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Holy Fable

The Old Testament Undistorted by Faith

We had to choose between faith and understanding, between a deductive and an inductive approach, between studying the text as a means to some theological end and studying it for its own sake. In each case we chose the latter. What else could we do? We knew too much to retreat into the Toyland of dogma, reading scripture with blinders on. Too late for that. And to reject the Bible as bunk would have been another version of the same thinking: Is the Bible to be considered a true or a false magic book? To be embraced if you believe it to be true, rejected like a counterfeit bill if you decide it is false? No, we decided the books of the Bible were of new and enormous interest, precisely the same way the Iliad and the Odyssey are of interest to Classicists, which is sort of what we became.
—Introduction, Holy Fable

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In this first of a comprehensive two-volume study of the Old and New Testaments, Dr. Robert M. Price builds a spacious and sturdy ark to carry Bible readers over the floods of mystery that have long perplexed them.

Why are there multiple creation stories? Who are the “sons of god” in Genesis? What’s really going on with those Isaiah passages that preachers love to read at Christmas?

Putting a lifetime of biblical scholarship hard at work on perhaps his most momentous project yet, Dr. Price explains the mysteries without scorning them. The beloved old Bible is revealed to be indeed a Fable, but still a Holy one in its sprawling and fascinating way.

With 340 pages of explanation about each and every book from Genesis to Amos, Holy Fable is an ample match for the Old Testament’s heft and detail. Take a look at the print edition’s Table of Contents, reproduced in its entirety below some kind words from reviewers of the book.

Reviews

Robert M. Price’s Holy Fable is a remarkable hybrid, combining the genre of Biblical Introduction (for both Testaments) and comprehensive commentary. The book aims–and succeeds–in conveying highly specialized material in plain and even humorous speech. It is like listening to the Bible Geek podcasts he is famous for. It is straightforward enough that no one should get lost in the weeds but even serious scholars should be able to discover new and surprising insights here. Price has learned much–and has much to teach–from biblical scholars from the great Higher Critics of the Nineteenth Century, Baur, Strauss, Wellhausen, et. al., all the way to today’s controversial “Minimalists” like Lemche, Davies, and Thompson. Believers and skeptics alike will probably find things in Holy Fable to annoy as well as delight them!
—Robert Eisenman, author of James the Brother of Jesus and The New Testament Code
Every serious biblical scholar should read this book. None will agree with everything in it, some will dismiss the lot, but most will recognise the questions that Price raises. These are questions that biblical scholars prefer to avoid. Price does not treat the Bible as a sacred text to be pondered and treasured by the community that produced and preserved it, but rather engages with those who treat the Bible as a deposit of literal historical truth, the position of many Bible users today. These people should ponder his questions.
Price has an easy-to-read and fast-moving style which is a breath of fresh air. But do not be deceived: This is not a lightweight book. It is an accessible feast of well-digested learning.
—Margaret Barker, author of Temple Theology, The Great Angel, The Older Testament, and The Mother of the Lord
Robert Price has succeeded brilliantly in what seems to me an almost impossible project: producing a commentary on the entire Protestant Bible. Not only has he amassed mountains of information from all the most important primary and secondary sources, he has made everything wonderfully clear and delightful to read . . . . Again and again, Price reveals features that have been invisible to the eyes of those of us who have been reading the Bible since childhood, but still have difficulty seeing how it really looks without the distorting optics retained from our believing years. Holy Fable would serve as a great textbook for courses on the Christian Bible taught at secular colleges and universities.
—Frank R. Zindler, author of The Jesus The Jews Never Knew
Magna est veritas et prævalebit. “Mighty is truth and it will prevail.” What is presumed to be holy can turn out to be a fable, yet even some fables and fairy tales can convey profound truths. We need not understand them literally or historically to benefit morally and intellectually from them, only critically. Robert M. Price’s Holy Fable is a search for truth, and as such it serves what is most sacred, and manages to do so with impressive wit and deft insight. Price is that rare soul able to combine the supposed opposites of critical scholarship and genuine spiritual sensibility.
—Samuel Zinner, author of Textual and Comparative Explorations in 1 and 2 Enoch and Christianity and Islam
———

Table of Contents

3

Introduction: The Old Testament of History versus the Scripture of Faith

  

9

I: Genesis

  

9

Patchwork Pentateuch: Source Criticism

  

11

Mosaic Tiles: Form Criticism

  

12

The Stories

  

12

The Six Day Creation: Gen. 1:1-2:4a

  

16

The Garden of Eden: Gen. 2:4b-3:24

  

22

The Cain Cycle: Gen. 4:1-17

  

26

The Pre-Flood Patriarchs: Gen. 4:18-5:32

  

28

The Sons of God and Daughters of Men: Gen. 6:1-2, 4

  

29

The Great Flood: Gen. 6-9

  

30

Noah's Curse: Gen. 5:28-29; 9:20-27

  

32

The Table of Nations: Gen. 10

  

33

The Tower of Babel: Gen. 11:1-9

  

34

The Patriarchal History

  

36

Abraham's Itinerary

  

36

The Oaks of Moreh: Gen. 12:6-7

  

36

Between Bethel and Ai: Gen. 12:8

  

36

The Sacred Tamarisk: Gen. 21:33

  

37

Dishonest Abe

  

37

God's Covenant with Abraham

  

38

Laughing Boy

  

39

Sodom and Gomorrah: Gen. 18-19

  

42

The Sacrifice of Isaac: Gen. 22:1-19

  

44

Hagar and Ishmael: Gen. 16:1-4; 21:9-21

  

45

Jacob Cheats Esau: Gen. 25:27-34; 27:1-45

  

46

Jacob's Ladder: Gen. 28:10-22

  

47

Jacob Wrestles with "God": Gen. 32:22-32

  

49

The Burials of Deborah and Rachel: Gen. 35:8, 19-20

  

49

Judah and Tamar: Gen. 38

  

50

Joseph the Hebrew Osiris: Gen. 37, 39-50

  

59

II: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

  

59

Fleeing Phantoms

  

60

Basket Case

  

61

Moses the Second Jacob

  

62

The Plagues: Exod. 6-11

  

63

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread: Exod. 12-13

  

64

The Sea of Reeds: Exod. 13-14

  

65

The Torah: Exod. 18-19

  

65

The Book of the Covenant: Exod. 20:20-23:33

  

68

Ten Plus Ten Commandments: Exod. 20 // Exod. 34, Deut. 5:4-21

  

71

The Golden Calf: Exod. 32:2-6, 24

  

71

Deuteronomy

  

74

What Is Deuteronomy about?

  

76

Give or Take a Teuch

  

77

The Holiness Code: Lev. 17-26

  

80

Moses Stories Formally Classified

  

80

Ceremonial and Legal Precedents

  

80

Can You Guess my Name? Exod. 3:1-15 // 6:2-8

  

81

Birth of Bureaucracy: Exod. 18:1-27 // Num. 11:11-12, 14, 16, 24-30

  

82

Origin of the Levites: Exod. 32:25-29

  

84

Cautionary Tales

  

84

Fire Extinguisher: Lev. 10:1-3

  

84

Jockeying for Position: Num. 12:1-12

  

85

Was that Kindling Really Worth it? Num. 15:32-36

  

85

Levitical Labor Dispute: Num.16:1ff

  

85

Geological and Etymological Stories

  

85

Bittersweet Miracle: Exod. 15:22-25

  

86

Ol' Massah: Exod. 17:1-7

  

86

More Murmuring: Num. 20:1-13

  

87

Feed me till I Want no More: Exod. 16:1-36 // Num. 11:4-9

  

87

Etymological and Ethnological Stories in the Pentateuch

  

93

III: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings

  

95

The Book of Joshua

  

95

The Son of Nun

  

96

Theology as History

  

97

Harlot with the Heart of Gold: Josh. 2:1-24

  

97

On Jordan's Stormy Banks: Josh. 3-4

  

98

General Revelation: Josh. 5:13-15

  

98

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho: Josh. 6

  

98

One Expensive Suit! Josh. 7

  

99

Hands-on Astronomy: Josh. 10

  

99

Alternate Altar: Josh. 22

  

100

A New Covenant: Josh. 8:30-35; 24:1-28, esp. vv. 1, 14-28

  

100

The Book of Judges

  

101

Go Directly to Jael: Judg. 4-5

  

102

Gideon (Jerubbaal): Judg. 6

  

103

Jephthah, A Devil's Bargain with God: Judg. 11; 12:1-6

  

103

Samson

  

104

First Cycle

  

104

Miraculous Nativity: Judg. 13:2-5

  

104

The Lion and the Riddle: Judg. 14:1-19

  

104

Foxes in the Field: Judg. 14:20-15:8a

  

104

The Jawbone of an Ass: Judg. 15:8b-17

  

105

The Miraculous Spring: Judg. 15:18-19

  

105

Second Cycle

  

105

The Ambush at the Gate: Judg. 16:1-3

  

106

Why, Why, Why, Delilah? Judg. 16:4-31

  

106

Chaos without a King: Judg. 19-21

  

108

The Book of Samuel

  

108

The Nativity of Samuel: 1 Sam. 1:1-27

  

108

Hannah's Song: 1 Sam. 2:1-10

  

108

The Corruption of Eli's Sons: 1 Sam. 2:11-36

  

109

First Revelation to Samuel: 1 Sam. 3

  

109

Philistine Raiders of the Lost Ark: 1 Sam. 4-6

  

110

Death inside the Ark! 1 Sam. 6:19-21

  

110

Saul's Kingship Is Good

  

111

Saul's Kingship Is Bad

  

112

All Kingship Is Bad

  

112

David and Goliath: 1 Sam. 17

  

113

David versus Saul: 1 Sam. 18-20, 24, 26

  

115

The Witch of Endor: 1 Sam. 17

  

116

The Death of Saul: 1 Sam. 31

  

117

David Becomes King: 2 Sam. 2-5

  

118

Ark of Electricity: 2 Sam. 6

  

119

The "House" of David: 2 Sam. 7

  

120

Enthroned on an Ejector Seat: 2 Sam. 11-20

  

121

Scions of Zion: 2 Sam. 14-18, 1 Kings 1

  

123

Wicker Men: 2 Sam. 21:1-14

  

124

War of the Demigods: 2 Sam. 21:15-22

  

125

The Book of Kings

  

125

Solomon

  

125

Solomon's Choice: 1 Kings 3:5-15

  

126

Splitting the Difference: 1 Kings 3:16-28

  

127

The Temple: 1 Kings 5-8

  

128

Eden Indoors

  

131

Chock Full o' Gods: 1 Kings 11:1-8

  

132

The Kingdom Divided

  

135

Elijah & Elisha

  

136

Acts of Elijah

  

136

Elijah Decrees Three Years of Famine: 1 Kings 17:1-7

  

136

The Ever-Renewing Meal and Oil: 1 Kings 17:8-16

  

136

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son: 1 Kings 17:17-24

  

137

Elijah Calls Down Fire from Heaven: 1 Kings 18:17-40

  

137

The Elijah Whisperer: 1 Kings 19:1-18

  

137

Elijah Calls Elisha: 1 Kings 19:19-21

  

138

Naboth's Vineyard: 1 Kings 21

  

138

Micaiah's Mockery: 1 Kings 22

  

140

Elijah Preempts the Oracle of Baal-Zebub: 2 Kings 1:2-8

  

140

Elijah Calls Down Fire from Heaven: 2 Kings 1:9ff.

  

141

Elijah's Ascension: 2 Kings 2:1-18

  

141

Acts of Elisha

  

141

Elisha Purifies the Water: 2 Kings 2:19-22

  

142

Elisha and the Bears: 2 Kings 2:23-25

  

142

Elisha's Role in the Moabite War: 2 Kings 3

  

142

Elisha Multiplies the Oil: 2 Kings 4:1-7

  

143

Elisha and the Shunammite: 2 Kings 4:8-17

  

143

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son: 2 Kings 4:18-37

  

143

Elisha Purifies Poisoned Food: 2 Kings 4:38-41

  

144

Elisha Multiplies the Loaves: 2 Kings 4:42-44

  

144

Elisha Heals Naaman the Syrian: 2 Kings 5:1-19a

  

145

Gehazi's Greed: 2 Kings 5:19b-27

  

145

Elisha Makes the Axe-Head Float: 2 Kings 6:1-7

  

145

Elisha Reveals the Army of God: 2 Kings 6:15-17

  

146

Elisha, Gehazi, and the Shunammite: 2 Kings 8:1-6

  

146

Elisha Ordains Hazael King of Syria: 2 Kings 8:7-15

  

146

Elisha Ordains Jehu King of Israel: 2 Kings 9:1-13

  

146

Elisha's Deathbed Prediction: 2 Kings 13:14-19

  

146

Elisha's Postmortem Miracle: 2 Kings 13:20-21

  

147

The Savage Sword of Jehu: 2 Kings 10

  

147

The Messiah Hezekiah and Josiah's Reformation: 2 Kings 18:1-8, 22-23

  

148

The Mouse that Roared at Sennacherib: 2 Kings 19:32-37

  

149

Isaiah Turns Back the Clock: 2 Kings 20:1-11

  

161

IV: Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah

  

162

A Lot of Begats

  

162

The Fall of Saul: 1 Chron. 10:1-14 vs. 1 Sam. 31:1-13

  

163

Battle of the Blind: 2 Sam. 5:6-8

  

163

Rallying the Ranks: 1 Chron. 13:1-4

  

164

The Editorial Axe

  

164

Goliath and Satan

  

165

The Testament of David: 1 Kings 2:1-9 vs. 1 Chron. 22:2-19; 28:1-29:9

  

166

Laundering the Emperor's New Clothes

  

166

Blueprints for the Temple: 2 Chron. 2:1-18

  

167

Later Than You Think

  

168

Launching the Temple: 2 Chron. 5:2-7:10

  

169

Both Boams

  

171

Alias Abijah

  

171

Asa Diamonds

  

172

Forgetting the Lessons of History

  

172

Jumpin' Jehoshaphat: 2 Chron. 17-20

  

175

Sennacherib's Bullying: 2 Kings 18:13-37; 2 Chron. 32:1-19

  

175

The Man(asseh) of Sin: 2 Kings 21:1-18; 2 Chron. 33:1-20

  

176

Josiah the Second Hezekiah: 2 Chron. 34

  

176

Ezra and Nehemiah

  

179

Putting it all Together

  

183

V: 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees

  

183

1 Maccabees

  

184

2 Maccabees

  

184

Afterlife

  

185

Scripture

  

185

Monotheism

  

185

Martyrology

  

186

Messiahship

  

186

Two New Testament Borrowings

  

189

VI: Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Jonah, Judith, Tobit

  

189

Ruth

  

190

Esther

  

191

Daniel

  

194

Susanna

  

194

Bel and the Dragon

  

194

The Apocalypse of Daniel

  

196

Jonah

  

197

Judith

  

197

Tobit

  

201

VII: Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Psalms of Solomon, Prayer of Manassah, The Song of Azariah and the Three Young Men

  

201

The Psalms: Words without Music

  

202

Writing Staff

  

203

Only a Northern Song

  

204

That Old Time Religion

  

206

God versus Godzilla

  

208

Unification Theology

  

208

Psalm 82

  

208

Yahweh Resurrected

  

209

Psalm 88

  

210

Psalms of Praise

  

211

Royal Psalms

  

211

Psalm 2

  

212

Psalm 110

  

213

Psalm 23

  

214

Psalm 63

  

216

Psalms 18, 45

  

216

Laments of the King

  

217

Psalm 51

  

218

Psalm 22

  

221

Psalm 139

  

222

Psalm 137

  

223

Psalm 91

  

224

Psalms 18, 116, 138

  

225

Psalm 84

  

225

Psalm 122

  

226

Psalm 100

  

226

Psalms of the Levites

  

227

Psalms 134, 135

  

227

Psalm 24

  

227

Psalm 73

  

229

Psalm 1

  

230

Psalm 90

  

231

Psalm 8

  

232

Psalm 19

  

233

Psalm 104

  

235

The Song of Solomon

  

237

Lamentations of Jeremiah

  

237

Psalms of Solomon

  

238

The Prayer of Manasseh: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33

  

239

The Song of Azariah and the Three Young Men: Dan. 3:24-90

  

245

VIII: Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Job, Ecclesiastes, Testament of Solomon

  

245

The Book of Proverbs

  

249

Wisdom of Solomon

  

251

Sirach: Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach

  

254

The Book of Job

  

258

Ecclesiastes: Qoheleth

  

259

Testament of Solomon

  

263

IX: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos

  

263

The Written Jehovah

  

263

Author Appendages

  

263

Get it in Writing

  

264

Deuteronomic Anachronism

  

264

The Veil Slips

  

265

The Latter Prophets

  

266

Who Ya Gonna Call?

  

267

Moses: Exod. 3:1-12; 4:10-13; 6:10-12; 7:1-4

  

268

Samuel: 1 Sam. 3

  

268

Isaiah: Isa. 6

  

269

Jeremiah: Jer. 1

  

269

Ezekiel: Ezekiel 1-3

  

270

Common Themes

  

271

Sacred Charades: Jer. 13

  

272

Wonderful Marriage Counselor: Jer. 16, Ezek. 24, Hosea 1, Isa. 8

  

273

The Potter's House: Jer. 19

  

274

Drink Ye All of It: Jer. 25

  

274

Battle of the Prophets: Jer. 27-28 // Deut. 18

  

276

Buyer's Market: Jer. 32

  

276

Crocodile Rocks: Jer. 43

  

277

Book in the Brook: Jer. 51

  

277

Sacred Cow Pies: Ezek. 4

  

279

Baring Witness: Isa. 20

  

280

Narratees versus Readers

  

281

The Book of Isaiah

  

281

Isaiah 1

  

284

The Temple Epiphany: Isa. 6:1-13

  

286

Birth Announcement: Isa. 7:1-17

  

289

Isaiah 8

  

289

Isaiah 9

  

290

Isaiah 11

  

291

The Bigger They Are ...: Isa. 14:3-20

  

293

The Apocalypse of Isaiah: Isa. 24-27

  

293

Isaiah 24

  

294

Isaiah 25

  

296

Isaiah 26

  

298

The Second Isaiah

  

299

Songs of the Servant: Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-12; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12

  

299

Isaiah 42

  

300

Isaiah 49

  

302

Isaiah 50

  

303

Isaiah 52-53

  

305

Some More about the Servant

  

305

Isaiah 41

  

306

Isaiah 42 (again)

  

307

The Contrived Christian Isaiah

  

308

The Book of Jeremiah

  

308

Jeremiah 11-12

  

309

Jeremiah 15

  

310

Jeremiah 17

  

311

Jeremiah 18

  

312

Jeremiah 20

  

313

The Vengeance of Nitocris: Jer. 43-44

  

314

O Christmas Tree? Jer. 10, Isa. 46

  

316

The Book of Ezekiel

  

318

Pretty Tired of Tyre: Ezek. 28:1-19

  

320

Dem Dry Bones: Ezek. 37

  

322

The Stoneheart Group: Ezek. 36, Jer. 31

  

322

Invidious Individualism: Jer. 31, Ezek. 18

  

323

Ezekiel the Architect: Ezek. 40-46

  

323

Ezekiel's Close Encounter: Ezek. 1

  

325

The Book of the Twelve

  

325

Amos

  

325

Amos 7

  

326

Amos 2-3

  

327

Amos 8

  

328

Amos 2, 4-5

  

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