This book brings to light how the genealogies in the Bible are a developing genre, flexible in both patterns and deviations, allowing the inclusion of otherwise absent family members like mothers and daughters.

The Poetics of Matthew 1 is about seeing what has not previously been seen in the first chapter of Matthew by explaining key literary patterns. What is the reason for the five references to mothers in the Messiah's genealogy? How can the genealogy be called Jesus's lineage if it is not Jesus's biological lineage? What kind of "genesis" is the Messiah's kind of genesis in verse 18? Why is Joseph labeled as "righteous" in verse 19? Why does verse 22 say "This has all happened" seemingly before it has all happened? Questions such as these were not previously thought to have answers within the text. The Poetics of Matthew 1 employs an underestimated method of answering text-based questions with text-based answers.

In this latest addition to the esteemed Anchor Bible series, scholar Gary Knoppers examines one of the most neglected books of the Hebrew Bible and establishes its importance to understanding the nation of Israel. What was the place of the monarchy in the history of ancient Israel? Was Israel's first king Saul a hero or a disaster? Was David a highly gifted leader and accomplished king or a murderer and a cheat? Did Solomon preside over the most glorious epoch in Israelite history or did he lead the nation into a fateful decline? Knoppers show how the Bible itself contains a variety of fascinating perspectives on major events and characters. One of the most misunderstood books of the Bible, Chronicles presents a distinctive and important viewpoint on much of Israel's past, especially the monarchy. Knoppers shows how Chronicles defends the transition from Saul to David and upholds the Davidic-Solomonic monarchy as a time of incomparable Israelite achievement and glory, a period in which the nation's most important public institutions--the Davidic dynasty, the Jerusalem Temple, the priests, and the Levites--took formative shape. I Chronicles 10-29, part of a two-volume set on I Chronicles, is the first to employ systematically the witness of the Dead Sea Scrolls to reconstruct the biblical author's text. Knoppers shows how Chronicles is related to and creatively drawn from many earlier biblical books and presents a fascinating look at its connections in both compositional style and approach to historical writings attested in ancient Mesopotamia and classical Greece.

The Bible has had a profound influence on the diverse cultures of Europe and the British Isles, the Americas, Australia and Africa, and has even left an imprint on Asia. It is a book that has inspired the whole range of human emotion and experience, including some of the finest art and literature. And even in this current age, which often considers itself secular and post-Christian, the Bible remains the biggest seller of all books. This engaging and colourful book explores the life, development and impact of the Bible, from Old Testament times through to the 21st century.

Holding Forth the Word of Life is a collection of essays offered to honor Tim Meadowcroft on his retirement from Laidlaw College. An international authority on Daniel, over the last twenty-five years Tim has established himself as one of New Zealand's leading biblical scholars. While specializing in Old Testament, Tim has taught and published in New Testament as well as hermeneutics and theological interpretation of Scripture. Beyond academic work he has also remained committed to the church and its voice in wider society. This collection of essays, written by leading scholars from New Zealand and beyond, covers all of these areas--Old Testament, New Testament, intertestamental texts, hermeneutics, theological interpretation of Scripture, reception history, and theological reflection on pressing issues facing society.

This text claims that Chronicles provides a distinct perspective on much of Israel's past, especially the monarchy. The author discusses how the chronicler's introduction to the people of Israel redefines Israel itself; explains and defends the transition from Saul to David; and shows how the Davidic-Solomonic monarchy was not only a time of incomparable achievement and glory, but also the period during which the nations most important public institutions--the Davidic dynasty, the Jerusalem Temple, the priests, and the Levites--took formative shape. This text also systematically employs the Dead Sea Scrolls to reconstruct the biblical author's text. In doing so, the author reveals how Chronicles is related to and creatively drawn from many earlier biblical books, and presents a look at its connections, in both compositional style and approach, to the historical writings of ancient Mesopotamia and classical Greece.

The Language of Creation is a commentary on the primeval stories from the book of Genesis. It is often difficult to recognize the spiritual wisdom contained in these narratives because the current scientific worldview is deeply rooted in materialism. Therefore, instead of looking at these stories through the lens of modern academic disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, or the physical sciences, this commentary attempts to interpret the Bible from its own cosmological perspective.By contemplating the ancient biblical model of the universe, The Language of Creation demonstrates why these stories are foundational to western science and civilization. It rediscovers the archaic cosmic patterns of heaven, earth, time, and space, and sees them repeated at different levels of reality. These fractal-like structures are first encountered in the narrative of creation and then in the stories of the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, and the flood. The same patterns are also revealed in the visions of Ezekiel, the book of Daniel, and the miracles of Moses. The final result of this contemplation is a vision of the cosmos centered on the role of human consciousness in creation.