Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel

This appears to be a college textbook. However, my wife and I are using it differently. We are reading the Old Testament aloud to each other, and are reading this alongside, also aloud. Naturally the organization of the book does not follow exactly the organization of the Old Testament, so we are often a little ahead or behind in one relative to the other. We find Merrill's synthesis to be helpful and enlightening in trying to understand (and remember) the biblical narrative.Merrill often goes into great detail on locations, chronology, and etc. These details can be absorbed or glossed over according to the individual's needs and desires. On obscure points the author presents one or more proposed solutions, with the difficulties duly noted. Thus Merrill offers a narrative that - it seems to me - can fulfill the needs of a wide audience, from preacher to Bible student with little background.As for the author's point of view, he is obviously a believer in the Old Testament, yet carefully treads between a believer's approach and the requisite approach required by academia. Footnotes can be enjoyed or ignored (and the book eschews those dreadful endnotes).Thus we highly recommend Kingdom of Priests for individual study.

Dr Merrill is a true scholar who is as at home with the Hebrew OT as with an English Bible. He has participated in several archeological digs in the holy land and is personally acquainted with most of the locations of the OT on both sides of the Jordan River. His familiarity with the biblical text and excellent grasp of the histories of the other nations of the ancient near east has enabled him to offer the most reliable chronology of key biblical events that I have seen, especially as they intersect with the rulers and significant events of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia. This is the book to have for a narrative of the Old Testament from a perspective that truly honors the text and the God of the OT. Every reader will gain new insights and enjoy the very readable style this was written in.

This was a great, informative book. I am thankful for the author's time in putting it together and would recommend that everyone add it to their Old Testament library. It is a great book to give you an overview of the Old Testament and is written at a level that is easy to read.I had to read this book for a class, and the professor did something really worthwhile. He broke it up into 27 separate readings, and each reading corresponded with readings from Scripture based on what the text was covering. I would recommend that everyone do this. After reading Scripture and then diving into this book, it helped add certain details, specifically order of events and their relationship to other events in the Bible.

I had to purchase this book for one of my college classes, and it was quite informative. This book was not really my cup of tea, but it was interesting and gave me more insight into much of the Old Testament. The author is very knowledgeable in this particular field and shares that knowledge with his readers in this book. I was surprised with how much I learned while reading this book!

I enjoyed this text on the historical and cultural backdrop to the Old Testament (OT). Dr. Eugene Merrill does not skirt the tough issues of authorship, dating, and the like that go hand-in-hand with the OT. He addresses them head on while landing on solid, biblical grounds for his own views. The book makes an excellent companion piece to the Bible, especially as one reads through the OT.

Wow! Just WOW! As one who is researching the story of David for a four book series, finding Dr/ Merrill's book was a diamond in the dirt (compare Baden's: The Historical David. The Real Life of an Invented Hero).His extensive research and thorough thinking is given in an easy to read book on the beginnings of the Israelites through the last of the OT writers, Malachi. Salt and peppered with Biblical verse support and academic annotations, this is not only a support for Biblical cohesion as the Word of God but a scholarly insight into the people from where our Saviour came.Just outstanding!

This is an excellent book on Old Testament history, written from a conservative viewpoint and chock full of names, dates, and places. It's the best companion guide to the Old Testament and perhaps the entire Bible that I have ever read.

Eugene Merrill has become an expert at Old Testament Theology. Very informative book.

Any newcomer to Israelite history will learn a ridiculous amount through reading this book. It helps to put the events of the OT in order, it provides enlightening information on the historical contexts, and it presents some good arguments for the OT's historical reliability while engaging with a wide variety of views. I think the reviewer who gave it one star must have mistaken the author's presentation of those other views as his own: he's about as conservative as you could get on these matters.

Intellectually honest straight to subject no mish mash gathering important historical data to subsidize bible history. Most importantly, its not guided by cynical unbelieving contemporary historiology.