The first eleven chapters of Genesis – and of the Old Testament – constitute the Primeval History. This carefully arranged collection of traditions detail God’s good creation of the cosmos, the nature of humanity in the created order of the universe, and God’s relationship with humans. In this chapter, we will explore various genres such as cosmogony, theogony, myth, and history, all of which will help to demonstrate ways in which Israel’s Primeval History resembled the traditions of its ancient neighbors and ways in which Israel’s form and content were unique.

Importantly, Genesis 1–11 prepare the reader for the rest of the Bible. They also function as an explanation for Israelite readers of why things are the way they are. Furthermore, they introduce themes that will be important throughout the remainder of the Old Testament: the concept of creation, the unchallenged sovereignty of God, the central importance of humanity, and the first mention of covenant.

The three major sections of Genesis 12–50 focus on the ancestral narratives of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. We know little of the historical details, although archaeological data suggests a plausible context for these stories in the Middle Bronze Age. We will see that the narratives themselves hint at even earlier traditions, suggestive of oral traditions preserved and woven into the texts. In these narratives we will also encounter the social structure of kinship-based tribal societies. The “father’s house” and the larger clan formed the subunits of the geographically based organization of the tribe.

This portion of Genesis narrates Yahweh’s provision of hope for the divine–human relationship so tragically marred by human rebellion (Genesis 1–11). Moreover, God chooses an individual, Abraham, to partner in a covenant. This covenant, shaped by God’s promises of land, descendants, and worldwide blessing, is the lasting hallmark of Israelite religion. Abraham’s descendants include not only those named in the Old Testament but those in the three monotheistic religions for which Abraham is acknowledged as the “father of faith.”

We will now focus our attention on the final book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. We will discover that, even as the book recounts what has come before for the sake of Israel poised to enter the promised land, it does so in a new setting, in an innovative literary format, and with distinctive emphases that speak to generations present and yet to come.

Deuteronomy consists of four collections of speeches given by Moses, set off by literary superscriptions. Scholars have determined that the book is organized in the form of an ancient international treaty. Following a historical prologue, the speeches reiterate and affirm Torah instruction, institute a covenant renewal that links blessings with covenant fidelity, and detail provisions for Israel after Moses’ death (recounted in the final chapter of the book). Deuteronomy is distinctive in the Pentateuch for its focus on the centralization of Israel’s religious cult at the place where Yahweh will cause his name to dwell, the great statement of faith known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), and the first explicit statements of monotheism in the Old Testament.

All historiography or history writing is done with a purpose, and the purpose of Israel as expressed in the Old Testament was clearly religious and theological. The Israelites sought to record their relationship with God in the past – to relate their unique understanding of God, his universe, and his relationship to Israel. Additionally significant is the fact that Israel was among the first nations in the ancient world to write history.

This chapter will take us into the library of ancient Israel to get a better look at how the books of the Old Testament narrate history and how these books have been organized. Specifically, we will investigate the sources that appear to have been interwoven to create the so-called Primary History. These sources are characterized by their distinctive ways of referring to God and by their themes and literary techniques. We will observe that the Old Testament presents the Primary History in such a way as to provide a framework for understanding the historical contexts of all the rest of the Old Testament books.

Ancient Israel existed in real time and space. In time, we will recall that ancient Israel was preceded by thousands of years of world history, including, for example, the first writing of the Sumerians (third millennium bce), the Babylonian Empire, and the renowned history of ancient Egypt. In space, Israel was part of Syria–Palestine. Together with Egypt and Mesopotamia, Israel constituted a vast swath of arable land known as the “Fertile Crescent.” Syria–Palestine was thus a vital land bridge between three continents and, likewise, highly vulnerable to surrounding power struggles. The latter meant frequent invasions and domination by a succession of world empires.

The primary purpose of Israel’s story contained in the pages of the Old Testament is to explore its relationship with God. Yahweh initiated an intimate relationship with a man named Abraham, which was defined by a covenant and by promises of descendants and land. The ensuing history covers an era that left its own mark on world history, in no small part due to Israel’s legacy. The age between 800 and 200 bce(the Axial Age) witnessed the appearance of ethical religion and rational philosophy in human civilization. Israel gave the world the Old Testament and the concept of monotheism emerging in its pages.

A survey of the evidence for textile production and trade shows extensive market activities, supported by state enforcement of agreements. The most intrusive form of state intervention was the imposition of a monthly quota to be delivered by weavers, accounting for up to half of their production volume. This may have represented the transformation of an existing quota arrangement attested in New Kingdom Egypt. However, the cash-based Ptolemaic system, in which weavers were compensated and could substitute cash payments for their deliveries, had a different dynamic. The stable demand offered by the quotas offset some of the risk of production for the market by the weavers. This arrangement made the state into an oversized market player, but the textiles it collected were not sold through retail concessions but put to practical use or exported. In addition, weavers and other occupations were subject to taxation in cash, the state levied customs and sales taxes, and it derived revenues from flax cultivation and sheep husbandry, likewise without exercising exclusive control and using private contractors. Attempts at local monopolies were rather undertaken by professional associations.

This chapter examines the introduction of the calendar ca. 300, which it makes part of the broad reconfiguration of the civic order that took place around this time. The calendar’s structure was probably appropriated from Pythagorean circles in southern Italy. Many of its features were intended to regulate the comitium, one of the most significant places in the city, which was also reconfigured in these years to link it firmly and directly to the heavens. The cycle of market-days or nundinae is also an important element. The logic behind it remains largely unexamined, and it has usually been viewed as having no cultic significance. Instead, the nundinal cycle was linked to formal intercalary cycles of the kind that in the Greek world were often associated with speculation about ideal political orders and their relationships with the gods.

Having examined the nature of Old Testament poetry, we will now explore two books by way of example. Proverbs and Job are unique in that they are most often identified as portions of the Old Testament’s wisdom traditions. Wisdom was a highly valued and enduring concept well attested across the ancient Near East. Here you will learn a general definition of the concept and learn why scholars disagree on whether there existed a distinct literary category, “Wisdom literature,” in the ancient world. Certain literary materials from Egypt’s wisdom traditions represent primarily “standard wisdom,” characterized by proverbial sayings. These aphorisms embody predictable patterns born of everyday life experience and observation. From Mesopotamia, we have wisdom traditions that are generally more speculative and less optimistic, and willing to wrestle with the difficult question of theodicy.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a collection of standard expressions of wisdom, presented as an educational curriculum and commonly based on the principle of retribution theology. The book of Job is a literary masterpiece representative of speculative wisdom. Although it displays a critique of retribution theology, Job’s message honors the tension between a loving God, a righteous individual, and retributive justice. In Israel’s wisdom traditions we will observe in particular a distinctive moral and ethical dimension that results from Israel’s relationship to Yahweh.

This chapter will lay some historical groundwork in preparation for our consideration of Old Testament books included in the Primary History. As we attempt to reconstruct Israel’s history, we will discover several challenges. The first is how best to relate the historical accounts in the biblical texts with the evidence of modern archaeology. One example, excavation at the ancient settlement of Jericho (featured in the conquest narrative of Joshua), will demonstrate the difficulty of the endeavor and the need for a balanced interpretive approach.

A second challenge is that of Old Testament chronology, which must be relative since we lack evidence for fixed dates prior to the seventh century bce. Only as we move through the Old Testament to later events can we confirm dates of biblical accounts with parallels in ancient Near Eastern sources. Finally, we will consider what we can know of Israel’s history of religious ideas. Although biblical texts were written and preserved by members of the “official” religion, we can detect the vestiges of “local” and “family” religion from earlier sources used to compile the Old Testament.

In previous chapters, we focused on the structure and content of the books in the Pentateuch. Here, we will explore the religion of Moses that emerges from these materials. Specifically, we will observe the way in which divine revelation developed from direct communication with individuals such as Abraham and Moses to mediated revelation through a written Torah and the priesthood. We will explore the significant concepts of holiness, covenant, and practical monotheism, particularly as compared to the religion of the ancestral narratives (Genesis) and that of surrounding ancient Near Eastern cultures.

It will be important that we consider the characteristics of Mosaic religion against the backdrop of the ancient Near East at a time when certain polytheistic cultures are known to have elevated a single deity above their other gods – known as a “theology of exaltation.” Furthermore, we will explore some possible influences and origins for the Yahwistic faith – the religion so foundational for the remaining Old Testament and whose roots belong to monotheistic religions down to the present.

First and Second Samuel narrate Israel’s transition from a tribal confederation to a dynastic monarchy, beginning with the leadership of the prophet Samuel. Saul is anointed Israel’s first king, and although eventually rejected, his reign functions to define kingship under Yahweh, including submission to Torah and to the authority of Yahweh’s prophets. David becomes Israel’s second king and eventually the “ideal” for all kings in the Old Testament. We will also observe during David’s leadership an emerging understanding of Yahweh as “God of Israel.”

Since early Israel was a theocracy under Yahweh, we will explore the issues surrounding Israel’s need for and the legitimacy of a human king, the person and role of a suitable king, and finally, the importance of the prophet in assessing the king. Although Israel’s transition to statehood is somewhat difficult to reconstruct historically (ca. 1050–970 bce), we will examine evidence for similar transitions in other cultures. Archaeological evidence from Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer suggests the notion of a state and its correlating centralized administration.

With this chapter, we arrive at five final books in our Old Testament collection. They have been brought together in the Jewish canon as the “five scrolls,” related to each other by their use in the Jewish liturgical calendar.

Our survey will begin with the Song of Songs, a collection of Israel’s love poetry. We have numerous ancient parallels, but we will note in these the particular imagery drawn from everyday life in Syria–Palestine. Second, Ruth is an exquisite narrative about ordinary Israelites. Their uncommonness is on display in their exemplary characters and their genealogical connection to Israel’s beloved King David. A third book, Lamentations, is a collection of five poems presented in acrostic form. Recounting the tragedies incurred in Jerusalem’s destruction, the poetry nevertheless exhibits some of the Old Testament’s most glorious expressions of Yahweh’s mercy. Ecclesiastes, another unique poetry collection with ancient Near Eastern parallels, offers reflections on the human experience. Finally, we will examine Esther. God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, yet this story merited inclusion in the canon, and we will note its subtle but important contribution to Old Testament theology.

In this chapter we turn from the Primary and Chronistic Histories to the books that make up roughly the second half of the Old Testament. We will observe a dramatic shift in content from historical narrative to largely poetry. Furthermore, these books are much less linked editorially to one another. Rather, we will discover that superscriptions and content help us to group them literarily and, in most cases, to relate them chronologically to one another and to the Primary History.

Because of the preponderance of poetry, we will spend time in this chapter on the nature and characteristics of ancient Hebrew poetry. There are certain aspects that we do not know, such as original pronunciation or meter. However, we will readily observe one major feature – that of parallelism. This “symmetry of thought” is recognizable in three primary types: synonymous, antithetical, and synthesizing parallelisms. We will explore plenty of examples and discover along the way that ancient Hebrew poetry is rich in content and artistic skill.

The Ptolemaic ’oil monopoly’ shows extensive control of local economic processes over at least a century and a half. The so-called Revenue Laws lay out strict state control of cultivation, production and distribution, which is confirmed by many other Greek and Demotic papyri. The entire harvest of oil crops had to be sold to the state, oil was produced exclusively in state workshops, and retail was subject to exclusive local concessions. Import restrictions and severe penalties were introduced to safeguard the revenues from this system, which were leased out to private contractors. Although it contributed to the monetisation of the countryside, the ‘oil monopoly’ was a rather inefficient form of organisation. The parallel bureaucracy of officials and contractors created red tape, the confiscation of capital eroded trust, oil crop cultivation proved unpopular, and the resulting shortages in concert with high fixed oil prices led to considerable black market activity, which further disrupted the official circuit. Evidence from the Late Period and the reign of Ptolemy I shows that the ‘oil monopoly’ was a creation of Ptolemy II, representing a remarkable experiment in fiscal policy.