Ancient Hebrew Social Life And Custom As Indicated In Law Narrative And Metaphor

Dr. Ola Udah (literal meaning: Judahs offering or Judahs ornament) Equiano (possibly ekwe alu a) was right when he identified his Eboe people as presenting same manners and customs as the Israelites of the old times as illustrated in the book of Leviticus. This study attempts to be an evidence to this assertion. It is a product of a research that began since 1983 and is barely concluded in 2018. The reader would readily realize that the research on this topic has only begun. Changes, modifications, and even eliminations of manners and customs of people through the generations make continuation of this study inevitable. This would be especially expected when examining ancient cultural issues today. Although the study did not strictly begin as another attempt to prove the identity of the Ibos as the Jews enunciated in the Old Testament designation of the children of Jacob, it has however added a relevant credence to that fact. Some of the manners and customs examined include similarities in the use of words and meanings, ritual practices, beliefs, personal attributes, and aspirations that are common to the Eboe (Heeboe, Ibu, Ibo, Igbo) peoples and the ancient Israelites. The book is basically a call for individual and collective reinvention of Eboes (and indeed worldwide Jews) for collective survival in a hostile world. The book interprets a true present-day Hebrew as the true worshipper of the I am that I amthe G-d of our fathers who singled out Abraham and Jacob, our common ancestral fathers, and chose them for a mission to the world. The book finally suggests a version of Christianity centered on YeshuaJesus the Christand his message in the New Testament, a version of Christianity that would include relevant aspects of our omenala (law) among other recommendations. This is a book no one should ignore as it should be an eye-opener to the facts relevant to finding the solution to a long-standing identity crisis of the Eboe people.

This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of new veiling practices among lower middle class women in Cairo, Egypt. Although these women are part of a modernizing middle class, they also voluntarily adopt a traditional symbol of female subordination. How can this paradox be explained? An explanation emerges which reconceptualizes what appears to be reactionary behavior as a new style of political struggle--as accommodating protest. These women, most of them clerical workers in the large government bureaucracy, are ambivalent about working outside the home, considering it a change which brings new burdens as well as some important benefits. At the same time they realize that leaving home and family is creating an intolerable situation of the erosion of their social status and the loss of their traditional identity. The new veiling expresses women's protest against this. MacLeod argues that the symbolism of the new veiling emerges from this tense subcultural dilemma, involving elements of both resistance and acquiescence.

In this sweeping overview of life in the ancient Near East, Daniel Snell surveys the history of the region from the invention of writing five thousand years ago to Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 B.C.E. The book is the first comprehensive history of the social and economic conditions affecting ordinary people and of the relations between governments and peoples in ancient Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. To set Near East developments in a broader context, the author also provides brief contrasting views of India, China, Greece, and Etruscan Italy. Snell organizes his book chronologically in time spans of about five hundred years and considers broad continuities. Drawing on the latest scholarship in many fields and in many languages, he sets forth a detailed picture of what is known about the demography, social groups, family, women, labor, land and animal management, crafts, trade, money, and government of the ancient Near East. For general readers with an interest in historical events that have influenced the development of Europe and the Middle East, for specialists seeking a broader understanding of early periods of Middle Eastern history, and for anyone with an interest in the Bible, this book offers a fascinating tour of life in ancient Western Asia.