Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament Summary Final Valenti

8/12/2019 Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament Summary Final Valenti

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ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN THOUGHT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT

BOOK SUMMARY

by

JOE VALENTI

Old Testament Introduction

OBST 590 B06

Dr. Randy Haney

March 1, 2013


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 1

CHAPTER 2 2

CHAPTER 3 3

CHAPTER 4 5

CHAPTER 5 7

CHAPTER 6 9

CHAPTER 7 11

CHAPTER 8 12

CHAPTER 9 14

CHAPTER 10 15

CHAPTER 11 17

CHAPTER 12 19

CHAPTER 13 20

CHAPTER 14 22

POSTSCRIPT 23

WORKS CITED i


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CHAPTER 1

The opening chapter begins by orienting the reader to the idea of "comparative study," or

the area of study that strives to understand things within their broader cultural context. In the

case of this book, the goal is to understand the Old Testament within the context of the Ancient

Near Eastern milieu. Walton explains that over the years there has been much debate on the issue

of comparative study and the way in which it is to be exercised. Scholars, always biased by their

presuppositions, tend to enter the argument negating the importance of the Old Testament on the

one side, or defending the inerrancy of Scripture so vehemently that the cultural context is lost.

Walton poses a better way, namely, accepting the study of the Ancient Near Eastern cultures as

important and academic in their own right while attempting to comprehend the Old Testament in

light of what modern scholarship is learning about the ancient world.

Studies of this time period often center around who borrowed what literature from whom,

but Walton insists that this is not the main issue that ought to be dealt with. Rather, studies of the

literature and literary genres of the ANE should assist in the broader understanding of the

society. Walton observes several areas that the text will deal with in further details. He first puts

emphasis on appreciating the literary genres and how they function as a foundation to any quest

into comparative studies. In order to understand the Old Testament fully, one must know how the

genres were written and how they are to be interpreted within their cultural context.

Secondly, Walton notes religious practices and the necessity of understanding them

clearly. Ritual sacrifices, priests, and ceremonial cleanliness are things that are foreign to readers

in a modern context. Additionally, a crucial part of understanding the Old Testament is

understanding not only the practices of the Israelites, but the practices of the other people groups


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that made up the ANE. Finally, it is important to understand the theology of a people group and

the broader views of God and the gods within the ANE in order to interpret the text well. Walton

closes the first chapter by pointing out that comparative studies assists study of the Bible in at

least four major areas: (1) history of the ANE, (2) archeological understanding of the lifestyle,

(3) literature, and (4) language.1

CHAPTER 2

Chapter two deals with the different ways in which comparative studies are used within

current scholarship. Walton first attends to the ways in which comparative studies are being

utilized within critical scholarship. As additional information is unearthed about the ANE, many

of the ideas once held in critical scholarship have been challenged. Previous assumptions about

texts and thoughts, primarily based on evolution, are being reconsidered. Critical scholarship has

a history of assuming that critical thought and religious practice had simple beginnings and have

evolved through time. Research is showing these assumptions in source criticism, reaction

criticism, and issues of dating to be incorrect in light of the data. Though, as Walton notes, there

has been some resistance to comparative studies within the circles of critical scholarship, most of

the data being provided is being accepted and studied at greater length. Walton also notes the use

of comparative studies in polemics and dismisses such uses due to the fact that the text is not

approached in a scholarly manner.

1John H. Walton,Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual

World of the Hebrew Bible(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 28.


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Scholars of a more conservative persuasion, primarily Evangelicals, and others termed

"confessional scholars" by Walton, have had a more difficult time adopting comparative studies.2

As further information has been gathered about the relation of the Pentateuch to ANE literature

and as new data has arisen through archeology, confessional scholars have felt their longstanding

foundations threatened, which has caused their hesitancy to fully embrace comparative studies.

Many feel that maintaining the Bible's unique status among other ANE literature is of supreme

importance and continue to argue that comparative studies degrades the inspiration of the text

thus making God's word subject to man's interpretation.

Walton closes the chapter by proposing an integrated approach including critical analysis

to better understand the history of the Bible, unbiased and educated defense of the biblical text,

and solid exegesis that guards the reader from understanding the text outside of its context.

Walton argues that the field of comparative studies must be important not only to serious

scholars, but also to anyone committed to truly knowing and understanding the Word of God.

CHAPTER 3

Chapter three is dedicated to a brief overview of the literary styles of the ANE and gives

examples of the styles from some of the primary people groups. The discussion begins with

myth, which was one of the primary ways that ancient civilizations explained their present

reality. Short examples from several cultures are given and include many parallels to the Biblical

stories such as the creation account and the flood. Others bear little resemblance to the Bible

such as the stories of the fighting gods of Akkadian myths. Next are literary texts and epics

2Walton, 33.


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which tell the stories of the kings of different lands, their struggles to power, and their exploits

while ruling. The most famous is the Gilgamesh epic, which follows Gilgamesh on his journey to

find immortality. The third literary type is ritual texts which, as the name says, follow the rituals

of the people groups of the ancient world. Rituals were important as they helped humans

communicate with and persuade the gods. Fourth, Walton deals with divination and incantation

texts which were used to divine the meanings of omens, undo evil spells, and ward off bad

spirits. These are dealt with at length later in the book. Fifth, he explains the significance of the

use of letters exchanged between kings gives the modern day reader noteworthy information

about the culture of the past.

Walton then moves to royal inscriptions which were recordings ordered by kings. They

could contain items such as details on how a building was to be constructed, conquests, details of

how to handle their succession, and other various accomplishments and instructions. In a similar

vein are annals and chronicles which detailed the succession of rulers through the history of an

empire, coupled with their important victories in war. Treaties were another piece of literature

that was used to establish rules between kings and rulers of different lands. The next section

deals with government and points out law collections and legal documents as important literary

devices. While law collections detail the ways in which society was to run and how people were

to behave, legal documents dealt with contracts for marriages, children, family estates, and court

rulings.

Religious literature was also common in the Ancient Near East. Psalms and hymns were

ways to give adoration to the gods so that they would be pleased and provide for the people.

Wisdom literature contained details about how to make good choices, but also contained laments

and writings concerning ethics. Prophetic writing was another important communication because


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it contained communication from the gods which was a vital part of the life of the ancient cities.

Kings sought answers to their problems from the gods and they received them through the

prophets. These prophesies were often recorded. Walton closes the chapter by noting various

miscellaneous writings as well as archives, which were groups of literature often found together

which contained all sorts of different information.

CHAPTER 4

Chapter four opens the third section of the book which is an overview of the religious

views of the ANE. In order to fully understand the Old Testament and the interactions of the

Hebrew people with God, and other false gods, it is important to understand how the religious

system worked. Throughout the chapter Walton shows how other empires worshiped and

compares those beliefs to beliefs held by Israel. First and foremost, the other people groups of

the ANE were polytheistic and therefore, the idea of one God was odd in itself. Add to this the

fact that the Israelite God was not made and had simply always been, and the oddities became

significantly greater. Not only was the norm polytheistic, but there were great stories about how

the gods came to be, their battles with one another, their failures, and their flaws. The gods were

defined by the things that they did. Earlier chapters note the fact that the culture of this time

period was highly focused on function. Again, due to the polytheism, the gods functioned as a

team of sorts. The God of the Bible is, indeed, three in one, but nonetheless one God who is all

powerful. The Old Testament does make mention of a council that God used to make decisions,

but this is altogether different from the unstable group of random gods of other people groups

which were completely separate, with different gifts and skills, and with significant flaws.


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Walton then turns to the roles that the gods played in the cosmos as well as their

attributes. Whereas Yahweh is completely outside of the cosmos, the gods of the ANE were

associated with elements of the cosmos. So while Yahweh is the creator of the sun, the moon,

and the waters, the gods of other polytheistic religionsactually wereone with those elements.

They had no life or meaning independent from those elements. For instance, the god of the seas

controlled the sea and was the sea itself. There was no distinction and no separation as with the

God of the Israelites. The attributes of the gods were in some ways similar to Yahweh, but were

altogether different in others. The most notable difference is the fact that while Yahweh is

completely other, the gods were inherently human in their characteristics. They argued with one

another, they needed to be flattered with prayers that did not necessarily communicate their true

nature, they were limited in their geographic location, they procreated, and they failed. People of

the ANE had attributed to the gods of their myths the same characteristics that they saw in their

everyday lives. The main difference between the gods and humans was that the gods were simply

stronger. All other characteristics were intrinsically human. This is a far cry from the God of the

Bible who is holy, not bound by anything, and never fails.

The chapter closes by dealing with a very important part of the makeup of the gods, their

divine attributes. In Evangelical circles God is not simply described as being loving. Rather,

He islove itself. God does not simply rule in a just way, he is the epitome of justice. The God of

the Old Testament is perfection in every area of everything. There is no flaw or limitation in him.

His wisdom, love, justice, and mercy are not only perfect in and of themselves, but God isthose

things. The gods of the ANE were significantly different in that the attributes that they had were


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directly linked to their actions. There were no inherent attributes in them, or as Walton says,

"deity is as deity does."3The duties that each god had were the attributes that they carried.

CHAPTER 5

Chapter five is dedicated to the understanding of the role of the temple and the

accompanying rituals in the ANE. Walton first deals with the role that the temple played.

Temples were created not primarily for worship of the gods, but were the places where the gods

resided while on earth. This was a sacred space that was to be free from all profanity and

reserved for the rest and worship of that god. Each temple contained an idol, like a plaque or a

statue. This statue was not simply a rendering; the commonly held view was that the god actually

inhabited the idol in some way without actually becoming the idol. Because of this, the ancients

believed that the creation of the idol was supernaturally overseen and organized by that specific

god so that the idol would meet its expectations. This process was familiar to the Old Testament

prophets and they prophesied against the idols and false gods.

Attached to the temple was at least one ziggurat, which was a structure that encased a

stairway which served as a portal for the god from the heavenly realm into the earthly temple.

These were large structures and this was probably what Moses was referring to when he spoke of

the tower of Babel in Genesis. So in opposition to common Sunday school teaching, the tower of

Babel was not meant to reach to the heavens, but was a portal meant to bring heaven to earth.

3Walton, 106.


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The temple was the most important structure in ancient culture. It was the center of

everything and, due to the fact that the god inhabited the temple, was the source of all things

good. Temples were viewed as the center of the cosmos in the ancient world. Walton observes

that in this area, the Bible and ancient myths agree in that the presence of the god, or Yahweh in

the case of the Bible, was what made the space important. He claims that the Garden of Eden

was not a literal geographic place on earth, rather it was a place in the cosmos where God dwelt.

The presence of God was what made Eden special. The same goes for the temples of the

ancients. The presence of the gods made them the focal point of life. Not only was the temple the

central point of worship, but also of law, the wealth of the city, and the social activities of the

people. The focal point of daily activities was the temple. That God would inhabit the tabernacle,

or the temple, therefore, makes perfect sense in the culture of the ANE. Solomon's temple is used

as the focal point of the city, where God dwelt and where worship was given. Here, again, the

ancient myths and the Bible agree.

Harvest, weather, health, wealth, and victory in battle, among other things, were all

controlled by the gods in the ANE. Due to this fact, the rituals that were performed for the gods

in the temple were important to the livelihood of the people. The gods had to be appeased and

the forces of evil and chaos needed to be held at bay. Rituals, therefore, were the way in which

humans interacted with the gods to make sure that they were happy and that the cosmos was in

balance. Blood sacrifices were not unique to the Israelites, but were a common trend of the day.

However, unlike the other tribes of the ANE, the Israelites did not use incantations. Furthermore,

while faith in God was of primary concern for the Israelites, action and involvement in the cult of

the temple were of paramount importance.


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CHAPTER 6

In the midst of everything that was happening in and around the temple, the way in which

the common people of the land practiced religion was different. The contrast between the

religion of the state and the religion of the common people is the focus of this chapter.

Religion in the city environment is handled first. As mentioned in previous chapters, the

gods were to be served, taken care of, and appeased. For these reasons, the idols mentioned in

chapter five were cared for just as one might take care of a new born baby. They were woken,

fed, pampered, and put to bed at night. The problem was that there was no way to know if the

people were, indeed, pleasing the god. Without any revelation there was no way to know if the

practices were actually making any difference in the temperament of the god. Each god was

assigned roles and responsibilities, and each one, in turn, delegated their responsibilities back to

the people. For instance, a certain god might be in charge of keeping justice, but those

responsibilities were meted out to the king. However, in the midst of all of this service to the

gods, the gods were prone to be temperamental. Gods would change their minds and moods

often. Diviners might offer solutions like giving more money or upgrading the temple, but again,

without revelation the gods were unknowable and this kept the ancient people always guessing

and attempting new tactics to change their situations. Yahweh stood in stark contrast to the gods

of the polytheistic pantheon. God has no need of anything from man. He is not contained. All of

his choices are perfect and right. What is most important, however, is the fact that He

communicated with his people so that they were fully aware of what he expected and in order

that they might know the consequences for their actions.

The religion of the common people was significantly different however. Whereas the

temple and the workings of the state were dedicated to one of the higher and more powerful


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gods, the common people had individual gods, lower on the polytheistic totem pole, that they

worshiped and attempted to appease. Usually devotion to these gods was passed down from

generation to generation. Abraham's initial communication with and faith in God, before the

Hebrews were a people, fit the idea of a personal god. The primary goal of having a personal god

was to bring the family social success, stature, and wealth. The relationship with these gods was

different from he relationship that Abraham had with Yahweh. Just as with the state, there was

no real heart-connect with the god, no real desire to know him and be like him. The goal was to

keep the god happy so that the family would reap the benefits. This attitude presented itself in the

weak prayer life of the people. When a familys personal god was not doing the things that

caused their family success, the family was looked down upon in society. It was clear that the

family was doing something wrong that was not satisfying the demands of the god. The emphasis

was not on the wrongdoing, but on the view society held of your family. Prayers and ritual acts

to please the god focused on restoration of respect in the town, not restoration of a relationship

with the god.

Ethics and morals were also tightly bound to the gods and the balance of society. There

were not ethical norms as there are in the modern context. Everything revolved around the gods

and what they wanted. Because of the idea of continuity among all of the realms, morals were

not necessarily important. Whatever it took to keep society orderly and balanced was what took

priority. So, if orgies or other sexual actions pleased the gods and kept things in order, then it

was perfectly acceptable. There was no sense that things of this nature might be considered

immoral. These absolutes can only be found in a God who guides one to moral absolutes and

makes clear what is morally right and wrong. This is what God did as he revealed himself to

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob orally, and how he set up guidelines with the nation of Israel at Mt.


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Sinai. God does what the artificial gods of the pagans could not do. He revealed himself so that

the Israelites could know his will and follow it. He committed to them in a covenant relationship

and taught them how to live within that relationship. He showed them how to strive for holiness,

by imitating him, an idea that was otherwise nonexistent. He showed them how to have the best

possible life, and ultimately, developed a relationship with them personally.

CHAPTER 7

Chapter seven is the first chapter in the fourth part of the book, which is dedicated to the

cosmos. The seventh chapter in particular deals with how the people of the ANE viewed the

makeup of the cosmos. Whereas, due to science and exploration, people in modern times

understand that the earth is round and that it travels around the sun while spinning on its own

axis, the views of how the cosmos functioned were significantly different in the ANE.

Understanding the ancient view of cosmological geography is vital in comprehending the

worldview of the ANE.

Many of the people groups of the ANE understood the cosmos to be layered. The Earth

was the middle layer with heaven above and the netherworld below. The earth was thought to

stand still and the sun was thought to travel on a track up on one side of the earth, across the sky,

and down into the netherworld in the evening. In some myth systems it was believed that the sky,

which was believed to be solid, was supported by mountains at the edges of the earth, while yet

other traditions claimed that the earth was supported by giant columns. In addition, ANE myths

believed that the sky held the waters back and that when precipitation came, the water was

falling through cracks or holes in the sky layer. It is important to note that the world of the ANE

was primarily concerned about function over mere existence. Therefore, the cosmos had no


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importance in and of itself, but only within the context of the gods using nature to accomplish

their desires and dole out their punishments. Regardless of the different views held within the

ancient tribes, they all viewed the area that they inhabited as the center of the cosmos.

Walton shows that this view about the makeup up of the cosmos was held by the

Israelites as well. We have no reason to believe that the modern view of the cosmos was held by

the Israelites. Throughout the Old Testament we see references that show that the Israelites held

to the common views of the cosmos first and foremost because that was the normal view in those

days, but also because God never revealed to them any other way by which to understand the

cosmos.

CHAPTER 8

Chapter eight handles the important issues of the origin and order of the cosmos. Gaining

knowledge about the origin of the world gives excellent insight into the creation account and

shows the student of the Bible the important value that God places on humans.

As mentioned earlier it is necessary to understand that the culture of the ANE valued

function over existence. For something to merely exist was not nearly as important as the

function of that thing. This idea has significant repercussions when it comes to the study of

cosmogony. Moderns often read the creation account and assume that God was calling things

into existence, but this view would not have made much sense to anyone writing in the ANE. It

would have been a foreign idea because to simply bring something into existence was of little

consequence. Creation was more focused on a purpose than it was on making an object available.

One of the first and most important steps in the "making functional" process was the naming of


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things, which fits nicely into the creation account of the Bible. God creates and names. This

naming process kick starts that objects function.

Walton makes some very interesting points when it comes to the Biblical account of

creation. He says that it should be understood, from the text, that the account in the first chapter

of Genesis is not one of God creating things that did not exist, but bringing order and function to

those things. The reader can notice that Genesis 1never claims that there was nothing. It simply

communicates that the earth was without form; it had no order or function. He mentions that on

days one through three God does not simply create light, water and vegetation, but that he was

bringing function to those things by giving light the function of time-keeping, water the function

of the climate, and vegetation the function of providing food for man and animals. Therefore,

unlike the gods of the other tribes, the God of the Bible gives function and destiny to all things

from the very beginning. He is not trying to manage the cosmos and the functions therein, he has

already created and set them in motion with specific purpose. His initial purposes for all things

cannot be changed and need no management.

The chapter closes by explaining the temple as a depiction of the cosmos. This idea is

touched on in chapter five and is reiterated here. The place of rest for the gods was their temple.

When everything was in order they were able to relax in their sacred space. God, however, is

bigger than anything that he has created and uses the earth as his footstool. The Temple of

Yahweh was modeled after the cosmos to show this relationship.


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CHAPTER 9

Literature, religion, and the cosmos have all been dealt with thus far. Now Walton turns

to how people functioned and were understood in the context of the ANE. The first step, which is

the focus of chapter nine, is to understand how people thought about the past and recorded

history. Any conversation about humans naturally begins with their origins. The biblical account

of the creation of humans is unique from the myths of the ANE in several ways. First is the fact

that the Genesis account sets up Adam and Eve as the sole couple from which all other humans

come, known as monogenesis. In other myths, humans are made in more of a group setting,

polygenesis, where there is no singular couple from which all human life stems. Secondly is the

difference in substance from which humans are created. The biblical account notes that God used

the dust of the ground to create Adam and that He breathed life into his nostrils, whereas other

matter, including clay and body parts from conquered gods, were used in other myths.

The conversation then moves from how humans were made to what pieces or parts they

actually contain. Walton notes that there remains disagreement as to whether humans are a

unified whole or if they are separated somehow by body, mind, and spirit. Walton notes that due

to language barriers, the words describing the human makeup from the ANE are difficult to

translate and explain. The Egyptians used several terms to describe how humans were

made.Kawas the natural character of a person based on their ties to their lineage. Bawas the

way in which they displayed themselves to society, similar to a reputation. Akhwas the soul or

spirit of a person that was said to live on after death. The Israelites, on the other hand, used

different terms. Perhaps, due to the aforementioned language issues, it is best to quote Walton in


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this explanation. He says that, "nepheshis related to awareness and perception while ruahis

related to consciousness and vitality."4

Finally, the chapter deals with the role of humans in the cosmos. There is a very

important distinction to be made in this area between the views of the Egyptians, Akkadians, and

Sumarians and the views of the Israelites. The former saw the gods as the center of the cosmos

and humans as an unimportant byproduct to assist the gods and appease them, whereas the latter

saw their role as priests created to serve God. The Bible gives an important role to humans as the

pinnacle of God's creation, and this idea is unique in the ANE.

CHAPTER 10

Chapter ten addresses the recording of history and the mindset that drove the guidelines

that the people of the ANE followed in recording history. Furthermore, the chapter shows what

that set of guidelines communicates about the mindset of the recorders. As this text has clearly

stated, the mindset of the people of the ANE was focused around the gods. The modern mindset

is one that focuses on the things that people can see and experience. Modern history is based on

physical facts. The cognitive environment of the ANE was such that natural proof or fact was not

the main concern. The ancient culture was focused on the gods and what means had been

employed to please and serve the gods. Deity was the focal point of historiography.

Furthermore, the goals of history were different than the goals of a modern-day

journalist. While the journalist of today is concerned about facts and events, the ancients were

4Walton, 214.


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concerned about the meaning of those events. Due to the fact that everything that happened was

tied to the gods in some way, history was the result of what was happening in the supernatural

world. These happenings, of course, were of primary importance, so little significance was

placed on the events themselves. Rather, the emphasis was on deciphering what information

these events were communicating about the actions of the gods.

The way in which events of history worked together and the purpose behind them was

also significant. There was a sense of an underlying through-line beneath the surface of every

event in history. A good example of this mindset would be the way in which Christians believe

that amidst all of the surface things in life, God is working out his perfect will. What happened in

each event was not nearly as important as how that event may have furthered a larger piece of the

narrative of life.

The differences in mindset between the ancients and moderns continue in the area of

explaining time. Today most people think of time as linear; the present is now, the past behind,

and the future ahead. This was not the normative view of time in the ANE. It was as if the person

standing on the time line were turned around, looking into the past with the future behind them.

Their view of the past and how it affected the future was most important.

The final portion of the chapter focuses on the necessity of understanding the form in

which history was written in order to fully realize the meaning of the history itself. Often writers

were not necessarily attempting to provide legitimate history telling in their narratives. Because

of this, the facts leading up to the conclusion may or may not be accurate because there was no

need for them to be so. Much narrative was fiction. Therefore, to understand the writings of the

ANE, one must realize that narrative is not primarily concerned about the events, as mentioned

above, but on the outcomes, which affects one's ability to glean truth-telling history from the


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narrative writings. Additionally, the source of the literature, who it promotes, and the audience it

was intended for all play an important role in attempting to understand the history of the times.

These "values," as Walton calls them, play a significant role in how ancient history is to be

interpreted.

The aforementioned points affect the way in which the Old Testament is read and

understood. The history that is recorded in the Old Testament, though it is divinely inspired,

must still be understood in the context in which it was written, taking into consideration the

values, writers, intended audience, poetics, and importance of deity.

CHAPTER 11

Chapter eleven moves to the next step by considering how people lived their day to day

lives. Divination, mentioned briefly in other chapters, is now fully explained. Divination was the

attempt to try to deduce from a god the future, or to gain a better comprehension of that god.

There were two types of divination, inspired and deductive. Inspired divination involved a

message from the gods through a human messenger, while deductive divination included a

message from the gods sent through natural means like events or weather. People who engaged

in this process were known by different names depending on the type of divination they

practiced and the type of omens they used.

Inspired messages often came through prophets and dreams. Official prophets were paid

and trained by the king to serve as intermediaries between him and the gods. Others, outside of

the kings employ that received random messages were known as informal prophets. Dreams


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generally came to people by happenstance, and because there was so much to decipher, there was

much written in the area of dream interpretation. Deductive divination was a reading of signs and

events done by trained people. Signs or omens might be found in the sky, through the weather,

the stars, the waters, organs of dead animals, lot casting, and other phenomena in nature.

Attempting to divine answers about the future helped people feel a sense of control and

normalcy. The Bible employs inspired divination as God speaks through the prophets and assists

Daniel and Joseph, among others, to interpret dreams. However, the reading of others signs and

omens, as in deductive divination, are scolded as evil by the Old Testament.

Magic was also practiced in the ANE. Where divination discovered different meanings or

problems, magic was able to use power to fix those problems. Incantations and rituals were used

to appease the anger of the gods, to eliminate the evil spirits, to cleanse the affected home or

space, and to cleanse the effected person from those evil spirits so that they could continue to

function as normal. Magicians, known asAsipuwere elevated to a high place, similar to a priest,

and were focused on discovering and eliminating bad spirits. TheAsuused herbs and other

natural remedies to aid in the effect of the incantations.

Next, the text explains the specific goals of divination. First and foremost, the goal was to

legitimize the king and give him guidance. Omens were not set in stone, but rather, were

predictions and warnings. If a good omen was found, that didn't necessarily guarantee that the

good fortune would come to pass, and vice versa. A main point in understanding the importance

of divination was the issue of certainty. One would think that after several failed attempts to

predict the future, the practice would lose its validity. However, this was not the common

mindset. Rather than perfect prediction of the future, divination should be understood more along

the lines of, draw[ing] a particular issue to one's attention." (269)


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The chapter ends by quickly dealing with the test of a true prophet given

in Deuteronomy 18. If a prophesy is off or does not come true, can that prophet immediately be

discredited? Walton concludes that based on several texts, prophets were given an opportunity to

show their trustworthiness, but if they continued to prove that their words were not from God,

they were disregarded.

CHAPTER 12

Chapter twelve delves further into how the importance of the city partners with life and

purpose of the king. Earlier chapters noted that the people who lived outside of the cities

practiced religion in different ways. Within the ANE cultures, living outside of the city or being

a nomad was frowned upon. Life in the city was the best life in which to be engaged. The

Mesopotamians as well as the Egyptians believed that cities were created by the gods, before

humans, as a tie to the past. Just as in every other aspect of life in the ANE, the objectives of

both the city and the king were to please the gods. Cities were the epicenter of the world; they

were a place where people lived and did business, but ultimately where the temples were. Each

city had its own temple that was dedicated to a specific god. The importance of the city was

somewhat the same for the Israelites. God's home on earth was the temple, and the temple was

located in the city of Jerusalem. The difference, however, was that there was only one temple for

the Israelites, and that temple was in onecity.

Kings were the rulers of the time, thus directly tied to the cities, and therefore kingship

played a very important role in religious practice. Kings were thought to have been chosen by the

gods and were always attempting to show that the gods approved of them as king. They were the


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mediators between the gods and the people who lived under their rule. It was said that they had

access to the gods and their plans in a way that no other person did. The view of king was so

high in Egypt that he was seen as divine. The king had many responsibilities in regard to the

upkeep of the city, one of the most important being the institution of justice. But it was also the

king's responsibility to lead the charge in appeasing the gods so that their land would be safe and

overflow with blessing. Again, these ideas are very similar to Hebrew kingship. God did choose

a king and he gave them authority to speak on His behalf. Some pose that the OT is anti-king,

but it is best to take from the text that God had always planned for a king. He was disgusted that

the people did not want him to rule over them and that they wanted a king on their time line.

And, of course, from the line of King David comes the ultimate king, the Messiah.

CHAPTER 13

Chapter thirteen unpacks even more about how the people of the ANE lived, specifically

how their laws were enforced, how wisdom was passed down, their views of justice, and how

justice and ethics were related. The first section focuses on the treatises: medical, divinatory,

and legal. These writings were wisdom passed down from past decisions made to offer guidance

to the next set of people who would be making the decisions. Medical personnel could find

remedies that worked, diviners could better know how to interpret an omen, and the king would

know hold justice might have been handled prior to his time. These treatises were a series of "if"

statements that explained certain situations and how to handle them. An example might be, if a

man steals something, cut off his hand. It is important to note that there was not necessarily a

set group of laws, rather, these treatises, along with wisdom literature, were used to create the


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norms of justice based on what had worked in the past. These pieces of literature served to

legitimize the king. The Book of the Covenant is the Israelite writing that most closely resembles

this type of literature. Wisdom literature from Egypt and Mesopotamia also played an important

role in keeping societal order, but in a different fashion. Wisdom from such literature was meant

to foresee potential problems and develop ways to alter the behavior in society so that potential

problems would not present themselves.

Walton explains that law, as we understand it today, was not a part of the culture of the

ANE. There was not a list of rules written down that people used to regulate the way in which

they lived. Rather, the state functioned based on personal ideas of fairness, wisdom from kings

past, and the king at the present time. The goals were always balance and order in society and in

the cosmos. Ergo, as the gods delivered their responsibilities down through the kings, the kings

were held responsible for keeping order in society by handling the judicial responsibilities

entrusted to him by the gods. As mentioned in the section on morals and ethics, the gods were

primarily concerned about social order, and the personal morality of people was not specifically

important.

The chapter closes by comparing the way in which people outside of Israel tried to live

and how the Hebrews were guided by God to live. While the pagan tribes were focused on

conforming to societal expectations, honoring the king, and pleasing the gods, Yahweh had

revealed himself to Israel and had given details through the Ten Commandments and the

covenant about how to live a holy life. While the pagan communities continued to try and

determine a right way to live by waiting for answers from mute gods, the Israelites had heard

from the Almighty and were trying to obey the details of the covenant agreement.


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CHAPTER 14

Having dealt with the ideas of how life began, the importance of familial heritage, and

the ways in which life functioned in the day-to-day of the ANE, the final chapter of the book

focuses on how future life on earth and the afterlife were viewed in the ANE. The idea of a better

life in the future was foreign to the ANE mindset. The focus was not to make a better life for

oneself, but to continue the legacy of the family name. Having an heir who would take care of

the family business and continue the worship of the familys gods was vital. Regardless of their

situation, there was no savior coming to make things better. Israel, on the other hand, had the

hope of the Messiah, which many misunderstood to be an earthly king who would come to free

them from bondage and return them to their place of stature as in the days of David.

The afterlife was, except for a failed weighing of the heart in Egyptian thought, generally

not believed to be a place of punishment. The Egyptians believed that the baand the kawere

separated from the body at death, and that if the correct processes involved in burial were

practiced, they would be enabled to reconnect with those pieces. In Mesopotamia, just as the

future of life was strongly tied to the idea of family and community, so was the afterlife. The

worst thing that could happen to a dead person was improper burial which would cut them off

from the family and relegate them to a life alone. Additionally, those who did not receive a

proper burial were thought to be potentially dangerous spirits. It was common practice that those

still alive from the family would care for those dead by providing water libations, providing left-

over food from the table, and holding meals in honor of their ancestors. Specially trained men

would assist them in communicating with the deceased.


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The netherworld is the name that was consistently used for the afterlife. Humans, aside

from kings who were given the opportunity to enter into heaven with the gods, all ended up here.

There are multiple stories about the process that one might take in order to gain access to the

netherworld, but all eventually ended up here. This is never indicated as a place of torment, but

just a plain and boring existence hopefully in community with their ancestors. The Israelite idea

of Sheol, which is mentioned in the Old Testament, is not to be understood as hell either. Walton

indicates that there is no text that supports the interpretation that Sheolis to be understood in this

fashion.

POSTSCRIPT

In the postscript, Walton reminds the reader of the importance of comparative studies and

how vital it is to understand the Old Testament within its cognitive environment. He admits that

he has not created the perfect text on the subject, but that one of his goals was to try and further

develop the idea of comparative studies in a more complete manner where others have shied to

the safe side and not tackled a work such as this. The second goal was to show that the Israelites

shared in the cognitive environment of the ANE, which this reader believes he did very well. The

author notes that the literature involved in the study of the ANE must be connected to the culture

in which it was written and understood in light of it.

The final portion shows the latter to be true by summarizing the main areas of thought

and the similarities and differences between Israel and the other nations. All believed that the

source of human beings was the gods, but only Israel believed in the creation of an original man

and woman from whom all other people came. All attempted to please their gods, but only Israel


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had received revelation that communicated what Yahweh was thinking and what he expected.

All were under the rule of a higher power, for Israel it was their upholding of the covenant while

for the others it was submission to the king and the gods that had instituted his rule. While social

norms and literature passed down from old kings drove behavior in most people of the ANE, the

revelation from God at Sinai gave the Hebrew people a guide for how to live. While all others

had no hope of anything good in the future nor anything exciting in the afterlife, the Israelites

were given the promise of a king who would come through David whose throne would last

forever.

Walton ends the text with a final statement that is worth repeating in this summary. He

concludes that all of the information proposed within the text should be used to "guard against a

facile or uninformed imposition of our own cognitive environment on the texts of ancient Israel,

which is all too typical in confessional circles."5May all "confessional" readers of God's word

strive to understand his revelation as best as possible so that we might know and discern the

perfect will of the one, true God.

5Walton, 334.


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Documents

Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament Summary Final Valenti