The Old Testament
& the
Ancient Near East
(OT/ANE)

The time period covered by this is obviously vast.  We will be covering many thousands of years, covering the overwhelming majority of human existence, and so by its nature this will be an exceedingly brief overview.  There are a great many excellent resources to read more on these topics: books, podcasts, and even (believe it or not) Wikipedia.  I will make recommendations along the way. 

While it is obviously beyond our capacity to give a thorough study of the whole period, my hope is that by the end of the class we all come to a better understanding of the historical context of the OT.  It is really hard to wrap one’s mind around the narrative of Scripture.  This is aggravated by the following:

1. The fact that Scripture is not chronologically arranged.  It is rather arranged broadly by literary type: a) Law / Moses, b) Histories, c) Psalms / Wisdom, and d) Prophets), with the latter two categories set within the first two.

1. Even if one is familiar with the Biblical narrative, it is hard to understand the OT on its own.  That is, the Bible is set in an historical context of the “real” world that the original audiences understood.  Without understanding the context of the OT, it can seem like a faerie tale or adrift in unreality.  And sadly, historical study of even the Classical world (the Greco-Roman world from Alexander to the Fall of Rome) is largely untaught today, let alone the ancient world of the OT. 

1. Modern scientific, historical, and archaeological fields of study are trapped in a materialistic and highly skeptical worldview.  These fields presume two things that are corrosive of understanding the OT: a) a philosophy of materialistic naturalism and b) a presumption that Scripture is almost wholly untrustworthy as a resource for historical and archaeological study. 

By contrast, our foundation in this study will be, first and foremost, the trustworthiness and authenticity of God’s revealed Word.  I Tim 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  In other words, it is infallible and inerrant: without error and wholly trustworthy. 

That said, Scripture must be read both in its historical and internal context.  As we saw in our study of Revelation, it must be read in light of the genres in which it is written.  It must also be read as a product of its time, authorship (both Divine and human), and original audience.  It is a product of God speaking into certain cultures with which we are not familiar, in times and circumstances we understand limitedly, and in forms that would have been understandable to those cultures.  This is another way of saying that if we seek to hold Scripture’s historical narratives to our modern, often arbitrary, standards of historical study, we will fail to understand its meaning.  Scripture was not written to be a science textbook, nor was it written to be a modern historical text.  In all matters to which it speaks it is 100% authoritative and normative.  But it does not answer every question we have, nor is its subject matter written to modern sensibilities.  To understand Scripture, we must understand it in light of its authorial intent.  That is our goal. 

Finally, almost every question of history is loaded with ambiguity.  Even recent history is uncertain and shifting.  This is all the more true for the study of the ancient world.  Archaeology is a rapidly shifting field of study.  Yesterday’s certainties are todays discarded theories.  Written records from the ancient world are sparse.  The further into the past we look, the foggier it becomes.  Consequently, much of what we address will be tentative, even speculative. 

But what is never speculative or uncertain is that Scripture is true, is reliable, and it God-breathed.  May the Lord of History guide our study, granting us insight, understanding, and the humility to always bow our knees to the authority of His Word.