Sunday, March 5, 2023

The Ancient Near East

The five books of Moses come out of a time and culture far different from ours.  Over three thousand years ago, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, ... and Moses, lived in a culture now called the Ancient Near East (ANE.)

The Ancient Near East

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers (mentioned in Genesis 2!) flow out of mountains in eastern Turkey, through modern Syria and Iraq, and into the Persian Gulf. The region between the rivers (Mesopotamia) had fertile soil that promoted early agriculture, possibly as far back at 12,000 years ago. The Neolithic Revolution apparently began there, as humans moved from a predominantly hunter-gatherer society to one based on agriculture. This region was home to some of the most ancient civilizations.

As one moves west of Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent forms an arc that moves through ancient Canaan  (with the Jordan River) to Egypt.  This region was home to ancient peoples who spoke a semitic language of which Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic are examples. An ancient language of which we have cuneiform writings was Arkkadian, spoken in ancient Babylon.

The Bronze Age


Sometime around 3500 BC, humans realized that in their kilns they could get copper and tin hot enough to melt and so they could create hard, durable alloys we now call bronze. The Bronze Age allowed better building materials and stronger weapons.  The people of Sumer were one of the first societies to develop bronze. Abraham came out of the Sumerian city of Ur.

Egypt


One of the most ancient empires was just west of the western end of the fertile crescent, where the Nile River flowed into the Mediterranean. There the civilizations of the Nile valley coalesced into the Egyptian Empire around 3100 BC, at the merging of two civilizations called "Upper Egypt" and "Lower Egypt." (The terms "upper" and "lower", like everything Egyptian, describe the regions in relation to the Nile river.  Lower Egypt was further down the Nile, at its delta, as it entered the sea.) The Egyptian empire lasted, with occasional interruptions, throughout the Bronze Age. This society relied on accurate predictions of Nile flooding and developed significant mathematics and astronomy.

The "interruptions" in the Egyptian dynasties, caused by invasions of other peoples, allow us to break up the Egyptian empire into three eras, the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.  The famous pyramids were built in the time of the Old Kingdom.  The Middle Kingdom ended around 1650 with the conquest of the Hyksos. Joseph and his family likely arrived in Egypt around this time. The Exodus dates to a time in the New Kingdom, which began around 1550 BC.

Can we find evidence of the Israelites in Egypt?  Apparently the closest known association occurs in the Merneptah Stele which may deal with the Israelites at a time when they are already in Canaan.

We now know, through extensive archaeology, a great deal about the Egyptian empire. For most of my understanding of these ancient civilizations, I lean on Wikipedia, relying on its robust internal conversations to ensure a certain level of accuracy.  Other resources are here and here.  Timelines for the Egyptian civilizations are given here and here. A list of the Pharaohs, and the dates of their reigns, is given here.  

The Iron Age


Around 1200 BC, humans had developed kilns powerful enough to forge iron. Over the next few centuries, the Bronze Age collapsed and the Iron Age began.  We can see this change reported at times in the Old Testament!  King Sisera (see Judges 4) is feared because he had 900 chariots "fitted with iron."  The ability to build hot forges was a sign of power; King Nebuchadnezzar had a fiery furnace in Daniel 3 and used it as a weapon!

Aware of the Iron Age and the difficulties of forging iron, one should be alert for the mention of iron in the Old Testament.

Some sources on the collapse of the Bronze Age are from Wikipedia here and the Biblical Archaeology Society, here.  See also this article on the fall of the Hittite Empire.

Recommended


A number of Christian scholars have recommended this book: Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, by John Walton. I do not, at this time, have a copy of this book, but I have enjoyed Walton's commentary on Genesis.

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