Archaeology and History of Eighth-Century Judah

Description

Essays from scholars of the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible honor Oded Borowski's pioneering work in the archaeology and history of ancient Israel and Judah. Contributors approach the question of what we know of eighth-century Judah from multiple angles, including a survey of Judah's neighbors, the land of Judah and its cities, daily life and material culture, religious beliefs and practices, and early forms of what are now biblical texts. Editors’ Preface xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction / Jacob L. Wright 1 PART 1. JUDAH’S NEIGHBORS NEAR AND FAR 15 1. Assyria’s Expansion West of the Euphrates (ca. 870–701 BCE) / K. Lawson Younger Jr. 17 2. Images, Merchants, and Mercenaries: Aegeans and Southern Judah in the Eighth Century BCE / Sandra Blakely 35 3. The Kingdom of Israel in the Eighth Century: From a Regional Power to Assyrian Provinces / Gilad Itach 57 4. Bethsaida: The Capital City of the Kingdom of Geshur / Rami Arav 79 5. Philistia in the Late Iron Age II: The Development of the Ceramic Assemblage / Seymour Gitin 99 6. Transjordan in the Eighth Century BCE / Bruce Routledge 139 7. Egypt and Judah in the Eighth Century BCE / Donald Redford 161 PART 2. THE LAND OF JUDAH 177 8. Society and Culture in the Kingdom of Judah during the Eighth Century / Avraham Faust 179 9. The Introduction of the Open-Courtyard Building to the Jerusalem Landscape and Judean-Assyrian Interaction / Yuval Gadot and Efrat Bocher 205 10. Coming to Recognize that Sedentary Agriculture, or Farming, Was Rarely Practiced in the Hesi Region / Jeffrey A. Blakely and James W. Hardin 229 PART 3. ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY 265 11. Daily Life / Jennie Ebeling 267 12. 'He Shall Eat Curds and Honey' (Isa 7:15): Food and Feasting in Late Eighth-Century Judah / Cynthia Shafer-Elliott 279 13. Ancient Building Techniques: A Brief Overview / Assaf Avraham 299 14. The Pottery Assemblage of the Eighth Century: A Concluding Observation / Hayah Katz 307 15. Judah under Assyrian Rule and the Early Phase of Stamping Jar Handles / Oded Lipschits 337 16. Should All of the LMLK Jars Still Be Attributed to Hezekiah? Yes! / Andrew G. Vaughn 357 PART 4. RELIGION AND RITUAL 363 17. Death and Burial in Eighth-Century Judah / Elizabeth Bloch-Smith 365 18. Religion in Eighth-Century Judah: The Case of Kuntillet ʿAjrud (and Beyond) / Brent A. Strawn and Joel M. LeMon 379 19. Judean Pillar Figurines (JPFs) / Erin Darby 401 20. Enculturating Children in Eighth-Century Judah / Kristine Henriksen Garroway 415 21. Religion in Eighth-Century Judah: An Overview / Zev I. Farber 431 PART 5. BIBLICAL AND LITERARY 455 22. Scripture and Inscriptions: Eighth-Century Israel and Judah in Writing / Christopher Rollston 457 23. The Shock of Assyrian Imperial Ideology and the Responses of Biblical Authors in the Late Eighth Century / Shawn Zelig Aster 475 24. The Biblical Writings in the Late Eighth Century BCE / Konrad Schmid 489 25. Prophetic Discourse on 'Israel' / Reinhard G. Kratz 503 26. Israel and the Jerusalem Temple in the Time of Two Kingdoms / Daniel E. Fleming 517 APPENDIX: SURVEY OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS IN ARCHAEOLOGY / Yair Sapir, with Shani Libi 529 Contributors 555 Ancient Sources Index 565 Place Index 575 Modern Authors Index 581