Ancient Israelite Religion [Hardcover]

Susan Niditch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0195091272 | ISBN-13: 978-0195091274

The people and culture behind the Hebrew Bible fascinate the public as never before. From Bill Moyers's PBS series on Genesis to the massive circulation of Biblical Archeological Review to such bestsellers as The Book of J and Who Wrote the Bible?, evidence abounds of an intense interest in the day-to-day reality reflected in the scriptures. Now Susan Niditch offers a perceptive, accessible account of the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Israelites, analyzing the complex and varied ways in which Israelites present and preserve themselves in the Old Testament.
In Ancient Israelite Religion, Niditch illuminates the life and the customs of this ancient people, whose religion has so influenced human history. Drawing on the most recent literary scholarship and archaeological evidence, the book gives readers a compelling account of how Israelite culture changed through the three great periods of their past--the distant pre monarchic age, the monarchies of Israel and Judah, and the Babylonian exile and return. The heart of her book is a rich account of the Israelites' religious life, as revealed in the anthology of ancient Israelite writing called the Hebrew Bible. Niditch explores how they described their experience of God, drawing out consistent themes in the Biblical stories. For example, God is often identified with fire (as in Moses' encounter with the burning bush), and several women experience annunciations--revelations that they will give birth to a male hero. Niditch offers fascinating insight into the practices of folk religion, surmising that Israelites often made contact with the dead through mediums--a practice seen in the story of King Saul, who had the spirit of Samuel conjured up. She notes that the Bible is filled with condemnations of these and other customs, suggesting how widespread they actually were. Niditch goes on to explore the Israelites' mythic narratives, and the legal and ethical dimensions of a faith founded upon the Israelites' covenant with God. Strikingly, their code includes much that is unsavory to the modern mind, such as slavery and the stark subordination of women, and there are hints in the Bible of the practice of child sacrifice. The author also paints a detailed picture of the complex rituals--many centered on the purifying power of blood--that Israelite writers portray as framing their daily and annual patterns of life.
Most important, Niditch's account allows us to see the world through the Israelites' eyes, as she reconstructs both their habits and their larger worldview. Her insightful, subtly nuanced portrait brings to life this ancient people whose legacy continues to influence, and fascinate, the world today.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

An overly brief but very well organized and informative overview of Judaism's formative stage during the 13th to 5th centuries b.c. Bible scholar Niditch (Religion/Amherst Coll.) focuses on the worldview expressed in the Hebrew Bible. She devotes chapters to four aspects of that worldview: the experiential, the mythical, the ritual, and the ethical-legal, largely basing her analysis on close readings of biblical texts. Sometimes, though unfortunately not often enough, she uses insight garnered from archaeological findings or the texts of other ancient Near Eastern religions. Niditch's greatest strength is her succinct, accessible prose; there is solid scholarship, but no academic pretentiousness or jargon here. She is particularly good at capturing and evoking an aspect of ancient Judaism in a sentence or a phrase. For example, after exploring the Yom Kippur ritual of the scapegoat that is prescribed in Leviticus, she observes how it is linked to other biblical rituals involving uncleanliness and danger, then concludes that ``sin, like the seductive personification in the story of Cain and Abel, the one who crouches at the door, is real and visceral, a contaminant which makes impossible a healthful continuation of the covenant community.'' Also enhancing her book is an excellent bibliography. The work's only weakness is an occasional penchant for deriving conclusions from insufficient evidence. An example: Niditch states that the context and content of the ritual of redeeming the first-born son (see Exodus 22) ``seems to be support that child sacrifice was indeed a thread in ancient Israelite religion.'' Far more evidence is needed for this spectacular claim. On balance, though, this is a first-rate introduction, for undergraduate and graduate students and all serious students of Judaism, to the social, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual underpinnings of the Hebrew Bible. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"Susan Niditch is well known for her distinguished work on biblical symbolism and folklore in the biblical tradition. In this volume she has drawn upon those resources, and far more, to produce a rich portrait of ancient Israelite religion that considers both the corporate and the individual, the ideas and the ritual, as well as the ethical aspects of the worldview of the people behind the Hebrew Scriptures."--Gene M. Tucker

"Using archaeological evidence as well as biblical texts, Niditch is able to convey the richness and diversity of Israelite religious beliefs and practices without privileging those that are normative in the Hebrew Bible. Furthermore, her sensitive analysis of religious life in the biblical world goes beyond and behind the largely androcentric and urban interests of the biblical writers. She considers issues of gender and social setting, and she connects them to ideas and customs familiar to the contemporary reader."--Professor Carol Meyers, Department of Religion, Duke University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195091272
• ISBN-13: 978-0195091274
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Toward an Understanding of Religion in Ancient Israel, July 19, 2000

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Anthony Sherbondy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Israelite Religion (Paperback)

This is an excellent, gentle introduction to an ancient religion. Some of the more controversial themes, for example child sacrifice, are touched on but not fully discussed. Niditch maintains throughout the book a non-pedantic style allowing the reader to gain an overall appreciation of the insights offered by modern scholarship (Ugarit texts, etc.) without getting lost in an endless sea of footnotes and references.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Israelite Religion, November 1, 2009

By 

Todd P. Phillips "Music Lover" (Waterport, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Israelite Religion (Hardcover)

This is readable, and a useful tool for becoming familiar with the ancient Israelite religion written by a well-known biblical scholar.

11 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Israelite Religion, in the author's opinion, February 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ancient Israelite Religion (Paperback)

Book Report on Ancient Israelite Religion

Ancient Israelite Religion is full of interesting critical thought. Published by Oxford University Press in 1997, the book studies the different facets of the Israelite belief system and consequent culture. The author, Susan Niditch, is a professor at Amherst College. As the Samuel Green Professor of Religion, she has also written the book War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study of the Ethics of Violence.

Professor Niditch covers the major aspects of the Israelite religion. Her chapter topics are divided logically. The aspects of the Israelite religion are dispersed into the cultural significance, the experiential aspect, the patterns of life and death, the ethics and a chapter on some of the rituals of the Israelites.

The first chapter deals with the cultural significance of the Israelite religion. The author begins by explaining her divisions of the Yahwist religion. She gives a short summary of the story of the Hebrew Bible, beginning with creation, the spread of mankind, Abraham and Sarah, through the prophets of the exile. Professor Niditch uses much archaeological evidence in order to give information about the Israelites daily life. She begins with the Pre-Monarchic Period, the earliest period of Israelite history, beginning about thirteen hundred years B.C.E. Pictures of ancient sites and reconstructions of Israelite houses grace the text, which was easy to follow and understand. The artifacts from the period of the Monarchies follows, with the beginning of the towns of Israel. For the last part of the introductory chapter, Professor Niditch gives many of the different opinions regarding the Hebrew Bible's origins.

The next chapter deals with God's dealings with man, the experiential aspect of the Hebrew religion. Professor Niditch first speaks about the Israelite's concept of a covenant, the agreement between them and God, giving them long life and prosperity if they follow God's decrees. Niditch cites examples from the lives of Abram (later called Abraham), Moses, and the prophet Elijah during his flight from the evil Queen Jezebel (a name now synonymous with wickedness). The author separates the women's experiences from the men's, as the women's most often have to do with prophetic or angelic announcements of their coming son's importance to the cause of their people. The author talks about personal experiences with God, those of Jacob and Moses cited as examples. Next, Susan Niditch discusses the Biblical stories of heavenly visions and experiences, as well as Israelite views on the dead.

Chapter three continues where the second chapter ended. Professor Niditch continues on the subject of the Israelites views of life and death. The author discusses the creation story of the Bible, comparing it to that of the Mesopotamians. She attributes the second form of the Biblical story to the influence of the Babylonians, saying that the fear of the Babylonians caused the Israelites to confirm their beliefs by reworking the story to fit the emotional needs of the people. Niditch explains a view of the character of Wisdom, as the female companion to God. Wisdom, held in the esteem of the writer of Proverbs eight and nine, is described as a woman, which gives rise to Professor Niditch's belief that she may well be the Israelites reaction to the god-pairs of other religions.

In the fourth chapter, Niditch describes Israelite laws and ethics, working from the second chapter's topic area of covenants. She goes into the specific laws of the Israelites, regarding each area of life, such as what is allowed on the Sabbath, the day of rest. The author takes the book of Deuteronomy on as a separate topic. She describes how Deuteronomy is more concerned with giving the law in the context of helping those in need, the Levites, without any land holdings of their own, widows, orphans, and the observing of the Sabbath (which in Israelite culture, involved the freeing of the slaves in Sabbath years). The author spends a great deal of time perusing Deuteronomy, gaining insights and explaining her thoughts about the Israelites that come from this book.

The Ritual Dimension, the last chapter of the book, is developed using four examples of Israelite rituals which Niditch uses to make observations about the Israelite culture. Professor Niditch uses the passages explaining the celebration of the Passover (Exodus 12), the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), the Israelite ritual regarding the woman's innocence or guilt of an extramarital affair, both from the ritualistic perspective, and from the woman's (Numbers 5:11-31 and Judges 11:29-40).

To complete the book, Niditch included maps and study questions. She also included a extensive list of resources used for the book, including a list of all of the passages used from the Hebrew Bible itself.

Niditch provides a short introduction to the ancient Israelites. She introduces her readers to the differing areas in which they may find Israelite religion to appear. Susan Niditch gives an easy to understand explanation of the worldview of the Israelites.

I feel that Ancient Israelite Religion gave me a concise picture of the Israelites and taught me about their culture. However, Professor Niditch made disappointing statements that Christians and many Jews might find offensive, such as in the section dealing with child sacrifice, and in her general opinions of Biblical characters and situations. It seemed that Professor Niditch often took a negative view on topics, refusing to see the situation from a point of view other than her own, not even adding the voice of another expert or historical fact.
For example, the author assumes that since the Hebrew Bible has directives against mediums, spiritism must have run rampant. Even in our culture today, there are many mediums and psychics, though much of the general populace does not go to these people for direction and spiritual experiences. Americans still use church most regularly for their source of spiritual fulfillment and to turn to in times of bereavement. The author uses the example of Saul going to the medium at Gondor to see the spirit of Elijah as an example of how prevalent the spiritists were in ancient Israel (I Samuel 28). However, the Hebrew Bible also states that the woman was one of the last spiritists left in Israel. Early in his reign, Saul had cut the witches off (I Samuel 28:9-10). It seems to me, therefore, that though some knew of her, the general populace did not, for then she would have been driven away by Saul's men. Why then are the Jews given a sweeping judgment about their ancestors' beliefs in spiritism and the use of mediums by the author? There were a few cases of this type that I found mildly aggravating, as the Jews honor their heritage to such a great extent. I felt that I might be offended, if a member of their race, and that Professor Niditch, in her efforts to refrain from being long-winded, may have made judgment errors in her writing that would be frustrating to some.

I found the book to be informative. However, due to Professor Niditch's assumptions about Israelite culture, I felt that I could not fully enjoy the book, as I had to be on my guard against receiving erroneous information, as she did not back it up with other experts' opinions or archaeological evidence.