop at the very time of our being ordained priests
positively tells us pertaineth to their office, “to seek after the children
of God, scattered abroad in this naughty world?” Is it irregular and
disorderly after we have established the truth of what we deliver in
our sermons by scripture proofs, further to confirm and illustrate
them by repeated and particular quotations, taken from the liturgy,
articles, and homilies of our established church? Is it irregular and
disorderly to fill her pews, to croud her communion tables, and to
recommend a frequent and constant devout attendance upon her
public offices and services? Or, supposing they should, merely by
caprice or prejudice, be denied the privilege of preaching within the
church, can it be justly termed irregular or disorderly, at least can it
possibly be looked upon as criminal, to preach the same truths, to
make use of the same kind of illustrations, to repeat the self-same
recommendations without the church walls, in the fields, or any other
place whatsoever?

The late candid Bishop of Lincoln, I am positive, did not think

such a way of acting altogether so very criminal: for in a charge
given to his clergy some years before his translation to the see of
Salisbury, he told them to this effect, “that they were not to look upon
themselves as ministers of a Plato, a Pythagoras, or any other
heathen philosopher, consequently they were not to entertain their
auditories with mere moral harangues; but that they were to consider
themselves as ministers of Jesus Christ; and therefore if they
would not preach the gospel in the church, they could not be justly
angry if the poor people went out to hear it in a field.” A charge this,
truly worthy of a sober-minded, moderate, wise Bishop of the Church
of England. For even in acting thus seemingly irregular and
disorderly, these modern enthusiasts only copy after the greatest
and brightest examples the world ever saw, and whose examples it
is more than criminal not to follow or copy after. Our blessed Lord,
when denied the use of the synagogues, on seeing the multitude,
went up and chose a mountain for his pulpit, and the heavens for his
sounding board. At other times he sat by the sea-side, nay, went into
a ship and preached, whilst the whole multitude stood on the shore.
When Peter and John, that this kind of enthusiasm might spread no
further among the people, were straitly threatened and commanded
that they should thenceforth speak at all to no man in Christ’s
name, they calmly yet boldly replied unto their threatners and
commanders, “Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken
unto you, more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak
the things which we have seen and heard.” A certain woman, named
Lydia, a seller of purple, had her heart opened when the great
apostle of the Gentiles was preaching and praying by a river-side;
and Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and
others, believed, and clave unto the same Apostle, from the time
they heard him preach in the midst of Areopagus, or Mars-hill. And
we may suppose he was not less successful when he was obliged
by the angry Jews to preach in the school of one Tyrannus.

I believe you will agree, Reverend Sir, that the venerable Fox and
Bradford did not appear less venerable for preaching at Pauls-cross;
neither did I ever hear that Bishop Latimer was looked upon as
degrading his episcopal character, when he used to preach in
Cotton-Garden Westminster, and King Edward the sixth, that Josiah
of his age, with some of his court, looked out at the palace window to
hear him. And I hereby appeal to the whole university, whether the
Reverend Doctors of divinity, heads of houses, graduates or under-
graduates, ever looked upon it as criminal, or beneath the dignity of
their place and station, to sit out in the open air on St. John Baptist’s
day, to hear a master of arts preach from the stone pulpit in
Maudling-College yard; though, for fear it may be they should give
further sanction to field-preaching, they have lately thought proper to
adjourn into the chapel?

You know, Reverend Sir, who it was, that when those who were
bidden in a regular way refused to come to the wedding-supper,
without asking any one’s leave for so doing, sent forth some
irregulars into the lanes and streets of the city, into the highways and
hedges, with that glorious encouraging commission, not by fines and
imprisonments, not by threats and expulsions, not by killing the body
for the good of the soul, but by filling their mouths with gospel
arguments, backed with the all-powerful energy of the Holy Ghost, to
compel poor, wandering, weary, heavy laden sinners to come in.
Armed with this panoply divine, and, as they think, authorised by the
same Lord, some few of us continue to this day, amongst small and
great, high and low, rich and poor, in church or chapel, in commons,
streets, fields, whensoever or wheresoever divine providence opens
a door, “to testify repentance towards God and faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ;” and this not from contempt of, or in opposition to the
godly admonitions of our ecclesiastical superiors, but because “the
love of Christ constraineth us;” and we think that a wo, a dreadful
wo, awaits us if we preach not the gospel. Not that we are enemies
to a decent or even episcopal consecration, or setting apart
churches and chapels for divine and holy worship: but we are more
indifferent about the reputed outward sanctity of places, because our
Lord, with great solemnity, said unto the woman of Samaria,
“Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father: but the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in Spirit and in truth.” Hence we infer, that every place is then,
and only then properly called holy, when like the ground around the
burning bush, it is made holy by the divine presence of Him who
spake to Moses out of the bush; or like mount Tabor, which by the
Apostle Peter is called, by way of emphasis, the holy mount,
because himself and James and John, not only had upon that mount
a visible outward manifestation, but also a blessed inward heart-felt
sense of the Redeemer’s excellent glory. It was undoubtedly this
which made Peter to break out into that exclamation: “Master, it is
good for us to be here.” And it was this that warmed, and not only
warmed, but constrained the enraptured Patriarch Jacob, when he
had only the ground for his bed, the stones for his pillow, and the
open firmament for his curtains and furniture, to break forth into that
extatic language, “How dreadful is this place! this is no other than the
house of God, this is the gate of heaven.”

If then, Reverend Sir, for this and such like things we are
accounted irregular and disorderly, we are truly sorry for it: sorry, but
not upon our own accounts, having the testimony of a good
conscience that we act with a single eye, and in direct conformity to
the authority of the word of God: but we are sorry, barely on account
of our impeachers and condemners, especially for those, who being
set apart for the ministerial office, and loaded with ecclesiastical
preferments, preach very seldom, or not at all; or, if they do preach
now and then, preach only as though they were barely reading wall-
lectures, and seldom or ever so much as mention or quote the
homilies of our church, though they have subscribed to an article
which says, that “they contain godly and wholesome doctrine, and
which judges them to be read in churches by the ministers diligently
and distinctly, that they may be understood of the people.” It is to be
feared, that it is owing to such irregularity and disorder as this, that
when our people hear of our articles or homilies quoted by some few
in the pulpit, that they are ready to cry out, “What new doctrine is
this? Thou bringest certain strange things to our ears:” At least if it is
not so at home, I am sure it is abroad. Hence it was that about three
years ago, after I had been preaching to a very large auditory in one
of the most polite places on the continent of America, and in
preaching, as is my usual custom, had strongly been recommending
the book of homilies, numbers were stirred up to go to the stores to
purchase them: but upon enquiring after the book of homilies, the
storekeeper, surprized at the novelty of the word homilies, begged
leave to know what muslins they meant, and whether they were not
hummims.

What a pity therefore is it, Reverend Sir, that the book of

homilies, which ought to be in every hand, and as common as our
common prayer books, should never yet have found a place in the
large catalogue of books given away by the truly laudable society for
promoting christian knowledge, though founded soon after the
glorious revolution. If this be not remedied some way or another, we
shall very soon become disorderly indeed: our pulpits will still
continue to contradict our reading-desks, and we shall never have
the honour of being stiled regular and orderly, till, regardless of
subscriptions, oaths, rubrics, and ordination-offices themselves, our
practices give the lie to our professions, and we seek the fleece not
the flock, and “preach ourselves, and not Christ Jesus the Lord.”

Dead formalists, and proud self-righteous bigots, may loudly

exclaim and cry out, “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord are we!” They may not only cry out,
but also cast out; and thinking they thereby do God service, though
most notoriously deficient in their own moral conduct, may plead
conscience, and say, “Let the Lord be glorified.” But to such as
these our Lord once said, “Ye are they that justify yourselves before
men, but God knoweth your hearts.” Like the chief priests, and the
scribes and pharisees of old, they may plead their law; for the breach
of which, these irregulars, as they imagine, ought to be condemned
and suffer; nay, a time may come when they may be permitted to
enforce their clamorous accusations, by urging, as their godly
predecessors once did against our Master, that “we found these
fellows perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute unto
Cæsar: but Pilate knew that for envy they delivered Him.” And
though they could plead their loyalty, and say, “If thou let this man
go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend, we have no king but Cæsar;” yet
both our Lord and his Apostles rendered themselves, and strictly
taught all that heard them, to “render unto Cæsar the things that are
Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Fain would the
Methodists copy after such gloriously divine examples: and blessed
be God, after a trial of near forty years, upon the most severe
scrutiny, their loyalty cannot be justly so much as once called in
question: for, as they fear God, so they dearly love and honour their
King, their rightful sovereign King George; and have been, and
continue to be, steady, invariable friends to the protestant
succession in the illustrious house of Hanover. And if so, supposing
these Methodists should be convicted of acting somewhat irregular,
since it is only the irregularity of preaching and recommending
unfeigned love to God, and, for his great name sake, undissembled,
disinterested loyalty to their King; is it not the interest as well as duty
of civil government, if not to encourage, yet not to oppose them? For
it is certainly a most incontestable truth, that every additional
proselyte to true Methodism, is an additional loyal subject to King
George the Third, whom, with his royal most amiable consort, our
gracious Queen Charlotte, the Methodists with one united voice
earnestly pray, God long to continue to be a nursing father and
nursing mother to our church, and people of every denomination
whatsoever.

Every body is loudly complaining of the badness of our times,

and the degeneracy of our morals. Sinners now proclaim their sin
like Sodom, and the nation hath suffered more than a second deluge
by an innundation of every sin, and every kind of corruption that was
ever committed or practised under heaven: “The whole head is sick,
the whole heart faint; from the crown of the head to the sole of our
feet, we are full of wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores.” Shall
there no man be found then to stand in the gap? None dare to
attempt at least to stem the impetuous torrent? None venture to go
out with their lives in their hand, and cry to a profane, careless, busy
world, “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” Can any
considerate, much more can any real good man be so cruel, as even
to wish that the gospel should be confined either to church or
meeting, when there are so many thousands and tens of thousands,
who as to spiritual things, know not their right hand from their left,
and who never go either to church or meeting at all? If some are
called to be settled ministers (and may the great Head of the church
fill all our parish-churches and meeting-houses with true evangelical
pastors!) may not others be called out to be itinerants? Have there
not been presbyters at large, even from the earliest times of
christianity? And if some of a more inferior rank and order should be
qualified, and thrust forth by the great Lord of the harvest, when the
harvest is so great, and the labourers so few, who shall dare to say
to Him, “What dost thou?” Shall our eye be evil because he is good?
If Isaiah was a courtier, was not the Prophet Amos a herdsman? In
the days of Moses, when the Israelites were under a more
immediate divine theocracy, news was brought him, and that too
even by a Joshua, that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the
camp, without his licence or his ordination; what doth this meek man
of God say? “Enviest thou for my sake? Would to God all the
Lord’s people were prophets.” And in the days of our Lord himself,
his beloved disciple John, before his heart was more enlarged by
divine love, said unto him; “Master, we saw one casting out devils in
thy name, and he followeth not with us, and we forbad him, because
he followeth not with us.” But what said Jesus, that good Shepherd
and Bishop of souls? “Forbid him not.”

Such instances, such striking instances as these, methinks,

should make good men careful not to give way to a narrow, selfish,
bigotted spirit; and caution them against joining with the world in
smiting their fellow-servants, by crying down or speaking slightingly
and reproachfully of a method of preaching and acting, which,
maugre all opposition, for these thirty years last past hath been
blessed and owned of God to the converting of thousands; not to a
bare name, sect, or party, or merely to head or notional knowledge;
but “from darkness unto light, from the power of Satan unto God;”
from holding the mere form, to the true abiding possession and
practice of true scriptural godliness, in heart, lip, and life. But if good
or bad men now dislike, and therefore oppose such an irregular way
of acting, they may be told to their comfort, that their uneasiness on
this account, in all probability, will not be of long continuance; for few
will choose to bid, or offer themselves candidates for such airy
pluralities: to go thus without the camp, bearing all manner of
reproach; to become in this manner; “Spectacles to God, to angels,
and to men;” to sacrifice not only our natural, but spiritual affections
and connections, and to part from those who are as dear to them as
their own souls, in order to pass the Atlantic, and bear the colds and
heats of foreign climes; these are such uninviting things to corrupt
nature, that if we will have but a little patience till a few old weary
heads are laid in the silent grave, these uncommon gospel-meteors,
these field-phenomenas, that seldom appear in the latitude of
England, scarce above once in a century, without the help of any
coercive means, will of themselves soon disappear. They begin to be
pretty well in disrepute already: yet a little while, and in all human
probability they will quite vanish away. But though I am neither a
prophet, nor the son of a prophet, I am greatly mistaken, if in the
Redeemer’s own good time and way, some spiritual phœnix will not
hereafter arise, some blessed gospel-instrument be raised, that shall
make the devil and his three-fold army, “The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, and the pride of life,” to fly before the sound of the gospel
trumpet.

I have dwelt the longer upon this particular, Reverend Sir,

because the present learned Bishop of Gloucester, in his late
volume, intitled, “The Doctrine of Grace,” is pleased to observe more
than once, that he finds fault not so much with the matter, as the
manner of the Methodists preaching. But if by the manner, his
Lordship would have us to understand, not their manner of preaching
in the field, but the manner of their delivery, whether in the church or
field, I would humbly ask his Lordship, if he ever heard any of them
preach? If not, doth our law condemn any man, or any set of men,
unheard? And I would humbly enquire further of his Lordship, and all
others whom it may concern, how they would have them or any
others to preach?

I remember the great Doctor Delany, when I had the honour of

being with him, many years ago, at the Right Reverend Dr. Boulter’s,
then Lord Primate of Ireland, among other hints proper for a young
preacher, gave me to understand, that whenever he went up into a
pulpit, he desired to look upon it as the last time he should ever
preach, or the last time that the people should ever hear him. O that
all preachers, whether within or without doors, however dignified or
distinguished, went always up into their respective pulpits thus
impressed! They would then preach, as Apelles once said he
painted, for Eternity. They would then act the part of true gospel
christian orators, and not only calmly and ♦ coolly inform the
understanding, but by persuasive pathetic address, endeavour to
move the affections, and warm the heart. To act otherwise, bespeaks
a sad ignorance of human nature, and such an inexcuseable
indolence and indifference in the preacher, as must constrain the
hearers, whether they will or not, to suspect, that the preacher, let
him be who he will, only deals in the false commerce of unfelt truths.

♦ “cooly” replaced with “coolly”

Were our lawyers, our counsellors, or our players to act thus,

both the bar and the stage would soon be deserted; and therefore
the answer of Mr. Betterton, to a worthy prelate, when he asked him,
“How it came to pass that the clergy, who spoke of things real,
affected the people so little, and the players, who spoke of things
barely imaginary, affected them so much,” is worthy of lasting regard.
“My Lord, says Mr. Betterton, I can assign but one reason, which is,
we players speak of things imaginary as though they were real, and
too many of the clergy speak of things real as though they were
imaginary.” Thus it was in his, and all know it is too much the case in
our time: hence it is, that even on our most important occasions, the
worthy gentlemen concerned in our public charities, generally find
themselves more obliged to the musicians than the preachers, for
the largeness of their collections: and hence, no doubt it is, that upon
our most solemn anniversaries, after long previous notice hath been
given, when some even of our Lords Spiritual do preach, perhaps
not two Lords temporal come to hear them.

Sorry am I, Reverend Sir, to find so true, what a celebrated

orator, in one of his lectures delivered, (if I am not mistaken, in the
University of Oxford) takes the liberty of saying, “That it is to be
feared this is too much the state of the pulpit-elocution in general, in
the Church of England: on which account, there never was perhaps
a religious sect upon earth, whose hearts were so little engaged in
the act of public worship, as the members of that church. To be
pleased, we must feel, and we are pleased with feeling. The
Presbyterians are moved; the Methodists are moved; they go to their
meetings and tabernacles with delight; the very Quakers are moved;
fantastical and extravagant as the language of their emotions is, yet
still they are moved by it, and they love their form of worship for that
reason: whilst much the greater part of the members of the Church
of England, are either banished from it through disgust, or reluctantly
attend the service as a disagreeable duty.” Thus far Mr. Sheridan.

But why go I to the bar or stage to fetch vouchers in defence of

earnestness in heart and action, when speaking for the most High
God, and offering salvation to precious and immortal souls, for
whom the ever-adorable Mediator shed his precious blood. You
know, Reverend Sir, the character given of Bucolspherus, one of the
Reformers, Vividus vultus, vividi oculi, vividæ manus, denique omnia
vivida. You have also heard of a Prophet who was commanded by
the Lord God himself, to smite with his hand, and stamp with his
foot; and gospel-ministers in general are commanded to “cry aloud,
and spare not, and to lift up their voices like trumpets.” But why refer
I even to Reformers or Prophets? Rather let me mention the God
and Saviour of all, even our Lord Jesus Christ; on whose manner
of preaching, the multitudes that followed him, when he came down
from the mount, made this just observation, that “He spake as one
having authority, and not as the scribes.” And after his resurrection,
when beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself, the two
disciples at Emmaus said one to another, “Did not our hearts burn
within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to
us the scriptures?” And I believe we may venture to affirm, that if
preachers in general spake and opened the scriptures more under
the influence and energy of his blessed Spirit, whether in
consecrated or unconsecrated ground, within or without doors, they
would find their hearers hearts in a degree would burn within them
too.

But I have done.—You will be so good, Reverend Sir, as to

pardon not only the freedom but prolixity of this. I have already
mentioned my motives for writing; and therefore shall now close with
the advice given upon a similar occasion to an ecclesiastical council
by Gamaliel, a doctor of law, and had in reputation among all the
people: “And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let
them alone: for if this counsel or work be of men, it will come to
nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it: lest haply ye be
found to fight against God.” To this God, and the word of his grace, I
most humbly recommend you and the whole University; and
earnestly praying, that all at all times may have a right judgment
given them in all things, I beg leave to subscribe myself, Reverend
Sir,

Your willing servant for Christ’s sake,

George Whitefield.
 O B S E RVAT I O NS
ON

Select Passages of Scripture.

TURNED INTO

C at e c h e t i c a l
Q u e s t i o n s.
Begun, March 12, 1738.

OBSERVATIONS on Select
Passages of Scripture.
LUKE, Chapter XXIII.

Ver.

8. Q. WHY would not Jesus Christ shew Herod a miracle?

A. Because in all probability, it was only to satisfy his

curiosity that he desired to see one.

Q. What may we learn from Herod’s never having seen

Christ before?
 A. That Christ was no friend to courts; that pomp and
greatness keep thousands from Jesus Christ; and that we
ought therefore rather to thank God for our being in a lower
estate.

12. Q. What may we learn from the friendship made between

Pilate and Herod, by the death of Christ?

A. That Jew and Gentile, by Christ’s death, were to be

united together in one body: Herod being a Jew, and Pontius
Pilate a Gentile.

18. Q. When do we as these Jews did?

A. When we prefer our sins, (which are robbers, because

they rob us of God’s favour) to our Saviour’s service.

26. Q. What may we learn from Simon the Cyrenian’s bearing

the cross?

A. That they who would follow Christ, must follow him by

the way of the cross.

31. Q. What is the meaning of this verse?

A. A good man in scripture is compared to a green fruitful

tree, (See Psalm 1st.) and wicked men to chaff, and are
represented also by a barren fig-tree: the meaning of the verse
therefore seems to be this: If they do this to me, who am a good
man, how will God deal with that wicked people the Jews?

32. Q. Why was Christ crucified with the thieves?

A. To fulfill this saying, “And he was numbered with the

transgressors.” Isaiah liii. 12.

Q. Why between them?

A. As though he was the unworthiest and basest of the three.

34. Q. What may we learn from hence?

A. To pray for our most bitter enemies.

38. Q. Why was the superscription written in Hebrew, Greek,

and Latin?

A. To shew that Jesus Christ was to be the Saviour of all

nations, tribes, and languages.

39. Q. What may we learn from the behaviour of the impenitent

thief?

A. That for the generality, those who live all their lives in sin,
die hardened.

40. Q. What may we learn from the behaviour of the penitent

thief, and Christ’s behaviour towards him?

A. That there is mercy for the worst of sinners, through

Christ the Saviour.

Q. May wicked men draw any reasons from hence, to defer

their repentance till a death-bed?

A. No, by no means.

Q. Why?

A. Because probably this thief had never heard of Christ

before. 2dly, He might not have been so notorious a sinner as is
imagined, though drawn in by surprize or temptation to commit
the crime for which he suffered. 3dly, God converted him, to
honour his Son’s death, that he might in the very agonies
thereof triumph over the devil. 4thly, Because he gave
uncommon instances of his faith: he calls Christ, “Lord,” when
his own disciples had forsook him, when the High-priest,
scribes, and rulers were deriding him, and his own divinity under
 an eclipse: none of which circumstances are applicable to a
wilfully wicked man, that defers repentance till he comes to die.

44. Q. What is the sixth hour?

A. Twelve at noon.

Q. What the 9th?

A. Three in the afternoon.

45. Q. What was the vail of the temple?

A. A curtain that parted the two places, where the Jews and
Gentiles worshipped.

Q. Why was it rent in twain?

A. Because by the death of Christ, the partition wall

between Jew and Gentile was to be broken down.

46. Q. Why did Christ cry with a loud voice?

A. To shew that he died full of vigour.

Q. What may we learn from his calling God, Father?

A. That we are to acknowledge God to be our father, though

under the severest dispensations of his providence.

51. Q. What learn you from hence?

A. That we must not follow a multitude to do evil.

53. Q. Why was it remarked, that Christ’s grave was hewn out
of a rock?

A. Because then it could not be said, that his disciples

digged under, and stole it away.