C.F. Keil was a scholar strongly committed to confessional theology. His dogmatic-confessional approach is particularly evident in his approach to the Pentateuch. He strongly supported Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and rejected attempts to explain extraordinary events in the history of Israel as anything but miraculous, divine intervention. Keil showed much interest in the historical development of divine revelation. Viewing the prophets as persons who were able to perceive future trajectories of God's saving acts, he presented history and revelation as interdependent rather than fundamentally dissimilar. Prophetic predictions then find their fulfillment in the historical person of Christ. This introduction to the Old Testament reveals Keil's foundational presuppositions - presuppositions which shaped his contribution to the well-known and influential Keil-Delitzsch 'Biblical Commentary', which includes Keil's commentaries on all the books from Genesis to Esther, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets.

Beginning with methods and sources, this Handbook looks at the Biblical text, archaeology, other texts, and iconography. It explores varying exegetical methods, including historical criticism, canonical approach, feminist, social scientific and liberation theology. Methods in archaeology, Hebrew epigraphic and iconography are also covered. The second section is devoted to the history and religious history of Ancient Israel. Introductory matters, such as fundamental terminology and definitions, ethnic identity, ancestors and the dead, geography and time reckoning are explicated before the book moves on to a historical survey from the Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE) to the early Roman period (ending about 63 CE). The heart of the book is a detailed survey of the Hebrew canonical books, section by section and book by book. The discussion for each book includes: biblical presentation and content; problems arising from the history of literary analysis and research; the origin and growth of the writing; the theology; and notes on reception history. This book will provide students with everything they need to study the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.