K.A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1966. Hbk. pp.191. Ancient Orient and Old Testament Kenneth A. Kitchen Lecturer, School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool To V.B.G. & T.S.F. [p.vii] CONTENTS Preface ix Abbreviations xi PART ONE Problems and Solutions 1 ANCIENT ORIENT AND OLD TESTAMENT: THE BACKGROUND 15 I An Age of Change - II The Basis of the Main Problems - III Some Basic Principles of Study 2 EARLY HEBREW CHRONOLOGY 35 I Before Abraham - II The Date of the Patriarchal Age 3 LATER HEBREW CHRONOLOGY 57 I The Date of the Exodus and Israelite Invasion of Canaan - II The Monarchy and Later 4 SOME HISTORICAL PROBLEMS 79 I Alleged Anachronisms - II False Identifications 5 HEBREW CONTACTS WITH NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS 87 I Introduction: Some General Principles - II Creation and Flood Stories - III The Sinai Covenant - IV Enthronement Festivals and Divine Kingship - V Judaean and Egyptian Kingship 6 THE QUESTION OF LITERARY CRITICISM 112 I Documentary Hypotheses - II Form Criticism - III Oral Tradition [p.vii] 7 PRINCIPLES OF LINGUISTIC STUDY 139 I The Need for Sound Method - II The Role of Emendation - III Lexical Criteria and the Dating of Old Testament Literature 8 FURTHER ASPECTS OF BIBLICAL AND ORIENTAL STUDIES 147 I Ancient Law in the Biblical World - II The Topography of Bible Lands PART TWO Illumination and Illustration 9 NEAR EASTERN LIGHT ON THE BIBLICAL TEXT 153 K.A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1966. Hbk. pp.191. I Ancient Legal Custom and the Patriarchs - II The Period of Moses - III Examples from Later Hebrew History - IV Light on Old Testament Hebrew from Linguistic Studies - V The Old Testament Illustrated - VI The Issue of Confirmation 10 CONCLUSION 171 INDEXES Index of Biblical References 175 Index of Subjects 179 [p.ix] PREFACE The following pages are intended to give some idea of the kind of contribution that Ancient Near Eastern studies can make to the study of the Old Testament, and towards a critical reassessment of problems and methods in the Old Testament field. By way of illustrating these themes, I have deliberately included a wide variety of topics dealing with essentials or salient points rather than attempting to be exhaustive. A full treatment of this width of subjects would call for a dozen or so large tomes, not just one modest book. Because this book is rooted in primary source-material and is not tied to conventional viewpoints, it has been essential to include running references throughout. Although in no way exhaustive, the notes provide the necessary documentation for facts adduced and views mentioned, and document the paradigmatic examples of principles and points raised in the text. Not every reader may need all the details, but these references will provide the serious student with the indispensable means for verification and for pursuing any special interest. This book originated in two lectures delivered at the International Student Conferences held under the auspices of the Vereinigte Bibelgruppen von Schweiz at Casa Moscia in September 1962. A German translation of the English original was published at the end of 1965. The present book is a completely revised and up-dated version of the original English text, completed in late summer 1965, only limited revision being possible since then. Expansion of text and notes has been kept down to a minimum; Part Two could very easily have been expanded to match Part One, or even to the size of a separate work. In some respects, this work has taken on elements of a Programmschrift, though not by original intention. It is an in vitation to view afresh the Old Testament writings in their [p.x] proper Ancient Near Eastern context; only diehards, imprisoned within the inhibitions of fixed ideas and inflexibly obsolete methods, need fear its contents. Today, more than ever before, the Ancient Near East offers rich resources for study of the Old Testament in fresh perspectives. It is a particular pleasure to express my indebtedness to Mr. A. R. Millard for various references and, with Mrs. Millard, for helpful stylistic criticisms; likewise to Mr. T. C. Mitchell for comments on the original English manuscript; and not least to the publishers for kindly K.A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1966. Hbk. pp.191. undertaking to produce the book. However, any failings noted should not be charged to these good friends, and the responsibility for views expressed remains mine. School of Archaeology & Oriental Studies K. A. KITCHEN University of Liverpool [p.xi] ABBREVIATIONS AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research AfO Archiv für Orientforschung ANE The Ancient Near East (J. B. Pritchard), 1958 ANEP The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (J. B. Pritchard), 1954 ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ed. J. B. Pritchard), 11950, 21955 ARMT Archives Royales de Mari, transcrites et traduites (ed. A. Parrot and G. Dossin), 1950 onwards ASAE Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’ Égypte AUSS Andrews University Seminary Studies BA The Biblical Archaeologist BANE The Bible and the Ancient Near East (FS Albright, ed. G. E. Wright), 1961; paperback ed., 1965 BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BIA/UL Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Fraçais d’Archéologie Orientale BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW (q.v.) CAH2 The Cambridge Ancient History, revised edition of vols. I and II; cited by vol. and chapter, 1961 onwards CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CRAIBL Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus DOTT Documents from Old Testament Times (ed. D. W. Thomas), 1958 FS Denotes anniversary or memorial volume for scholar named FIT Faith and Thought, continuation of YTVI HdO Handbuch der Orientalistik (ed. B. Spuler), I: 1(1) = H. Kees (ed.), Ägyptologie (Äg. Schrifl and Sprache), 1959 I : 2 = H. Kees et al., Ägyptologie (Literatur), 1952 II: 3 = H. Schmökel, Keilschriftforschung and Alte Geschichte Vorderasiens, 1957 HTR Harvard Theological Review IEJ Israel Exploration Journal JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology K.A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1966. Hbk. pp.191. [p.xii] JKF Jahrbuch für Kleinasiatische Forschung JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies, new series JTVI Journal of Transactions of the Victoria Institute KS Kleine Schriften, I-III (A. Alt), 1953-59 LAAA Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology LXX Septuagint MDOG Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin MIO Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung MVAG Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-Ägyptischen Gesellschaft NBD New Bible Dictionary (ed. J. D. Douglas, F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, R. V. G. Tasker, D. J. Wiseman), 1962 OBL Orientalia et Biblica Lovaniensia OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung PEF AnnualPalestine Exploration Fund Annual PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly Proc. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society APS RB Revue Biblique RHA Revue Hittite et Asianique RSO Rivista degli Studi Orientali RT Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la philologie et d 1’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes SBT Studies in Biblical Theology THB Tyndale House Bulletin, now Tyndale Bulletin TSF Theological Students’ Fellowship Bulletin Bulletin UM Ugaritic Manual, I-III (C. H. Gordon), 1955 UT Ugaritic Textbook, [I-III] (idem), 1965 Urk. IV Urkunden IV (18. Dynastie), Hefte 1-16 (K. Sethe), 1927-30; Hefte 17-22 (H. W. Helck), 1955-58 VT Vetus Testamentum VTS Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, 1953 onwards WBD Westminster Bible Dictionary (J. D. Davis, ed. H. S. Gehman), 1944 and reprs. WTJ Westminster Theological Journal ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie and verwandte Gebiete Z ÄS Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache and Altertumskunde ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palestina-Vereins K.A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1966. Hbk. pp.191. PART ONE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS [p.15] 1. ANCIENT ORIENT AND OLD TESTAMENT: THE BACKGROUND I. AN AGE OF CHANGE We live in times of sweeping change. Through all the millennia of human history, never have the changes effected by man’s efforts been so rapid and so revolutionary; and the pace does not slacken. Taken positively, the advances in human knowledge and discovery are breathtaking. Less than a lifetime separates the pioneer flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright made in 1903 from the orbits of the globe along which rockets have carried astronauts and cosmonauts in our own day. In this time we have also passed decisively from the old theory of an atom as the smallest indivisible unit of matter to the stark fact of the fission and fusion of atomic particles whose possible misuse threatens the very existence of civilization. In medicine, new classes of drugs and surgical techniques, hitherto undreamt-of, have turned former impossibilities into normal practice. Negatively speaking, the torrents of change have swept away much that was once held to be axiomatic, both in secluded branches of learning and in popular beliefs. In the natural sciences, successive new discoveries and resultant theories chase one another, often far ahead of the standard textbooks. In this world of searching analysis, the things of lasting validity and unchallengeable worth are few indeed. But these powerful tides of change are not limited in their effect to the natural or medical sciences, or to certain obvious aspects of daily life. Welling up from vast new knowledge in every sphere, their power is visible in every field of human endeavour.