Old Testament

The culture of the Old Testament

It is important to recognise that the world view of the ancient Israelites did not develop or exist in isolation from the countries and cultures that surrounded it.

Israel existed at a cross roads between powerful cultures and civilisations, it was fought over repeatedly and was at times conquered, liberated and then conquered again. All of this affected the way the people thought about themselves, their world and their God. In much the same way Britain, though in many ways individual and distinctive from France or Germany, shares many cultural similarities and assumptions with its neighbours.

Ancient Israel shared many of the same ideas about God and this is reflected in the Bible stories that we read today.

For example, ancient Egypt worshipped the Sun God - who was first of all the gods and the father of all creation. The Egyptians wrote hymns to their god - and one famous one is in many ways similar to Psalm 104.

Compare Psalm 104 in your Bible to the text on the other side of the page from about 1350 BC, written by Pharaoh

Akhanaten.

Imagery and ideas flowed between the cultures and shared stories became incorporated into the faiths and stories of the gods of different cultures and religions. The Epic of Atrahasis comes from Babylon and dates back to 1200BC. In it the gods create man to work for them but in time man breeds and causes trouble, so the gods send a flood to destroy him. However, one of the gods, Ea, warns one man to build a boat, on which he escapes with his family - along with one of every pair of animals in the world. It's a familiar story ....

Even words were shared. In ancient Canaanite religion - the religion of the people who lived in the area of Israel before the rise of the Hebrews the chief god is called El. In the Bible one of the names for God is Elohim - a simple plural of El.

There is also the puzzling story of Melchizedek, a pagan priest of Jerusalem in Genesis 14:18-20 who is recognised by Abraham and who pronounces a blessing in the name of the Most High God. It was not until the time of David - some 200 years later that Jerusalem in conquered and made the royal city and focus of the worship of God.