I think there is little in life as thrilling as applied knowledge. To learn something new (like a language) is interesting, but when you manage to say something in that language and they understand you — wow! That’s exciting! I have found my Master’s course has given me lots of these moments, and the latest source of pleasure for me is a book by John H. Walton — Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Allow me to share the excitement with you.

The book basically explains that unless we understand something of how ancient people thought, we cannot properly understand what they meant when we read the Old Testament. For example, if I ask you what the Old Testament writers say about Artificial Intelligence, you will reply that they had no knowledge of computers, therefore although we can possible use some of the principles set down in the OT and apply them to AI, they did not explicitly write about those things. Their understanding differs from ours.

The two examples I want to tell you about in the ancient world are: what meant something existed, and why having lots of descendants mattered.

In the ancient world, material things were not as important as they are today. Today, we know something exists if has a material form (and some people struggle with the idea of God because there is no material form to rely on). But not so in ancient times. In those days, something existed if it had a name and a function. Therefore believing in several gods was normal, as long as they all had a name (Sun-god) and a function (there was sunlight). Try to remember that:  having a name, and a function, meant that it existed—it was real.

Now we move to their understanding of what happened after death. They absolutely believed in some sort of existence after death, but it was very different from our own view (much of which comes from Plato, who taught about spirits leaving physical bodies and living a spiritual life). In the ancient world, they believed in a vague existence in an altered dimension to the physical world, in a place called Sheol. (Note: ‘Sheol’ and ‘Hell’ are not the same thing.) They believed that life in Sheol was affected by life on earth; life was sustained in Sheol by what happened in the world of the living. People in Mesopotamia and Egypt underwent certain rituals to enable the life of their dead ancestors—providing them with food for example. One important ritual involved ‘remembering’ the dead—talking about them, recalling the things they did before they died, somehow maintained their existence in Sheol. To be forgotten was the worst thing that could happen. Community was hugely important, and community included ancestors who had died (therefore asking ancestors for help was part of normal life).

Now, the Hebrews (who wrote the Old Testament) had variations of these beliefs, but we can see overlaps with their thinking. They too wanted descendants. I had previously thought this was so their children could care for them when they were old, but this doesn’t explain why several generations of descendants would matter—a belief that they would remember them after death makes sense in this context. (There is a text, which I cannot find, where someone explicitly says ‘I have no descendants to remember me.’ If you find it, please send me the reference!) Walton makes the point that the thinking of the Old Testament writers was much closer to the thinking of people in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt than it was to the thinking of the New Testament writers (and far removed from our current ideas about things). If we understand this, it helps us to better understand what they wrote.

All very interesting, but the best bit comes when it’s actually applied. This happened this morning, as I drank my coffee and read a section of Genesis. I’m currently in the Italian Alps, and using a little book of devotions each morning, which I don’t especially like (I don’t like being told how to react/feel in response to what the Bible says). This morning’s passage was Genesis 16, when Hagar has run away from Sarah and God has spoken to her. In verse 13, Hagar says: ‘Then she called the name of Yahweh who was speaking to her “the one who sees”…’ (My translation of the OHB Hebrew.) This ties beautifully with the first thing I told you: Something existed if it had a name and a function. Hagar was accepting that God was real, thus she gave him a name and a function—God saw—‘seeing’ people was part of God’s identity.

The passage also says that God promises Hagar more descendants than she can count (verse 10). Again, if we apply our knowledge of what that would mean to Hagar, it would mean that after her death she would have numerous descendants to remember her—which was hugely important in the ancient world. This woman, a mere handmaid, rejected by her mistress, would be remembered forever, even after death.

I found reading this chapter with the understanding I have acquired about the ancient world changed my understanding—which I think is pretty exciting! I am loving being able to learn. I will tell you more in other blogs. 

I hope you enjoy something today too. Thanks for reading.

Take care.

Love, Anne x