The stories of Genesis 1-11 constitute one of the better known parts of the Old Testament, but their precise meaning and background still provide many debated questions for the modern interpreter. In this stimulating, learned and readable collection of essays, which paves the way for his forthcoming ICC commentary on these chapters, John Day attempts to provide definitive solutions to some ofthese questions. Amongst the topics included are the background and interpretation of the seven-day Priestly Creation narrative, problems in the interpretation of the Garden of Eden story, the relation...

In recent years there has been a tendency among certain scholars to claim that little can be known about pre-exilic Israel, because the Old Testament was only compiled in the post-exilic period (for example Philip Davies, Thomas Thompson, Neils Peter Lemche). One scholar (Lemche) has even claimed that the Old Testament is a Hellenistic work.

The purpose of this book is to argue that this is an extreme and untenable position and that, though much of the Old Testament was indeed edited in the exilic or post-exilic period, many of the underlying sources used go back to the pre-exilic...

The Psalms raise many difficult and controversial issues. Who are the enemies in the Individual Lament Psalms? How many Royal Psalms are there and what was the role of the king in the cult? What happened at the Autumn Festival? What makes a Psalm a Wisdom Psalm? Why are the Psalms arranged as they are and how far is it possible to date them? Can we make sense of the often obscure Psalm headings? What light is shed on the Psalms by other ancient Near Eastern texts? These and many other issues are judiciously evaluated by John Day in a wide-ranging volume.