[cgbg]

One of the lessons of the Sitchen/anti-Sitchen debate is how difficult it is to understand ancient texts.

The prejudices aka culture of those who study the texts have a very strong impact on the “results” of the translation.

Those who think the “scientific” world-view is going to fix this are in for a nasty surprise.

At the end of the day it is humans creating narratives to make themselves feel wise and superior.

[RoosterRedux]

One of the best scholarly books on ancient texts is The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible by Michael Heiser.

I think you would like this book. It's a thick, scholarly tome but well worth the time of anyone interested in this subject.

He debunks Sitchen nicely by carefully translating the Old Testament and other ancient texts. Heiser had an MA in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA and PhD in the Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (with a minor in Classical studies). He is considered by many to be the world's leading authority on this subject.

[RoosterRedux]

BTW, Heiser doesn't actually present any theories, per se. He just carefully translates the ancient texts and presents them as they are.

That said, the ancient texts tell some hair-raising stories without any embellishment needed.