Notes

A

[1]. Olive oil was consumed as food, was used as medicine, provided fuel for lamps, and functioned as a base for cosmetics. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 97.

[2]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 278–79.

[3]. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 125.

[4]. Ibid., 347.

[5]. For a similar request by an Assyrian king, see Daniel David Luckenbill, ed., Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylon, vol. 2 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926), 312, 815.

[6]. For a more complete discussion of the ancient bow and arrow see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 226–27.

[7]. Note the contrast. Not only will the Assyrians fail to enter the city, but they will not even get close enough to fire the long-range arrow in the direction of Jerusalem.

[8]. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 381–82.

[9]. Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 235–36.

[10]. For a further discussion, see James C. Martin, John A. Beck, and David G. Hansen, A Visual Guide to Gospel Events (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 40–41.

B

[11]. John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 8.

[12]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 195.

[13]. For a more complete discussion, see Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 67.

[14]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 344.

[15]. Ibid., 267.

[16]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 353.

[17]. Oded Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times, Archaeology and Biblical Studies, vol. 5 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 81.

[18]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 41.

[19]. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 99.

[20]. For a summary of loans in the ancient Near Eastern economy, see John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 185.

[21]. For a discussion of loans and securities in the ancient world, see Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 170–71.

[22]. Some regard this as a ceremonial act that became part of the lending process indicating the goodwill that existed between creditor and lender. VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 3:176.

[23]. Ibid., 2:43.

[24]. This very protocol is noted in the El Amarna texts from Egypt (fourteenth century BC) where Canaanite vassals bow seven times before the pharaoh. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 1:116.

[25]. For a complete discussion of bread making, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 65–67.

[26]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 1:195.

[27]. For a discussion of marriage in ancient Israel, see ibid., 644–45.

[28]. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 27.

[29]. Ibid., 56–57.

[30]. For illustration and discussion of the evolving nature of tombs during the biblical period, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 363–72; Jack Finegan, The Archeology of the New Testament, rev. ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 292–318.

[31]. This perspective is offered by Byron R. McCane, “Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead: Second Burial and Matthew 8:21–22,” Harvard Theological Review 83, no. 1 (1990): 40–41.

C

[32]. Robert James Forbes, Metallurgy in Antiquity: A Notebook for Archaeologists and Technologists (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1950), 324.

[33]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1546–47.

[34]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 474.

[35]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 89.

[36]. Egyptians circumcised by cutting a dorsal incision that left the foreskin in place. Jack M. Sasson, “Circumcision in the Ancient Near East,” Journal of Biblical Literature 85, no. 4 (1966): 474.

[37]. This event is recorded in 1 Maccabees 1:48, 60–63.

[38]. These insights are summarized together with illustrations from ancient Near Eastern art in Nili S. Fox, “Clapping Hands as a Gesture of Anguish and Anger in Mesopotamia and Israel,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 23 (1995): 46–60.

[39]. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 1:384.

[40]. Sailhamer is particularly helpful in building the bridge between the purity laws of Leviticus and the narratives of Genesis. John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, Library of Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 332–41.

[41]. The Lord is not physically present with us in the same way that he was present with the Israelites. VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 4:478.

[42]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 1:624–25.

[43]. Hennie J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East, Oudtestamentiche Studiën 49 (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 140–41.

[44]. For an insight-filled look into this narrative, see Paul H. Wright, Greatness, Grace, and Glory: Carta’s Atlas of Biblical Biography (Jerusalem: Carta, 2008), 55–58.

[45]. David A. Dorsey, The Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel, ASOR Library of Biblical and Near Eastern Archaeology (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 33–37.

[46]. Viscount Montgomery, A History of Warfare (New York: World Publication, 1968), 56–57.

[47]. Dorsey, Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel, 39.

[48]. John A. Beck, “Why Do Joshua’s Readers Keep Crossing the River? The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Joshua 3–4,” JETS 48, no. 4 (2005): 689–99.

[49]. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 103.

[50]. The only exception to this list of wedding crowns within Proverbs can be found in 27:24, in which the allusion is to a royal crown.

[51]. John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 74. For an example of a Jewish king using crucifixion, see Josephus, Antiquities, 13.14.2.

[52]. John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1991), 205–6.

[53]. Rousseau and Arav, Jesus and His World, 75.

[54]. For additional thoughts on the details that attend Jesus’s crucifixion, see James C. Martin, John A. Beck, and David G. Hansen, A Visual Guide to Gospel Events (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 176–81.

D

[55]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1:370, 2:2610.

[56]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 45.

[57]. Song of Solomon 6:13 mentions the “dance of Mahanaim,” literally “the dance of two camps.” This may imply a dance that employs two groups of women.

[58]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2611.

[59]. As many as ten different Hebrew verbs are used to describe dancing in the Old Testament. See VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2:45–46.

[60]. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 299.

[61]. The same vocabulary is used for the Assyrian practice (2 Kings 19:11) and in the ninth century BC inscription on the Moabite Mesha. See VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2:276.

[62]. For a detailed and thorough treatment of this topic, see Frederick H. Cryer, Divination in Ancient Israel and Its Near Eastern Environment (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1994).

[63]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2071–72.

[64]. Ibid., 1:45, 358, 480.

[65]. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, eds., Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 23–24.

[66]. Note how Paul draws upon and then applies this principle in the circumstances being faced by the Corinthians (1 Cor. 7:10–16).

[67]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2055.

[68]. Ibid., 1:52.

[69]. Alfred J. Hoerth, Archaeology and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 70.

[70]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 1:197–99.

[71]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 101.

[72]. For a more detailed discussion, see John A. Beck, The Land of Milk and Honey: An Introduction to the Geography of Israel (St. Louis: Concordia, 2006), 148–50.

[73]. This may be an ancient Near Eastern motif as well for the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, who sought to impress us with his great power by claiming to have “dried up all the streams of Egypt” (2 Kings 19:24).

[74]. Sailhamer notes the thematic connection between the creation and exodus narratives. John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, Library of Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 91, 127.

E

[75]. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 226.

[76]. For a broader discussion of engraving tools and receiving media, see Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 304–10.

[77]. For a discussion of such seals and imagery linked to them, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 225–26.

[78]. John Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 163.

[79]. For a longer discussion of the typical fate of ancient exiles, see D. L. Smith-Christopher, “Reassessing the Historical and Sociological Impact of the Babylonian Exile,” in Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Conceptions, ed. James M. Scott (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1997), 23–27.

[80]. For a discussion of the theological dimension of exile from the Promised Land, see Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 595–601.

F

[81]. For a discussion of drought, see Efraim Orni and Elisha Efrat, Geography of Israel, 3rd ed. (Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1971), 148–49.

[82]. In describing Titus’s siege of Jerusalem, Josephus describes the horrific scene in very graphic language, even describing the methods of torture used to compel those who had hidden food to reveal its location. See Josephus, War of the Jews, 5.10.3.

[83]. For an extended treatment of this comparison, see John A. Beck, “Faith in the Face of Famine: The Narrative-Geographical Function of Famine in Genesis,” The Journal of Biblical Storytelling 11, no. 1 (2001): 58–66.

[84]. Fasting is mentioned much more frequently in the Bible than in any of the other literature from the ancient Near East. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 275.

[85]. Fasting certainly may have had its origins in the ancient Near East, based on the fact that those who are deeply troubled by life tend to lose their appetite (see John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 3 [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009], 492), but the Bible developed fasting into a powerful spiritual discipline.

[86]. The firstborn enjoyed privileged status in many ancient Near Eastern cultures. For a summary, see Roger Syrén, The Forsaken First-Born: A Study of a Recurrent Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives, JSOT Supplement Series 133 (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1993), 88–93.

[87]. For a discussion of Jesus’s dedication at the temple, see G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, eds., Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 268–69.

[88]. Archaeological evidence also suggests there may have been another fish market at some distance from the Fish Gate that was located within the City of David. H. Lernau and O. Lernau, “Fish Remains,” in City of David Excavations Final Report, vol. 3, ed. A. de Groot and D. T. Ariel (Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, 1992), 131–48.

[89]. For a discussion of the various types of fish in the Sea of Galilee and their role in Israel’s culture, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 87–88.

[90]. For a further discussion of fishing in Jesus’s day, see John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 93–97.

[91]. See Midrash, Makkut 3.12–13.

[92]. See also Midrash, Makkut 3.10. As a point of comparison, the law code of Hammurabi permitted the administration of sixty blows with an ox whip for insubordination (paragraph 202).

[93]. See Midrash, Makkut 3.12–13.

[94]. Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 518–19.

[95]. There is some evidence to suggest that the word scorpion may have referred to a form of whip like the Roman flagellum, which included metal cutting edges in the thongs. See Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 3:54–55.

[96]. Richard P. Hallion, Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age from Antiquity through the First World War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), xvi.

[97]. For a helpful overview of this ancient cultural phenomenon, see ibid., 3–7.

[98]. The average distance traveled in a day during Bible times was between seventeen and twenty-three miles. Barry J. Beitzel, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 81–84.

[99]. Jeffrey J. Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008), 68.

[100]. These examples are nicely surveyed and illustrated in Silvia Schroer and Thomas Staubli, Body Symbolism in the Bible (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001), 184–90.

[101]. For a discussion of city fortification and its evolution, see Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1523–37.

[102]. For a discussion of Rehoboam’s systemic placement of such fortified cities, see Beitzel, New Moody Atlas of the Bible, 171–72.

[103]. For a more complete discussion of the foundation-building process, see Aharon Kempinski and Ronny Reich, eds., The Architecture of Ancient Israel: From Prehistoric to the Persian Periods (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1992), 17–20.

[104]. Paul H. Wright, Greatness, Grace, and Glory: Carta’s Atlas of Biblical Biography (Jerusalem: Carta, 2008), 24.

G

[105]. For an overview of the larger social contract that supported those who were less fortunate, see Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 11.

[106]. If a family lost their private property as a consequence of hardship, this property was to be returned to them in the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:28).

[107]. Mishnah, Peah 4:10, 5:5, 7:3.

[108]. For an overview of the nonverbal elements associated with greetings in the ancient world, see Mayer I. Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Rome: Biblical Institutes Press, 1980), 293–345.

[109]. When the Israelites did not have access to grain in the wilderness, God provided them with manna. Like the grain kernels, this product was also ground so that it could be used to make bread (Num. 11:8).

[110]. This grinding mill is also referred to as the saddle and rider mill. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 95.

[111]. This development is evident later in the period of the Old Testament. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 90n4.

[112]. Possibly a reference to the common household task assigned to the female members of the household but in context is more likely a sexual innuendo. Athalya Brenner, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1993), 143.

H

[113]. We find similar examples in the literature and art of extrabiblical sources in the ancient Near East. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 56; Mayer I. Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Rome: Biblical Institutes Press, 1980), 32–33, 60–64.

[114]. For example, the Syrian storm god is pictured with a lightning bolt in a raised hand. Alberto R. W. Green, The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East, Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, vol. 8 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 156.

[115]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 403.

[116]. The Philistine recollection of this event led them to apply the Lord’s raised hand to the plagues they experienced (1 Sam. 6:3, 5–6).

[117]. A limestone plaque dating to the tenth century BC (from approximately the time of Solomon) called the Gezer calendar summarizes the rhythm of the agricultural year. For a description and translation, see Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 87–88.

[118]. The sickle allowed the harvesters to cut the plant higher up on the stalk and so limit the amount of straw that was managed on the threshing floor. See Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 58–59.

[119]. A helpful overview of hunting techniques described and illustrated can be found in Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 89–95.

[120]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 370.

[121]. Note how the description of the land in Isaiah 7:24 suggests ways in which the populated land will revert into a more wild landscape, again supporting more widespread hunting.

I

[122]. See the chapter titled “Succession and Inheritance” in Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 53–55.

[123]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1395.

K

[124]. A helpful overview of the ancient Near Eastern evidence on location of the kiss is found in Admiel Kosman, “Ancient Foundations for Religious Homilies,” in Self, Soul, and Body in Religious Experience, ed. Albert I. Baumgarten (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1998), 107–8n38.

[125]. Amélie Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East: c. 3000–330 BC, vol. 1 (New York: Routledge, 1995), 148.

[126]. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 139.

L

[127]. For a discussion of the lamp and its imagery, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 152–54.

[128]. See Varda Sussman, Oil-Lamps in the Holy Land: From the Beginning to the Hellenistic Period, BAR International Series (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007).

[129]. For an argument on the distinction of one-hand or two-hand placement and the employment of this gesture in the Hittite culture, see David P. Wright, “The Gesture of Hand Placement in the Hebrew Bible and in Hittite Literature,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 106 (1986): 433–86.

[130]. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 160.

[131]. Note how this image reappears in 2 Sam. 18:12. Joab chastised one of his soldiers for failing to take Absalom’s life. But echoing the words of David, the soldier declared that he “would not lay a hand on the king’s son.”

[132]. Ada Taggar-Cohen, “The Casting of Lots among the Hittites in Light of Ancient Near Eastern Parallel,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies 29 (2002): 101.

[133]. Anne Marie Kitz, “The Hebrew Terminology of Lot Casting and Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 62 (2000): 201–14.

[134]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 2072.

[135]. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 330.

[136]. Kitz, “The Hebrew Terminology of Lot Casting and Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,” 203.

M

[137]. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 199. For comparative values, see Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 385–86.

[138]. For comparative values, see VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 1:421–22.

[139]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1810.

[140]. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 799–800.

[141]. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 817.

[142]. Dominique Collon, Near Eastern Seals: Interpreting the Past (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 11.

[143]. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 547.

[144]. Nathan MacDonald, What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 35.

[145]. Oded Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times, Archaeology and Biblical Studies (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 66.

[146]. Barry J. Beitzel, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 61–62.

[147]. VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2:136. Some have expressed concerns about the way this ancient text has been interpreted. See John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 1:246.

[148]. For a discussion of this palace and its purposes, see Ehud Netzer, The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 179–201.

[149]. Midrash, Abodah Zarah 3:3, 9.

[150]. Sackcloth was made from the coarse hair of goats or camels and was very itchy compared to the softer wool. For its connection to other mourning rituals, see Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 373.

[151]. Some but not all of these laments were written with a special poetic cadence called the qînâ. For a brief introduction to the topic, see VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 4:867–68.

N

[152]. William James Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C.: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006), 85–88.

[153]. Nakedness could be a symbol of heroism or dominance. Julia M. Asher-Greve, “Images of Men, Gender Regimes, and Social Stratification in the Late Uruk Period,” in Gender Through Time in the Ancient Near East, ed. Diane R. Bolger (Lanham, MD: Altamira, 2008), 139.

[154]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 14–15, 159.

[155]. George W. Ramsey, “Is Name-Giving an Act of Domination in Genesis 2:23 and Elsewhere?” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 50 (1988): 24–35.

[156]. Jan Assman, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), 83–84.

[157]. Genealogies and genealogical registers played very important roles in maintaining obedience to divine law and in maintaining social order. See James C. Martin, John A. Beck, and David G. Hansen, A Visual Guide to Gospel Events (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 12–13.

O

[158]. Legislation that addresses the well-being of orphans can be found in many ancient Near Eastern cultures. For a detailed treatment, see F. Charles Fensham, “Widow, Orphan, and the Poor in Ancient Near Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature,” in Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn (New York: New York University Press, 1991), 176–92.

[159]. This is a value represented in many ancient Near Eastern cultures. See Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 2044–45.

P

[160]. For a summary of their origins and early history, see Richard L. Niswonger, New Testament History (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 34–37; Ben Witherington III, New Testament History: A Narrative Account (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 45–48.

[161]. Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 235–36.

[162]. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 281–82.

[163]. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 93–94.

[164]. For a chart that illustrates the time of year for planting various commodities in Israel, see Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 34.

[165]. For use of the seed drill, see ibid., 54–55.

[166]. The Bible does not mention the age of children when their parents arranged a marriage contract. Jewish traditional writings mention that young men were married by the age of eighteen and girls by the time they were thirteen. See Midrash, Aboth 5:21, and Talmud, Pesachim 113.

[167]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 54.

[168]. See the Code of Hammurabi no. 155, in James B. Prichard, ed., The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (London: Oxford University Press, 1958), 155–56.

[169]. The importance of this operation and familiarity with it are quietly but powerfully affirmed by the numerous Hebrew terms used to describe the different types of furrows and even parts of furrows left in the wake of the plow. See Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 48.

[170]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 92.

[171]. For an example from the Hittite culture, see William James Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C.: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006), 303.

[172]. The laws in Deuteronomy provide some clear direction regarding the collection of plunder and the treatment of captives, differentiating between those defeated within the bounds of the Promised Land and those defeated outside those boundaries (Deut. 20:10–18; 21:10–14).

[173]. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 167.

[174]. While there is some evidence that professional potters were banned from operating their kilns within Jerusalem at the time of Jesus due to the smoke they produced, the presence of a potter’s house and Potsherd Gate in Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah gives credence to their presence near if not within the city (Jer. 18:1–6; 19:2). Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, 6.

[175]. Sirach 38:29–30.

[176]. For an overview, see Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 1545.

[177]. A more detailed treatment of the manufacturing process is available in King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 133–39.

[178]. In each of the instances cited here, the active participle of the Hebrew verb ytsr is employed. This verb form doubles as the Hebrew word for potter, though not all English translations show evidence of this relationship.

[179]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2529.

[180]. For a discussion, see Hennie J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East, Oudtestamentiche Studiën 49 (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 497–501.

[181]. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 677.

Q

[182]. In this article we will be exploring the use of two Hebrew verbs, khtsf and psl, which are most frequently translated as hew or quarry.

[183]. For a discussion of the ashlar stone as used in construction, see Aharon Kempinski and Ronny Reich, eds., The Architecture of Ancient Israel: From the Prehistoric to the Persian Periods (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1992), 3–5.

[184]. Ibid., 3–4, and Marc Waelkens, “Bronze Age Quarries and Quarrying Techniques in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East,” in Ancient Stones: Quarrying, Trade and Provenance, ed. Marc Waelkens, Norman Herz, and Luc Moens (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1992), 5–12.

R

[185]. For a more complete treatment of each of these forms of transportation, see the appropriate entry in John A. Beck, Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011).

[186]. While these other modes of transportation were primarily used to get to and from the battlefield, chariots played two important roles in the battles themselves: (1) they were used to move archers from one critical location to the next, and (2) they were used to induce panic when they made a direct charge at the enemy infantry. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 295.

[187]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 521.

[188]. For a more complete discussion of this momentous event, see James C. Martin, John A. Beck, and David G. Hansen, A Visual Guide to Bible Events (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 194–95.

[189]. Larry R. Helyer, “ ‘Come What May, I Want to Run’: Observations on Running in the Hebrew Bible,” Near East Archaeology Society Bulletin 48 (2003): 1.

[190]. Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of the Bible (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 81.

[191]. This article traces the use of the two most common verbs in the Old and New Testaments for the word running—ruts and trhechō—even though modern English translations use various terms to represent the word.

S

[192]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 1158.

[193]. Josephus, War of the Jews, 4.9.12.

[194]. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 482.

[195]. See 1 Maccabees 2:29–38.

[196]. Mishnah, Shabbat 7:2.

[197]. For a more detailed discussion, see Augustine Pagolu, The Religion of the Patriarchs (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 145–70.

[198]. Richard S. Hess, Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 198.

[199]. Ibid., 199.

[200]. Pagolu, Religion of the Patriarchs, 148.

[201]. See 2 Maccabees 4:7, 23–24. Onias, who lost the position in Jerusalem, traveled to Egypt to continue the contribution of the Zadokites at a rival temple built in Leontopolis. Josephus, Antiquities, 13.3.1–3.

[202]. Ibid., 13.5.9.

[203]. Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 230.

[204]. The high priest and captain of the temple guard were Sadducees, and Sadducees represented the majority of votes in the Sanhedrin. Josephus, Antiquities, 20.9.1.

[205]. Ibid., 13.10.6.

[206]. Ibid., 13.5.9.

[207]. Midrash, Erubim 6:2; Niddah 4:2.

[208]. Josephus, Antiquities, 13.10.6

[209]. John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1991), 78.

[210]. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 272–73.

[211]. William James Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C.: Warfare and History (New York: Routledge, 2006), 389.

[212]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 174.

[213]. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 280.

[214]. For a more detailed introduction to this topic, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 310–15.

[215]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 2395.

[216]. Ibid., 2:2215.

[217]. Ibid., 2:2272–74.

[218]. Sirach 38:24–39:11.

[219]. For a more detailed treatment of shaving in the ancient Near East, see Saul M. Olyan, “What Do Shaving Rites Accomplish and What Do They Signal in Biblical Ritual Contexts?” Journal of Biblical Literature 117 (1998): 611–22.

[220]. Egyptian priests performed all their religious duties only after removing all their head and body hair. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:1733.

[221]. At least two tales from the Aegean world link a leader’s hair to his invincibility. When that leader’s hair was cut, his power left him. Assuming the Aegean origins of the Philistines, we can see why this explanation for Samson’s strength may have had merit in the Philistines’ eyes. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 2:203.

[222]. Lucille A. Roussin, “Costume in Roman Palestine: Archaeological Remains and the Evidence of Mishnah,” in The World of Roman Custom, eds. Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001), 188.

[223]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 147.

[224]. Jonas Carl Greenfield, Al Kanfei Yonah: Collected Studies of Jonas C. Greenfield on Semitic Philology, vol. 2 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2001), 98–101.

[225]. For a discussion on the messianic nature of this passage, see G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, eds., Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 573–75.

[226]. A helpful summary of shipping and ships of the ancient Near East is found in Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:1425–31.

[227]. The Alexandrian grain ship on which Paul was traveling carried 276 people (Acts 27:37).

[228]. Paul H. Wright, Greatness, Grace, and Glory: Carta’s Atlas of Biblical Biography (Jerusalem: Carta, 2008), 233.

[229]. Maria-Carmen Llasat, “Storms and Floods,” in The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean, ed. Jamie C. Woodward (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 534.

[230]. For a more comprehensive treatment of the siege as it developed in Mesopotamia, see Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C., 226–36.

[231]. The horrific hunger that led to cannibalism within a city under siege is graphically reported in 2 Kings 6:24–29.

[232]. Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C., 227.

[233]. See an example in 2 Kings 18:19–36 as well as in Ephraim Stern, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods, Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 6.

[234]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2724.

[235]. Sirach 27:4.

[236]. Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 66–67.

[237]. Here the NIV follows the Septuagint translation with “dark rain clouds” rather than with “sievelike rain clouds.” The idea of darkness, however, appears to be an attempt to harmonize the poetry of this verse with Psalm 18:11. For a discussion, see VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2:319–20.

[238]. Note its mention in the ordinary postures that filled the day in Deuteronomy 6:7; 11:19.

[239]. For a discussion of the ancient chair and imagery associated with it, see John A. Beck, Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 226–29.

[240]. Mayer I. Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Rome: Biblical Institutes Press, 1980), 460–62.

[241]. See the summary in John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 253–57.

[242]. James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999), 235.

[243]. William J. Webb, “Slavery,” in Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible, ed. Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 751–53.

[244]. For a discussion of the vocabulary of light versus heavy sleeping, see VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2:534.

[245]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:2055.

[246]. Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 69.

[247]. VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 3:930.

[248]. Peter Roger Stuart Moorey, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industry: The Archaeological Evidence (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 166.

[249]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 228–29.

[250]. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 4:15.

[251]. In the case of iron, the temperature required to melt the ore is much too high for the ancients to achieve. Instead, an iron smelting furnace was heated with coal in order to carburize the iron, making it more malleable. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 169.

[252]. Wolfram von Soden, The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 117.

[253]. Silvia Schroer and Thomas Staubli, Body Symbolism in the Bible (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001), 91–93.

[254]. For a complete discussion of the topic through various historical periods, see M. A. Littauer and J. H. Crouwel, Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals of the Ancient Near East (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1979).

[255]. The Mesopotamian cultures do not mention this brutal form of punishment at all. Moses mentioned his concern that it might be used by Egyptians against Israelites (Exod. 8:26). Another possible reference to the practice is found in the Syrian Hadad Inscription, which condemns members of the royal household who commit acts of treason to be pounded with stones. See Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 1:320.

[256]. Beth A. Berkowitz, Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 125.

[257]. This is according to Deuteronomy 17:7 and Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:4.

[258]. An ox that had gored a person was also to be stoned to death (Exod. 21:28–32).

[259]. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 74–76.

[260]. The foreigner and alien are only mentioned in the prologues and epilogues of these codes if they are mentioned at all. Christiana Van Houten, The Alien in Israelite Law (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1991), 34–35.

T

[261]. For an overview, see James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999), 145–46; Peter Schäfer, The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World (New York: Routledge, 2003), 106–7.

[262]. John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 278.

[263]. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 94–105.

[264]. In the case of tax collection fraud, the law required repayment at the rate of 200 percent. Ibid., 8:100.

[265]. Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 265.

[266]. Xuang Huong Thi Pham, Mourning in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1999), 24–25.

[267]. For a discussion, see Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 320.

[268]. For a discussion, see James C. Martin, John A. Beck, and David G. Hansen, A Visual Guide to Gospel Events (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 182–83.

[269]. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 634.

[270]. For a discussion, see J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 192–93.

[271]. The prayer of Ezra may have this image-filled promise in view because he speaks about the remnant as a stake in God’s sanctuary (Ezra 9:8).

[272]. For a more detailed discussion of the process, see Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 62–65.

[273]. For a discussion of this processing facility and associated biblical imagery, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 254–56.

[274]. For a helpful introduction to this topic, see Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 89–94.

[275]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 595.

[276]. Wolfram von Soden, The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 89–90; Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 91.

V

[277]. Denis Baly, The Geography of the Bible: A Study in Historical Geography (London: Lutterworth, 1957), 102.

[278]. For a more complete discussion, see Victor H. Matthews, “Treading the Winepress: Actual and Metaphorical Viticulture in the Ancient Near East,” in Food and Drink in the Biblical Worlds, ed. Athalya Brenner, Semeia 86 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999), 19–32.

[279]. Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 110.

[280]. For a description of this floor and the biblical imagery linked to it, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 274–76.

W

[281]. Willem A. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 593.

[282]. Oded Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times, Archaeology and Biblical Studies (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 78.

[283]. W. Gunther Plaut and David E. Stein, eds., The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York: URJ Press, 2005), 952.

[284]. Jack M. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 390–91.

[285]. For a detailed discussion of hydrology in the biblical world, see Arie S. Issar, Water Shall Flow from the Rock: Hydrogeology and Climate in the Lands of the Bible (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1990).

[286]. The use of aqueducts and tunnels to bring water into a central location within a city was mentioned in the Bible only during those times and in those circumstances when a strong central government made that possible (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chron. 32:30).

[287]. Daniel Hillel, Rivers of Eden (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 66; Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 126–27.

[288]. Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 2:1571–74.

[289]. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 198.

[290]. For a further discussion of the balance scale and its imagery, see John A. Beck, ed., Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 223–25.

[291]. For a detailed overview of the ancient Near Eastern literature on this topic, see Hennie J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East, Oudtestamentiche Studiën 49 (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 291–307.

[292]. Ibid., 319.

[293]. John H. Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 247.

[294]. For a more detailed look at the entire harvesting process, see Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 57–69.

[295]. Note that this is a west wind, not the hot khamsin wind that came off the desert (Jer. 4:11–12).

[296]. Mary Anne Murray, “Cereal Production and Processing,” in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, ed. Paul T. Nicholson and Ian Shaw (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 525.

Y

[297]. For a discussion of the yoke in agriculture, see Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2002), 51–52. For a discussion of the yoke used with the Egyptian chariot, see M. A. Littauer and J. H. Crouwel, Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals of the Ancient Near East (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1979), 85.

[298]. This image is not only used by the biblical authors but also appears in other ancient Near Eastern writings. See Moshe Anbar, “To Put One’s Neck Under the Yoke,” in Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Na’aman, ed. Yaira Amit, Ehud Ben Zvi, Israel Finkelstein, and Oded Lipschits (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 17–19.