Ancient Israel's History and Historiography: The First Temple Period

Throughout the past three decades, Nadav Na’aman has repeatedly proved that he is one of the most careful historians of ancient Canaan and Israel. With broad expertise, he has brought together archaeology, text, and the inscriptional material from all of the ancient Near East to bear on the history of ancient Israel and the land of Canaan during the second and first millenniums B.C.E. Many of his studies have been published as journal articles or notes and yet, together, they constitute one of the most important bodies of literature on the subject in recent years, particularly because of the careful attention to methodology that Na’aman always has brought to his work. This final volume in the 3-volume set of Na’aman’s collected essays contains 29 essays. Among the topics addressed are: the sources available to Israel’s historians late in the first millennium B.C.E.; the reality behind the narratives relating to the history of the United Monarchy; the effect of the author’s own time on the composition of the histories of Saul, David, and Solomon; and the contributions of archaeology to the study of the tenth century B.C.E. In the course of covering these themes, Na’aman touches on topics such as history and historiography, textual and literary problems, historical geography, society, administration, cult, and religion.

Table of Contents:
1. The Contribution of the Amarna Letters to the Debate on Jerusalem’s Political Position in the Tenth Century BCE 2. The Kingdom of Ishbaal 3. Sources and Composition in the History of David 4. In Search of Reality behind the Account of David’s Wars with Israel’s Neighbors 5. The List of David’s Officers (shalishim) 6. Ittai the Gittite 7. ‘Hebron Was Built Seven Years before Zoan in Egypt’ (Numbers 13:22) 8. Sources and Composition in the History of Solomon 9. Solomon’s District List (1 Kings 4:7-19) and the Assyrian Province System in Palestine 10. Israel, Edom and Egypt in the Tenth Century BCE 11. Historical and Literary Notes on the Excavations of Tel Jezreel 12. Prophetic Stories as Sources for the Histories of Jehoshaphat and the Omrides 13. Beth-David in the Aramaic Stela from Tel Dan 14. Three Notes on the Aramaic Inscription from Tel Dan 15. King Mesha and the Foundation of the Moabite Monarchy 16. The Contribution of Royal Inscriptions for a Re-evaluation of the Book of Kings as a Historical Source 17. Royal Inscriptions and the Histories of Joash and Ahaz, Kings of Judah 18. Azariah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel 19. Historical and Chronological Notes on the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the 8th Century BCE 20. On the Antiquity of the Regnal Years in the Book of Kings 21. The Deuteronomist and Voluntary Servitude to Foreign Powers 22. The Debated Historicity of Hezekiah’s Reform in Light of Historical and Archaeological Research 23. ‘The House-of-No-Shade Shall Take Away Its Tax from You’ (Micah 1:11) 24. ‘The Dedicated Treasures Buildings within the House of YHWH Where Women Weave Coverings for Asherah’ (2 Kings 23:7) 25. The Fire Signals of Lachish Revisited 26. No Anthropomorphic Graven Image: Notes on the Assumed Anthropomorphic Cult Statues in the Temples of YHWH in the Pre-exilic Period 27. The Law of the Altar in Deuteronomy and the Cultic Site near Shechem 28. Lebo-hamath, Subat-Hamath and the Northern Boundary of the Land of Canaan 29. Sources and Redaction in the Chronicler’s Genealogies of Asher and Ephraim Index of Ancient Personal Names Index of Places Index of Biblical References