Alfred J. HoerthPeoples of the Old Testament World

Item arrived on time and in great condition! Thank you!

Expert contributors in each of the fields represented give very satisfying portraits of every major people group mentioned in the Old Testament. This is indispensable for getting a handle on the historical background of the narrative in the Old Testament, especially because the OT assumes the readers/listeners will know who these groups are and does not elaborate much when they are mentioned. Valuable and relatively recent information on material culture as revealed by archaeology, texts, and meaningful (not overly speculative or fantastical) correlations to biblical narratives can be found throughout. The style of each author and the available data make each essay contain a comparatively different amount of archaeological, epigraphic, biblical, or other information, but they are of evenly high quality.

If you would understand the Old Testament a lot better than you do now, "Peoples" is a must-have. Entertaining as well as informative, "Peoples" provides insight into the origins, cults and worldviews of such tribes as the Hittites, the Canaanites, the Ammonites and most of the other tribes that surrounded or lived within the borders of Israel and Judah. I hated to put this book down and looked forward to picking it up again to continue. It's the kind of book you will keep handy and refer to again and again. I see the Old Testament in a whole new light after having read it. Highly recommended.

I am really enjoying reading this book. It is really helpful. So...why the low rating? The pictures in this book are incomprehensible. There must have been an issue with the publishers. Almost every illustration looks like a big, gray blob. I was very disappointed with that aspect of the book, but the other part is so good I decided to keep it.

This was the textbook for one of my history classes. As a history teacher now, I still have this book on my shelf, close at hand. The author does a great job detailing the circumstances of ancient history. Love this book!

Very informative text in excellent condition.

Surprisingly readable. I bought this as a text book and am keeping it for my own research.

Great book

'Peoples of the Old Testament World' is a marvellous compendium of information relating to the ancient races who inhabited the OT world - in other words, those nations which most influenced Israel's national development.This title comprises three main parts with a single chapter for each national group:Part 1: MesopotamiaSumerians - p19Babylonians - 43Assyrians - 77Persian - 107Part 2: Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and EgyptHittites - 127Canaanites and Amorites - 157Phoenicians - 183Arameans - 207Philistines - 231Egyptians - 251Part 3: TransjordanAmmonites - 293Moabites - 317Edomites - 335Subject/Author/Scripture indexes - 349Each chapter has been written by a different author, each an undisputed expert in their field (to PhD standard) but they all write in a pleasing, very accessible way: there is no danger here of `dry academia'.Each contributor has put together a lively, interesting essay offering nicely balanced, fairly meaty but easily digestible introductions into each national group. A page or so ends each chapter with `Recommended Reading' for further investigation. The fifty pages of indexes - thirty-eight for `Subject' - are useful and fairly broad, but by no means exhaustive. Although there are a few very good quality illustrations, they are all black & white and most are fairly small.I was stunned to find that this title has been on my Amazon `Wish List' since 2003, but I resisted until I found a cheap, second-hand copy from Amazon Marketplace. Though this book just about stretches to 400 pages, there are actually only a little over 300 for the body text. While this offers a well rounded introduction, I think I would have really appreciated another hundred pages or so - and more, improved, illustrations and charts too. I'm sure this would have increased the price even further so perhaps I should be grateful for what we have here - and I surely am. To find such a breadth of application in such an accessible *single* volume is stunning.This fabulous volume really sheds light on the world into which ancient Israel emerged. While it is probably aimed at Bible college students, I am confident that anyone and everyone interested in biblical topics would really enjoy this: brevity not withstanding, I really feel I struck gold in finally finding this title. 4½ stars would be fully justified...

Wasn't what I expected actually. I was looking more for background information about peoples in the Bible during the Old testament times, and more in depth information on the connection between Israels story as in the Bible and the surrounding nations. After reading the reviews of others and recomendations on other websites, I bought this. It was quite an expensive purchase (even though the cheapest was Amazon) but although the author is good and has a broad knowledge of each of the peoples he writes about, I don't think theres as much connection with the Bible story as the book proports to having. Yes, there are many references to the Bible but have little relevance to the content he actually writes. The references seem chosen just because they mention the people he is writing about in that particular chapter, but thats the only connection really. I do regret spending the money on this book but if you are looking for a little history on the superpowers around the Old Testament time then its ok.

Muy bien! Gracias!