The Writings
The Hebrew Bible
My Thoughts
This is the final of 3 books containing the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible. The Writings consists of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Qohelet (Ecclesiastes), Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Two things stood out – the use of poetry or prose in each of these books and Robert Alter’s wondering how some of these books made it into the canon. Alter also referenced some works I read last year – Gilgamesh and Hesiod – and it was neat how references from those works may have made their way into the Bible. Alter also points out differences in these writings compared to the Torah and the Prophets as many of these were compiled after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This concludes the Robert Alter translation & commentary of the Hebrew Bible. It was a very interesting process to use this version and I’m glad I did so.
