This post contains links to a few books that have helped me understand the context and content of the scriptures. As an Amazon Affiliate, I do earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you). Click here to see all of my favorite books on Amazon.
For the quotation regarding the East Wind in Mosiah 7.30-32, and what it can show a careful reader of the Book of Mormon, go here.
For the quotation from The Marriage of Martu where the ancients depict their enemies in negative terms, see the article Scripture Comes in its Cultural Packaging.
See the text cited in “The Marriage of Martu,” lines 127-142 (c.1.7.1) here. You can also read these lines in John Walton, The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest, chapter 12, IVP Academic, 2017.
For those seeking more information on the literature of the ancient world that influence the culture of the Israelites, William Hallo’s Context of Scripture is worth reading. See: Hallo and Younger, The Context of Scripture, Volume 1, Brill, 2002. See also: Hallo and Younger, The Context of Scripture, Volume 2 Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World, Brill, 2001; The Context of Scripture: Archival Documents from the Biblical World, Volume 3, 2002;
You can also access Hallo and Younger’s work on the Internet Archive Database here.