Old Testament Biblical Studies for Preachers: Selected in Depth Studies: 2Nd Edition Merging Old Testament History and Biblical Hermeneutics

By Pastor Harold B. Betton

This book is intended to reach across the broad spectrum of Biblical Studies and open up new areas of learning for the student of Scripture, whether Seminary, the classroom, or the pulpit. I hae endevored to expose extrabiblical material designed to open the thoughtes of the reader to the geopolitical, financial and social matters within the world of Israel in an effort to enable to reader to more wholelistically present, teach or deliver the truth of the Bible.

It is my hope that the reader of this small book will desire to learn more of the historical periods in which the Bible was written an engage in a quest to learn even more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665526838

Pastor Harold B. Betton

Harold B. Betton, MD, PhD, MS, MA is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR where he earned both a BS and MS degree before attending the University of Washington School of Medicine where he earned the MD degree. After completing a 3-year residency in Family Medicine Dr. Betton moved back to his native Little Rock, AR and began the practice of medicine. Dr. Betton surrended to the call of ministry in 1988 and in 1996 began his seminary training. After spending 2 years studying at the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock he enrolled in Trinity College and Seminary in Newburgh, IN where he earned a MA and PhD in Biblial Studies. After compleing this PhD degree he became an adjunct instructor at Arkansas Baptist College and has remained there since. After graduating from Trinity he authored Yahweh’s Holy Mountain. Dr. Betton served as co-director of the Spirituality and Medicine seminar series for Howard University and from that experience co-authored four books: Spirituality and Medicine: Can the Two Walk Together, When Spirituality and Medicine Disconnect: Gaining the World an Losing God’s Promise, Translating Spiritualiy and Medicine in the Healing Professions, and Let’s Talk about your health: A Biblically Based Approach. Dr. Betton is in his 27th year as Pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock, AR and his 43rd year as a practicing Family Physician.

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Published by AuthorHouse 05/19/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2684-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2682-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2683-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021910603

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Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

OLD TESTAMENT BIBLICAL STUDIES FOR PREACHERS:

SELECTED IN DEPTH STUDIES

2nd Edition

Merging Old Testament History and Biblical Hermeneutics

Pastor Harold B. Betton

By Pastor Harold B. Betton, MD, Ph.D., MS, MA,

Adjunct Instructor Division of Religious Studies, Arkansas Baptist College

Pastor, New Light Missionary Baptist Church,

Little Rock, AR

DEDICATION

This second edition is dedicated to the multiple students that I have had the honor of teaching at Arkansas Baptist College since 2005. I dedicate it to the enduring relationship I have with the college, faculty and staff.

Special thanks to Clifton Conley, DD, of Arkansas Baptist College for his continued leadership and encouragement.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Part I:   From Creation To Monotheism A Study Of Genesis

Chapter One

Creation

Egyptian Cosmogony And Theogony

Ancient Mesopotamian And Assyrian Creation Accounts

The Sumerian Creation Account:

The Hebrew Bible’s Creation Account:

Sitz Im Leben And Concepts Of Cultural Anthropology And Epistemology As It Relates To The Genesis Creation Account:

Chapter Two

Salvation History

Chapter Three

The Development Of Monotheism

Part II:   From Apostacy To Exile: A Critical Evaluation Of Israel’s Neighbors In Light Of Selected Biblical Conflict Narratives

Chapter Four

The Conquest Narratives In Light Of Israel’s Response And Yahweh’s Command:

An Identification Of The Genesis, The Failure To Complete The Conquest:

Egypt During The Period Of Moses’ Wilderness Wondering (1446-1406 Bc)

Egypt During Joshua’s Conquest Of Canaan (1400 Bc-1350 Bc) 239

Dating The Period Of The Judges:

Chapter Five

The Cost Of Failure And The Rise Of Hegemony

The Genesis Of Phillistine Domination:

The Rise Of Aramean Hegemony:

The Genesis Of Babylonian Hegemony:

The Rise Of Persian Hegemony In Light Of Daniel 5:

Part III:   Postexilic Judaism Setting The Stage For A Fragmented Future

Conclusion

Bibliography

End Notes

PREFACE

As a preacher of the Gospel I have been impressed with the voluminous amount of available information in biblical studies and at one time felt nearly overwhelmed by the multiple arguments presented in the all-too-numerous commentaries. I recognize the power of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in my studies and preaching and have discovered the need for the incorporation of extrabiblical literature as an adjunct to the biblical witness. To this end I have concluded that preachers as a group have not been afforded an opportunity to evaluate these resources in a cohesive way principally because very few scholars are practicing pastors and may be out of touch with what the preacher needs as adjunctive material. With this in mind this monograph represents an effort to provide a much needed resource.

Regardless of theological persuasion the study of God’s word remains central to the exegete. It is for this reason that extrabiblical historical facts provides material adequate for the exegete to construct a Sitz im Leben (life situation) that bears on the scriptural material. The evidence will be presented and discussed in such a way that the preacher will be able to utilize not only the presented material, but also enlarge upon it in a manner best suited for any purpose. This study is not designed to present all of the evidence; it is designed to whet the appetite of the preacher, introduce many resources from which further material can be gleaned, and demonstrate how these resources can impact God’s word to the extent necessary for the preacher to construct and present His word with greater clarity.

It is my expressed hope that each reader of this work will develop a greater appreciation for the need to understand with greater clarity the audience to whom the original biblical narrative was addressed and be able to make it more meaningful to our contemporary congregations. Lastly, it is my prayer that each of us as preachers and teachers will remain focused on our objective, leading others to Christ!

I have decided to expand this first edition to include the necessary historical topics in the post Nehemiah 12 period with a study of postexilic Judaism, which rounds out the completion of the Old Testament. These studies are not exhaustive and there will be many scholars that would have included other topics for discussion. It is my prayer that the appetite of the intended audience be whet enough to cause them to seek exploring this inexhausible subject.

Little Rock, 2021

INTRODUCTION

The Hebrew Old Testament, if properly exegeted, must take into account the situation in which it was written, Sitz im Leben, commensurate with the cultural anthropology of the recipients. Secondly, to properly exegete the Scripture requires an understanding of comparative religion; in this case the religion of Israel’s ancient neighbors. When the Hebrew Bible is opened the first verse sets forth an accurate creation account; however, unless curious, the exegete rarely asks why start the written word this way. The student of Scripture is confronted with a concrete creation account devoid of any comparative arguments because it was not designed to be a document of comparative religion. It was not written to express epistemological arguments; it was not written for heuristic or polemical purposes; it was written as the one-and-only true creation account, juxtaposed against the false creation accounts learned by the emacipated Hebrew slaves. Numerous Old Testament scholars have posited form and source critical arguments toward the development of the Pentateuch, ¹ all based upon presuppositions with tenacious grounds; however, this work is not presented as a refutation of these arguments; it presents the available evidence upon which the preacher can reach personal conclusions and stand upon them through the power of Holy Spirit led preaching and teaching. This work will cite evidence presented by critical and evangelical scholars while incorporating or criticizing their conclusions. To establish a firm foundation for the biblical witness I have elected to organize arguments from creation to the development of monotheism as the starting point.

The study is written in two parts. Part I discusses from creation to the development of monotheism because it is upon this emphasis that Yahweh (YHWH) reached the first endpoint of his relation with Israel. Part II evaluates Israel’s difficulties from the incomplete conquest to exile. This discussion evaluates Judges, the Kings, and the Chronicles, interfacing with prophetic literature when necessary. The areas under discussion were chosen because they represented major historical blocks that impacted Israel’s history. A major part of this section evaluates the rise and fall of Egypt, Israel, Assyria, and Babylon’s authority (hegemony) over other nations in an effort to rule the levant (areas west of the Jordan); the monograph carefully crafts those events which led to such rise and fall using as evidence the literary archeological record. The extant archaeological record will be interfaced with the prophetic witness of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and the historical record as recorded in the Kings and Chronicles. No attempt is made to refute the integrity of the extant documents; all attempts will be made to argue for its use in explaining the background of the historical and prophetic biblical witnesses. Finally the use of such material in the preaching and teaching ministry will be discussed.

In this expanded edition a new chapter is included. This chapter stems from a paper that I presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Society for Biblical Literature in 2006 devoted to a discussion of postexilic Judaism and a silent Persian crown. It evaluates the role of the Satrapy and whether it usurped central Persian authority in the post Nehemiah 12 period. A study of this type enhances the study of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Habakkuk and helps set the stage for the fate of Yehud while introducing exerpts from the Elephantine papyri, documenting the Jews in Egypt in the same period perhaps starting with Jeremiah and company as documented in Jeremiah chapter 43.

PART ONE

FROM CREATION TO MONOTHEISM

A STUDY OF GENESIS

CHAPTER ONE

CREATION

The need for a society to explain its existence or to justify the norms and mores of its praxis demanded the presence of a developed creation narrative. As such the narrative not only explained the creation of man, but also of the universe. To this end the society defined its cosmogony (creation of the cosmos and those deities relegated to it). As the basis for explaining the relation of man to a higher power the development of a society’s relationship to a god or gods unfolded; to this end the society defined its theogony (the role of the gods in the daily lives of his subjects and how such roles influenced their theological expressions to the deity). It is within the confines of these two important poles that a culture explained the basis upon which its necessities, food, water, fertility, warfare, death, birth…was provided by the god or gods. Furthermore, these civilizations constructed narratives, myths, legends, or epics to define its cosmogony and theogony and required its citizens to live out the truth of such through its religious practices. It was upon these narrative constructs that a developed schedule of sacrifices and liturgical practices developed within cultures and influenced and promoted shared religious practices between cultures. It was to this end that a plethora of gods was felt necessary to achieve optimal survival of the pagan culture; essentially a god was named for as many aspects of life as possible.

This study will first evaluate the ancient Near Eastern cultures’ theogony and cosmogony by supplying evidence of its epics, myths, narratives, and legends to the point of juxtaposing it against the biblical witness of Genesis. After a discussion of Israel’s neighbors an argument will be presented that evaluates the Mosaic creation narrative as given to him by Yahweh. In the background of this discussion will be found the development of symbolic language, iconography, religious ideology and how such was integrated into a nation’s politics, history, and religion. ²

EGYPTIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY

To attain a working knowledge of Egyptian theology is at best quite a task that requires one to understand Egypt and its people. Geographically Egypt represented a strip of land separated into Upper and Lower Egypt and ruled by dynastic succession over many centuries. For purposes of the Old Testament the period from the Egyptian Old Kingdom (2800-2300 BCE) through the Hellenic Period (332-30 BCE) is important.

To illustrate this concept the table below relates various time periods to biblical periods. ³

The Basic Concept of Creation:

Egyptians viewed the world as a flat disk floating upon the sea and to this end fashioned gods whose responsibility was to maintain that balance. The earliest views held that the sky was a cow whose feet rested on the earth or was a woman supporting herself with her hands as her feet rested on the earth. This developed into the more usual view that the sky was a sheet of water upon which boats sailed that contained the stars. These boats were felt to occasionally rest on the four pillars of the heavens or mountains. ⁹

Since the Nile River was revered it was felt to never flow outside of Egypt. The basic representation of the earth as flat supported by the sky and floating upon the great sea, the sun, whose radiant illumination was held in great reverence, represented a god. The Egyptians called the sun god, Re, by other names, Khepre, Horis Harakhti and Atum. ¹⁰

Our attention will turn to the basic concepts of creation with the proviso that within each Egyptian district, dependant upon the dominant deity, the creation story differed.

In the beginning only chaos existed, Nun, the primeval waters. Out of this in some way or other the sun god was created. He came into being while as yet there was no heaven, when neither serpent nor reptile was formed. He came into being in the form of Khepre, and there was nothing that was with him in that place where he was…resting in the waters of Nun, and he found no place where he could stand. Then the god bethought himself in his heart to create other beings, and he begat of himself and spat it out. And what he spat out was the god Shu, and the goddess Tefnut, those two beings who, according to Egyptian belief, supported the heavens. Shu and Tefnut then produced Keb and Nut, the earth god and the sky goddess, and Keb and Nut produced Osiris and Set, Isis, and Nephythys, whose children are many on this earth." ¹¹

In another tradition the sun god was held as being hatched from an egg upon the waters of Desdes like the waterfowl of the Egyptian marshland. Taking part in this birth were eight primeval beings in the form of frogs, serpents, and a cow. ¹² On the creation of man one tradition, the Eye of the Sun, held that man came forth of the tears of the sun god. As the legend goes the sun god lost his eye in conflict and Shu and Tefnut restored it to him. Thankful for this he began to cry and from those tears came forth man. Thus the symbol of the sun god became a serpent upon the forehead of Pharaoh. ¹³

The sun god, Re bore Shu and Tefnut whose children were the gods, Keb and Nut. Keb and Nut bore Osiris (Isis) and Set (Nephthys). The Egyptians constructed their cosmogony by incorporating these gods into the mythic legends. As the myth has it-

The earth and sky were not yet separated and Nut still lay upon her brother Keb. Therefore her father Shu thrust himself between them, and raised her into the heights, and with her he raised into the heights all the gods that had hitherto been created, and Nut took possession of them, counted them and made them into stars. Even the sun itself was not excepted, and now they all sail in their ships over the body of Nut, This was the actual beginning of our present world; when heaven and earth were thus separated from each other, all things fell into their present order. ¹⁴

On the account of the moon’s creation the myth credits Re as its maker.

Once, while Re sojourned in the heavens, he said, Call Thoth unto me and forthwith he was brought. The Majesty of this god said to Thoth, Be thou in heaven in my place while I give light to the glorified ones in the under-world…Thou art in my stead, my representative as thou shalt be called; Thoth the representative of Re...He said to Thoth, I will cause thee to embrace both the heavens with thy beauty and thy beams," so the moon was created. ¹⁵

To understand the impact of these legends upon the daily lives of the Egyptians requires an appreciation for the Myth of Osiris. At this point the pantheon of the god’s genealogy can be described as follows: Re created Keb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky god. These two goddesses had four children, two sons, Osiris and Set, and two daughters, Nephthys and Isis. Isis became Osiris’ wife and Nephthys married Set. Osiris ruled the world as king and instructed man in all that was good. His brother, Keb, gave him his inheritance as ruler of the two lands, Upper and Lower Egypt. As the legend goes Osiris was a great ruler shining his light upon goodness and defeating his foes always. He established truth and goodness throughout the land; to this end his brother, Set became his enemy. Set would have ended the life of Osiris had it not been for the watchful eye of Isis; however, a trick worked. Set deceived Osiris causing him to lay in a chest which Set bound and through into the sea. Isis, not knowing the whereabouts of her husband, Osiris, uttered and lamented while sitting down close to his sister, Nephthys. Re heard the lament and sent forth other of his sons to bury Osiris. ¹⁶

He joined together the body, of which the members had fallen apart…; wrapped it round with bandages and carried out all that the later Egyptians performed for their dead. Isis, however, caused breath to enter into it, with her wings, and thus the dead god began to return to life, he raised his arm, turned himself on one side, and then lifted up his head. Although he could not return to his former life on earth, yet he could enter upon a second existence, and from being king of men, become a king of the dead. Isis, in the form of a sparrow hawk hovered over the body of her husband, Osiris, and became pregnant, giving birth to a son, Horus. Hiding Horus from Set the boy grew and avenged his father’s death losing an eye. Thoth, the moon god, separated Horus and Set and judged Osiris to be true and right. Osiris ascended into heaven ¹⁷

In this myth Osiris became the first fruits of the deceased reigning in heaven accepting all who successfully passed through the kingdom of the dead and his son, Horus, became the first fruits of the living, reigning upon