Episode 7: John Walton on the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

The Bible was not written in a bubble. Abraham, Moses, David, and every other mentioned and unmentioned person that lived in ancient times was part of and influenced by their culture. However, now that we are so far removed from this ancient Near Eastern culture, we often forget about the impact it had on the Bible. The Bible was written FOR us, for our salvation and guide to glorify God, but it was not written TO us. It was written to people who think like Babylonians, who interact with Egyptians and Canaanites and Assyrians every day. We must be cautious, then, to not filter what we read through present-day American culture, but to be mindful of how the text would have been received by an Israelite. How do we do this? How can we jump back in time into the minds of these people? The Cultural Study Backgrounds Bible is an excellent place to start. We got the privilege of speaking with Dr. John Walton, who was the general editor for the Old Testament portion of the study Bible. Listen along as he discusses the importance of reading the Bible through its correct cultural lens. 

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RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

• Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (available in NIV, NRSV, and NKJV)
• Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 5 volume set
• Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: 
  Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible, by John Walton
• Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, by Jack M Sasson
• Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East by Christopher Hays
  
• Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement, 
  edited by James B. Pritchard