The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel.

Intro -- Praise -- Series -- Title page -- Copyright -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Editor's Introduction -- Part I: Methodology: Questions, Concepts, Approaches, and Tools -- A: Contextualizing Israelite Culture -- Chapter 1 Archaeology: What It Can Teach Us -- Introduction to Archaeological Methods of Excavation and Interpretation -- "Biblical Israel" of the Text and "Ancient Israel" of the Archaeological Remains -- Reconstructing Ancient and Biblical Israel from an Archaeological Perspective -- Bibliography -- Chapter 2 Israel in Its Neighboring Context -- Amorites and the Canaanites -- Philistines -- Moabites and Ammonites -- Edomites -- Midianites -- Arameans -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3 Ancient Egypt and Israel: History, Culture, and the Biblical Text -- Historical and Cultural Interaction -- The Comparative Enterprise -- Concluding Comments -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4 Text and Context in Biblical Studies: A Brief History of a Troubled Relationship -- The Bible Displaced -- New Historicism to the Rescue? -- Down Memory Lane -- Note -- Bibliography -- B: Hebrew Bible and Tracking Israelite History and Culture -- Chapter 5 Folklore and Israelite Tradition: Appreciation and Application -- The Essence of Folklore -- Resistance to Folklore and Misunderstanding -- Applications -- Findings -- Note -- Bibliography -- Chapter 6 The Formation of the Hebrew Bible: Sources, Compositional Layers, and Other Revisions -- Forms of Ancient Revision of Texts -- Examples of Scribal Revision in Genesis 1-11 -- Study of the Formation of the Pentateuch -- The Formation of Other Parts of the Hebrew Bible -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 7 Linguistics and the Dating of Biblical Literature -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 8 Epigraphy: Writing Culture in the Iron Age Levant -- Laying the Groundwork.

The Focus: Iron Age Inscriptions in the Levant -- Of Kings and Kingdoms: Monumental Inscriptions of the Iron Age -- Monumental Inscriptions about Military Conquests: Tel Dan (Old Aramaic) and Mesha (Moabite) -- Treaty Texts: Sefire (Old Aramaic) -- The King's Public Works and Pious Deeds -- The Tell Miqne (Ekron) Temple Inscription (Phoenician of Philistia) -- The Public Works of King Mesha (Moabite) -- The Public Works of King Amminadab: The Tell Siran Bronze Bottle (Ammonite) -- The Siloam Tunnel Inscription of King Hezekiah of Judah (Old Hebrew) as a Public Work -- King Hadd-Yithi of Gozan: The Tell Fakhariyeh Inscription (Old Aramaic) and Public Works -- Royal Burial Inscriptions: The Ahiram Sarcophagus (Phoenician) and the Royal Steward (Old Hebrew) -- Inscribed Cultic Objects and Inscribed Prestige Objects: Inscriptions from Mudeyineh (Moabite) and Kefar Veradim (Phoenician) -- On the Bureaucracy of Kingdoms: The Samaria Ostraca and the Gibeon Jar Handles (Old Hebrew) -- Old Hebrew Epistolary Texts -- The Ubiquity of Religion in Ancient Writing Culture -- Bibliography -- Part II: Political History -- A: Origins -- Chapter 9 The Emergence of Israel and Theories of Ethnogenesis -- Identity and Origins: A Cautionary Note -- Past Research on the Emergence of Israel: A Brief Summary -- Archaeology and Ethnicity: Background -- Identifying Ethnicity in the Archaeological Record: Some Preliminary Observations -- The Emergence of Israel in the Iron Age -- The Historical Context for the Emergence of Israelite Traits: Israel and the Philistines -- Merenptah's Israel -- Israel's Ethnogenesis: A Chronological Summary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- B: Monarchic Period -- Chapter 10 The Early Monarchy and the Stories of Saul, David, and Solomon.

The Biblical Texts and the Political History of the Israelite Early Monarchy: Changing Assessments and Current Approaches -- Historical Reconstructions through the 1980s -- Challenges and Reassessments -- Current Interpretations -- The Early Monarchy as Israelite State Formation -- Other Reading Frames for the Stories of the Early Monarchy -- Bibliography -- Chapter 11 The Divided Monarchy -- Sources -- The Regnal Formulae -- Preexisting Prophetic Stories -- The Split and Its Aftermath (922-875 BCE) -- Peace and Political Expansion (875-842 BCE) -- Nationalistic Religious Retrenchment and Political Weakness (842-800 BCE) -- Limited Recovery (800-775 BCE) -- Renewed Expansion (775-750 (738) BCE) -- Reaction to Assyria and the Fall of the North (735-715 BCE) -- Hezekiah's Revival (715-686 BCE) -- Vassaldom (686-640 BCE) -- Josiah's Revival (640-609 BCE) -- Collapse (609-586 BCE) -- Bibliography -- C: Postmonarchic Period: In the Land and Diaspora -- Chapter 12 (Re)Defining "Israel": The Legacy of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods -- The Problem of the Exile -- Textual and Archaeological Strata(gies) -- Mizpah, Jerusalem and Ramat Raḥel: A Tale of Three Cities -- Textual and Religious Constructs -- Retrospect and Prospects -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 13 The Hellenistic Period -- Hellenism and the Hellenistic Age: Demarcations and Definitions -- Hellenistic Kingdoms and Hellenism in the Land of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora -- Political and Social Contexts: Economic Inequity and Native Revolts -- The Maccabean Crisis -- Jewish Apocalypticism in Its Hellenistic Setting -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Part III: Themes in Israelite Culture -- A: God and Gods -- Chapter 14 The Gods of Israel in Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Context -- "Who Is Like Yahweh?" -- The Canaanite Pantheon -- Literary Portrayals of Yahweh -- Conclusion -- Notes.

Bibliography -- Chapter 15 Monotheism and the Redefinition of Divinity in Ancient Israel -- Monotheism's Modern Discontents -- The Context for Monotheistic Discourse in the Seventh-Sixth Centuries -- Monotheism and the Redefinition of Divinity -- Bibliography -- B: Mediation: Gods and Humans -- Chapter 16 Priests and Ritual -- The Priestly Theology of the Tetrateuch -- Sinai Revelation of the Covenant -- The Sacrificial Cult -- Priesthood in the Tetrateuch -- Historical Reconstruction: Cult and Priesthood in Israelite and Judean Religions -- The Priesthood -- Closing Thoughts -- Bibliography -- Chapter 17 Prophecy -- The Perception of Divine Revelation -- The Packaging of the Revelation -- The Evaluation of Genuineness -- Preservation of True Prophecies -- Later Interpretations of Written Prophecies -- Bibliography -- Chapter 18 Apocalypticism -- Identification of a Genre -- Apocalypticism in the Prophets? -- Definition of "Apocalypse" -- Persian Period Prophecy -- The Hope for Resurrection -- A Hellenistic Phenomenon -- Bibliography -- C: Social Interaction -- Chapter 19 Religion at Home: The Materiality of Practice -- Making a Household a Home -- Setting a Meal -- Locating the Dead -- Ritualizing the Body -- Summary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 20 Education and the Transmission of Tradition -- Education in the Family Household -- Literacy in Ancient Israel -- Texts as Mnemonic Aids -- Scribal Guilds as Vehicles of Education and Transmission -- Bibliography -- Chapter 21 Kinship, Community, and Society -- Methodological Issues and Terminology -- Kinship When There Was No King: The Social Structure of Early Israel (1200-1000 BCE) -- The Social History of Iron Age II: A Changing Landscape -- The Beginnings of Diaspora: Judeans in Babylon and Egypt in the Sixth-Fifth Centuries BCE.

Judah in the Persian Era: Social Disruption and the Fraying of Community Ties -- Hellenistic Judea: Urbanization and Sectarianism -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 22 Law and Legal Literature -- Biblical Sources of Law -- Forms of Law -- Areas of Law -- Legal Institutions -- The Ideologies and Historical Contexts of the Law Collections -- The Literary Frame of Biblical Law -- Legal Revision as a Means of Cultural Renewal -- The Decalogue -- Deuteronomy's Draft Constitution: The Origins of Rule of Law and Separation of Powers -- Conclusions: The Legacy of Biblical Law for the Modern World -- Bibliography -- Chapter 23 Women's Lives -- Sources -- Economic Activities: Women at Work -- Reproductive Activities: Women and Children -- Social and Political Activities: Women and Their Communities -- Women's Religious Activities: Regular and Occasional -- Outside the Household: Women's Community Roles -- Conclusions -- Bibliography -- Chapter 24 Economy and Society in Iron Age Israel and Judah: An Archaeological Perspective -- Archaeological Chronology and Political Context -- Sources of Evidence and Conceptual Frameworks -- Households, Villages, Walled Towns and "Urbanism" -- Bibliography -- D: Artistic Expression -- Chapter 25 Verbal Art and Literary Sensibilities in Ancient Near Eastern Context -- Extrinsic Considerations of Literariness: Marking the Literary Text -- Intrinsic Considerations of Literariness: Repetition -- Extending the Line: Incremental Development -- The Power of the Word and the Significance of the Pun -- Literary Art in Writing -- Bibliography -- Chapter 26 The Flowering of Literature in the Persian Period: The Writings/Ketuvim -- The Ketuvim in the Persian Period -- The Narratives in the Writings/Ketuvim as Responses to Crisis -- Poetic and Proverbial Literature -- Conclusions -- Note -- Bibliography.

Chapter 27 Hellenistic Period Literature in the Land of Israel.

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