The Heart of Hebrew History: A Study of the Old Testament

by H.I. Hester

In 1948 the author of this volume was invited by the Education Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to prepare a textbook on the Old Testament for use by college students. The book is intended primarily for students on the freshman and sophomore level. While some attention has been given to background materials such as geography and antiquities, the chief purpose of the writer has been to present the leading facts in the history of the Hebrew people as given in the Old Testament.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Religion, History

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a very broad summary of Old Testament events and literature. The author is a Southern Baptist and was commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention to write this summary as use as a text book in its seminaries. Consequently, it is very conservative.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a concise summary of Old Testament events and who approaches the bible from a very conservative literalist viewpoint. All others would be very dissatisfied with it.

[Zachary Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great, condensed overview of Hebrew history beginning with Genesis 1 up to the Second Temple. Covering roughly 1800 years in 330 pages, it naturally is not over detailed and should be used more of a guide in case you get lost in the timeline like I did when sorting out Kings and Chronicles. I have the 15th edition, printed 1962.

I would give it a 4/5 but I'm docking a star because it's getting out of date. This is especially apparent with the archaeology section wherein it's referred to as a "new science". For perspective, W. Albright's revolutionary work in Biblical archaeology was published less than 10 years before this book. Also, there are some questionable ethnic generalizations. E.G. the author claims the Jews became especially good a merchandising because of the Babylonian captivity (cue Yogurt from Spaceballs). You could get away with that in '62 but not so much nowadays.

Assessment: Good as a general timeline and basic overview of Hebrew history, but it's not aging well.

3.0/5

[Lionel Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Read

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I've read on both the Hebrew history and the Old Testament. It has literally helped me to connect and synchronize the entire Bible. I would recommend that anyone who's serious about Biblical Studies consider reading both volumes of this book.
Lionel Jackson, DMin

[C. R. Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Hester is for those interested in a simplistic, introductory-level narrative regarding the development of the Old Testament and specific traditions present in Judaism that developed during the inter-Testimonial period. I would only suggest this book to conservative literalists, as anyone else might find themselves frustrated with Hester's (in)famous Baptist approach to the Scriptures.

A good read for beginners. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Alisa Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative overview of the Old Testament.