Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Na'aman

With this volume, Professor Na’aman’s students and colleagues honor “one of the greatest historians of our time in the study of the biblical period” (from the Preface). Nadav Na’aman is Professor of Jewish History in the Biblical Period at Tel Aviv University (and has held the Kaplan Chair for the History of Egypt and Israel in Ancient Times since 2005). Over the past three decades, he has established a reputation for innovative and careful research in hundreds of memorable articles and monographs, many appearing in a recent three-volume set of his collected essays published by Eisenbrauns (Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors [2005]; Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E. [2005]; Ancient Israel’s History and Historiography [2006]). Reflecting the breadth and interconnectedness of Professor Na’aman’s research areas, this volume contains contributions on archaeology, ancient Near East (other than ancient Israel), Israel’s ancient history and historiography, and biblical studies. Contributors include: Yairah Amit, Moshe Anbar, Hans M. Barstad, Bob Becking, Amnon Ben-Tor, Ehud Ben Zvi, J. Blenkinsopp, Yoram Cohen and Itamar Singer, Philip R. Davies, Diana Edelman, I. Eph’al and H. Tadmor, Israel Finkelstein, Lester L. Grabbe, Sara Japhet, Gary N. Knoppers, Oded Lipschits, Amihai Mazar, Tryggve N. D. Mettinger, Tallay Ornan, Ronny Reich and Benjamin Sass, Miriam Tadmor, David Ussishkin, John Van Seters, H. G. M. Williamson, and Ran Zadok.

Table of Contents:
List of the Publications of Nadav Naʾaman Looking at History through Literary Glasses Too Yairah Amit To Put One’s Neck under the Yoke Moshe Anbar Sic dicit dominus: Mari Prophetic Texts and the Hebrew Bible Hans M. Barstad The Return of the Deity: Iconic or Aniconic? Bob Becking Do the Execration Texts Reflect an Accurate Picture of the Contemporary Settlement Map of Palestine? Amnon Ben-Tor Observations on Josiah’s Account in Chronicles and Implications for Reconstructing the Worldview of the Chronicler Ehud Ben Zvi Hezekiah and the Babylonian Delegation: A Critical Reading of Isaiah 39:1–8 J. Blenkinsopp A Late Synchronism between Ugarit and Emar Yoram Cohen and Itamar Singer The Origin of Biblical Israel Philip R. Davies The Iconography of Wisdom Diana Edelman Observations on Two Inscriptions of Esarhaddon: Prism Nineveh A and the Letter to the God I. Ephʾal and H. Tadmor The Last Labayu: King Saul and the Expansion of the First North Israelite Territorial Entity Israel Finkelstein “The Lying Pen of the Scribes”? Jeremiah and History Lester L. Grabbe The Wall of Jerusalem from a Double Perspective: Kings versus Chronicles Sara Japhet Yhwh’s Rejection of the House Built for His Name: On the Significance of Anti-temple Rhetoric in the Deuteronomistic History Gary N. Knoppers On Cash-Boxes and Finding or Not Finding Books: Jehoash’s and Josiah’s Decisions to Repair the Temple Oded Lipschits Jerusalem in the 10th Century b.c.e.: The Glass Half Full Amihai Mazar A Conversation with My Critics: Cultic Image or Aniconism in the First Temple? Tryggve N. D. Mettinger The Lady and the Bull: Remarks on the Bronze Plaque from Tel Dan Tallay Ornan Three Hebrew Seals from the Iron Age Tombs at Mamillah, Jerusalem Ronny Reich and Benjamin Sass Realism and Convention in the Depiction of Ancient Drummers Miriam Tadmor Sennacherib’s Campaign to Philistia and Judah:Ekron, Lachish, and Jerusalem David Ussishkin The Deuteronomist—Historian or Redactor? From Simon to the Present John Van Seters A Productive Textual Error in Isaiah 2:18–19 H. G. M. Williamson The Geography of the Borsippa Region Ran Zadok Indexes Index of Authors Index of Scripture