Royal Apologetic in the Ancient Near East
Royal Apologetic in the Ancient Near East

Author: Andrew Knapp

Publisher: SBL Press

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 088414075X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fresh exploration of apologetic material that pushes beyond form criticism Andrew Knapp applies modern genre theory to seven ancient Near Eastern royal apologies that served to defend the legitimacy of kings who came to power under irregular circumstances. Knapp examines texts and inscriptions related to Telipinu, Hattusili III, David, Solomon, Hazael, Esarhaddon, and Nabonidus to identify transhistorical common issues that unite each discourse. Features: Compares Hittite, Israelite, Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian apologies Examination of apologetic as a mode instead of a genre Charts and illustrations

Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel
Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel

Author: Isaac Kalimi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-11-29

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1108588379

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Solomon's image as a wise king and the founder of Jerusalem Temple has become a fixture of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature. Yet, there are essential differences between the portraits of Solomon that are presented in the Hebrew Bible. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi explores these differences, which reflect divergent historical contexts, theological and didactic concepts, stylistic and literary techniques, and compositional methods among the biblical historians. He highlights the uniqueness of each portrayal of Solomon - his character, birth, early life, ascension, and temple-building - through a close comparison of the early and late biblical historiographies. Whereas the authors of Samuel-Kings stay closely to their sources and offer an apology for Solomon's kingship, including its more questionable aspects, the Chronicler freely rewrites his sources in order to present the life of Solomon as he wished it to be. The volume will serve scholars and students seeking to understand biblical texts within their ancient Near Eastern contexts.

Memory in a Time of Prose
Memory in a Time of Prose

Author: Daniel D. Pioske

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-08-15

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0190649860

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Memory in a Time of Prose investigates a deceptively straightforward question: what did the biblical scribes know about times previous to their own? Daniel D. Pioske attempts to answer this question by studying the sources, limits, and conditions of knowing that would have shaped biblical stories told about a past that preceded the composition of these writings by a generation or more. This book is comprised of a series of case studies that compare biblical references to an early Iron Age world (ca. 1175-830 BCE) with a wide range of archaeological and historical evidence from the era in which these stories are set. Pioske examines the relationship between the past disclosed through these historical traces and the past represented within the biblical narrative. He discovers that the knowledge available to the biblical scribes about this period derived predominantly from memory and word of mouth, rather than from a corpus of older narrative documents. For those Hebrew scribes who first set down these stories in prose writing, the means for knowing a past and the significance attached to it were, in short, wed foremost to the faculty of remembrance. Memory in a Time of Prose reveals how the past was preserved, transformed, or forgotten in the ancient world of oral, living speech that informed biblical storytelling.

A Kingdom for a Stage
A Kingdom for a Stage

Author: Mark W. Hamilton

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2018-03-05

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 3161555058

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The political rhetoric of ancient Israel took several literary, architectural, and graphic forms. Much of the relevant material concerns kingship, but other loci of authority and submission also drew significant attention. Mark W. Hamilton illustrates how these "texts" interacted with other political rhetorics, especially those of the great Mesopotamian empires. By paying close attention to the argumentation of the Israelite literature as well as their function as epideictic oratory building solidarity with hearers he reveals the complexity of Israelite intellectual activity both during and after the period of the monarchy. By doing this he shows that this body of thought lies at the heart of Western political thought even today.

Extremism, Ancient and Modern
Extremism, Ancient and Modern

Author: Sandra Scham

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-19

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 135184654X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Near Eastern archaeology is generally represented as a succession of empires with little attention paid to the individuals, labelled as terrorists at the time, that brought them down. Their stories, when viewed against the backdrop of current violent extremism in the Middle East, can provide a unique long-term perspective. Extremism, Ancient and Modern brings long-forgotten pasts to bear on the narratives of radical groups today, recognizing the historical bases and specific cultural contexts for their highly charged ideologies. The author, with expertise in Middle Eastern archaeology and counter-terrorism work, provides a unique viewpoint on a relatively under-researched subject. This timely volume will interest a wide readership, from undergraduate and graduate students of archaeology, history and politics, to a general audience with an interest in the deep historical narratives of extremism and their impact on today’s political climate.

Ahab's House of Horrors
Ahab's House of Horrors

Author: Kyle R. Greenwood

Publisher: Lexham Press

Published: 2023-03-22

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1683596498

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Reconciling biblical and extrabiblical history The extrabiblical testimony surrounding Israel's early history is difficult to assess and synthesize. But numerous sources emerging from the ninth century BC onward invite direct comparison with the biblical account. In Ahab's House of Horrors: A Historiographic Study of the Military Campaigns of the House of Omri, Kyle R. Greenwood and David B. Schreiner examine the historical records of Israel and its neighbors. While Scripture generally gives a bleak depiction of the Omride dynasty, extrabiblical evidence appears to tell another story. Inscriptions and archeological evidence portray a period of Israelite geopolitical influence and cultural sophistication. Rather than simply rejecting one source over another, Greenwood and Schreiner press beyond polarization. They propose a nuanced synthesis by embracing the complex dynamics of ancient history writing and the historical difficulties that surround the Omri dynasty. Ahab's House of Horrors is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion of biblical historiography and, specifically, to our understanding of 1–2 Kings and the Omri family.

Royal Illness and Kingship Ideology in the Hebrew Bible
Royal Illness and Kingship Ideology in the Hebrew Bible

Author: Isabel Cranz

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-10-22

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 110890047X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Isabel Cranz offers the first systematic study of royal illness in the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Applying a diachronic approach, she compares and contrasts how the different views concerning kingship and illness are developed in the larger trajectory of the Hebrew Bible. As such, she demonstrates how a framework of meaning is constructed around the motif of illness, which is expanded in several redactional steps. This development takes different forms and relates to issues such as problems with kingship, the cultic, and moral conduct of individual kings, or the evaluation of dynasties. Significantly, Cranz shows how the scribes living in post-monarchic Judah expanded the interpretive framework of royal illness until it included a message of destruction and a critique of kingship. The physical and mental integrity of the king, therefore, becomes closely tied to his nation and the political system he represents.

The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel - Samuel
The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel - Samuel

Author:

Publisher: Koren Publishers Jerusalem

Published: 2021-06-01

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 9657766230

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel offers an innovative and refreshing approach to the Hebrew Bible. By fusing extraordinary findings by modern scholars on the ancient Near East with the original Hebrew text and a brand new English translation. The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel clarifies and explains the Biblical narrative, laws, events, and prophecies in context with the milieu in which it took place. It features stunning visuals of ancient civilizations including artifacts, archeological excavations, inscriptions, and maps, along with brief articles on Egyptology, geography, biblical botany, language, geography, and more. By showcasing material that was unknown to previous generations of Torah scholars, The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel opens a new view into the revolutionary impact of the Tanakh, published for the first time in English.

The World around the Old Testament
The World around the Old Testament

Author: Bill T. Arnold

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2016-11-15

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1493405748

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Leading Experts Introduce the People and Contexts of the Old Testament What people groups interacted with ancient Israel? Who were the Hurrians and why do they matter? What do we know about the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and others? In this up-to-date volume, leading experts introduce the peoples and places of the world around the Old Testament, providing students with a fresh exploration of the ancient Near East. The contributors offer comprehensive orientations to the main cultures and people groups that surrounded ancient Israel in the wider ancient Near East, including not only Mesopotamia and the northern Levant but also Egypt, Arabia, and Greece. They also explore the contributions of each people group or culture to our understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. This supplementary text is organized by geographic region, making it especially suitable for the classroom and useful in a variety of Old Testament courses. Approximately eighty-five illustrative items are included throughout the book.