A perusal of Old Testament covenant studies shows that Berit Olam lacks significant scholarly attention. This is surprising since even a quick glance at the eighteen instances shows that though the phrase occurs relatively infrequently it resides within very important passages in the Old Testament, and is connected to some of the most prominent figures of the Old Testament story. Moreover, when Berit Olam is addressed in scholarship it is generally conceived as an unbreakable, unilateral promise. But is this an accurate assessment of Berit Olam? What is an...

For more than a decade the European Seminar in Historical Methodology has debated the history of ancient Israel (or Palestine or the Southern Levant, as some prefer). A number of different topics have been the focus of discussion and published collections, but several have centered on historical periods. The really seminal period--one of great debates over a number of different topics--is the four centuries between the Late Bronze II and Iron IIA, but it seemed appropriate to leave it toward the end of the various historical periods. It was also important to give a prominent place to...

This book examines the character and function of the documents mentioned in the biblical texts in relation to comparable references in literature from wider antiquity. Citing various references to written documents in the Hebrew Bible, Stott takes into consideration both those references that may point to external sources, for example, the many literary citations in the books of Kings and Chronicles, as well as certain other documents that play a role in the narrative, such as "the book of the law" in 2 Kings, the scrolls of Jeremiah, and the tablets of the law....

This commentary is written primarily for beginning students and enquiring lay people, though it will also prove useful to scholars, clergy and others involved in helping people to understand the Bible better. The commentary provides an introduction to the background, structure and message of each biblical book, followed by a running commentary on the text in which key words and phrases, as well as any contentious issues, are explained in more detail. Full bibliographies and indexes are also included.

The so-called Song of Deborah celebrates a decisive victory during the era of the Judges, and praises Jael and the Israelites for their defeat of a Canaanite coalition led by Sisera. Despite generations of scholarship, virtually every aspect of the poem remains disputed, because it has been misunderstood in previous research. This study explains both the enigmatic role of Yahweh of the poem and its heroic ethos through a comparative study of heroic poetry.

Part I addresses preliminary critical issues, the most important being the poem's unity. Although the case for the poem's unity...

Words with Teeth presents a dual argument, of which the first part is composed of establishing metaphor as the primary reading strategy for approaching Biblical Hebrew poetry, and the second part of applying the said strategy to a heterogeneous group of psalms known, in rather Victorian English, as the Psalms of Imprecation.

This volume first introduces the reader to the phenomenon of metaphor and how it interfaces with the Hebrew poetic text. It then offers an historical/exegetical review of the reception of the Psalms of Imprecation, ranging from their exclusion on...

Inspired Speech was originally published as a Festschrift to honor the work of Professor Herbert B. Huffmon, Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Drew University. Thirty-three of his colleagues and students contributed to the work, which explores various aspects of prophecy in ancient Israel and its neighboring cultures. The result is a volume which provides an excellent overview of the current state and future directions of scholarship on prophecy in the biblical world.

Contributors: Suzanne Richard, Frank Moore Cross, George E. Mendenhall, Martti Nissinen, Robert...