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  The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction

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  Michael Howard

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  NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

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  HINDUISM Kim Knott

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  THE OLD TESTAMENT

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  THE OLD TESTAMENT

  A Very Short Introduction

  Michael Coogan

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  Copyright © 2008 by Michael Coogan

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Coogan, Michael David.

  The Old Testament: a very short introduction / Michael Coogan.

  p. cm. — (Very short introductions)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978–0–19–530505–0 (pbk.)

  1. Bible. O. T.—Introductions. I. Title.

  BS1140.3.C66 2008

  221.6’1—dc22

  2007041097

  The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to quote from the

  New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of

  Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the

  U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

  Printed in the United States of America

  on acid-free paper

  For Dan, Elizabeth, and Matt

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks are happily given to many who have helped with this book, including the anonymous reviewers for Oxford University Press; Donald Kraus, Executive Editor for Bibles at Oxford University Press; my supportive and insightful editor, Nancy Toff; and my constant readers, Elizabeth Hill, and my wife, Pamela Hill.

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  1 What is the Old Testament?

  2 Interpretive strategies

  3 The Old Testament and history

  4 The Old Testament and myth

  5 The Exodus from Egypt: a deep probe

  6 “Keep my commandments”: biblical law

  7 “Festivals of the Lord”: ritual in ancient Israel

  8 Prophets and prophecies

  9 Hezekiah and Sennacherib: another deep probe

  10 Poetry and dissent

  11 “Let us now praise famous men”—and women

  12 The enduring significance of the Old Testament

  Chronology

  Appendix: The Canons of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

  References

  Further Reading

  Index

  List of Illustrations

  1 A column of the book of Isaiah from one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Snark/Art Resource, NY.

  2 Amulet with the Priestly Blessing. Zev Radovan/Jerusalem.

  3 Aerial view of Megiddo. Zev Radovan/Jerusalem.

  4 Marduk standing on the sea dragon. F. H. Weissbach, Babylonische Miscellen (Wissenchaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 4; Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1903), p. 16.

  5 Map of northern Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

  6 The upper part of the stela containing the Code of Hammurapi. (Code of Hammurapi 195, translation adapted from Martha Roth, Law Collection from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 2nd ed. [Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997], 76.) Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.

  7 An eighth-century bce figurine of a woman playing a drum. Semitic Musem, Harvard University.

  8 Map of the ancient Near East.

  9 Map of Jerusalem in the late eighth century bce.

  Chapter 1

  What is the Old Testament?

  Visitors to any of the great museums of the world will notice the contrast between the extensive displays of magnificent objects from ancient Egypt, ancient Syria, and ancient Mesopotamia, and those from ancient Israel, which are generally unimpressive and often difficult to find. Artistically, at least for museum curators, ancient Israel was a cultural backwater. Nothing from it is comparable to the tombs and temples of Egypt, the libraries and ziggurats of Babylon, or the glazed tiles and palaces of Persepolis.