Read The Oxford History of the Biblical World Online
Authors: Michael D. Coogan
The Oxford History of the Biblical World
The Oxford History
of the Biblical World
of the Biblical World
Edited by Michael D. Coogan
Frontispiece
A thirteenth-century BCE stela from Ugarit (47 centimeters [18
inches] high) showing the god El seated on his throne, his hand lifted
in blessing toward the worshiper (the king?) to the left. El was the
king of the gods in Ugaritic mythology and is called “the kind, the
compassionate” in the Ugaritic texts. El is also the name of the patron
deity of Israel’s ancestors according to the book of Genesis.
(Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
Issued as an Oxford University Press paperback in 2001.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Oxford history of the biblical world/
edited by Michael D. Coogan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-508707-0 — ISBN 0-19-513937-2 (pbk.)
1. Bible—History of contemporary events.
2. Civilization, Ancient.
3. Bible—History of Biblical events.
I. Coogan, Michael David.
BS635.2.094 2001
220.9’5—dc21 00-060612
The editor and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to quote
from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of
Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
PROLOGUE
In the Beginning: The Earliest History
CHAPTER ONE
Before Israel: Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age
CHAPTER TWO
Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt
CHAPTER THREE
Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel
CHAPTER FOUR
“There Was No King in Israel”: The Era of the Judges
CHAPTER FIVE
Kinship and Kingship: The Early Monarchy
CHAPTER SIX
A Land Divided: Judah and Israel from the Death of Solomon to the Fall of Samaria
CHAPTER SEVEN
Into Exile: From the Assyrian Conquest of Israel to the Fall of Babylon
CHAPTER EIGHT
Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period
CHAPTER NINE
Between Alexandria and Antioch: Jews and Judaism in the Hellenistic Period
CHAPTER TEN
Visions of Kingdoms: From Pompey to the First Jewish Revolt
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Churches in Context: The Jesus Movement in the Roman World
EPILOGUE
Transitions and Trajectories: Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire
Palestine: Principal Geographic Divisions
6
The Near East during the Second Millennium
BCE
37
Highland Settlements in the Late Bronze and Iron I Periods
95
Highland Settlements in the Iron I and Iron II Periods
96
Egypt, Sinai, Arabia, and the Land of Midian
106
The Expansion of Philistine Settlement, ca. 1180–1050
BCE
114
Palestine and Transjordan in the Early Iron Age
138
Israelite Settlement: The Early Stages and the Eleventh Century
BCE
147
Major Philistine and Phoenician Cities in the Early Iron Age
152
The Kingdoms of Saul, David, and Solomon
167
Negeb Settlements of the Tenth Century
BCE
184
Jerusalem in the Time of David and Solomon
191
The Divided Monarchy: Judah and Israel from 928 to 722
BCE
208
The Near East during the Assyrian Empire
224
Jerusalem during the Eighth and Seventh Centuries
BCE
245
The Near East during the Neo-Babylonian Empire
263
The Near East during the Persian Empire
280
Palestine during the Persian Period
287
The Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires
325
Palestine under the Hasmoneans
332
The Eastern Mediterranean during the Roman Empire
400
T
he Bible is one of the foundational texts of our culture and of the three major monotheistic traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is a complex document—a set of anthologies, in fact. Thus, fully to understand the Bible requires a knowledge of the contexts in which it was produced, the many cultures of the ancient Near East and the ancient Mediterranean—the biblical world. For numerous reasons, presenting a history of the biblical world is an ambitious task. The scope of that history is vast, covering at the very least more than two thousand years and spanning three continents. Through archaeological research, new discoveries continue to be made, requiring modifications to earlier views and sometimes reconsideration of interpretive models based on less complete data. Moreover, the study of history itself is in flux. New approaches require, for example, broadening the focus of earlier scholars on the elite, their rulers, and their struggles for power to include the lives of the mostly anonymous ordinary people in the societies of which the elite were only the upper crust. These new data and new perspectives make it possible to take a fresh look at the well-traveled terrain of the biblical world.