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The texts Joshua 1, 23 and 24, 1 Samuel 12, and 1 Kings 8 as "speeches" interpret the central epochs of the presentation of history from Deuteronomy 1-2 Kings 25. The author analyzes these texts and their contextual relationships in regard to redaction, literary and genre criticism.

The monograph considers the relationships of ethical systems in the ancient Near East through a study of warfare in Judah, Israel and Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It argues that a common cosmological and ideological outlook generated similarities in ethical thinking. In all three societies, the mythological traditions surrounding creation reflect a strong connection between war, kingship and the establishment of order. Human kings' military activities are legitimated through their identification with this cosmic struggle against chaos, begun by the divine king at creation. Military violence is thereby cast not only as morally tolerable but as morally imperative. Deviations from this point of view reflect two phenomena: the preservation of variable social perspectives and the impact of historical changes on ethical thinking.The research begins the discussion of ancient Near Eastern ethics outside of Israel and Judah and fills a scholarly void by placing Israelite and Judahite ethics within this context, as well as contributing methodologically to future research in historical and comparative ethics.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebraische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-romischen Welt.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebraische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-romischen Welt.

In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebraische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-romischen Welt.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebraische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-romischen Welt.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu sämtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebräische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-römischen Welt. Die BZAW akzeptiert Manuskriptvorschläge, die einen innovativen und signifikanten Beitrag zu Erforschung des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt leisten, sich intensiv mit der bestehenden Forschungsliteratur auseinandersetzen, stringent aufgebaut und flüssig geschrieben sind.

Efforts at interpreting Joban poetry have often been divided between philological and literary critics. This study brings these two critical modes together to offer an account of how Job 28 achieves meaning. The heart of the study consists of two major sections. The first is a reading of the poem with special attention to the conceptual background of its metaphors. Rather than a poetic account of mining technology, Job 28 is properly understood against the heroic deeds of ancient Mesopotamian kings described in Sumerian and Akkadian royal narratives, especially the Gilgamesh epic. The second major section is a thorough philological and textual commentary in which comparative philological and text-critical methods are complemented by an aesthetic rationale for restoring the text of the poem as a work of art. The study reveals a multileveled and image-driven masterpiece whose complexity impacts how one reads Job 28 as poetry and theology.

This book suggests a regional paradigm for understanding the development of the traditions about Egypt and the exodus in the Hebrew Bible. It offers fresh readings of the golden calf stories in 1 Kgs 12:25-33 and Exod 32, the Balaam oracles in Num 22-24, and the Song of the Sea in Exod 15:1b-18 and from these paints a picture of the differing traditions about Egypt that circulated in Cisjordan Israel, Transjordan Israel, and Judah in the 8th century B.C.E. and earlier. In the north, an exodus from Egypt was celebrated in the Bethel calf cult as a journey of Israelites from Egypt to Cisjordan, without a detour eastward to Sinai. This exodus was envisioned in military terms as suggested by the nature of the polemic in Exod 32, and the attribution of the exodus to the warrior Yahweh, Israel's own deity. In the east, a tradition of deliverance from Egypt was celebrated, rather than the idea of a journey, and it was credited to El. In the south, Egypt was recognized as a major enemy, whom Yahweh had defeated, but the traditions there were not formulated in terms of an exodus. While acknowledging the reshaping of these traditions in response to the exile, Images of Egypt argues that they originated in the pre-exilic period and relate to Syro-Palestinian history as it is otherwise known.

This book, emphasizing Genesis 14 and Psalm 110, contributes to the history of composition of the patriarchal narratives in the book of Genesis and to the history of theology of the Second Temple period. Genesis 14 was added on a late stage and in two steps: first, Genesis 14* and later, the so-called Melchizedek episode (ME, vv. 18-20). Genesis 14 is the result of inner-biblical exegesis: both Genesis 14* and the later ME originated from scribal activity in which several earlier biblical texts have served as templates/literary building blocks. As for Genesis 14*, in particular three text groups were important: the Table of Nations, the wilderness wandering narratives and annals from the Deuteronomistic History. As for the ME, it is an example of haggadic exegesis presupposing and without any prehistory independent of its narrative framework. ME is the result of an assimilation between two texts, Genesis 14* and Psalm 110, which assumedly at one point were read as a narrative and a poetic version respectively of Abraham's war with the kings. Genesis 14 has no value as a source to the history of the patriarchal era and to the religion of pre-Israelite Jerusalem. In contrast, it shows how post-exilic scribes' painstaking study of biblical texts resulted in the creation of new biblical texts.

Recent archaeological and biblical research challenges the traditional view of the history of ancient Israel. This book presents the latest findings of both academic disciplines regarding the United Monarchy of David and Solomon ('One Nation') and the cult reform under Josiah ('One Cult'), raising the issue of fact versus fiction.

In this book Vincent Senechal presents a detailed inquiry to solve an enigma: Why does the retelling of the Golden Calf narrative in Deut. 9-10 keep silent on the punishments described in the original account of Exod. 32-34? The absence of punishment in Deut. 9-10 is more than surprising in Deuteronomy, since its theology is strongly oriented to obedience to the law given by YHWH and since it stresses particularly the seriousness of violation of the first commandment. This dissertation aims to investigate the reasons why such an omission occurred in the course of the redactional process and in what sense it is meaningful for the characterization of divine justice in the whole book. The author first offers a comprehensive state of recent exegetical research on Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch. In the course of the investigation, he reflects on categories such as sin, retribution and intercession and analyses the different kinds of retribution present in the book. He then studies the redaction history of Deut. 9:7-10:11 and describes its place and function both in the composition of the Pentateuch and in the history of Israel during the first decades of the Persian period. This historical contextualization leads to several hypotheses to solve the puzzling enigma.

Features articles that investigate changes in texts that became to be regarded as holy and unchangeable in Judaism and Christianity. This volume seeks to draw attention to the "empirical" evidence from Qumran, the Septuagint as well as from passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that have been shaped by the use of other texts.

Exile as Forced Migrations injects cutting edge studies on forced migrations (DIDPS, IDPs, Refugee studies), displacement and resettlement, and generational issues that mark the exilic period (6th century B.C.E.). Founder and co-chair of the "e;Exile/Forced Migrations in Biblical Literature"e; (Society of Biblical Literature) and a member of the American Sociological Association (International Migration Section), Ahn furnishes biblical scholars with up-to-date sociological information to examine critically, the exile as forced migrations in the cadre of economics of migrations. Biblically speaking, Ahn isolates the three varying views on the exile. The 70 years in Babylon is cast as three and a half generations, with each Judeo-Babylonian generation (first-"e;1.5"e;-second-third) responding to its own set of issues and concerns (Ps 137, Jer 29, Isa 43, Num 32). This definitive work reframes the approach to study of the exilic period, as "e;generation-units"e;, sociologically, from the first forced migration in 597 B.C.E. to the first return migrations in 538 B.C.E. Exile as Forced Migrations goes beyond traditional emphasis on an important edifice and its institution. It rightfully returns to peoples in flight and plight.

This study examines the origin of the legal statements in the Holiness Code and how they are treated in the most recent Old Testament Book of Law. In conclusion, the question of the importance of the Old Testament Laws for Christian faith is considered.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

A legal history of Deuteronomy. The work seeks to open new perspectives for the history of the literature and religion of the Old Testament.

This text treats Alterity and Identity in Israel and presents a study on the noun "ger" (resident alien) in the Old Testament.

The author analyzes Old Testament and ancient Jewish texts on the history and theology of the three Israelite fall festivals. She deals with the blowing of the shofar (later also New Year's Day), the Day of Atonement and the festival of booths.

Dem Autor geht es in seiner Untersuchung darum, wie menschliches Leben im biblischen Buch Kohelet (Prediger Salomo) verstanden wird. Die Einsicht in die eigene Sterblichkeit fuhrt bei Kohelet zu einer neuen Wertschatzung des Lebensglucks. Sowohl die verschiedenen Bereiche menschlichen Lebens (z.B. Arbeit und Ruhe, Armut und Reichtum, Jugend und Alter) als auch das Verhaltnis des Menschen zu Gott entfaltet Kohelet zwischen den beiden Polen "e;Tod"e; und "e;Lebensgluck"e;.

This volume contains a collection of programmatic papers dealing with the history of research and individual points of exegesis which demonstrate the problematic nature of the Yahwist hypothesis and take new approaches to an interpretation of the redaction history of the Hexateuch.

Die Sammlung der Aufsatze von Hans-Christoph Schmitt, die damit Fachpublikum und Studierenden leichter zuganglich gemacht werden, bietet einen reprasentativen Uberblick uber die von ihm vertretenen Forschungsgebiete unter den Uberschriften "e;Prophetie"e;, "e;Pentateuch"e;, "e;Spatdeuteronomistische Endredaktion des Pentateuch"e; und "e;Theologie"e;.