ANCIENT NEAR EAST:

The World of the Old Testament

More than a list of names and books, the bible is a legacy of a people, a rich testimony of
cultures from the past and a way of life different from the way contemporary people to live. To
appreciate the bible is to discover such past and to find the crucial nexus between experiences and
universal meanings which both bind the past and the present.
In this chapter, the focus is aimed at the study of the world of the Old Testament. Learning from
the shared colossal achievements of the sciences of archaeology, anthropology, engineering, and biblical
exegesis for over hundreds of years, readers are expected to get acquainted with the peoples and places
in the ancient near east, to learn from the highlight of events that they can correlate with familiar
biblical narratives, and hopefully, to lead them to a better understanding of the biblical literature and its
religious message. Let it also be noted that this attempt to understand the ancient near east is just a tool
for a better appreciation of Gods revelation of Gods history.

1. Fertile Crescent
Canaan, the promised land to Abraham and his descendants, was a country located at the heart
of the ancient near east. Southwest to Canaan was the home of the ancient pharaohs and the
nile river, Egypt. The North was the land of fierce warriors and kings, Assyria; and further in the
east marked the great capital of the ancient world, Babylon and the first cradle of human
civilization, Sumer. From sumer in the east to Egypt in the west, a crescent shaped route is
formed where people of the ancient near east hurried back and forth for trade, agriculture,
travel, and most especially, water!
Such route was termed as the FERTILE CRESCENT, enriched by the twin rivers of Mesopotamia in
the east: The Euphrates and the tigris river, as well as the nile of Egypt in the western part.
However, for aharoni et. Al., the fertile crescent only stretched from the Persian gulf to the
Sinai PeninsulaToday the fertile crescent is divided between Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and
Israel. (1993:12)].
2. People and Places of the ancient Near east

A sufficient understanding of the Bible requires consideration of the account of the peoples and
places of the ancient near east and their influence and relevance to the biblical narrative in the
Old Testament.

2.1 Mesopotamians

Mesopotamia is literally referred to as the land between two riversthe tigris and the
Euphrates. It covers the vast land of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria, and has been universally
identified as the birthplace of human civilization.