Ancient Orient and Old Testament

During the last hundred years considerable growth has taken place both in Ancient Near Eastern research and in the study of the Old Testament. But despite the fact that geographically, historically, and culturally the Ancient Near East is the world of the Old Testament and the Old Testament is a vital part of Ancient Near Eastern literature, these two branches of study and research have developed almost entirely independently. In this book K. A. Kitchen, Lecturer in the School of Oriental Studies at Liverpool University, shows the immense value of allowing Near Eastern studies to shed light on some of the historical problems of the Old Testament.

The vital factor which emerges from such comparative study is that, if the principles found valid in dealing with other literature are applied to the Old Testament, the results agree with the structure of the Old Testament as it stands rather than with its reconstruction at the hands of nineteenth-century scholars and their successors down to the present day. To illustrate his thesis Mr. Kitchen takes some specific problems of current Old Testament scholarship, such as the chronology of the patriarchal age, the exodus and the Israelite invasion of Canaan.

Such studies could revolutionize the outlook of much modern biblical scholarship. The book is well documented and will be welcomed not only for the light it throws on various difficult Old Testament problems but also for its frank and forthright discussion of current critical theories.