AND HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Contents Illustrations and Boxes Timeline Preface xv xxiii xxxiii Part I WHAT IS THE BIBLE, AND HOW DID IT COME ABOUT? 1. The Bible: A Gradually Emerging Collection 3 The Bible: A Collection 4 The Emergence of the Canon 4 The Canon of the Hebrew Bible 5 The Christian Canon 10 Conclusion 16 2. From Then to Now: The Transmission of the Bible 19 Textual Criticism 20 Translations 25 Conclusion 31 ix

x Contents 3. Inspiration: The Claim That God Speaks in a Text 33 Two Translations of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 34 The History of the Concept 35 Two Other Theories about Inspiration 42 Conclusion 43 Part II WHAT IS THE STORY OF THE HEBREW BIBLE? 4. The Pentateuch, Part 1: Genesis 49 Authorship 49 Varieties of Genres 52 The Narratives of Genesis 1 11 54 Two Creation Stories 56 The Fall 59 After the Fall 62 The Flood 63 Origins and Babel 66 Israel s Ancestors 67 Conclusion 76 5. The Pentateuch, Part 2: Exodus through Deuteronomy 79 Exodus: Deliverance and the Beginning of the Nation 80 Leviticus: Ritual Purity and the Holiness Code 88 Numbers: In the Wilderness 93 Deuteronomy: Restating the Law 97 Conclusion 99

Contents xi 6. The Israelites Tell Their Story: Interpretations of National Disasters 103 The Scope and Purpose of the Deuteronomistic History 104 Joshua: The Invasion 104 Judges: The Quest for Continuing Dominance 110 Ruth: A Tale of Loyalty and Love 115 1 2 Samuel: The Monarchy Begins 116 1 2 Kings: The Story of Two Kingdoms 121 1 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah: A Priestly Outlook on the Kingdoms and Return from Exile 131 Conclusion 132 7. Thus Says the Lord : Israel s Prophetic Tradition 137 The Classical Prophets 138 Amos: Justice and Judgment 139 Hosea: The Faithfulness of God 141 Micah: What the LORD Requires 143 Isaiah: Justice, Judgment, and Restoration 144 Jeremiah: Looming Judgment and Future Restoration 149 Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Obadiah 152 Ezekiel: God Is Present 154 Postexilic Prophets 159 Daniel: Persecution and Radical Newness 164 Conclusion 167 8. An Alternative Worldview: Israel s Wisdom Literature and Esther 171 The Literary Type 171 Job: A Problem without Resolution 173

xii Contents Proverbs: Advice for the Good Life 176 Ecclesiastes: All Is Vanity 178 Esther: Veiled Providence and the Origin of a Feast 179 Conclusion 183 9. Israel s Response to God: The Psalms and the Song of Solomon 187 The Psalms: Poetry of Praise and Lament 188 Song of Solomon: Love Is Stronger than Death 193 Conclusion 194 10. Between the Testaments: From Alexander the Great to the Time of Jesus 197 Alexander the Great and Hellenization 198 The Move toward Jewish Independence 204 Roman Domination of Palestine 206 Parties within First-Century Judaism 212 Conclusion 222 Part III WHAT IS THE STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT? 11. The Gospels: Their Composition and Nature 227 The Origin and Nature of the Gospels 228 The Search for a Historical Jesus 231 The Synoptic Gospels and John 234 Analysis and Faith 236 Conclusion 237

Contents xiii 12. Four Views of One Jesus: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John 241 Mark: The Coming Reign of God 242 Matthew: Messiah and Interpreter of the Law 250 Luke: Compassion and Justice 259 John: Incarnational Christology 270 Conclusion 277 13. The Story Continues: The Acts of the Apostles 281 The Church s Beginning and Mission 281 The Growth of the Church and the Admission of Gentiles 285 Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles 287 Conclusion 293 14. The Pauline Letters: Apostolic Advice to Early Churches 297 Letters: A Context-Specific Genre 297 1 Thessalonians 301 1 Corinthians 307 2 Corinthians 313 Galatians 315 Philippians 319 Philemon 323 Romans 324 Conclusion 330 15. The Disputed Pauline Letters: Continuing Advice in Paul s Name 335 2 Thessalonians 336 Colossians 339 Ephesians 341

xiv Contents 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (the Pastoral Epistles) 343 Conclusion 348 16. Hebrews and the General Epistles: Messages for Broader Audiences 351 Hebrews 352 James 355 1 Peter 357 2 Peter 360 Jude 362 1 John 363 2 John 366 3 John 367 Conclusion 368 17. Revelation: John s Apocalyptic Vision 371 The Apocalyptic Genre 371 The Book of Revelation 379 Conclusion 391 The Bible Today Epilogue 395 Photo Credits 399 Glossary 401 Index 423

Illustrations and Boxes Maps 1.1 Locating the Biblical World 2 1.2 The World of the Bible 2 7.2 Ancient Babylonian Empire 156 7.3 Ancient Persian Kingdom 159 4.1 The Ancient Near East and Key Locations in Genesis 68 5.1 Exodus and Sinai Wilderness Wanderings 84 6.1 The Twelve Tribes of Israel 109 6.2 United Kingdom of Israel 120 6.3 The Monarchies of Israel and Judah 123 6.4 Judah after the Fall of Israel 129 7.1 Ancient Assyrian Empire 153 10.1 The Greek Empire 199 10.2 Palestine in the Time of the Maccabees 207 10.3 Palestine in Jesus Time 211 12.1 City of Jerusalem in Jesus Time 261 13.1 The Roman Empire 282 13.2 Paul s Missionary Journeys According to Acts 292 17.1 The Seven Churches of Revelation 384 xv

xvi Illustrations and Boxes Charts 1.1 The Canons of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament 11 1.2 The Deuterocanonical Books of the Roman Catholic Canon (the Apocrypha) 12 2.1 Scale of Translation Theory Used in Various Translations 28 29 4.1 The Documentary Hypothesis 53 4.2 The Twelve Sons of Jacob 75 6.1 Kings of the United and Divided Monarchies 126 7.1 Israelite Prophets 163 10.1 The Maccabean Leaders 206 11.1 How the Gospels Were Composed according to the Two Source Hypothesis 238 Figures 1.1 The Western Wall of the Temple 6 1.2 Section of a Scroll from Qumran 9 1.3 Torah Scroll 10 2.1 Gospel of John Fragment 20 2.2 Codex Vaticanus 21 2.3 Ancient Egyptian Scribes at Work 22 3.1 Matthew and the Angel 34 3.2 Origen (c. 185 250 c.e.) 37 3.3 John Chrysostom (347 407 c.e.) 38 3.4 Luther Preaching 39 3.5 John Calvin (1509 64 c.e.) 39 3.6 The Greenwich Observatory 40 4.1 Genesis Cosmos 59 4.2 Adam, Eve 60 4.3 The Great Ziggurat of Ur 66 5.1 St. Catherine s Monastery, Mount Sinai 83 5.2 Oasis at Kadesh Barnea, Sinai Peninsula 87 5.3 The Fertile Crescent 94 6.1 Ruins of Ancient Jericho 105 6.2 A Wall of Ancient Jericho 106

Illustrations and Boxes xvii 6.3 Region of Jericho Today 108 6.4 Image of Baal, Ras Shamra, Syria 117 6.5 Ark of the Covenant 119 6.6 Altar ( High Place ) at Megiddo 130 7.1 Ruins of Samaria 144 7.2 Ruins of Jerusalem 151 7.3 Ishtar Gate 157 7.4 Cyrus Cylinder 158 7.5 Bas Relief of King Darius I (550 486 b.c.e.) 160 8.1 Job 174 9.1 Psalms in the Gutenberg Bible 188 9.2 An Expression of Sexuality 194 10.1 Alexander the Great 198 10.2 General Lysimachus 198 10.3 Serapis 200 10.4 Antiochus IV 201 10.5 Remains of Herod s Palace 208 10.6 Tower of Phasael 208 10.7 Herod s Palace at Masada 209 10.8 The Mishnah 213 10.9 Caves above the Qumran Settlement 217 10.10 The Old City of Jerusalem Today 220 11.1 The Mediterranean Jesus 232 11.2 Jesus Casting Out Demons 234 11.3 Sermon on the Mount and Healing of Lepers 236 12.1 The Four Evangelists 242 12.2 Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee 246 12.3 Model of a Reconstruction of Herod s Temple 250 12.4 Shop Floors, Sepphoris 255 12.5 Israelite Tomb, First Century 258 12.6 The Good Samaritan 266 12.7 Caesar on a Coin from Corinth 268 12.8 Inscription for Nero 269 12.9 Base of Statue of Trajan 272 12.10 Present-Day Samaritans, Mount Gerizim 274 13.1 Pentecost 284 13.2 Jesus Recruiting Peter 287 13.3 The Areopagus, Seen from the Acropolis 289 13.4 The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens 290 13.5 Paul in Prison 293 14.1 Wealthy First-Century Woman 298 14.2 Reconstructed Stoa (Porch) of Attalos, Athens 301 14.3 The Arch of Galerius, Thessaloniki 302 14.4 Ancient Corinth, Ruins along a Main Road 307 14.5 Gallio Inscription, Delphi 308

xviii Illustrations and Boxes 14.6 The Last Supper 311 14.7 Remains of Workshop, Corinth 315 14.8 Isthmus of Corinth 316 14.9 Cappadocia 317 14.10 A Couple on a Dining Couch, Sparta 323 14.11 Model of the Ancient City of Rome 325 15.1 Bronze Coin, Thessalonica 338 15.2 Paul at Ephesus 341 15.3 Library of Celsus in Ephesus 343 15.4 The Palace of Minos on Crete 347 16.1 Youth Service Project 356 16.2 Crucifixion of Peter 358 16.3 Image of Caesar on a Coin 366 17.1 Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 372 17.2 Heaven 375 17.3 The Last Judgment 377 17.4 Parthian Coin 381 17.5 Sanctuary of Asclepius, Pergamum 383 17.6 Dining Rooms 385 17.7 The Great Altar at Pergamum 389 Boxes 1.1 Locating material in the Bible 4 1.2 Second Temple Judaism 5 1.3 Designations of centuries 7 1.4 The Hebrew Bible at Qumran 9 1.5 Interpretations of Jesus 13 1.6 Apostolicity 14 2.1 The codex 21 2.2 The danger of more interpretive translating 27 2.3 A translation for the Jewish community 28 4.1 A critical introduction 50 4.2 The name of God 51 4.3 The term myth 55 4.4 Everyone was a polytheist 56 4.5 God at work behind the scenes 75 5.1 The name of the sea 82 5.2 Different lists of the Ten Commandments 85 5.3 The lex talionis 86 5.4 The intermarriage of the ancestors 90 3.1 Philo using allegory 36 3.2 Origen on reading the Bible 37 6.1 Concubine 114 6.2 The god Baal 124

Illustrations and Boxes xix 6.3 The goddess Asherah 125 6.4 The Chronicler 132 7.1 A warrior God 139 7.2 The names of Hosea s children 142 7.3 The Servant Songs 148 7.4 The poetry of Lamentations 152 7.5 Ezekiel s astonishing visions 155 7.6 Edict of Cyrus 158 7.7 The Diadochoi (Successors) of Alexander the Great 165 8.1 Egyptian wisdom traditions 172 8.2 Akkadian wisdom traditions 178 8.3 Feast of Purim 180 8.4 Greek additions 183 11.2 Tatian s Diatessaron 231 11.3 The search for the historical Jesus 235 11.4 The composition of John 235 11.5 The Q source 237 12.1 Kingdom of God 244 12.2 Other exorcists 245 12.3 Virgin in Isaiah and Matthew 256 12.4 Multiple meanings 257 12.5 Predictions and the gods 258 12.6 Luke and world events 263 12.7 The Word and Wisdom traditions 271 12.8 Textual criticism and the story of the adulterous woman 273 12.9 The Birkat ha-minim 275 9.1 Superscriptions for Psalms 189 9.2 Other types of psalms 193 10.1 Sources that tell of the Maccabean Revolt 203 10.2 Hannukah 204 10.3 The Wicked Priest 205 10.4 Herod and the birth of Jesus 209 10.5 The tradition about the Oral Torah 215 10.6 Dead Sea Scrolls reference system 218 10.7 The Teacher of Righteousness 219 10.8 The temple tax 221 11.1 Gospel 228 13.1 Pilgrimage feasts 283 13.2 Dual names 288 13.3 Personal information about Paul 289 13.4 Pharisees 290 13.5 Two accounts of the Jerusalem Conference 291 13.6 Luke s tendencies 293 14.1 Critical introduction reminder 300 14.2 The powers today 304 14.3 Hades 306 14.4 Glossolalia 309 14.5 The super-apostles 314 14.6 Two Galatias 316 14.7 The term Judaizer 318 14.8 The circumcision controversy 319

xx Illustrations and Boxes 14.9 Paul uses previously known material in his letters 321 14.10 Romans is not a systematic theology text 326 14.11 Edict of Claudius 327 14.12 Metaphors for salvation 328 14.13 Paul is not a supersessionist 329 15.1 Pseudonymity 336 15.2 Partially realized eschatology 337 15.3 Identical phrases 342 15.4 The office of widow 345 16.1 The term catholic 352 16.2 The Bible of the author of Hebrews 353 16.3 The imagery of Hebrews 354 16.4 James, the brother of Jesus 355 16.5 Ethical exhortation 357 16.6 Sources used by the author of 2 Peter 360 16.7 Shifting eschatological expectations 361 16.8 The importance of apostolicity 362 16.9 The office of elder 367 17.1 Apocalyptic as genre and worldview 373 17.2 Theodicy 376 17.3 The letters of Revelation 383 17.4 Sexual infidelity as a metaphor 389 Readings 1.1 2 Kings 22:8, 10 8 1.2 Nehemiah 8:1, 3 10 1.3 Jude 1-2 15 2.1 Mark 16:8 25 3.1 Galatians 4:24-26 41 4.1 Deuteronomy 34:10-12 50 4.2 Exodus 20:7 52 4.3 Genesis 1:31 58 4.4 Genesis 3:14-19 61 4.5 Genesis 6:1-4 63 4.6 Genesis 9:11-13 64 4.7 Genesis 12:1-3 69 4.8 Genesis 28:12-14 73 4.9 Genesis 37:5-8 74 5.1 Exodus 3:5-6 81 5.2 Exodus 20:1-3 88 5.3 Leviticus 19:1-2 89 5.4 Leviticus 18:2-5 92

Illustrations and Boxes xxi 5.5 Deuteronomy 6:4-9 97 5.6 Deuteronomy 30:15-18 98 6.1 Joshua 10:40 106 6.2 Joshua 24:14-16 108 6.3 Judges 3:7-9 111 6.4 Judges 21:25; 1 Samuel 8:10-18; 1 Samuel 12:19 118 6.5 2 Kings17:5-8 122 6.6 2 Kings 12:19-20; 2 Chronicles 24:17-18, 23-25 128 7.1 Amos 7:14-15 139 7.2 Amos 5:18-20 140 7.3 Hosea 1:8b-10 142 7.4 Isaiah 6:1-5 145 7.5 Isaiah 45:1-2 147 7.6 Jeremiah 32:9-10, 13-15 150 7.7 Jeremiah 31:31-34 151 7.8 Ezekiel 1:4-5, 15, 22, 26-28 155 7.9 Ezekiel 8:6 157 8.1 Job 31:5-6, 35-37 175 8.2 Job 38:1-7 176 8.3 Proverbs 13:8 177 8.4 Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 179 8.5 Esther 4:13-14 181 8.6 Esther 9:24, 26-27 182 9.5 Song of Solomon 8:6-7 193 10.1 1 Maccabees 1:44-50 203 10.2 2 Maccabees 10:5-6, 8 204 10.3 1 Maccabees 16:23-24 205 10.4 Matthew 2:19-22 210 11.1 Mark 7:18-20; Matthew 15:16-18 229 11.2 Matthew 12:22-24 233 11.3 Luke 24:44-45 234 11.4 Luke 1:1-4 236 12.1 Daniel 7:13-14 244 12.2 Mark 15:39 244 12.3 Mark 4:10-12 247 12.4 Matthew 5:17-19 251 12.5 Matthew 5:3-12 253 12.6 Matthew 6:9-13 254 12.7 Hosea 11:1 257 12.8 Luke 1:46-55 262 12.9 John 1:1-4 271 13.1 Acts 2:14-21 284 13.2 Acts 3:1; Acts 5:12-13 285 13.3 Acts 7:54 8:1 288 13.4 Acts 15:1, 5 291 13.5 Acts 26:30-32 292 9.1 Psalm 100 190 9.2 Psalm 23 191 9.3 Psalm 47:1-4 191 9.4 Psalm 51:1-4 192 14.1 1 Thessalonians 2:14 303 14.2 1 Thessalonians 2:18 305 14.3 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 306 14.4 1 Corinthians 12:1-2 308

xxii Illustrations and Boxes 14.5 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 309 14.6 1 Corinthians14:5, 12 309 14.7 1 Corinthians 1:26 310 14.8 1 Corinthians 11:20-21 312 14.9 2 Corinthians 11:16, 21b 315 14.10 Galatians 3:2-3 317 14.11 Philippians 1:18c-19; 2:17c-18, 4:4, 10a 320 14.12 Philippians 4:2-3 321 14.13 Philippians 2:5-11 322 14.14 Philemon 15-16a 324 14.15 Romans 3:25b-26 327 14.16 Romans 5:1 327 14.17 Romans 6:17-18 328 15.1 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 337 15.2 Colossians 2:18-19 339 15.3 Colossians 1:15-20 340 15.4 Ephesians 4:4-6 342 15.5 1 Timothy 1:8 344 15.6 1 Timothy 3:2-7 345 15.7 2 Timothy 3:10, 14-15 346 15.8 Titus 1:5 348 16.1 Hebrews 1:1-2 355 16.2 James 2:2-5 357 16.3 1 Peter 4:12-13 359 16.4 1 Peter 2:11 359 16.5 2 Peter 3:15b-16 361 16.6 1 John 2:18-19 364 16.7 1 John 1:1-3 365 16.8 1 John 2:3-5a 365 16.9 2 John 5-6 366 17.1 2 Esdras 3:30-31a; 4:22-25 378 17.2 Revelation 6:9-10; 15:3 381 17.3 Revelation 2:14 382 17.4 Revelation 5:5-6 386 17.5 Revelation 11:15-18 388 17.6 Revelation 17:3-6 390