Thursday, December 20, 2007

My New Ancient Book


I just got this (Archaeological Study Bible) in the mail yesterday and have already used it for sermon prep. It’s chock-full of articles on the history/archeology/culture etc. of Biblical times.

For example, this Sunday’s OT reading is from Isaiah 7. So I turned to Isaiah 7 and there’s an entire page on the Syro-Ephraimite War with references to Pekah, Rezin, and Tiglath-Pileser III.

I love it!

It also has 500 full color photographs with descriptions interspersed through out.


And at the beginning of each book it has helpful cultural facts and highlights along with incredibly helpful time lines. For example, the intro to Isaiah gives the time range of Isaiah’s ministry along with the split of the kingdom, the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, Amos, Hosea, and Micah, Israel’s exile, and the fall of Jerusalem. Very helpful!

And it comes with a CD that has all 500 photographs, charts, tables, articles, diagrams, etc.

It has already made a welcome addition to my Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, my two IVP Bible Background Commentaries, and my A History of Israel by John Bright.

I know, it’s the NIV translation, but I have the ESV also on my desk (and the Greek and Hebrew), so the NIV doesn’t bother me.

Does anybody else have this book or some such similar thing they’d be willing to share info on?

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