I just finished reading this book 12/22/08. Overall it was very informative. This is a very factual book, but it can seem dry a points (but I don't mind something dry as long as it is useful, factual, and applicable to what I want to use the information for), but it's worth the read if you want to broaden your knowledge base of how people lived back then.
My absolute favorite part of the book was the last chapter. The first six chapters are informative, academic, well referenced, and can even seem at times a bit...well...boring (but only 10-15% of the time), but it is a good book. While your pressing through the material you'll get a really good golden nugget that makes you say "it was all worth it". The last chapter wraps everything up that the author covers throughout the book in a very exciting, lively, narrative that puts you right back in the biblical era. I absolutely loved this chapter, and will probably read it again.
My purpose for reading this book was to enhance my knowledge of the lifestyle people lived during biblical times, and I hoped to learn some cool facts I can use to insert in preaching material every once in a while. Both of my objectives were accomplished. I was personally hoping the author would go more in detail about wine in the Hebrew culture, who drank fermented and unfermented wine, their views on both types wine, and so on, but that was not the case. The author touches on this topic a little but doesn't go in as much academic/factual detail as I would have liked. Nevertheless it was a decent book which a much broader focus covering all aspects of society.
Lots of bible references and extrabiblical sources that link to biblical events. One example was how Ashurnasirpal II wined and dined 69,574 men and women for ten days like Solomon in 1 Kgs 8:63-66. That was neat fact. The appearance of men and women based upon the Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib's palace depicting the battle at Lachish. A letter written about the "fire signals of Azekah could no longer be found" linking it to the events described in Jer 6:1 and Jer 34:7 when they were under siege.
If your unsure about weather or not to read it, I would say go ahead. You'll definitely get something out of it. Besides it's a small book and a quick read.
ISBN-13: 978-9004127074
ISBN-10: 9004127070
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It's written clearly for a general audience and does well at covering all the bases and giving a good picture of standard life i
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