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An Historical Survey of the Old Testament
Merrill has extensively updated this popular-level Old Testament history to discuss updates in archaeology and textual understanding. It is also more current as a defense of the Bible's accuracy.
352 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1965
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About the author
Eugene H. Merrill
32 books10 followersEugene H. Merrill is a respected American Old Testament scholar known for his deep expertise in biblical studies and Semitic languages. He served for decades as Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he taught from 1975 until his retirement in 2013. He also holds a distinguished faculty position at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Merrill earned advanced degrees from Bob Jones University, New York University, and Columbia University, and completed post-doctoral research at Tyndale House, Cambridge. A former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, he is widely recognized for his academic contributions and faithful scholarship.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2021
This book strives to keep a balance that is very difficult but is also something that is worthwhile, and that is to provide a book that marries a conservative approach with some intellectual seriousness. By and large I found this book to be an enjoyable read as the combination of conservative and intellectual is certainly designed to appeal to a reader like myself. This is a short survey, it should be admitted, although it does a good job at summarizing the historical thread of the Bible and also getting into other issues, such as the biblical law, and its fundamental importance to the Bible. That is not to say that this book is perfect. In fact, it is probably not nearly as long as it could have been, but if you are looking for a short one-volume work that focuses on history and does not sacrifice a strong belief in the value of the Bible as a historical text. As the author fortunately realizes, the reliability of the Bible as a historical text is aided by a high view of its reliability in general, and that is something that is far too often not understood by many so-called critics.
This book is about 300 pages long and is divided into ten chapters that cover the thread of Old Testament history. The book begins with two prefaces and then has a lengthy opening chapter on the foundations for studying the Old Testament, providing a context to matters like the Bible, history, science, prophecy, as well as the people and the land (1). After that comes a look at the period from the Creation to the post-flood world (2). This leads to a look at the founding patriarchs of the people of God (3). It is a third of the book before we leave Genesis and discuss the creation of the nation of Israel (4) as well as the theocratic foundation of biblical law (5). After this comes a look at the conquest and conflict of Joshua and Judges (6) and the age of greatness of the United Kingdom through the end of Solomon's reign (7). This is followed by a discussion of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel (8), the period between Israel's and Judah's captivity (9), and the return and renewal of Judah after the Persian conquest of Babylon (10). After this the book closes with a bibliography, index of subjects, authors, and scripture, as well as maps.
Despite the overall high value of this work, there are definitely some aspects of the book that will cause some readers to question its approach. Admittedly, this book gets off to a somewhat slow start, as its focus on the chronological history of the Bible means a huge amount of material covers matters relating to Genesis, including the philosophical question of the dating of the earth, where the author takes an agnostic opinion about scientific principles of dating, a position not too different from my own, as the author points out the problem of uniformitarianism and the factors that must take place in order to date accurately, factors that do not often exist. For those readers who are puzzled by the seeming shortage of historical discussion at the beginning of this book, it is well worth reading the book and letting the author catch up to history. As is sometimes the case, an author has many reasons to write a book, and this author has a strong desire to defend the Bible as a text that speaks soundly and authoritatively of a great many matters, of which history is not the only one. Remembering that makes it easier to appreciate this book for what it has to offer.
This book is about 300 pages long and is divided into ten chapters that cover the thread of Old Testament history. The book begins with two prefaces and then has a lengthy opening chapter on the foundations for studying the Old Testament, providing a context to matters like the Bible, history, science, prophecy, as well as the people and the land (1). After that comes a look at the period from the Creation to the post-flood world (2). This leads to a look at the founding patriarchs of the people of God (3). It is a third of the book before we leave Genesis and discuss the creation of the nation of Israel (4) as well as the theocratic foundation of biblical law (5). After this comes a look at the conquest and conflict of Joshua and Judges (6) and the age of greatness of the United Kingdom through the end of Solomon's reign (7). This is followed by a discussion of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel (8), the period between Israel's and Judah's captivity (9), and the return and renewal of Judah after the Persian conquest of Babylon (10). After this the book closes with a bibliography, index of subjects, authors, and scripture, as well as maps.
Despite the overall high value of this work, there are definitely some aspects of the book that will cause some readers to question its approach. Admittedly, this book gets off to a somewhat slow start, as its focus on the chronological history of the Bible means a huge amount of material covers matters relating to Genesis, including the philosophical question of the dating of the earth, where the author takes an agnostic opinion about scientific principles of dating, a position not too different from my own, as the author points out the problem of uniformitarianism and the factors that must take place in order to date accurately, factors that do not often exist. For those readers who are puzzled by the seeming shortage of historical discussion at the beginning of this book, it is well worth reading the book and letting the author catch up to history. As is sometimes the case, an author has many reasons to write a book, and this author has a strong desire to defend the Bible as a text that speaks soundly and authoritatively of a great many matters, of which history is not the only one. Remembering that makes it easier to appreciate this book for what it has to offer.
October 17, 2021
An Historical Survey of the Old Testament by Eugene Merrill, The Craig Press, 1966, 330 pages
I bought this book in the Fall of 1974 as the textbook for the first Bible class I took at Free Will Baptist Bible College, now renamed Welch College. The class was Old Testament Survey, and would be the first step to building an understanding of God’s Word. As I recall the professor never really used this book for the class, other than pointing out some charts and lists that we would be tested over. It was also assigned as parallel reading for our class lectures.
I pulled down from my shelf a few months back to reacquaint myself with it. I do recall reading the book back then but didn’t recall most of the book. I occasionally came across a note to “remember for test,” or “to here,” indicating where I had stopped reading on that first time thru.
The book itself is just what its’ title suggests. The author gives a chronological presentation of the books of the Old Testament. It is not overly technical or exhaustive giving rather a survey of the scholarship on debated points. It presents a conservative evangelical perspective.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this book served as a good introduction to biblical scholarship. I would eventually own many more specialized books on aspects of the Old Testament, but this was the first, and it is among the books that I would put into the hands of any Christian looking for a comprehensive understanding. I am glad that I reread it all these decades later.
I bought this book in the Fall of 1974 as the textbook for the first Bible class I took at Free Will Baptist Bible College, now renamed Welch College. The class was Old Testament Survey, and would be the first step to building an understanding of God’s Word. As I recall the professor never really used this book for the class, other than pointing out some charts and lists that we would be tested over. It was also assigned as parallel reading for our class lectures.
I pulled down from my shelf a few months back to reacquaint myself with it. I do recall reading the book back then but didn’t recall most of the book. I occasionally came across a note to “remember for test,” or “to here,” indicating where I had stopped reading on that first time thru.
The book itself is just what its’ title suggests. The author gives a chronological presentation of the books of the Old Testament. It is not overly technical or exhaustive giving rather a survey of the scholarship on debated points. It presents a conservative evangelical perspective.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this book served as a good introduction to biblical scholarship. I would eventually own many more specialized books on aspects of the Old Testament, but this was the first, and it is among the books that I would put into the hands of any Christian looking for a comprehensive understanding. I am glad that I reread it all these decades later.
February 7, 2013
What I loved; Merrill gives a very clear, very easy to understand summery of Old Testament stories. He even goes into a fair amount of the historical context of the biblical stories. For example when describing the conquest of Canaan in Joshua, Merrill gives at least 2 pages just in describing basic tenents of the canaanite religion and the canaanite pantheon of gods. Finally, Merrill gives a good summation of the law and the priesthood. Again it is easy to understand and an excellent introduction to the Old Testament.
What I hated; Merrill is extremely biased. this is especially so when he tries to give an apologetic at the beginning of the book. He gives a narrow, end all response to many objections given by critics, and offers only a fundamentalist interpretation of Genesis 1-11. Whats more, Merrill, shall we say, has his hands in too many pies. He tries to talk about science and philosophy, and he does so fairly poorly, even by creationist standards. For example, he assumes that evolution is akin to naturalism, or inherently part of a naturalist framework. Merrill states, “ There are on the one hand, the simple, unsophisticated, yet majestic accounts of Genesis, and, on the other hand, the complex evolutionary perspectives of scientism.” This is blatantly dishonest. For one thing, there is no connection between evolution and scientism. Scientism is the belief that all questions and problems which plague humanity can be answered by science, as such, scientism assumes naturalism. However, evolution is simply a proposed explanation of the variety of life we see around us, it makes no philosophical assumption, therefore, that science has all the answers. Whats more, there are many views of Genesis 1 and 2 outside of literal six day creationism. There is historic creationism, the day-age view, and the framework hypothesis among many others. None of these are considered by Merrill, he just ignores them, and does so in a book thats supposed to be about history and biblical exegesis not philosophy or science.
In conclusion Merrill started out the book in really poor taste, but made up for it in the rest of the book with an easy to read guide to the Old Testament. As such, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy to understand summary of the Old Testament that doesn’t pretend to be the Old Testament and doesn’t skip over important parts like the law and the psalms (cough cough, unlike the Story).
What I hated; Merrill is extremely biased. this is especially so when he tries to give an apologetic at the beginning of the book. He gives a narrow, end all response to many objections given by critics, and offers only a fundamentalist interpretation of Genesis 1-11. Whats more, Merrill, shall we say, has his hands in too many pies. He tries to talk about science and philosophy, and he does so fairly poorly, even by creationist standards. For example, he assumes that evolution is akin to naturalism, or inherently part of a naturalist framework. Merrill states, “ There are on the one hand, the simple, unsophisticated, yet majestic accounts of Genesis, and, on the other hand, the complex evolutionary perspectives of scientism.” This is blatantly dishonest. For one thing, there is no connection between evolution and scientism. Scientism is the belief that all questions and problems which plague humanity can be answered by science, as such, scientism assumes naturalism. However, evolution is simply a proposed explanation of the variety of life we see around us, it makes no philosophical assumption, therefore, that science has all the answers. Whats more, there are many views of Genesis 1 and 2 outside of literal six day creationism. There is historic creationism, the day-age view, and the framework hypothesis among many others. None of these are considered by Merrill, he just ignores them, and does so in a book thats supposed to be about history and biblical exegesis not philosophy or science.
In conclusion Merrill started out the book in really poor taste, but made up for it in the rest of the book with an easy to read guide to the Old Testament. As such, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy to understand summary of the Old Testament that doesn’t pretend to be the Old Testament and doesn’t skip over important parts like the law and the psalms (cough cough, unlike the Story).
November 14, 2013
A good mix of biblical narratives and elaboration of terms and context - it's like reading a good story with lots of informative footnotes. Enjoyed especially "creation of a nation", "conquest and charisma" and "an age of greatness". Am holding on to the 1966 version of the book and the typeset is real erhm antiquarian. Topped up with a good bibliography and Bible index, it's a good journey back in history.
March 10, 2013
Great for historical backgrounds of the Bible!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews