Israel's Past: Studies on History and Religion in Ancient Israel and Judah

Bob Becking

Published by De Gruyter 2021

Israel's Past

Studies on History and Religion in Ancient Israel and Judah

Bob Becking

Volume 535 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110717266

Overview
Contents

About this book

How should one write a history of Ancient Israel? In the last few decades, a lively discussion has taken place on the historiography of ancient Israel. Minimalists such as Philip Davies, Thomas Thompson, and Niels Peter Lemche challenged the usefulness of the Hebrew Bible as a source for constructing Israel's past. Maximalists like Baruch Halpern and William Dever argued instead that the data from the Hebrew Bible should be trusted until otherwise proven. Others – among whom we can name Hans Barstad, Rainer Albertz, and Lester Grabbe – took a third road. The essays in this volume follow that third road by applying insights from the field of philosophy of history. A dozen case studies from David to the earliest Samaritans demonstrate how difficult it is to write a history of ancient Israel without falling in the abyss of an ideology in one direction or another. The matrix designed by Manfred Weippert to look at the past through five windows (landscape, climate, archaeology, epigraphy and only at the end the Hebrew Bible) turned out to be more helpful. The conclusion of this research is that there are some stable pillars in the swamp of the past, but it comes with the warning that the space between these pillars is large and cannot easily be filled.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
List of Original Publications Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
David between Ideology and Evidence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Assyrian Evidence for Iconic Polytheism in Ancient Israel? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
How to Encounter an Historical Problem? “722–720” as a Case Study Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
West Semites at Tell Šēḥ Ḥamad: Evidence for the Israelite Exile? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Phoenician Snakes and a Prophetic Parallelism: An Implication for Zephaniah 1,9 of a Recent Discovery in the Egyptian Pyramid Texts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Sennacherib and Jerusalem: New Perspectives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Means of Revelation in the Book of Jeremiah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
A Fragmented History of the Exile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Global Warming and the Babylonian Exile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
The Return of the Deity from Exile: Iconic or Aniconic? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Is There a Samaritan Identity in the Earliest Documents? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
More than one God? Three Models of Construing the Relations between Yhwh and the Other Gods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
A Troubler of “Ancient Israel”: Philip Davies as Heir of Faustus of Mileve Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Index of Ancient Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Modern authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars, students, and institutions of Biblical studies, Jewish studies, ancient religion.
Pages
- Front matter: 20
- Main content: 250
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Tables: 19
Keywords: David; Sennacherib; antiquity; historiography

eBook

Published: October 4, 2021
ISBN: 9783110717266

Hardcover

Published: October 4, 2021
ISBN: 9783110717143