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The Bible, being authored by many writers, contains a number of viewpoints that are similar to the ancient Greek schools of thought in a sense. One such type of viewpoint was the Deuteronomistic view. This retelling and editing of the Bible contains more than a basic retelling and recounts what kinds of symbolism exists within the history. The Deuteronomistic History is a unique account of ancient Israelite history that hinges on key themes to further the meaning the Deuteronomists which to point out in the stories.

In addition to the Pentateuch, the Old Testament books of the Deuteronomistic history reveal the theme of God’s faithfulness to his followers. Initial examples are found in the conquest of the Promised Land depicted in the book of Joshua. Throughout the Israelite campaign to oust natives and settle the land, God’s actions demonstrate his faithfulness. In one instance God uses Rahab to hide Israelite spies, while in several other situations he allows the Israelites to defeat its foes. From these actions, it is clear that God remained faithful to his promise with Abraham (to provide his descendents with land). In addition to Joshua, the book of Judges provides an example of God’s faithfulness. Throughout the book, Israel repeatedly is unfaithful to God and is conquered by foreign powers. In response to Israelite cries for help, God repeatedly raises up

The Book of Judges is the hardest title to analyze as far as relation to the text goes. However the quote from the Bible at the beginning of this book in The Poisonwood Bible gives a hint as to why Kingsolver might have chosen this name. It says, “And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars…” (187). This quote, in the biblical sense, shows that God does not want the Israelites to associate themselves with the Canaanites or practice their beliefs, the main theme of the Book of Judges. However, the Israelites continue to practice pagan beliefs and intermarry with the people of Canaan while the Judges come back time and time again to save them. This situation is akin to Nathan’s relationship with the Price woman, especially Leah who stops believing in Nathan and God and builds her new religion from Anatole. This period in the book is when the girls no longer believe in Nathan, and therefore God, just like the Israelites after they conquered Canaan.

The secular laws of Babylon were laid down by Hammurabi in “The Code of Hammurabi”, and in the book of Exodus. These laws provided stability and order in those respective societies. As society depended upon them, it is natural to assume that the laws relied upon society as well and reflect the values held by each society, not only in the laws themselves, but also in how they are written, whom they pertain to and how they are executed. While at first glance the law codes appear similar, there are a number of differences that provide key insight to what was held dear in each society. How do differences in these two law codes attest to differences in the two societies which pronounced them, and likewise, what can be learned from their

The whole book of Deuteronomy is telling the story of a people that made a deal with God. They made promises to serve him according to the way that he wanted to be served. Deuteronomy laid out all the wonderful things that would happen to them if they were obedient and kept their promises. It also laid out what would happen if they did not keep their promise. It was pretty harsh too.

Just like any other civilization, the Israelites had multiple social classes. At the foundation of the civilization was the working class. This was made up of the farmers and artisans who labored all day and produced the items that were often traded throughout the kingdom. The next tier was the military and royal court. Anyone that served in the military was well respected by people of all classes. The royal court consisted of any government officials, scribes, and the king’s royal cupbearer. Scribes were the secretaries and typically involved in judicial and financial affairs. The royal cupbearer was tasked with filling the king’s goblet with wine and serving it to him. Second to the top of the social classes were the priests. Similar to Ancient Egypt with the gods, priests were believed to have direct contact with the god the Israelites worshiped: Yahweh. Because of this connection, priests were considered to be very sacred to the Israelites. At the top of the social pyramid was the king. The king of the Israelites ruled over the kingdom, defended it, but also “rules on behalf of Yahweh, the Israelite god” .

Hammurabi and Moses were most famous for being lawgivers, despite this similarity, had they met back in the Neolithic era, their ideals on legislation and how it should be carried out would have clashed tremendously. Although there are generous amounts of parallel and dissimilar thoughts and ideas, both leaders are commended for the regulation of their people’s behavior. Both men had a large influence on the rehabilitation of their people, but I think Hammurabi had a bigger impact on his contemporary culture, while Moses has provided the greatest significance for our society in the year 2016.

The theological message of Judges revolves around a faithful God and a rebellious people. God, in His faithfulness as Divine Judge, will judge His covenant people Israel after they disregard their covenant obligations and then offer them deliverance once they demonstrate repentance. In spite of her privileged position as God’s chosen people, Israel decided to

As we all know, Moses was perhaps one of the most influential characters in the Bible. With this being said, Deuteronomy has become an interesting book to study in the Bible. During this particular book, Moses is delivering the final speeches to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. However, there has been a lot of controversy with the placement of Deuteronomy. If we take a look at the book Numbers, the Israelites are ‘poised’ to enter the Promised Land. In the beginning of Joshua, they follow through with this action. Also, there are many scholars believe that the speeches of Moses were written at a later time and then put back into his mouth. We can understand all of these questions through the documentary hypothesis and the

In Deuteronomy, Moses tells the Israelites, “You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your

Other biblical historians claim the Late Date Exodus Theory #2 uses a different timeline of the Era of Judges in order to determine the Exodus date. Besides the 12 judges mentioned previously there were at a minimum four other judges such as Eli who took over for a short time after the death of Samson. The next judge that ruled was Samuel, for 20 years, who before his death appointed his sons Joel and Abiah to be judges just before the formation of the United Monarchy. Also not included during the Era of the Judges is the amount of time that the Israelites were conquered by other nations such as: 1.) from Judges 3:8, the Mesopotamians ruled over the Israelites for 8 years; 2.) found in Judges 3:14, when the Moabites ruled over the Israelites

At the top the Lord or God is who all the people look up to for guidance, then priest and judges, nobles, peasants, and slaves. One law discusses the importance the Lord, priest and judges have in the hebrew community, it goes like this, “Then both the men, between whom the controversy

At this crucial point in history, the Hebrews adopted Yahweh as their national and primary God and officially became a monotheistic religion. Organization of this religion inspired new intellectual leadership of prophets and prophetic writers. These new ideas were a culture shock for a society that still practiced polytheism and resulted in turmoil between Hebrews that believed in Yahweh as their one and only God and Hebrews that believed in Yahweh as their most important of many gods. It is at this point in Hebrew history when the Jewish people created a new form of religion where new ideas of Yahweh were taught, and the Torah became the most important and pure law for the Hebrews. (http://www.us-israel.org).

Deborah, a Hebrew prophetess and the fourth judge of Israel birth place and background genealogy is unknown; however, Deborah and her husband, Lapidoth home was located between Bethel and Ramah in the hill county of Ephraim. Deborah’s role was a justice to the peace, a judge. She was the only female judge of her time. Her court session was held under a Palm Tree were people would come and settle disputes. Deborah constuted with God before making any dicision she had to make.

Deuteronomy 32:8 and Genesis 49:10 are two examples of textual critical problems in the Old Testament. The phrase “sons of God” will be examined in Deuteronomy 32:8, and the word “Shiloh” in Genesis 49:10. These issues have caused much debate as to how one should interpret these verses in light of the textual critical problems. This paper will examine both passages and provide solutions to each of the textual critical issues.