Daily Life in Biblical Times (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)

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.

Oded Borowski's small book contains a treasure trove of information about daily life in biblical times. I appreciate the author's ability to distill years of study and inquiry into layman's terms. His organization of various topics makes it easy not only to read through, but also to research specific subjects. I write a blog about women from the Bible (www.womenfromthebook.com), focusing often on their cultural background and surrounds, and I feel confident that I will be consulting Daily Life in Biblical Times with regularity.Borowski's recommendations for further study at the end of each chapter, as well as his end notes and indices of scriptural references and modern authorities are useful inclusions. He has made it easy for the researcher who is always on the lookout for just the right bit of information to fill the blank spots in an ever-growing collage of life in biblical times.

The work can be seen as a bit dry, but certainly offers some picture of some daily practices and gives a taste of an agrarian life style that is not rendered at all in the literature I have had the fortune to read. The work does not have a huge degree of information on urban existence, although it does address some urban locales, archeological findings and likely structures. Urban life reconstruction, to be fair, would seem to be much more complex and perhaps even variable and might be hard to give any valid reconstruction to.

Excellent concise book giving great insights into the overall picture of daily life during the early iron age onward. Bases his observations on Biblical data interfaced with archeology and extra biblical sources. Very respectfulof the OT texts.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who has read "TheDove Keepers" or anyone wanting to know more about the people who wrote the Bible. The Israelites come alive in this book: what crops they grew, what laws they wrote,what they ate, who they traded with and how their economy worked. One especially insightful chapter describes a day in the life of a family, from the early morning until they go to sleep.The people and community ,described in a very scholarly way in this book ,become familiar and very human. That the Bible comes from this time, this place and these people makes this book fascinating.

I read this before I went on a study tour to Israel. It was incredibly helpful, clear, basic and thorough. A perfect pre reading. The final section was creatively written to apply a lot of what was discussed and presented a vivid portrayal of ancient Israel -this was incredibly helpful for my learning of the topic area. I am glad it was recommended to us before the trip.

I'm using this book for my study of The Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me Program. It is very insightful and informative.

In this book the author has researched so many aspects of what the ordinary person would be experiencing during their life from villages, housing, the family, agriculture, herding, diet, art and much more. I haven't finished it yet but it's a wonderful supplement to a course I'm taking on Early Christianity.

Good work of research with a huge bibliography to further your studies,

This book is one you can't put down. Take your time when reading it and look up the Biblical passages as you go along, yes it slows the read down however, the cross referencing with the Bible increases your knowledge of historical facts. I'm leading a Book/Bible study using this book in the fall and it is an easy read but scholarly written. Each chapter ends with suggestions for further study. The reference at the back of the book has the Biblical passages he has referred to throughout the book. Books that have this reference at the back is a life saver for future references for other studies or perhaps when collecting references for sermon preparation. He has footnotes in the back for each chapter. I had initially read "Women's Lives in Biblical Times" by Jennie R. Ebeling who is another archaeologist. That was a good read which lead me to Oded Borowski's book. For a group study Borowski's book reaches out to male and female audince but if you are doing a Women's Biblical Study Ebeling's book is fantastic, scholarly written but easy read. Buy both, they are great and so well described, the imagery puts right there. Awesome book.