BRAMLETT | DEAL AN INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT ISRAEL & THE HEBREW BIBLE A DIACHRONIC APPROACH pairs An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible: A Diachronic Approach ANCIENT ISRAEL AND THE HEBREW BIBLE TO AN INTRODUCTION biblical material with primary source texts from the Middle Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period. It places emphasis on archaeological and historical data that help AN INTRODUCTION TO to illuminate the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context. The opening chapter focuses on the Middle Bronze Age, including information on ANCIENT ISRAEL & societal development, innovations, material culture, Abraham and the Amorite Migration, Joseph in Egypt, Genesis, and more. Characteristics of the Late Bronze Age, the Exodus Narrative, Leviticus, and Numbers are addressed in Chapter 2. The THE HEBREW BIBLE Iron Age is covered in Chapters 3 and 4, speaking to the emergence of Israel, Deuteronomy, the archaeology of the period, Samuel and Kings, Excursus, and latter Prophets. The final chapter addresses the end of the kingdom of Judah, the rise of the A DIACHRONIC APPROACH Medes and Persians, Psalms, the Book of Ruth, Proverbs, Job, wisdom literature, and more. EDITION An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible is an ideal text for introductory courses in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Kent V. Bramlett, Ph.D. is an associate professor of archaeology and the history of antiquity curator and associate director for the Center for New Eastern Archaeology at La Sierra University. He holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in Near Eastern archaeology, as well as a master’s degree in biblical and cognate language from Andrews University. Brooke L. Deal, Ph.D. is a professor of religious studies, the TW Philips Chair of Religious Studies, co-director of interdisciplinary studies, and co-chair of the Department of Humanities at Bethany College. She holds a Ph.D. in biblical interpretation and M.T.S. from Brite Divinity School. www.cognella.com WRITTEN AND EDITED BY KENT V. BRAMLETT, PH.D. & BROOKE L. DEAL, PH.D. SKU 81149-1C An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible A Diachronic Approach First Edition Written and Edited by Kent V. Bramlett, Ph.D. and Brooke L. Deal, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher David Miano, Senior Specialist Acquisitions Editor Michelle Piehl, Senior Project Editor Celeste Paed, Associate Production Editor Emely Villavicencio, Senior Graphic Designer Greg Isales, Licensing Associate Natalie Piccotti, Director of Marketing Kassie Graves, Vice President of Editorial Jamie Giganti, Director of Academic Publishing Copyright © 2021 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. 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Printed in the United States of America. 3970 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Ste. 500, San Diego, CA 92121 Contents Introduction to Ancient Israel: A Diachronic Approach ix Timeline for an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel xi 1 The Middle Bronze Age 1 Prolegomena—The Rise of Cities 1 Defining the “Middle Bronze Age” 3 Periodization of the MBA 4 MBA Historical and Societal Developments 4 Innovations and Material Culture 6 Important Sites and Finds from the MBA 8 Hyksos in Egypt 8 Abraham and the Amorite Migration 9 Joseph in Egypt 10 Mari Texts 11 Genesis 12 “In the beginning …” 12 In the Garden … 14 Origins of Civilizations and Trades 18 The Downfall of Humankind 18 Noah the Vintner 20 The Tower of Babel 22 The Ancestral Narratives: Matriarchs and Patriarchs of Ancient Israel 24 Wife as Sister Motif: Abram and Sarai as Tricksters 25 Covenant and Lineage 27 Hagar and Ishmael 28 The Host and Stranger 29 Isaac and Rebekah 32 Jacob and Esau 34 Jacob and the Daughters of Laban 36 Leaving Laban 37 The Rape of Dinah 38 Judah and Tamar 39 The Joseph Story 40 2 The Late Bronze Age 43 The Age of Heroes 43 Characteristics of the Late Bronze Age 44 Egypt and the Exodus 47 v vi An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible The Exodus Narrative 48 The Rise of Moses 49 Revelation of the Divine Name 50 A Close Encounter 51 Plagues 52 The First Passover 52 Song of Miriam 53 The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue 54 The Book of the Covenant 57 Leviticus 58 Leviticus 1–9: the Sacrificial System and Priesthood 59 Kashrut 61 “Impurity” Related to Menstruation and Childbirth 62 Day of Atonement: Yom Kippur 64 Leviticus 18 and Sexual Regulations for the Community 65 Numbers 67 The First Census 67 The Sotah 68 Rebellion against Moses 69 Waters of Meribah and the Deaths of Miriam and Aaron 69 Balaam 70 Incident at Baal Peor 71 Daughters of Zelophehad 71 Bibliography 72 3 The Iron Age I 73 Frontier Opportunity 73 The Emergence of Israel 75 Conquest 75 Peaceful Infiltration 77 Peasant Revolt 77 Recent Models and Syntheses 78 Archaeology of the Highland Settlements 79 Philistines and Other Sea Peoples 80 Egyptian Execration Texts: A Geography of its Enemies 81 Deuteronomy 83 Introduction to the Deuteronomistic History/Former Prophets 88 Spies in Jericho 89 Deborah and Barak 91 The Levite’s Wife and the Tribe of Benjamin—Judges 19–21 92 4 The Iron Age II 97 Introduction and Overview of the History and Archaeology of the Iron Age II 97 Iron IIA: The United Monarchy 98 Archaeology of the “Palace of David” 99 Solomon 100 Detailed Contents vii Dating Controversies of the Tenth–Ninth Centuries 101 The Modified Conventional Chronology 102 Campaign of Shishak in Palestine 102 Iron IIB: Divided Kingdoms, Maturing States 102 Iron IIC: Judah Between Assyria and Babylonia 106 Siloam Tunnel Inscription 110 Historical Context: 110 Translation: 110 Samuel and Kings 111 David and Bathsheba 112 Death of David, Rise of Solomon 114 Ahab and Jezebel 115 Athaliah 119 Excursus 121 Archaeology and the Cult of YHWH/Asherah 121 Latter Prophets 127 Amos 128 Oracles Against the Nations 129 Amos’s Visions 130 Hosea 131 First Isaiah 134 Micah 137 5 The Exilic and Postexilic Period 139 The End of the Kingdom of Judah 139 Life in Exile and Life in the Land 140 Babylon 141 Rise of the Medes and Persians 143 Cyrus’s Policy and the Cyrus Cylinder 143 Return (Reality and Conflict) 144 Exilic and Postexilic Literature 145 Jeremiah 145 The Psalms 148 Superscriptions and Selah 149 Hymns of Praise 150 Individual Laments 151 Communal Laments 151 Thanksgiving 152 Enthronement Psalms 152 Royal Psalms 152 Wisdom Psalms 153 Mixed Genre 153 Ruth 154 Jonah 157 Wisdom Literature in the Hebrew Bible 160 Woman Wisdom 160 Proverbs 162 viii An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible Job 164 Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 167 Esther and Daniel 168 Esther 168 Daniel 171 Tales from the Court—Daniel 1–6 172 The Visions: Daniel 7–8 175 Resurrection of the Dead: Daniel 12 177 The Song of Songs 178 Glossary 185 ACTIVE LEARNING This book has interactive activities available to complement your reading. Your instructor may have customized the selection of activities available for your unique course. Please check with your professor to verify whether your class will access this content through the Cognella Active Learning portal (http://active. cognella.com) or through your home learning management system. Introduction to Ancient Israel: A Diachronic Approach his text represents the collaborative efforts of a biblical exegete and an archaeologist, T working on opposite sides of the country for five years. Through selected biblical texts and images, An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible features relevant archaeological data that allows a more in-depth, scholarly way to study biblical texts within the classroom. The book begins with an historical timeline and is then organized by archaeological eras, moving from the Middle Bronze Age through the exilic period. Within each archaeological period, a number of biblical texts are critically analyzed with an eye to historical context through a variety of hermeneutical lenses. The book does not make the claim that the biblical material itself moves in a chronological fashion but places most of the selected texts within the archae- ological period in which they are purportedly set. Biblical texts are analyzed by highlighting canonical position, inherent structure, themes, linguistic features, and other exegetical insights. The authors who created this text did so with a didactic purpose in mind—both are college professors, teaching primarily undergraduates in institutions that are traditionally affiliated with Christian denominations. Between the two of them, the authors have almost 30 years of teaching experience and have tailored the book to the needs of their students and, hopefully, other instructors who will find the text useful inthe classroom. xi Timeline for an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel c. 3500 BCE: Invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia. Early Bronze Age 3300–2000 BCE 3300–3200 BCE: Cuneiform is invented. 3100 BCE: Hieroglyphics are invented; Narmer unifies Upper andLower Egypt. c. 2500 BCE: Egyptian pyramids are built (1st–3rd Dynasties). c. 2300 BCE: Sargon I founds the Akkadian Dynasty in southern Mesopotamia. 2100 BCE: Ur ziggurat is built. Middle Bronze Age 2000–1550 BCE 1850–1700 BCE: The supposed period of the biblical matriarchs and patriarchs in the Levant.