Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Preface vii
3. Contents xiii
4. Sources of the Papers xvii
5. Part A: Judah under Assyrian Rule
6. The Kingdom of Judah under Assyrian Rule 1
7. The Changing Faces of Kingship in Judah under Assyrian Rule 3
8. The Long Seventh Century BCE: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives 21
9. The Time and Origin of the Volute-Capitals from Judah, Moab and Ammon 47
10. Judah under Assyrian Rule and the Early Phase of Stamping Jar Handles 71
11. The lmlk and ‘Private’ Stamp Impressions from Tel Beth-Shemesh: An Added Dimension to the Late 8th and Early 7th Century BCE History of the Site 87
12. Part B: Judah and Its Surroundings under Babylonian Rule
13. The Province of Judah under Babylonian Rule 94
14. Shedding New Light on the Dark Years of the “Exilic Period”: New Studies, Further Elucidation, and Some Questions Regarding the Archaeology of Judah as an “Empty Land” 95
15. Nebuchadrezzar’s Policy in ‘Ḫattu-Land’ and the Fate of the Kingdom of Judah 117
16. Judah, Jerusalem and the Temple (586–539 BCE) 135
17. Demographic Changes in Judah between the Seventh and the Fifth Centuries BCE 147
18. The “Riddle of Ramat Raḥel” and the Problem of Identifying the Material Culture of the Babylonian and Early Persian Periods 189
19. Ammon in Transition from Vassal Kingdom to Babylonian Province 195
20. Was there a ‘Royal Estate’ at En-Gedi during the Late Iron Age and the Persian Period? 211
21. Part C: Judah and Its Surroundings in the Persian Period
22. The Borders of the Province of Judah in the Persian Period and the Districts System. 222
23. Persian-Period Judah − A New Perspective 223
24. Achaemenid Imperial Policy, Settlement Processes in Palestine, and the Status of Jerusalem in the Middle of the Fifth Century BCE 243
25. Persian Period Finds from Jerusalem: Facts and Interpretations 265
26. The Rural Economy of Judah during the Persian Period and the Settlement History of the District System 283
27. Material Culture, Administration and Economy in Judah during the Persian Period: The Role of the Jerusalem Temple 305
28. Judah during the Transition between the Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods: Regional Processes 329
29. Part D: Studies on the History and Archeology of Jerusalem
30. Map of Temple Mount 356
31. Jerusalem as a Symbol and in Reality 357
32. Between Archaeology and Text: A Reevaluation of the Development Process of Jerusalem in the Persian Period 369
33. Jerusalem between Two Periods of Greatness: The Size and Status of the City in the Babylonian, Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods 385
34. Part E: Studies on the Region of Benjamin and Its Surroundings
35. Map of Judah 398
36. Benjamin in Retrospective: Stages in the Creation of the Territory of the Benjamin Tribe 399
37. The History of the Benjamin Region Under Babylonian Rule 421
38. Bethel Revisited 451
39. The Origins of the Jewish Population in Modiʿin and its Surroundings 465
40. Part F: Biblical Studies
41. Abraham between Mamre and Jerusalem 493
42. Sukkot in the Pentateuch and in Ezra 3 and Nehemiah 8 511
43. On Cash-Boxes and Finding or Not Finding Books: Jehoash’s and Josiah’s Decisions to Repair the Temple 525
44. “Jehoiakim Slept with his Fathers …” (II Kings 24:6) – Did He? 539
45. On the Titles ʿbd yhwh (‘servant of Yhwh’) and ʿbd hmlk (‘servant of the King’) 555
46. Nehemiah 3: Sources, Composition, and Purpose 569
47. Literary and Ideological Aspects of Nehemiah 11 591
48. From Geba to Beersheba: A Further Consideration 609
49. The “Founding Story” and “Bill of Rights” of the Family of Barzillai the Gileadite in Jerusalem 621
50. “Here is a Man Whose Name is Ṣēmaḥ” (Zechariah 6:12) 635
51. ʿibrî, Hebrew - in Diachronic Perspective as a Linkage Term between the ‘Diaspora Novellas’ of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses 645
52. Abbreviations 653
53. Bibliography 657
54. Index of Sources 731
55. Index of Modern Authors 749