--- product_id: 1695793 title: "Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary" price: "40.96 DT" currency: TND in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1695793-ancient-israel-the-former-prophets-joshua-judges-samuel-and-kings store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary **Price:** 40.96 DT **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary - **How much does it cost?** 40.96 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1695793-ancient-israel-the-former-prophets-joshua-judges-samuel-and-kings) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Robert Alter’s award-winning translation of the Hebrew Bible continues with the stirring narrative of Israel’s ancient history. To read the books of the Former Prophets in this riveting Robert Alter translation is to discover an entertaining amalgam of hair-raising action and high literary achievement. Samson, the vigilante superhero of Judges, slaughters thousands of Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. David, the Machiavellian prince of Samuel and Kings, is one of the great literary figures of antiquity. A ruthless monarch, David embodies a life in full dimension as it moves from brilliant youth through vigorous prime to failing old age. Samson and David play emblematic roles in the rise and fall of ancient Israel, a nation beset by internal divisions and external threats. A scattering of contentious desert tribes joined by faith in a special covenant with God, Israel emerges through the bloody massacres of Canaanite populations recounted in Joshua and the anarchic violence of Judges. The resourceful David consolidates national power, but it is power rooted in conspiracy, and David dies bitterly isolated in his court, surrounded by enemies. His successor, Solomon, maintains national unity through his legendary wisdom, wealth, and grand public vision, but after his death Israel succumbs to internal discord and foreign conquest. Near its end, the saga of ancient Israel returns to the supernatural. In Elijah’s fiery ascent to heaven many would find the harbinger of a messiah coming to save his people in their time of need. map Review: Worth buying and reading - Robert Alter, an award winning author, has many skills including knowing Hebrew, understanding the Bible, and writing well. He translated and commented on many biblical books. He translates and comments upon "The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings" in this volume. Ancient Judaism divided the Hebrew Bible into three parts: Torah (the Five Books of Moses), Neviim (the prophetical books - books derived by prophecy), and Ketuvim (writings - inspired books). The entire collection is called Tanach, which is an acronym made up of the names of the three parts. Later scholars divided the second section Neviim into two parts, the former and later prophets. Actually, the "former Prophets" are not books of prophecy, but historical books. Alter does not attempt to give his readers an extensive commentary on the four books. However he does introduce each with about a half dozen pages in which he explains the history and contents of the book. He also places about half a page of commentary on each page of each book. Alter's translation is much clearer than many others. For example, just a simple sentence in the Art Scroll edition of I Samuel 11:1 translates: "Then Nahash the Ammonite sent up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, `Seal a covenant with us, and we will serve you.'" Alter has: "And Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, `Make a pact with us, and we shall be subject to you.'" In more than half a page under this sentence, Alter explains what the Ammonite kingdom is, its relationship to King Saul and King David, what is the settlement of Jabesh-Gilead, its relationship to Saul, what was found in Cave 4 of Qumran in the twentieth century that throws light on this episode. Review: The things that you're liable to read in the... - Does any other text have such a discrepancy between the amount of time generations have devoted to studying it and the actual understanding derived from this huge effort?? Century after century people have been told that these books were God's word, an instruction manual on how to live. Generation after generation, people have lived in houses with copies of the Bible. Family history, marriages, births and deaths were recorded in it. Dedicated missionaries spent lifetimes hard at work at their desks, just so they could translate the ancient Hebrew text into obscure languages. Just what the 19th century Hawaiians made of these brutal tales is beyond me. Did they actually read it? I have relatives who defend "Biblical marriage," -- did they actually read about all the concubines? Or was it just a sacred object? So I tried to read it, first as religious guidance, then as poetry and then as history. But I either couldn't follow it, or I just didn't believe it could be saying what I thought it was saying: all that murder, rape, genocide, pillage. As an archivist, I like to get as close to the original text as possible. Robert Alter seemed to be the most qualified guide, and I decided to make one last attempt. After reading the Five Books of Moses with Robert Alter's commentary, I was addicted and went on to read "Ancient Israel," translations and commentary on Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. only with Alter's footnotes could I make sense out of the narratives. And when the actual text itself is garbled, he points out the likely reasons. For me this time, reading the OT became something of a soap opera with lots of dramatic irony as the reader sees looming disaster, "No! Don't do that!...Oh, no, they did..." There is lots of dual causality, disaster comes because the deity is mad about the worship of idols, and also because of more mundane factors like superior forces. Alter is upfront about the overall effect of the first half of "Ancient Israel" -- ruthlessness, and the general impression made by the second half -- tedium. And " nowhere in the Bible is there a more palpable discrepancy between the values and expectations of the ancient Near Eastern era in which the book was written and those of twenty-first century readers." The story of the defeat of the Canaanites is apparently mythical, not supported by archeological evidence. According to his theory, the genocide against the Canaanites as described with great approval in the Bible, probably never actually happened. The later battles with the Assyrians and Babylonians have more of a basis in fact. Alter's notes puts all of these discrepancies and correspondences between text and extra-biblical evidence in context. The Bible's fundamental if brutal honesty however comes out in the deep moral ambiguity of nearly all the great biblical heroes, so even King David, actually especially King David, they all did pretty dastardly things, that is essentially true to human nature. With Alter's framework, the folklore elements woven into the mythical and historical narratives stand out. Elijah is simply different from any of the other prophets before him. He works wishful-thinking miracles and helps the downtrodden. He miraculously provides food in times of hunger, an early model for the loaves and fishes (like the fairy tale "Tischlein Deck Dich"). Apparently these features made him the star of Jewish folklore over the centuries. Alter convincingly concludes that Elijah provides the template for many of the Jesus stories of the New Testament. The interconnections are starting to make sense to me. I'm grateful to Alter for using both his erudition and his deep insights to help non-specialists such as myself get a sense of what the OT is all about. I'm not about to give the Bible a rating, that's rather presumptuous, but Alter's notes definitely deserve 5 stars. Worth the time and effort to work through...I'm still not about to use the Bible as a guide to living, but as a guide to human nature, it's all in there. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,179,468 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #220 in Christian Prophets (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 135 Reviews | ## Images ![Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61x2oFmfDVL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Worth buying and reading *by I***N on May 19, 2013* Robert Alter, an award winning author, has many skills including knowing Hebrew, understanding the Bible, and writing well. He translated and commented on many biblical books. He translates and comments upon "The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings" in this volume. Ancient Judaism divided the Hebrew Bible into three parts: Torah (the Five Books of Moses), Neviim (the prophetical books - books derived by prophecy), and Ketuvim (writings - inspired books). The entire collection is called Tanach, which is an acronym made up of the names of the three parts. Later scholars divided the second section Neviim into two parts, the former and later prophets. Actually, the "former Prophets" are not books of prophecy, but historical books. Alter does not attempt to give his readers an extensive commentary on the four books. However he does introduce each with about a half dozen pages in which he explains the history and contents of the book. He also places about half a page of commentary on each page of each book. Alter's translation is much clearer than many others. For example, just a simple sentence in the Art Scroll edition of I Samuel 11:1 translates: "Then Nahash the Ammonite sent up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, `Seal a covenant with us, and we will serve you.'" Alter has: "And Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, `Make a pact with us, and we shall be subject to you.'" In more than half a page under this sentence, Alter explains what the Ammonite kingdom is, its relationship to King Saul and King David, what is the settlement of Jabesh-Gilead, its relationship to Saul, what was found in Cave 4 of Qumran in the twentieth century that throws light on this episode. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The things that you're liable to read in the... *by E***N on July 25, 2016* Does any other text have such a discrepancy between the amount of time generations have devoted to studying it and the actual understanding derived from this huge effort?? Century after century people have been told that these books were God's word, an instruction manual on how to live. Generation after generation, people have lived in houses with copies of the Bible. Family history, marriages, births and deaths were recorded in it. Dedicated missionaries spent lifetimes hard at work at their desks, just so they could translate the ancient Hebrew text into obscure languages. Just what the 19th century Hawaiians made of these brutal tales is beyond me. Did they actually read it? I have relatives who defend "Biblical marriage," -- did they actually read about all the concubines? Or was it just a sacred object? So I tried to read it, first as religious guidance, then as poetry and then as history. But I either couldn't follow it, or I just didn't believe it could be saying what I thought it was saying: all that murder, rape, genocide, pillage. As an archivist, I like to get as close to the original text as possible. Robert Alter seemed to be the most qualified guide, and I decided to make one last attempt. After reading the Five Books of Moses with Robert Alter's commentary, I was addicted and went on to read "Ancient Israel," translations and commentary on Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. only with Alter's footnotes could I make sense out of the narratives. And when the actual text itself is garbled, he points out the likely reasons. For me this time, reading the OT became something of a soap opera with lots of dramatic irony as the reader sees looming disaster, "No! Don't do that!...Oh, no, they did..." There is lots of dual causality, disaster comes because the deity is mad about the worship of idols, and also because of more mundane factors like superior forces. Alter is upfront about the overall effect of the first half of "Ancient Israel" -- ruthlessness, and the general impression made by the second half -- tedium. And " nowhere in the Bible is there a more palpable discrepancy between the values and expectations of the ancient Near Eastern era in which the book was written and those of twenty-first century readers." The story of the defeat of the Canaanites is apparently mythical, not supported by archeological evidence. According to his theory, the genocide against the Canaanites as described with great approval in the Bible, probably never actually happened. The later battles with the Assyrians and Babylonians have more of a basis in fact. Alter's notes puts all of these discrepancies and correspondences between text and extra-biblical evidence in context. The Bible's fundamental if brutal honesty however comes out in the deep moral ambiguity of nearly all the great biblical heroes, so even King David, actually especially King David, they all did pretty dastardly things, that is essentially true to human nature. With Alter's framework, the folklore elements woven into the mythical and historical narratives stand out. Elijah is simply different from any of the other prophets before him. He works wishful-thinking miracles and helps the downtrodden. He miraculously provides food in times of hunger, an early model for the loaves and fishes (like the fairy tale "Tischlein Deck Dich"). Apparently these features made him the star of Jewish folklore over the centuries. Alter convincingly concludes that Elijah provides the template for many of the Jesus stories of the New Testament. The interconnections are starting to make sense to me. I'm grateful to Alter for using both his erudition and his deep insights to help non-specialists such as myself get a sense of what the OT is all about. I'm not about to give the Bible a rating, that's rather presumptuous, but Alter's notes definitely deserve 5 stars. Worth the time and effort to work through...I'm still not about to use the Bible as a guide to living, but as a guide to human nature, it's all in there. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and 2 Samuel is great at explaining and clarifying some of the biblical quirks ... *by L***S on October 22, 2014* This translation of the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel is great at explaining and clarifying some of the biblical quirks and questions that are part of the modern reader's approach to these ancient texts. Of course the footnotes are the most valuable part, as the were in Alter's The Five Books of Moses. 1 and 2 Chronicles are referenced in the translation of Samuel but are not explored on their own, as so much of the material in them is redundant to Samuel. Alter is a fine scholar, and I look forward to reading his additional translations. He tries very hard not to impose his theology on the reader. Nevertheless, he gets tripped up by any suggestion that God could have a body or look like a human being (scriptural references that "anthropomorphize" God are treated as purely symbolic) and he often dismisses the idea that God could speak directly to His prophets, trying instead to explain how a prophesy must have been received through a series of yes and no answers as the result of questions to an oracle. But we all have our limits and Alter is brilliant in his cross-referencing, explanations of most things, and identification of themes, as well as bringing in the best of the work of other biblical scholars. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1695793-ancient-israel-the-former-prophets-joshua-judges-samuel-and-kings](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1695793-ancient-israel-the-former-prophets-joshua-judges-samuel-and-kings) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-09-17*