The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology
Overview
Daniel Block explores the relationship between ancient Near Eastern nations and their respective deities. Block demonstrates how this relationship was expressed in everyday life, national identity, and history. Consequently, Israel’s theocratic culture is illuminated in comparison to other Near Eastern cultures.
Top Highlights
“First, none depicts a deity wresting territory from another deity or gaining it by military victory. On the contrary, in each instance the allotment appears to have proceeded under peaceful circumstances. Where the procedure is noted, the allocations are made either by lot14 or as outright grants.15 Second, in several the highest deity appears to have played the leading role.16 Third, and most important for our discussion, in each case the relationships established are between deities and lands, without respect to the inhabitants of the land. The texts all portray the lands as the realms of the gods.” (Page 25)
“The primary concern of deities was the land ascribed to them; the identity of the inhabitants of those lands seems to have been relatively immaterial.” (Page 32)
“Phoenicia, if by ‘nation’ we mean, ‘An extensive aggregate of persons, so closely associated with each other by common descent, language, or history, as to form a distinct race or people, usually organized as a separate state and occupying a definite territory.’” (Page 18)
“Eusebius provides the most important extrabiblical source for the origins of the territorial claims of the gods” (Page 24)
“The role of the people in this tripartite relationship was to fulfill the will of the deity” (Page 151)
- Title: The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology
- Author: Daniel I. Block
- Edition: Second Edition
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2013
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Theology; Religion and state › Middle East--History; Religion and state › Biblical teaching; Middle East › Religion
- ISBNs: 9781620329740, 9780801022012, 9780932055026, 1620329743, 0801022010, 0932055028
- Resource ID: LLS:GODSOFTHENATIONS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:19:28Z
Dr. Daniel Block, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, has been teaching God’s Word for more than 30 years.
It has been a special joy for Dr. Block to watch students, who often take introductory courses in Old Testament only because they are required to do so by the curriculum, suddenly awaken to the fact that the Old Testament is understandable and its message is both life-giving and relevant for modern, everyday life.
Dr. Block has published a number of books and essays in scholarly journals. The paradigm for his research and ministry is set by Ezra, as described in Ezra 7:10: he committed himself to the study the Torah of Yahweh, to put it into practice, and to teach his revealed will in Israel. This means constantly asking serious questions of the Scriptures: What does the text say? Why does the text say it like that? What did the text mean to the original audience? What does the text have to say to me today? In order to answer these questions, one needs to understand both the worlds out of which the biblical texts arose and the worlds in which modern people live.
