Favorite Resources on Bible Backgrounds

"Bible Backgrounds" is so broad that you will get some very different responses.

There are background commentaries, Old and New Testament introductions and surveys and backgrounds, the IVP Dictionaries, works by various authors such as Edersheim, and so on.

So I will only address "Bible background commentaries" that I have - the multi-volume Zondervan Illustrated (ZIBBC), IVPBBC and Bible Knowledge (BKBC). I like The New Manners and Customs of the Bible (NMCB) by Freeman and Chadwick which is arranged as a commentary.

ZIBBC, certainly in the OT, tends to be more technical with many references to other sources (I have not included the many footnotes below) and many helpful pictures and maps.

There is also the single-volume Baker Illustrated BBC (BIBBC) which is more concise but full of maps and illustrations.

I happened to be reading Genesis 28 and these comparisons of the comments on v28 are interesting.

ZIBBC In the ancient world, cult symbols (such as the pillar set up here) are abundantly observable.462 For example, U. Avner has documented 142 independent sites featuring standing stones in the Negev and eastern Sinai alone.463 An additional thirty-six have been identified in Iron Age Israel.464 These standing stones could at times be deified (i.e., considered to contain the essence of a deity),465 probably the function of the two found in the vicinity of the Iron Age temple unearthed at Israelite Arad. Others were believed to represent ancestral spirits,466 whereas others could simply stand as memorials of treaties or special events (notice the twelve set up by Moses in Ex. 24:4–8).467

In early Israelite history such stones were acceptable, but as time progressed and they were more inclined to serve the same function as images, they were rejected along with the idea that deity can inhere in a physical object.468 This explains why some pillars were innocent enough and legitimate, while others represented apostasy. Most standing stones were unhewn, though some had minimal adornment (e.g., carved hands reaching upward) and a few had intricate reliefs (e.g., the stele of Baal from Ugarit).

In this context the standing stone may well be intended to mark where the presence of God is manifest in Jacob’s vision.469 Jacob has slept in what is in effect the antechamber of a temple, has seen the stairway leading to the gate of heaven (the inner chamber) with the messengers coming and going from the Lord’s presence, and has set up a standing stone either to mark the “Holy of Holies” (at the top of the stairway) or the place where Yahweh stood (“beside”470 the stairway). In an Aramaic treaty text found in Sefire from the eighth century B.C., when the gods are called to witness the agreement, the stone pillars on which the treaty is engraved is inscribed as the “house of God.”471 Alternatively it could function as commemorating the covenant agreement and Jacob’s response in a vow.

[There follows a photo of a Standing stone at Gezer]

IVPBBC The sacred pillars or standing stones are well known in the religious practice of the ancient Near East predating the fourth millennium b.c. They are featured prominently in Canaanite cultic installations such as the high place at Gezer and were also used in the Israelite temple at Arad. Other standing stones were simply set up as memorials. From basins sometimes found near the foot of such pillars, it is inferred that libations (liquid offerings) were poured over them, as we see Jacob doing in 35:14. The anointing of the pillar would constitute the dedication of it.

BIBBC Such “standing stones” marked sacred places where God would make his presence known. Standing stones that have survived from antiquity may still be observed in Israel today. The pouring of oil on the stone was a form of consecration.

NMCB A memorial is something that serves as a reminder. In the Scriptures, memorials witness to God’s redemptive participation in history for the salvation of His chosen people. The memorials were landmarks of an important stage in the development of the relationship between God and a person or persons, or they marked a turning point in the history of that relationship. They also helped to strengthen the faith of those involved, and often provided opportunities to teach future generations about what took place and why.

God had appeared to Jacob in a dream, and the next morning Jacob set up a memorial of stones to serve as a reminder of what had taken place that night. Thirty years later he repeated this solemn act in the same place: “And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon” (Genesis 35:14).

God’s covenant name, the LORD (Yahweh) was to be a memorial name, one that He was to be remembered by forever: “God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation’ ” (Exodus 3:15). At Mount Sinai, Moses built an altar of twelve stones as a memorial: “Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel” (Exodus 24:4). Forty years later when the Israelites finally crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land, twelve stones were set in the Jordan as a memorial to God’s provinces of passage across the Jordan and the keeping of His covenant promises to Abraham and Moses. “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.’ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched (Joshua 4:4–11).

As can be seen from the KJV translation of Joshua 4:9, two memorials were set up—one on the Promised Land side of the Jordan, and one in the middle of the river: “And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.” Some say that the twelve stones in the river are symbols of the principle of substitution—the twelve tribes about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan buried in the waters of the Jordan, Christians about to enter the promised land of Christ buried into his death (Romans 6:4). They could also have been a reminder that when God brought His people out of Egypt He buried Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.

Many years later at Shechem, Joshua set a large stone under an oak tree as a witness against the people if they should break God’s laws, for it was there that He gave them His decrees and laws: “And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD. ‘See!’ he said to all the people. ‘This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God’ ” (Joshua 24:26–27).

When the Philistines attacked God’s people and He fought against them and gave His people victory, the prophet Samuel set up a memorial to remind them of God’s intervention on their behalf. “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the LORD helped us’ ” (1 Samuel 7:10–12). Ebenezer literally means stone of help. It was a memorial or testimony to God’s intervention on behalf of His chosen people. As such, it symbolizes God’s New Covenant grace toward those in Christ.

All the memorial stones were erected as testimonies of God’s intervention into the lives of His people, even those that were erected as a witness against the people if they did not obey God’s commands. So it has been suggested that Paul had such memorials and witnesses in mind when he wrote Timothy that God’s household, the Church, was the pillar and foundation of the truth: “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14–15).

Going to Chapter 29 In the section where Laban deceives Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel (vv22-26) the different comments are also interesting.

IVPBBC v24 The bride would be veiled during these public festivities, and it may be assumed that the high spirits would have led to drunkenness, both factors in Jacob’s inability to recognize the substitution of Leah for Rachel at the feast.

v26 It is the practice of people of the ancient Near East, and still a tradition today in that area, for the oldest daughter to be married first. This prevents a younger sibling from shaming a sister who may not be as beautiful and also prevents the financial drain on the family caused by spinsters. Females were used, through marriage contracts, to obtain wealth and prestige for the family. If an older sister was bypassed and then never married, her family would be left with the responsibility to support her.

ZIBBC v26 Hammurabi’s law 160 stipulates a penalty for failing to deliver the bride for whom the pride price has been received. The very existence of the law indicates that this breach sometimes occurred, though there it specifies that the woman was given to another man. Laban deflects any accusation of breach of contract by claiming custom as support for his action. Little evidence can substantiate Laban’s claim of custom on the basis of ancient Near Eastern documents.

NMCB v26 The deceiver Jacob had asked for the younger Rachel’s hand, but was deceived by Laban and tricked into marrying Leah. Thus the ancient Near Eastern tradition of the older daughter marrying first was preserved. This custom is still adhered to in many countries, and when a younger daughter has an opportunity to marry, everything is done to get the older daughter married first. Even in countries where this custom is not observed, there is still somewhat of a social stigmatism attached to a woman whose younger sisters all marry before she does. Undoubtedly a carry-over from the ancient custom.

BIBBC – no entry.

@Roger Pitot I appreciate the long post & comparison, it's informative & I learn another new stuff today by reading this. 😍