Victor H. Matthews

This commentary brings to life the world portrayed in the stories in Judges and Ruth. The intention is to prepare the reader to understand social norms and customs, such as hospitality codes, marriage customs, inheritance laws, or agricultural practices when they appear in the stories. Having established a cultural and literary context for Judges and Ruth, the commentary then treats each episode separately and as a whole. It is written to be accessible for a wide audience - including clergy, scholars, teachers, seminarians, and interested lay people. A Suggested Reading List - a feature of all volumes in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary - serves as a point of entry for the new serious students of Judges and Ruth, and the entire NRSV translation is provided throughout the text as a convenience to the reader.

Adam and Eve, God's covenant with Abraham, the deportation of Judah and their eventual return to Jerusalem--these are the Old Testament stories most people remember, and for good reason. According to veteran Old Testament professor Victor Matthews, these stories are essential to the identity of Israel as God's people. Matthews identifies eight landmark stories that not only shaped Israelite identity but also continued to echo throughout the Old Testament as Israel grew into its role as the people of God. He examines the stories in detail, showing how they provide a foundation for later Old Testament stories and events. Helpful sidebars, a glossary, indexes, and a selected bibliography provide readers with tools for further exploration. This book will be of interest to serious lay readers, Bible students, and church leaders.

An exploration of the parallels between Old Testament texts and contemporary writings from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The fifth edition expands on the first four with additional texts. Don Benjamin and Victor Matthews have been working in the field of Old Testament scholarship for almost forty years. Matthews is dean of the College of Humanities and Public Affairs at Missouri State University, and Don Benjamin teaches biblical and Near Eastern studies at Arizona State University.†

Designed as a supplementary resource for students who have an interest in the ancient Near East and biblical history, this volume provides a basic introduction to the historical, archaeological, and socio-contextual aspects of ancient Israel during its early foundation period through the end of the monarchy in Judah. Victor Matthews integrates extra-biblical information on the physical realities of geo- and super-power politics, international and interregional movement of peoples, and the evolutionary process of complex states in the ancient Near East with information from biblical narratives in order to explore the development of ancient Israelites' identity, cultural traditions, and interactions with other major cultures. In particular, he examines aspects of everyday life in both village culture and urban settings as a key to the development of social, legal, and religious traditions and practices. The History of Bronze and Iron Age Israel features an easy to navigate format, fairly non-technical language, and a series of informative insets that highlights important methodological concepts and comparative material.

Designed as a supplementary resource for students who have an interest in the ancient Near East and biblical history, this volume provides a basic introduction to the historical, archaeological, and socio-contextual aspects of ancient Israel during its early foundation period through the end of the monarchy in Judah. Victor Matthews integrates extra-biblical information on the physical realities of geo- and super-power politics, international and interregional movement of peoples, and the evolutionary process of complex states in the ancient Near East with information from biblical narratives in order to explore the development of ancient Israelites' identity, cultural traditions, and interactions with other major cultures. In particular, he examines aspects of everyday life in both village culture and urban settings as a key to the development of social, legal, and religious traditions and practices. The History of Bronze and Iron Age Israel features an easy to navigate format, fairly non-technical language, and a series of informative insets that highlights important methodological concepts and comparative material.

An image rich, passage-by-passage commentary that integrates textual and artifactual context from the ancient Near East to inform our understanding and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible—while remaining respectful to the inerrancy of Scripture. Without a deep knowledge of the ancient cultures the Old Testament was born from, we can be tempted to impose our own culture on the text, potentially distorting it. This unique Bible backgrounds commentary examines: The history of the ancient Near East as a means of recovering knowledge of the events that shaped the lives of the people. The archaeology as a means of recovering the lifestyle reflected in the material cultures. The literature of the ancient Near East as a means of understanding the heart and soul of the people who inhabited the ancient world that Israel shared. Detailed exegetical notes are combined with comparative discussions of the cultural settings that help scholars interpret the writings of the minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi) and books of wisdom and poetry; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. This volume of the celebrated Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary series brings these 17 books of the Bible into sharper focus—enabling scholars, pastors, and laity to access rich data from over one hundred and seventy years of explorations and excavations in the Near East. THE ZONDERVAN ILLUSTRATED BIBLE BACKGROUNDS COMMENTARY SERIES Invites you to enter the world of the Old Testament with a company of seasoned guides, experts who will give new insights into these cherished writings. Features: Over 2000 photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams, and charts provide a visual feast that breathes fresh life into the text. Passage-by-passage commentary presents archaeological findings, historical explanations, geographic insights, notes on manners and customs, and more. Analysis into the literature of the ancient Near East will open your eyes to new depths of understanding both familiar and unfamiliar passages. Written by an international team of 30 specialists, all top scholars in background studies.

More than a simple exchange of words, conversations in the biblical narratives offer an array of clues that define the characters and their relationships, the setting, and the language they employ. Using current critical communication theories from a number of fields -- anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literary studies -- Victor Matthews analyzes such biblical conversations as the interchanges between Judah and Tamar, Moses and Jethro's back-and-forth, Ezra's public address, and the dialogues recorded in Daniel. By crossing disciplinary divides as he does, Matthews creates a working synthesis that brings these embedded biblical dialogues off the page and breathes life into the social world that created them. His groundbreaking study will appeal to serious Old Testament students who want to stretch beyond traditional exegetical methods.

This commentary brings to life the world portrayed in the stories in Judges and Ruth. The intention is to prepare the reader to understand social norms and customs, such as hospitality codes, marriage customs, inheritance laws, or agricultural practices when they appear in the stories. Having established a cultural and literary context for Judges and Ruth, the commentary then treats each episode separately and as a whole. It is written to be accessible for a wide audience - including clergy, scholars, teachers, seminarians, and interested lay people. A Suggested Reading List - a feature of all volumes in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary - serves as a point of entry for the new serious students of Judges and Ruth, and the entire NRSV translation is provided throughout the text as a convenience to the reader.

Grounded in the latest archeological developments, Victor Matthews's A Brief History of Ancient Israel presents a concise history of Israel covering the ancestral period, conquest and settlement, the monarchy, and both the exilic and postexilic periods. Using supplemental figures and insets, the author concentrates on providing a cogent and condensed discussion of events. He examines historical geography, archaeological data, and, where relevant, comparative cultural materials from other ancient Near Eastern civilizations. With an accessible yet high-quality introduction, A Brief History of Ancient Israel will be of immense value to both students of the Old Testament and the scholars who teach them.

In this new edition of a successful book (over 120,000 copies sold), now updated throughout, a leading expert on the social world of the Bible offers students a reliable guide to the manners and customs of the ancient world. From what people wore, ate, and built to how they exercised justice, mourned, and viewed family and legal customs, this illustrated introduction helps readers gain valuable cultural background on the biblical world. The attractive, full-color, user-friendly design will appeal to students, while numerous pedagogical features--including fifty photos, sidebars, callouts, maps, charts, a glossary of key terms, chapter outlines, and discussion questions--increase classroom utility. Previously published as Manners and Customs in the Bible.

Preaching's Preacher's Guide to the Best Bible Reference How can we account for the "Book of the Law" suddenly being discovered during Josiah's renovation of the temple (2 Chron 34:14)? We know from Egypt and Mesopotamia that it was common to seal important documents--including theological documents--in the masonry or foundations of a palace or temple in order to inform a future king who might undertake restoration of the building. What might the psalmist have had in mind when praising God for removing our transgressions "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps 103:12)? In an Egyptian hymn to Amun-Re, the deity is praised for his judgment of the guilty. As a result of the god's discernment the guilty are assigned to the east and the righteous to the west. What is meant by God "weighing the heart" (Prov 21:2)? In Egyptian religious tradition we find the notion of the dead being judged before the gods. As the soul is examined, the dead person's heart is weighed in a scale against a feather symbolizing Truth. If the answers are correct and the heart does not outweigh the feather, the soul may enter the realm of everlasting life. The narratives, genealogies, laws, poetry, proverbs and prophecies of the Old Testament are deeply rooted in history. Archaeologists, historians and social scientists have greatly advanced our knowledge of the ancient world of the Bible. When we illuminate the stories of Abraham or David, the imagery of the Psalms or Proverbs, or the prophecies of Isaiah or Jeremiah with this backlight of culture and history, these texts spring to new life. The unique commentary joins The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament in providing historical, social and cultural background for each passage of the Old Testament. From Genesis through Malachi, this single volume gathers and condenses an abundance of specialized knowledge--making it available and accessible to ordinary readers of the Old Testament. Expert scholars John Walton, Victor Matthews and Mark Chavalas have included along with the fruits of their research and collaboration a glossary of historical terms, ancient peoples, texts and inscriptionsmaps and charts of important historical resourcesexpanded explanations of significant background issuesintroductory essays on each book of the Old Testament The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament will enrich your experience of the Old Testament--and your teaching and preaching from Scripture--in a way that no other commentary can do.

Victor Matthews, a veteran teacher and expert on the world of ancient Israel, introduces students to the Hebrew prophets and their social world. Drawing on archaeology and ancient Near Eastern texts, Matthews examines the prophets chronologically, placing them and their message into historical context. He explores pertinent aspects of historical geography, economic conditions, and social forces that influenced a prophet's life and message and explains why prophets served an integral purpose in the development of ancient Israelite religion. He also explores how prophets addressed their audience and employed rhetorical methods, images, and metaphors to communicate effectively. Logically organized, clearly written, and classroom friendly, this book meets the needs of beginning as well as advanced students. It is a substantially revised and expanded edition of the successful text Social World of the Hebrew Prophets.

This substantially updated edition of a classroom standard provides students with an accessible introduction to the literature, history, and social context of the Old Testament. Written by two seasoned Old Testament professors, the book pays attention to methodology, archaeology, history, and literary genre and includes illustrations, sidebars, maps, and study questions.

This striking new contribution to gender studies demonstrates the essential role of Israelite and Near East law in the historical analysis of gender. The theme of these studies of Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Israelite law is this: What is the significance of gender in the formulation of ancient law and custom? Feminist scholarship is enriched by these studies in family history and the status of women in antiquity. At the same time, conventional legal history is repositioned, as new and classical texts are interpreted from the vantage point of feminist theory and social history. Papers from SBL Biblical Law Section form the core of this collection.

The Old Testament was not written in a vacuum. It was written by and to a specific people who lived within specific social, historical, political, and literary contexts not only of their own culture but also of the surrounding peoples. Clearly, an understanding of ancient Israel and the ancient Near East is essential for proper interpretation of the Bible. Unfortunately, as readers seek this kind of understanding, they are confronted with a variety of competing opinions and methods regarding the culture, history, sociology, and geography of the biblical story. Does archaeology "prove" the Bible? Is the Bible history, and if so, what kind? How should the Old Testament be approached as literature? These and other questions are addressed in 'Studying the Ancient Israelites', which provides a guide to the tools, methods, and goals of the study of ancient Israel. The book also examines the insights that can be gained from geography, archaeology, literary study, sociology, and historiography as well as the limitations of each of these disciplines. Here is an excellent text for Old Testament study. In 'Studying the Ancient Israelites', a seasoned professor uses accessible writing and an inviting page design to introduce students and serious readers to the foundations of our understanding of the people of the Old Testament.