Bible Times and Customs

[trof]

I'm not a believer, but this is an 'interesting' website.
http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/biblecus/biblec.htm

As we read the Bible, many things are mentioned that we are not very familiar with: pottery, camels, chariots, cubits, the washing of feet, Baal, olive trees, publicans, Pharisees, the Passover and the Tabernacle. These things seem strange to us. We have heard of Republicans, but what are publicans? We know all about Christmas, but what is the Passover? We know what a church building is like, but what is a Tabernacle? We know what inches and feet are, but what are cubits? We know many things about God, but who is Baal? We see maple trees and oak trees all the time, but what do olive trees and cedar trees look like? We know what it is like to brush our teeth, but has anyone ever washed our feet after we have entered their home? We see dogs and cats almost every day, but how often do we see camels or hedgehogs or leviathans? We use dishes at every meal, but what is pottery? We have seen pictures of army tanks, but what do chariots look like and what were they used for? We have heard of Catholics and Protestants and people who call themselves "priests," but what are Pharisees?

Suppose a young girl from China were to come to live with your family for one year. Do you think there would be some things that she would do differently? How do you think she would eat her food? Would she dress differently? Would she talk differently? Even if she knew English, do you think she would have a different accent?

What if you were able to spend a year with a missionary in a jungle tribe of Africa or a jungle tribe of Brazil. Would these people act differently in some ways? Would they eat the same kinds of food you eat? Would they travel in the same way that you traveled where you were back home (car, bus, bicycle, rollerblades)? Would they talk differently? If you were to spend a year in England, France, Germany or Spain, do you think you would notice many unusual customs and things that seem very different to you?

[TexasProgresive]

1. One of the forms of Biblical exegesis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_criticism
A division is still sometimes made between historical criticism and literary criticism. Historical criticism seeks to locate the text in history: it asks such questions as when the text was written, who the author/s might have been, and what history might be reconstructed from the answers. Literary criticism asks what audience the authors wrote for, their presumptive purpose, and the development of the text over time.

Historical criticism was the dominant form of criticism until the late 20th century, when biblical critics became interested in questions aimed more at the meaning of the text than its origins and developed methods drawn from mainstream literary criticism. The distinction is frequently referred to as one between diachronic and synchronic forms of criticism, the former concerned the development of texts through time, the latter treating texts as they exist at a particular moment, frequently the so-called "final form", meaning the Bible text as we have it today.