Nancy M. Tischler – All Things in the Bible. An Encyclopedia of the Biblical World

Автор: Nancy M. Tischler
Название книги: An Encyclopedia of the Biblical World
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Философия
Страницы: 779
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The Holy Bible is rooted in fact, in the common life of the people. The
words of Scripture are thick with imagery drawn from everyday life: the
voice of the turtledove in spring, the wondrous fl ight of the eagle in the air,
the sturdy industry of the ant. Although the Bible reaches through time
into eternity, from life on earth to mansions in Heaven, yet it is fi rmly
rooted in things, people, and places. The Hebrews were a people whose
way of thinking was concrete and vivid, fi lled with insights from the world
around them. They were also a people with a genius for metaphor, seeing
transcendent meanings behind simple things.
Their history, that great drama of God’s love of his creation, their disobedience
and suffering, their redemption and eternal hope, is narrated
through a series of “books.” The Bible is this collection of poetry, stories,
chronicles, proverbs, and prophesies that form their grand epic. To visualize
the context in which the stories unfold and to understand the nuances
of the prophetic words in Scripture, the reader must have a wide and deep
knowledge of the “things” that were the everyday stuff of the ancient
world.
“Things”(as defi ned for the purposes of this study) need not be inanimate
objects: they can be animals, concepts, titles, or historical events. The
term things is used here to refer to groups of people (such as professions,
nationalities), commonly referenced cultures and places (such as Egypt,
Galilee), theological constructs (such as the Fall of Man, the Resurrection),
events and activities (festivals, the Great Flood), and pagan gods (Dagon,
Asherah). They are the common reference points among the people who
walk through the pages of Scripture. This journey included the tending of sheep, the mending of coats, the
selling of grain, and the swaddling of newborn babes. The Jews and
Christians were also intensely aware of the neighboring peoples who
threatened Israel’s existence or martyred the early Christians. The life
presented in Scripture is full of kings and judges, priests and prophets,
whose roles were fully understood by the community around them. The
Jews believed that their history was the story of God’s covenant with
them involving the call of the Patriarchs, the Egyptian captivity, the
miraculous Exodus, the battles with the indigenous people of Canaan
and with the Philistines, the many invaders, the Exile, the return—all
watershed events in Israel’s history. It is clearly impossible to chronicle
every thing, every group, every event, but this study is an effort to capture
those that appear most frequently in Scripture in both the Old and New
Testaments.
This book, which is a compilation of ideas and facts from hundreds of
sources, is designed as a reference tool for the lay reader of Scripture. It has
little of the scholarly detail and debate that advanced theological students
would demand, nor the discussions of derivations from original languages
that they would expect in their research. It is for those “common readers”
who know something of Scripture, wonder about details and ideas, and are
searching for fuller understanding.
The book is organized alphabetically, with considerable cross- referencing.
If items are not in the Contents, the reader should search the Index at
the back of the second volume. Each entry has selected Bible sources,
etymology (if possible and helpful), scholarly commentary, archaeological
detail (when relevant), and occasional references regarding later infl uences
on intellectual, artistic, or religious history. If the item has symbolic
implications, those also appear in the entry. The cross-references are in
bold type and are also listed after the entry. The bibliographical references
are included in the text and in the concluding section of the entry.
There is also a selected bibliography at the end of the second volume.
These are by no means exhaustive. Scholarly studies of almost every one
of these 200 plus entries are available in theological libraries and often on
the Internet.
In a few cases, the listings are clustered. Under Law or Cloth or Clothing,
the related items appear one after another for more effi cient use of the
material. In some cases, a drawing appeared necessary for better explanation
of the process or the object.
I owe my deepest thanks to Ellen McHenry and her assistants—Andrew
McHenry, Hannah McHenry, Levi Staver, and Monica Houston—who
supplied these beautifully drawn and carefully researched illustrations and
maps that are scattered through both volumes. I also owe Jean Sherman a debt of gratitude for her careful, thoughtful, and tireless proofreading of
these two volumes to ensure that they are coherent and clear.
We all hope that this proves a handy resource for readers of Scripture,
who will gain a richer understanding of vineyards and funerals, weddings
and hospitality, Pharisees and Sadducees, kings and shepherds as a result of
using these volumes.
Nancy Tischler