Although less well known and less read than the Torah, the numerous books that follow them constitute a fair chunk of the Old Testament. Eleven books of the Old Testament are known as the Ketuvim (writings). They include 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Psalms, Proverbs, Job and Daniel. Much of the Ketuvim were written in Persian and even Hellenistic times.
1 and 2 Chronicles are a late (Persian or Hellenistic) reworking of earlier Biblical writings, starting with a long and dry genealogical list of Adam and his fictional descendants, followed by the patriarchs and their descendants. We then get a reworking of the Deuteronomic books on the kings of Israel and Judah, ending up with the Persian king Cyrus the Great.
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah follow directly on from Chronicles, and may originally have been part of the same work. They cover the return of the Jews to Israel after the period of Babylonian captivity under the auspices of the early Persian kings. Although the books are short and not particularly interesting, this was an important time in the history of the Jews and the creation of the Bible. It’s believed that a lot of the Bible was edited and written during this period. The books are a romanticised version of events, low on historical accuracy and containing fabricated letters claiming to be royal correspondence of the king of Persia.
We find all the elements in Ezra and Nehemiah that also dominate in the earlier books of the Old Testament. The book of Ezra repeats the idea that the Jewish exile happened because ‘our forefathers provoked the anger of the god of the sky’ (Ezra 5.12). It also mentions sin-offerings, and repeats the obsession with purification rituals and being ritually clean that we find in the laws of Leviticus and Numbers. It also repeats the intolerance towards other nations and their gods,
‘The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the foreign population and from the abominable practices of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They have taken some of the women of these nations as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy race has become mixed with the foreign population.’ (Ezra 6.17-20)
Just like in the earlier books of the Old Testament, there’s an obsession with describing the other native people and gods of the Levant as ‘foreign’. There is also the disturbing view that the Jews are a ‘holy race’, with the obvious ugly implication that everyone else is unholy. Ezra is so disturbed at this news of integration that he says, ‘I tore my tunic and cloak, and tore the hair from my head and my beard…because of the offence of these exiles’ (Ezra 9.3-4). There is also the repetition of the core belief that all the woes of the Israelites / Jews are due to their sinning against Yahweh,
‘We are sunk in our iniquities, and our guilt is so great that it reaches to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subject to death, captivity, pillage, and humiliation at the hands of foreign kings, as it is today.’ (Ezra 9.6-7)
The Book of Ezra links the exodus of Jews from Babylon to the mythical exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan (Ezra 9.10-14). The main Old Testament story may first have been created during this period by the Jews returning from Babylon to justify a new monist worship of Yahweh alone.
The Book of Job introduces Satan as one of the heavenly court of angels, a figure who was to become far more important in later Christian thought. It was probably created in the Persian period, there’s a probable allusion to the Behistun rock inscription of Darius the Great (Job 19.24). The depiction of Satan as Yahweh’s adversary is also very similar to the Persian Ahriman, the adversary of their god Ahuramazda.
It’s a bizarre tale in which Yahweh claims that Job is the most devout god-fearing man and has a bet with Satan to test Job’s faith in him. Satan is allowed to do all manner of harm to Job so long as he doesn’t kill him. So Yahweh allows all of Job’s children to be killed, along with all of his cattle, sheep, camels and most of his slaves and retainers. After he is afflicted with sores all over his body, Job finally snaps and curses the day he’s born, along with questioning why the good seem to suffer and the wicked prosper. His friends rebuke him, telling him not to question Yahweh’s actions.
What follows is a very long set of speeches stating how one should trust in Yahweh no matter what ills before you. It’s a warped ‘morality’ tale that sees nothing wrong in all the horrors inflicted on Job just so Yahweh can win an argument with Satan.
Yahweh tells Job that he knows nothing compared to a god so should just shut up. Job just accepts this telling off and meekly apologises, repentant for ever having questioned his god’s actions. The clear message is to never question your deity (and his king and priests), just accept everything that happens to you and keep worshipping him.
The Book of Job is similar to earlier Near Eastern religious texts, which probably influenced its authors. One such text is The Babylonian Theodicy, written in Middle Babylonian sometime around 1100 BCE. It’s a very similar story of a sufferer questioning his misfortune, asking why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. The plaintiff states,
‘Those who neglect the god go the way of prosperity,
While those who pray to the goddess are impoverished and dispossessed.’ (Babylonian Theodicy 70-71)
The text is a dialogue, and just like in Job, there’s a pious friend telling the protagonist they are being foolish and should just trust in the gods. Just like in many other ancient religions, the root cause of injustice in the world is attributed to man, not the gods.
Another similar Babylonian text is The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer. This poem originally dates to the 14th or 13th century BCE, and is also even informally known as ‘the Babylonian Job’! The poem describes how the fortunes of a pious man turned one day, resulting in him being rejected by his friends and family. He’s struck down by a demon with serious illness and is paralysed (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer II.50-107). The protagonist is eventually cured by his god Marduk, who dispels the offending demon. The poem contains language we later meet in Job, like when the sufferer claims,
‘Who can learn the plan of the gods in heaven?
Who understands the plans of the underworld gods?
Where might humans have learned the ways of the gods?’ (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer II.36-38)
We also find a similar theme in the Greek poems of Theognis, which are dated to the sixth century BCE. Theognis is portrayed as a pious man of aristocratic descent who has become poor. He writes, ‘The wicked men have carefree wealth, while they who keep their hearts from evil, nonetheless get poverty’ (Eulogies 383-5). Despite his hardships, Theognis refuses to blame the gods, ‘It’s not permitted for a mortal man to judge the deathless gods’ (Eulogies 687-8).
The Book of Psalms continually repeats the same mantras of biblical Judaism that we’ve met time and time again – Yahweh is mighty and you should worship and fear him. In return he will protect you, along with inflicting vengeance and punishment against non-believers, who are continually referred to as the ‘enemy’. There is also the belief that Yahweh will make the other nations of the earth ‘prostrate beneath us’ (Psalm 47.3). Psalm 2 has Yahweh state to his anointed king,
‘I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
You will break them with a rod of iron,
you shall shatter them like pottery.’ (Psalm 2.8-9)
We find this belief elsewhere in the Old Testament. It’s rather delusional given how unimportant the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were, bordered by the ancient superpowers of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and later Persia. The Psalms contain some brutal violence towards these other nations perceived as the enemies of Israel. One psalm states of Babylon, ‘Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks’ (Psalm 137.9). There’s also the same extreme intolerance of the worship of other deities, and the particularly peculiar hatred of idol worship. Psalm 31 states, ‘I hate all who worship useless idols’ (Psalm 31.6).
Half of the psalms claim to have been written by king David, but this is the usual biblical trick of a later anonymous author using an important legendary figure to give the work authority. There’s no concrete evidence of an actual king David as a historical person, and the monolatory displayed in the Psalms date from a far later time than that ascribed to king David in the 10th century BCE, when the Israelites and Judahites were still polytheistic.
Many of the psalms reference the story of the Exodus, and these can’t predate the creation of that myth in the 7th century BCE at the earliest. Some psalms clearly date from the 6th century at the earliest as they mention the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return from Babylonian exile (eg Psalm 147).
Just as many of the Psalms are pseudepigraphically ascribed to David, so the Proverbs that follow were written by anonymous authors, but ascribed to his son Solomon. The book is a collection of sayings and thoughts originally from many different sources. One of the themes of Proverbs is blind faith, the reader is told, ‘Put all your trust in Yahweh and don’t rely on your own understanding’ (Proverbs 3.5).
Proverbs also contains some of the few pleasant teachings in the Old Testament and is arguably its most likeable book. The reader is told things like,
‘He that is slow to anger has great understanding,
quick temper is the height of folly.
A tranquil mind revives the body,
but envy rots the bones.’ (Proverbs 14.29-30)
This teaching is completely the opposite of the behaviour of the biblical god Yahweh, who is regularly depicted as hot headed and quick to anger.
The sayings also regularly refer to Wisdom, who is often personified. This love of wisdom mirrors what was going on in the Greek world at the time, with the rise of philosophy – literally the love of wisdom. Many of the teachings in Proverbs also mirror themes in Greek philosophy.
The Book of Lamentations is a short book lamenting the fall of Judah. It repeats the classic theme of blaming Judah’s fall and exile on disobedience to Yahweh. Hence we read lines like, ‘Yahweh has cruelly punished her because of her many sins.’ (Lamentations 1.5).
The Bible and Mythology 