Review (PDF) Ancient Egypt And The Old Testament
An enlightening guide to Egyptian influences on Israelite history. Includes illustrations.
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Baker Academic (November 1, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0801021375
ISBN-13: 978-0801021374
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 8.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #103,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Books > History > World > Religious > New Age, Mythology & Occult #25 in Books > History > Africa > Egypt #59 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Bible Study & Reference > History & Culture
In the Foreword to John Currid's book, the eminent Kenneth Kitchen writes that the "whole subject of the interrelations of ancient Egypt and the Old Testament is very much larger than most people realize" and in this book Currid has selected a series of themes. I would agree that this is a most apt description.Currid divides his 13 chapters between an introduction and various portions of the Old Testament. There are six chapters on the relationships between the Pentateuch and Egypt, two on the historical books, one on wisdom literature, and two on prophecy. Currid is widely read on Egyptology and this comes across in his writing. In his chapter called "The Egyptian Setting of the Serpent Confrontation," Currid shows the breadth and depth of his studies in Egyptology. Numerous Egyptian sources are cited showing the meaning of the serpent in ancient Egypt. Then Currid adds the battle of the biblical writers. Aaron's throwing the rod-snake before Pharaoh was an assault on the latter's authority since the serpent was a symbol of Pharaoh's. The reader might want to have a look at the story in Exodus again for the full impact of this.Currid treats the biblical figures as historical figures. Moses or Aaron did this or that, etc. Currid does the same with Potiphar where he concludes that what can be known about Potiphar is "not much." Potiphar's name does not tell us much about the station and function of a person by that name though probably he was not a eunuch. Moreover the name itself "seems to be an anomaly" if the Joseph story occurred in the second millennium; "the name itself is primarily confined to the 1st millennium."One would do well to read Currid's book for what Kitchen said: because the interrelations between Egypt and the Old Testament is much larger than most people think. On that basis Currid's book is thought-provoking reading from cover to cover.
Coming from a family fascinated by ancient Egypt (my brother, Dr. Hoyt Hobbs, has written numerous books on Egypt, several published by Fielding/Morrow), I found John Currid's treatment an outstanding, well-documented, readable book. For me, Currid's book provided a stimulation and informative study of how the world of ancient Egypt illuminates the pages of the Old Testament. A must read for those of us interested in Egypt and the Old Testament.
Though this book is almost twenty years old, I don't know of any more recent work that covers the same material, though Kenneth Kitchen's On the Reliability of the Old Testament includes some similar coverage. The Introduction gives a brief overview of the relationship between Egypt and the Old Testament as well as a summary review of Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmologies. The remaining four parts are: Egyptian Elements in the Pentateuch; Contacts Between Israel and Egypt in the Historical Books; Egyptian Wisdom Literature and the Poetical Books; and Egyptian and Israelite Prophecy. The whole book is well done. Currid's treatment is careful and balanced, noting where there is diversity of opinion and giving a fair presentation of differing views. The most important part of the book is the first, in that Currid shows that the biblical cosmogony in the opening chapters of Genesis is much closer in character to that of Egypt than it is to the Mesopotamian cosmogonies. This is particularly important in light of the recent works of such scholars as John Walton, who trace the influences on the opening chapters of Genesis from the Mesopotamian sources. Such a fundamental misapprehension calls into question the conclusions that Walton draws. Other significant contributions of Currid's work are the treatment of the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-10), the Israelite wilderness itinerary (Numbers 33), and the relationship between Proverbs 22-24 and the Egyptian "Instruction of Amenemope." Highly recommended to all students of the Bible, though it should be noted that this is a technical, and would be heavy going for those with little background in the field.
This book is extremely informative. With all the reading I have done over the years on the Ancient Near East nearly 100% treat Mesopotamian connections. Currid does a great job of comparing and contrasting the Hebrew paralels with Ancient Egypt.I am by no means a scholar but I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in more fully understanding the Old Testament world, especially the one in which the sons of Abraham grew from a small clan into a nation ready to take their first steps toward the Promised land.
Though I have an MDiv, I knew next to nothing about Ancient Egypt before reading this book. Other than tidbits I picked up along the way (some of which were erroneous), I was a complete ignoramus when it came to Egyptology. In that light, Currid's book is nothing short of amazing. It's obviously super-scholarly; probably half the footnotes cite French or German obscure archaeology journals. That being said, it is clearly-written, captivating, enjoyable, none-too-long, and extremely illuminating for so much of the Old Testament. Next time I preach Genesis, Exodus, 1 Kings, or Isaiah I'll be shamelessly relying on this resource. I'd strongly recommend it to all pastors. My only quibble is the price. It's a bit expensive for a softcover book just over 200 pages.
Egyptian Mythology: Discover the Ancient Secrets of Egyptian Mythology (Egypt, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Civilizations, Gods, Pharaohs, Ra, Isis, Set) (Ancient Civilizations and Mythology) Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament Egyptian Gods: The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (Egyptian Gods, Ancient Egypt) History: Greatest Ancient Civilization History: (History Rome, Romans, Egypt, SPQR, Aztec, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Julius Caesar, Jesus, Muhammed, Alexander the Great) Ancient Egypt: The Egypt of Nefertiti (Beauty of the Nile) Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible The Law and the New Testament: The Question of Continuity (Companions to the New Testament) Historia Del Antiguo Egipto/ History of Ancient Egypt (Historia Antigua / Ancient History) (Spanish Edition) Sumerians: Discover History's First Civilization: Everything You Need to Know About the Sumerians of the Ancient World (Ancient History, Ancient Civilizations Handbook) Scholia On Passages Of The Old Testament: Now First Ed. In The Original Syriac, With An English Translation And Notes The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Phoenix Books) Hosea and Gomer (Conversations Through the Pages - Old Testament) Women in the Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives (Volume 2) Reading the Old Testament, Revised and Expanded: Method in Biblical Study Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors Eagle to the Son: The story of Isaiah (Heroes and Heroines of the Old Testament Book 1) Isaiah for Everyone (Old Testament for Everyone) The Book of Job (1985): A Commentary (The Old Testament Library) Spanish Old Testament-RV 1960 with Other (Spanish Edition) Panorama del Antiguo Testamento/Old Testament Survey (Spanish Edition)
