Bibliography
Block, Daniel I. Judges, Ruth. NAC 6. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999. Thorough exegetical commentary combining an emphasis on the theological and literary features and attention to extrabiblical information that illumines the text.
Boling, Robert G. Judges. AB 6A. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1975. Somewhat dated, but still provides helpful geographic and archaeological background information on Judges.
Crenshaw, J. L. Samson: A Secret Betrayed, a Vow Ignored. Atlanta: John Knox, 1978. Somewhat dated, but still valuable for background information.
Marcus, D. Jephthah and His Vow. Lubbock, Tex.: Texas Tech Press, 1986. A detailed interpretation of Jephthah’s vow within its ancient Near Eastern context.
Soggin, J. A. Judges. OTL. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981. A classic European source and redaction-critical approach to exegesis. Each section is preceded by a short bibliography, often citing essays offering helpful background information.
Chapter Notes
Main Text Notes
1. See the discussion in Joshua introduction.
2. The problem is not resolved by positing a shorter reign for Saul, as, for example, the 22 years proposed by D. V. Edelman, “Saul,” ABD, 5:993.
3. Compare the Exodus generation, which took thirty-eight years to be eliminated.
4. Cf. I. Provan, V. P. Long, and T. Longman III, A Biblical History of Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 199–201.
8. So also K. L. Younger Jr., Judges (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 258. Contra D. L. Washburn, “The Chronology of Judges: Another Look,” BibSac 147 (1990): 425; E. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 68.
9. The patron deity of the Ammonites was Milcom (1 Kings 11:5, 33); Chemosh was the patron deity of Moab.
10. COS, 2.6; ANET, 376–78. For discussion of the text see J. K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Traditions (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), 27–31.
11. Translations of the texts are provided by W. Moran, The Amarna Letters (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992).
12. See Provan, Long, and Longman, Biblical History of Israel, 170–72.
13. For translations of the texts, see D. Pardee, ed., Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (SBLWAW 9; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997).
14. Line 52. For a study of the text, see C. Manassa, The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the Thirteenth Century B.C. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Egyptological Seminar, 2004).
15. Ramesses III also refers to some of these in his Medinet Habu Inscription (see ANET, 262).
16. See T. Dothan and M. Dothan, People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines (New York: Macmillan, 1992); L. E. Stager, “The Impact of the Sea Peoples in Canaan (1185–1050 B.C.E.),” in The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, ed. T. Levy (New York: Facts on File, 1995), 332–48.
17. For a helpful collection of many Mari texts in translation, see W. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary (Mesopotamian Civlizations 12; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003). For a discussion of social and political institutions in the region of Mari in the eighteenth century B.C., see D. Fleming, Democracy’s Ancient Ancestors: Mari and Early Collective Governance (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004).
18. For citation and discussion of this text, see D. I. Block, “What has Delphi to do with Samaria? Ambiguity and Delusion in Israelite Prophecy,” in Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society: Papers in Honour of Alan R. Millard, ed. P. Bienkowski (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology Series; Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 196–97.
19. See further A. Rainey, “Who is a Canaanite? A Review of the Textual Evidence,” BASOR 304 (1996): 1–15; R. S. Hess, “Occurrences of Canaan in Late Bronze Age Archives of the West Semitic World,” in Israel Oriental Studies 18: Past Links: Studies in the Languages and Cultures of the Ancient Near East, ed. Sh. Izreʾel, I. Singer, and R. Zadok (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 365–72.
20. For discussions of the land and the people, see K. N. Schoville, “Canaanites and Amorites,” POTW, 157–82; P. C. Schmitz, “Canaan (Place),” ABD, 1:828–31.
21. As translated by M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (SBLWAW 12; Atlanta: SBL, 2003), 44.
22. Simeon is missing in Moses’ blessing of the tribes (Deut. 33) and in the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5).
23. For discussion of the name and the identity of this people see comment of R. Hess on Josh. 3:10 (R. Hess, Joshua [TOTC; Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996]). Some associate the expression with p erāzî (Deut. 3:5; 1 Sam. 6:18), p erāzôn, (Jdg. 5:7, 11), and p erāzôt, “unwalled cities” (Ezek. 38:11; Zech. 2:8), hence “inhabitants of unwalled settlements.” Cf. S. A. Reed, “Perizzite,” ABD, 5:231.
24. R. G. Boling, Judges (AB 6A; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1975), 55. Based on 1 Sam 11:8, A. Zertal locates Bezek near Shechem, “Bezek,” ABD, 1:717–18. However, that Bezek is too far north for the present context.
25. See D. M. Fouts, “A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Large Numbers in the Old Testament,” JETS 40 (1997): 377–88. J. Milgrom argues that biblical authors intended that such numbers be interpreted literally, but this tendency to inflate numbers is characteristic of ancient epic literature. See Numbers (JPS Torah Commentary; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 339. Compare the legendary Canaanite account of King Keret, who calls for a mighty army, “three hundred myriads, peasant levies without number, regular levies beyond counting, marching in thousands like storm clouds, and in myriads as autumn rains” (ANET, 143).
26. In Gen. 36:15–43, where the same root (pointed by the Masoretes as ʾallûp) refers to Edomite “chieftains,” suggesting to J. W. Wenham (“Large Numbers in the Old Testament,” TynBul 18 [1967]: 19–53) that in such contexts ʾlpym should perhaps be repointed to ʾallûpîm, and understood as “heads” or “clan leader,” that is, a professional military officer. On the numbers in Numbers see Milgrom, Numbers, 339.
27. Thus C. Humphries, working with the numbers in Numbers, “The Number of People in the Exodus from Egypt: Decoding Mathematically the very Large Numbers in Numbers I and XXVI,” VT 49 (1999): 196–211; idem, “The Numbers in the Exodus from Egypt: A Reappraisal,” VT 50 (2000): 323–28. With reference to Num. 3:43, for example, he interprets the expression usually interpreted numerically as 22,273 men as 22 troops consisting of 273 men.
28. So also S. Layton, Archaic Features of Canaanite Personal Names in the Hebrew Bible (HSM 47; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 117.
29. ANET, 129–42. For further discussion of this Canaanite divinity, see J. Day, “Baal,” ABD, 1:545–49; W. Herrmann, “Baal,” DDD, 132–39.
30. On the pre-Israelite history of Jerusalem, see Y. Shiloh, “Jerusalem,” NEAEHL, 2:701.
31. On this region, see H. Brodsky, “Shephelah,” ABD, 5:1204.
32. Cf. H. Wolf, “Judges,” EBC, 3:388. Boling (Judges, 56) proposes “Town of the Treaty-Stele.”
33. Similarly Targum’s qiryat ʾarkî, “city of the officer.”
34. See M. Kochavi, “Rabud, Khirbet,” in NEAEHL, 4:1252; idem, “Khirbet Rabud = Debir,” TA 1 (1974): 2–33; A. F. Rainey, “Debir,” ISBE 2, 1:901–4.
35. For discussion, see J. Crawford, “Caleb the Dog: How a Biblical Good Guy Got a Bad Name,” BRev 20/2 (2004): 20–27, 45.
36. For further discussion of the role of women in the patricentric biblical world see D. I. Block, “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” in Marriage and Family in the Biblical World, ed. K. Campbell (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 33–102.
37. Cf. R. Westbrook, Property and the Family in Biblical Law (JSOTSup 113; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), 152–53. According to P. S. Hiebert, “the dowry was property owned by the woman, her share of the family inheritance” (“ ‘Whence Shall Help Come to Me?’: The Biblical Widow,” in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, ed. P. L. Day [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989], 136).
38. See D. W. Manor, “Timnaʿ,” ABD, 6:553–54.
39. Both Midianites and Kenites are associated with the Amalekites, another migratory southern tribe (Ex. 6:3–5, 33; 1 Sam. 15:4–9). In Gen. 15:19 the Kenites are associated with the Kenizzites, Caleb’s clan. Another Kenite, Heber, appears in Judg. 4:17.
40. On this site, see D. W. Manor and G. A. Herions, “Arad,” ABD, 1:331–36; M. Aharoni, NEAEHL, 1:75–87.
41. So also Deut. 34:3 and 2 Chr. 28:15.
42. S. Mittmann identifies it with ʿAin el-ʿAruš. See “Ri. 1, 16f und das Siedlungsgebiet der kenitischen Sippe Hobab,” ZDPV 93 (1977): 213–35.
43. As translated by K. A. D. Smelik, in COS, 2.23.
44. The Kurkh Monolith, COS, 2.113A (p. 263).
45. COS, 2.2A, p. 9.
46. COS, 1.32.
47. Vocalized Ašqaluna in these Akkadian texts: §§287, 320–26, 370.
48. COS, 2.6.
49. On the origins of the Philistines and the link to Troy, see Assaf Yasur-Landau, “One if by Sea . . . Two if by Land: How Did the Philistines Get to Canaan?” BAR 29/2 (March-April 2003): 35–39, 66.
50. See L. E. Stager, “Askelon,” NEAEHL, 1:103–12.
51. See T. Dothan and S. Gitin, “Ekron,” ABD, 2:415–19 for its early history and the excavations.
52. Cf. Eusebius, Onomasticon 40.20–21.
53. See esp. D. Livingston, “The Location of Biblical Bethel and Ai Reconsidered,” WTJ 33 (1970): 20–44; 34 (1971): 39–50; idem, “One Last Word on Bethel and Ai—Fairness Requires No More,” BAR 15/1 (1989): 11. For a response and defense of the traditional scholarly view see A. F. Rainey, “Bethel is Still Beitin,” WTJ 33 (1971): 175–88; idem, “Rainey on the Location of Bethel and Ai,” BAR 14/5 (1988): 67–68. See also W. J. Dever, “Beitin,” ABD, 1:651–52; J. L. Kelso, “Bethel,” NEAEHL, 1:192–94. For discussion of the options see Provan, Long, and Longman, Biblical History of Israel, 176–78.
54. So also Lindars, Judges 1–5, 53. Cf. 18:2 (and Josh. 2:1), where completely different vocabulary is used of scouts sent to explore the land.
55. See comments on 1:24.
56. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, §26 247.
57. See further Z. Herzog, Archaeology of the City: Urban Planning in Ancient Israel and its Social Implications (Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Archaeology Press, 1997), 164–89; and more briefly A. Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 231; P. J. King and L. E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 231.
58. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, §§26 498, 514, 169. Cf. Hamblin, Warfare, 204.
59. In the Merneptah Stele Hatti occurs in the second place in a series of regions subjugated by the pharaoh: Tehenu, Hatti, Canaan, Ashkelon, Gezer, Yanoam, Israel (with people determinative), Hurru. See ANET, 378; COS, 2.41.
60. On Beth Shean in the Late Bronze Age, see further P. E. McGovern, “Beth-Shan,” ABD, 1:693–96; A. Mazar, “Beth-Shean,” NEAEHL, 1.214–23; Herzog, Archaeology of the City, 172 (LB I), 175–78 (LB IIA), 184–87 (LB IIB).
61. See further A. E. Glock, “Taanach,” ABD, 6:287–90; idem, “Taanach,” NEAEHL, 4:1428–33.
62. Cf. E. Stern, “Dor,” ABD, 2:223–25; idem, “Dor,” NEAEHL, 1:357–68.
63. Cf. M. Hunt, “Ibleam,” ABD, 3:355.
64. On the history and archaeology of the site, see D. Ussishkin, “Megiddo,” ABD, 4:666–79; G. I. Davies, “Megiddo in the Period of the Judges,” in Crises and Perspectives: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Polytheism, Biblical Theology, Palestinian Archaeology and Intertestamental Literature (OTS 24; Leiden: Brill, 1986), 34–53; Y. Shiloh, “Megiddo,” NEAEHL, 3:1003–24; Herzog, Archaeology of the City, 165–69.
65. Thus S. Bunimovitz, “On the Edge of Empires—Late Bronze Age (1500–1200 B.C.E.),” in The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, ed. T. Levy (New York: Facts on File, 1995), 326. Bunimovitz provides a helpful discussion of socio-political realities in Palestine in the Late Bronze Age, 320–31.
66. See S. Dalley, “Ancient Mesopotamian Military Organization,” CANE, 415–16. For a fuller discussion of slavery in the ancient Near East, see I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1949); M. A. Dandamayev, “Slavery, Ancient Near East,” ABD, 6:58–62.
67. On Gezer see Herzog, Archaeology of the City, 178–79; W. G. Dever, “Gezer,” ABD, 2:998–1003; idem, “Gezer,” NEAEHL, 2:496–506. For a map of roadways in ancient Israel, see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Harper Atlas of the Bible (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 58.
68. COS, 2.6.
69. M. Dothan, “Acco,” ABD, 1:50–53; idem, “Tel Acco,” NEAEHL, 1:17–24.
70. Cf. P. C. Schmitz, “Sidon,” ABD, 6:17–18.
71. Cf. ANET, 287. Cf. M. J. Fretz, “Ahlab,” ABD, 1:123.
72. M. W. Prausnitz, “Achzib,” ABD, 1:57–58; idem, “Achzib,” NEAEHL, 1:32–35.
73. Cf. M. Hunt, “Helbah,” ABD, 3:117.
74. See R. Frankel, “Aphek,” ABD, 1:276–77; P. Beck and M. Kochavi, “Aphek,” NEAEHL, 1:62–72.
75. Cf. J. L. Petersen and R. Arav, “Rehob,” ABD, 5:661; F. Vitto, “Rehob,” NEAEHL, 3:1272–74.
76. Cf. Herzog, Archaeology of the City, 162 (MB IIB); F. Brandfon, “Beth-Shemesh,” ABD, 1:696–98; S. Bunimovitz and Z. Lederman, “Beth-Shemesh,” NEAEHL, 1:249–53.
77. On the possible locations of the site see M. Lubetski, “Beth-Anath,” ABD, 1:680–81.
78. Cf. ANET, 129–49. See also the identification of Shamgar as “son of Anath,” in 3:31. For further discussion of Anath, see W. A. Meier III, “Anath,” ABD, 1:225–27; on Canaanite religion see P. D. Miller Jr., “Aspects of the Religion of Ugarit,” in Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross, ed. P. D. Miller et al. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 53–66.
79. Thus R. O’Connell, Rhetoric of the Book of Judges (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 452. On the Amorites and their relation to the Canaanites, see Schoville, “Canaanites and Amorites,” 164–67; M. Liverani, “The Amorites,” POTT, 100–133; G. Mendenhall, “Amorites,” ABD, 1:199–202.
80. Cf. J. L. Petersen, “Aijalon,” ABD, 1:131.
81. Cf. W. J. Toews, “Shaalbim,” ABD, 5:1147; A. Segal and Y. Naor, “Shaalbim,” NEAEHL, 4:1339–40.
82. Cf. Job 9:7, which pairs ḥeres (“sun”) with kôkābîm (“stars”). Judg. 8:13 refers to ma ʿ alēh heḥāres (“the ascent of the sun”) and Isa. 19:18 mentions ʿir haḥeres (“city of the sun”; thus NRSV; cf. NIV “City of Destruction”). The root is also preserved in the place name Timnath-Heres (timnat ḥeres) in Judg. 2:9.
83. Alternatively, some translate “scurfy mountain” and associate this name with Khirbet Khirsha two miles southeast of Yalo, or Khirbet Kharsis nearby (K.-D. Schunk, “Har-Heres,” ABD, 3:56). Z. Kallai identifies har ḥeres with Timnath-Ḥeres, Joshua’s town in the Aijalon Valley (Judg. 2:9). See “The Settlement Traditions of Ephraim,” ZDPV 102 (1986): 68–74.
84. Cf. M. Görg, “Akrabbim,” ABD, 1:141.
85. The same word is used in 6:35 of the “messengers” Gideon sends throughout the northern tribes to muster an army to take on the Midianites, as well as the envoys that Jephthah sends to the Ammonites in 11:12–19.
86. As translated by M. Lichtheim, COS, 1.41 (p. 92).
87. Cf. W. R. Kotter, “Gilgal (Place),” ABD, 2:1022–23; T. Noy, “Gilgal,” NEAEHL, 2:517–18.
88. For discussion, see K. A. Kitchen, “Egypt, Ugarit, Qatna and Covenant,” UF 11 (1979): 453–64.
89. For a collection of the former, see G. Beckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts, 2nd ed. (SBLWAW 7; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999); for the latter see S. Parpola and K. Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths (SAA 2; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1988).
90. For Mari, see H. B. Huffmon, Amorite Personal Names in the Mari Texts: A Structural and Lexical Study (Baltimore: John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1965), 118–19, 189; for Canaanite names in the Amarna tablets, see R. S. Hess, Amarna Personal Names (ASORDS 9; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1996), 7–13, 244; for Phoenicia, see F. L. Benz, Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions (Studia Pohl 8; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1972), 371; for Ugarit, F. Gröndahl, Die Personnenamender Texte aus Ugarit (Studia Pohl 1; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967), 80, 105; for Aramaic, M. Maraqten, Die semitischen Personennamen in den alt und reischsaramäischen Inschriften aus Vorderasien (Hildesheim: Olms Verlag, 1988), 94, 192.
91. Moran, Amarna Letters, 379.
92. See SSI 2, p. 166, for more.
93. For discussion of the Israelite institution, see T. M. Willis, The Elders of the City: A Study of the Elders-Laws in Deuteronomy (SBLMS 55; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2001).
94. See the fine study on the role of elders at Mari by Fleming, Democracy’s Ancient Ancestors, 190–200.
95. For a full study, see E. Noort, “Josua 24, 28–31, Richter 2, 6–9 und das Josuagrab; Gedanken zu einem Strassenbild,” in Biblische Welten: Festschrift für Metin Metzger zu seinem 65. Geburtstag, ed. W. Zwickel (OBO 123; Fribourg: Edition universitaires/Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993), 109–23; cf. more briefly H. R. Weeks, “Timnath-heres,” ABD, 6:557–58.
96. Cf. E. Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead (JSOTSup 123; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), 87–88.
97. These myths are conveniently translated in ANET, 129–42. For further discussion of this Canaanite divinity, see J. Day, “Baal,” ABD, 1:545–49; W. Herrmann, “Baal,” DDD, 132–39.
98. In classical times Astarte was identified with Aphrodite and Venus.
99. For a helpful map, see D. J. Wiseman, “Babylon,” IBD, 1:159.
100. For studies of ancient Near Eastern accounts of divine fury, abandonment, and return, see D. I. Block, “Divine Abandonment: Ezekiel’s Adaptation of an Ancient Near Eastern Motif,” in Perspectives on Ezekiel: Theology and Anthropology, ed. M. S. Odell and J. T. Strong (SBL Symposium Series 9; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000), 15–42; idem, The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology, 2nd ed. (ETSS 2; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 113–48.
101. To three primary “judges”: Othniel (3:10), Jephthah (12:7), Samson (15:20; 16:30); to Deborah (4:4); and to five secondary judges: Tola (10:2), Jair (10:3), Ibzan (12:8, 9), Elon (12:11), Abdon (12:13–14).
102. T. L. J. Mafico notes that the role of judges was “to restore shalom, harmonious relations.” See “Judge, Judging,” ABD, 3:1104–5.
103. The nonjudicial sense of the verb is evident elsewhere in 2 Kings 15:5; Ps. 2:10; 94:2; 96:13; 148:11; Isa. 40:23; Amos 2:3.
104. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, 582; Fleming, Democracy’s Ancient Ancestors, 76. For a study of the root in Akkadian, see T. J. Mafico, “The Term šapīṭum in Akkadian Documents,” JNSL 13 (1987): 69–87.
105. As translated by M. S. Smith in Ugaritic Narrative, ed. S. B. Parker (SBLWAWS 9; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), 163. See further F. C. Fensham, “The Ugaritic Root ṯpṭ JNSL 12 (1984): 63–69; H. Cazelles, “Mṯpṭ à Ugarit,” Or 53 (1984): 177–82.
106. G. W. Ahlström, The History of Ancient Palestine from the Paleolithic Period to Alexander’s Conquest (JSOTSup 146; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 372.
107. For further study on the nature and purpose of testing, see G. S. Smith, “The Testing of Our Faith: A Pentateuchal Theology of Testing,” unpublished dissertation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., 2005.
108. The groups generally recognized as belonging to the Sea Peoples include, among others, the Peleset, Tjeker (Sikils), Shekelesh, Denyen, Weshesh, and Shardana. See I. Singer, “Sea Peoples,” ABD, 5:1059–61; Dothan and Dothan, People of the Sea, 23, 210, et passim.
109. As translated by J. Wilson, ANET, 262.
110. Biblical Caphtor. See Gen. 10:13–14; Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7. Num. 24:24 may allude to the first waves of Sea Peoples arriving from Kittim (Cyprus).
111. See the discussions by Barako and Yasur-Landau, “One if by Sea . . . Two if by Land,” 24–39, 64, 66, who represent the former and latter respectively. For defense of the former see also L. E. Stager, “Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel,” in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. M. D. Coogan (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), 152–66.
112. For further studies of the Philistines, see K. A. Kitchen, “The Philistines,” POTT, 53–78; D. M. Howard Jr., “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, ed. A. J. Hoerth, et al. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 231–50; T. Dothan and M. Dothan, People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines (New York: Macmillan, 1992); T. Dothan, “Philistines,” ABD, 5:326–33; idem, The Philistines and Their Material Culture (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1982).
113. The name has surfaced in the following recently discovered inscription: “The temple which he built, ʿkys [Achish, Ikausu] son of Padi, son of Ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya’ir, ruler of Ekron, for Ptgyh his lady. May she bless him, and protect him, and prolong his days, and bless his land. See S. Gitin, Trude Dothan, and Joseph Naveh, “A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron,” IEJ 48 (1997): 1–18; idem, “Special Report: Ekron Identity Confirmed,” Archaeology 51/1 (January/February 1998): 30–31.
114. See Hess, “Occurrences of Canaan,” 365–72.
115. ANET, 352.
116. UNP 1.IV.34–43 (pp. 19–20).
117. EA 85.71, et passim. For additional references, see Moran, Amarna Letters, 391.
118. COS, 1.41 (p. 91).
119. H. A. Hoffner, “The Hittites and Hurrians,” POTT, 225.
120. KTU 4.6:18–21; for the Ugaritic text in transliteration and translation, see UNP, 133; for the translation alone, COS, 1.86.
121. ANET, 280.
122. JB; cf. J. Gray, I & II Kings, rev. ed. (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970), 615.
123. Cf. B. Mazar, Cities and Districts in Eretz Israel (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1975), 167–81.
124. Cf. S. Ahituv, Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1984), 131; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979), 72–73.
125. UNP, 120–21.
126. KTU 1.4.VI.46 = CTA 4.VI.46; UNP, p. 134). For discussions and sources, see J. Day, “Asherah,” ABD, 1:483–87; idem, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature,” JBL 31 (1980): 385–408; N. Wyatt, “Asherah,” DDD, 99–105.
127. Cf. the translation by Day, “Asherah,” 1:484–85.
128. Unless, of course, ʾrm is a corruption of ʾdm (Edom). J. Gray (Joshua, Judges, Ruth [NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986], 260–61) suggests Naharaim was added to clarify Aram, once the error had entered the text. The names Aram (
) and Edom (
) are confused elsewhere in 2 Sam. 8:12–13; 1 Chron. 18:11; 2 Chron. 20:2.
129. K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 212.
130. From the Kurkh Monolith, as translated by K. L. Younger, COS, 2.113A, 264.
131. On the mocking character of the name “Eglon,” see M. Garsiel, Biblical Names: A Literary Study of Midrashic Derivations and Puns, trans. P. Hackett (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan Univ., 1991), 215.
132. So also Kitchen, Reliability of the Old Testament, 195; Udo Worschech, “Egypt and Moab,” BA 60 (1997): 229–36.
133. On which see T. E. Levy and M. Najjar, “Edom & Copper: The Emergence of Israel’s Rival,” BAR 32 (July/August 2006): 24–35, 70.
134. See W. E. Aufrecht, A Corpus of Ammonite Inscriptions (Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies 4; Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen, 1990), 203–11; idem, COS, 2.25. Our transliteration of bny ʿmwn follows K. Beyer, “The Ammonite Tell Siran Bottle Inscription Reconsidered,” in Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield, ed. Z. Zevit, S. Gitin, and M. Sokoloff (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 389–91.
135. Though S. A. Rosen suggests some of the remains of eleventh- to tenth-century fortresses in the Negev may be Amalekite. See Rosen, “Finding Evidence of Ancient Nomads,” BAR 14/5 (1988): 46–53, 58–59.
136. Like Ichabod ( ʾî kābôd, “Where is the glory?”) in 1 Sam. 4:21, this name reflects the despondency of the times.
137. See more fully, B. Halpern, “A Message for Eglon: The Case of Ehud ben-Gera,” in The First Historians: The Hebrew Bible and History (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 40–43.
138. See further M. A. Powell, “Weights and Measures,” ABD, 6:899–900.
139. The Neo-Assyrians used different words for objects presented by a vassal to a superior. Madattu refers to tribute and other objects usually given under compulsion and in fulfillment of a demand by the superior. “Gifts” are usually expressed by nidintu (nidittu). On the range of meanings of madattu, see CAD M/1, 13.
140. According to 2 Kings 23:33, Pharaoh Neco demanded from Judah tribute of 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.
141. RIMA §§87, 88, 89, as translated by K. L. Younger, COS, 269–70.
142. The statement “Till here Yahweh has helped us” may represent an oral reading of a statement inscribed on the stele. Compare also the references to analogous monuments set up by Saul (1 Sam. 15:12) and David (2 Sam. 8:3 = 1 Chr. 18:3).
143. COS, 2.23. For discussion of this text see J. A. Dearman and G. L. Mattingly, “Mesha Stele,” ABD, 4:708–9.
144. For further discussion, see K. E. Slanski, The Babylonian Entitlement narûs (kudurrus): A Study of their Form and Function (ASOR Books 9; Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2003), 266–70.
145. HALOT, 1149.
146. Thus Lindars, Judges 1–5, 144; Halpern, First Historians, 45. Cf. 2 Sam. 9:25; 1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 1:2; 4:10.
147. Halpern, First Historians, 45–46; for a popular version of this discussion see idem, “The Assassination of Eglon—The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BR 4 (1988): 32–41, 44, esp. 38. This interpretation finds support in v. 24, which uses ḥ adar hamm eqērâ (“upper dark inner room,” HALOT, 293) as a variant of the present expression.
148. Cf. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 28–35.
149. See J. Braun, Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, and Comparative Sources, trans. D. W. Scott (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 26.
150. As such it was employed in a variety of situations: (1) to call people to worship (Lev. 25:9; Joel 2:15); (2) to lead in procession (Josh. 6:5; 2 Sam. 6:15); (3) to signal the arrival of the king or other important figure (Ex. 19:16–18; cf. the use of yôbel in v. 13); (4) to alert the people to the arrival of an enemy (Jer. 4:19; Joel 2:1); (5) to create panic (Judg. 7:18); (6) to rally troops (Judg. 3:27; 6:34; 1 Sam. 13:3); (7) to signal various instructions (2 Sam. 18:16).
151. Though Soggin argues the name could be West Semitic, based on the Shapel stem of the root mgr (“to submit”); see J. A. Soggin, Judges: A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981), 57.
152. See B. Maisler (Mazar), “Shamgar ben ʿAnat,” PEQ 66 (1934): 192–94; W. Feiler, “Hurritische Namen im Alten Testament,” ZA 45 (1939): 219. This Hurrian solution is preferable to a proposed conflation of the transliterated and translated Hebrew forms of Egyptian s ʾm, meaning “wanderer, stranger,” viz., Sham-gēr. Cf. N. Shupak, “New Light on Shamgar ben ʿAnath,” Bib 70 (1980): 518; E. Danelius, “Judge Shamgar,” JNES 22 (1963): 191–93. P. C. Craigie adduces Ugaritic, Mari, and Egyptian evidence for foreign mercenaries in “A Reconsideration of Shamgar ben Anath (Judg. 3:31 and 5:6),” JBL 91 (1972): 239–80.
153. Compare the name of Jeremiah’s hometown, Anathoth, Jer. 1:1.
154. Cf. 1:33; Josh. 19:32–39. Thus Gray, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, 216.
155. Compare Mal. 2:11, which refers to non-Israelite women as daughters “of a foreign God.” Note also names like Ben-Hadad, “Son of Hadad.”
156. On Anath, see Walter A. Meier III, “Anath (Deity),” ABD, 1:225–26; P. L. Day, “Anat,” DDD, 62–77.
157. For the evidence, see Shupak, “New Light,” 518–19.
158. As read by W. Helck, Die Beziehungen Aegyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahr. V. Chr. (Wiessbaden: Harrassowitz, 1971), 487.
159. Further evidence of the use of bn ʿnt as a military cognomen appears on an El-Khadr arrowhead dated ca. 1100 B.C., bearing the incised inscription, ʿbdlb ʾt bn ʿnt, on which see F. M. Cross, “Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts,” BASOR 238 (1980): 4, 6–7. Cf. also an eleventh- or tenth-century bronze arrowhead discussed by J. T. Milik and F. M. Cross, “Inscribed Javelin-Heads from the Period of the Judges: A Recent Discovery in Palestine,” BASOR 134 (1954): 5–15.
160. See Shupak, “New Light,” 524.
161. For additional examples from Ugarit, the Hittites, and Egypt, see Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 184–85.
162. W. Horowitz and A. Schaffer, “A Fragment of a Letter from Hazor,” IEJ 42 (1992): 165–67.
163. C. R. Krahmalkov, “Exodus Itinerary Confirmed by Egyptian Evidence,” BAR 20/5 (September-October 1994): 61.
164. Soggin follows Albright in accepting Sisera as a Luvian name. Soggin, Judges, 63; cf. W. F. Albright, “Prolegomenon” to C. F. Burney, Book of Judges: With Introduction and Notes (New York: Ktav, 1970), 15. See also R. de Vaux, trans. D. Smith (London: Darton, Longman, & Todd, 1978), The Early History of Israel, 792.
165. HALOT, 1:358.
166. As does an association with the supposed Akkadian cognate ḫušānu (“mountain”). So also A. F. Rainey, “Toponymic Problems,” TA 10 (1983): 46.
167. CAD E, 300b.
168. See further Rainey, “Toponymic Problems,” 46–48; idem, “The Military Camp Ground at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo,” ErIsr 15 (1981): 61*–66*.
169. ANET, 237.
170. On the nature and significance of iron chariots, see comment on 1:19.
172. AHw, 697b, 699b. The verb occurs in the Old Testament only in the reflexive stems (Niphal, Hithpael). HALOT, 659. On the etymology of the word, see J. Huehnergard, “On the Etymology and Meaning of Hebrew nābî ʾ,” EI 26 (1999): 88*–93; D. E. Fleming, “The Etymological Origins of the Hebrew nābî ʾ, The One Who Invokes God,” CBQ 55 (1993): 217–24, who argues for an active meaning, “one who invokes the gods.”
173. Persons explicitly identified as female prophets include Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), and the unnamed wife of Isaiah (Isa. 8:3). To this list the Targums rightly add Hannah, whose poem in 1 Sam. 2:1–10 bears all the marks of a prophetic pronouncement. Cf. also Anna in Luke 2:36.
174. For a convenient collection of ancient Near Eastern prophetic texts, see Nissinen et al., Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East.
175. A. Malamat has recognized an unusually high proportion of women among the lay prophets at Mari. See “A Forerunner of Biblical Prophecy: The Mari Documents,” in Ancient Israelite Religion, ed. P. D. Miller, P. D. Hanson, and S. D. McBride (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 43–44.
176. This pattern is evident in the cases of the prophets of Baal, “who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:19), and Ahab’s prophets in 1 Kings 22:22; (note the reference to “his prophets”). Because kings were deemed to be tools in the hands of the gods, prophetic declarations against the king’s interests were by definition false, regardless of the source of the inspiration. Thus M. Nissinen, References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources (SAA 7; Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1999), 166–67.
177. Compare Miriam, who is introduced as “Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron” (Ex. 15:20); Huldah, who is “Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum ben Tikvah” (2 Kings 22:14). In the New Testament Anna is identified as “the prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel” (Luke 2:36).
178. See UNP, 112.
179. For the text and translation, see Seow in Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy, 204–6.
180. On the palm as a sacred symbol in the ancient Near East, see U. Magen, Assyrische Königsdarstellungen—Aspekte der Herrschaft (Baghdader Forschungen 9; Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1986), 79–81.
181. As in Kadesh Barnea, Kedesh in Issachar (1 Chron. 6:57), and Kadesh-on-the-Orontes, the site of the great battle between Ramesses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Muwatallis.
182. D. J. Wiseman, “Kedesh, Kedesh in Naphtali,” IBD, 2:847; Halpern, First Historians, 92–93. On this site see A. Ovadiah et al., “Kedesh (In Upper Galilee),” NEAEHL, 3:855–59. Assuming this Kedesh must be relatively near to Mount Tabor and that it is the same Kedesh mentioned in v. 11, some identify this site with modern Khirbet Qedish, one mile west of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee (e.g., Ovadiah et al., “Kedesh [In Upper Galilee],” 3:855); N. Naʿaman, “Literary and Topographical Notes on the Battle of Kishon (Judges IV-V),” VT 40 (1990): 429; C. Rasmussen, NIV Atlas of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 241.
184. Though some link it with Wadi el-Bira that flows east from Tabor into the Jordan. See R. Frankel, “Kishon,” ABD, 4:89. The topographical names in Song 5 support the former view.
185. Cf. the compound place names such as Elon Tabor (1 Sam. 10:3) and Elon Moreh (Gen. 12:6). Note also the variant Allon Bacuth in Gen. 35:8.
186. Soggin rightly rejects an identification with the similar-sounding place name referred to in Josh. 19:33 (Judges, 66).
187. In addition to the sources cited above on v. 6, see B. Margalit, “Observations on the Jael-Sisera Story (Judges 4–5),” in Pomegranates and Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law, and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom, ed. D. P. Wright et al. (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 629–31.
188. Some identify the site with Tel Kedesh (Tell Abu Qedesh) in the Jezreel Valley, midway between Taanach and Megiddo. So E. Stern, “Kedesh, Tel [In Jezreel Valley],” NEAEHL, 2:860; Soggin, Judges, 66; J. Hofbauer, in a review of W. Richter, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Richterbuch, ZKT 87 (1965): 319. However, one wonders why Heber would settle here if allied with and counting on the protection of Jabin.
189. Especially if he were a nomadic mercenary charged by the king of Hazor to police the area around Kedesh. Thus Margalit, “Observations on the Jael-Sisera Story,” 640, though he locates Kedesh southwest of Galilee.
190. Naʿaman, “Literary and Topographical Notes,” 427. For a reconstruction of the events involved in this battle, see Rainey, “The Military Camp Ground at Taanach,” 15, 61*–66*.
191. HALOT, 1:251; DCH, 2:571.
192. Cf. also Josh. 10:10; 1 Sam. 7:10. The present statement casts Yahweh in the role of divine warrior, fulfilling his promise in Exod. 23:27: “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.”
193. As translated by Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., 18 (iii 66–72).
194. Ibid., 197 (i 56b–58a).
196. Compare 3:28–29, where the narration credits the success entirely to human activity, even though Ehud announces Yahweh’s victory.
197. See B. Beitzel, “Roads and Highways (Pre-Roman),” ABD, 5:778–79; idem, Moody Atlas, 67–68.
198. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., 203–4 (ii 30).
199. For a discussion and references, see S. C. Layton, “Yaʿel in Judges 4: An Onomastic Rejoinder,” ZAW 109 (1997): 93–94.
200. On the structure of Israelite families and the role of the head of the household, see Block, “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” 40–61; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 21–39.
201. For full discussion, see V. A. Matthews, “Hospitality and Hostility in Judges 4,” BTB 21 (1991): 13–21.
202. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 103.
203. For the Hebrew, see 1 Kings 6:7; Isa. 44:12; Jer. 10:4; for the Ugaritic, Gordon, UT §19:1533; for the Akkadian, AHw 607b.
204. See further D. F. Chalcraft, “Deviance and Legitimate Action in the Book of Judges,” in The Bible in Three Dimensions: Essays in Celebration of Forty Years of Biblical Studies in the Univ. of Sheffield, ed. D. J. A. Clines et al. (JSOTSup 87; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990), 182–83.
205. J. G. Taylor, “The Song of Deborah and Two Canaanite Goddesses,” JSOT 23 (1982): 99–108.
206. So also S. Niditch, “Eroticism and Death in the Tale of Jael,” in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, ed. P. L. Day (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 45.
207. See W. W. Hallo, “The Cultic Setting of Sumerian Poetry,” in Rencontre assyriologique internationale, ed. Andre Fine (Brussels: Ham-sur-Heure, 1970), 132.
208. Thus N. K. Gottwald, The Tribes of the Lord: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250–1050 B.C.E. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1979), 539. For a detailed study of the root, see J. G. Janzen, “The Root pr ʿ in Judges V 2 and Deuteronomy XXXII 42,” VT 39 (1989): 393–406. See also P. C. Craigie, “A Note on Judges V 2,” VT 18 (1968): 397–99.
209. Moran, Amarna Letters, 331.
210. For the text see Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions.
211. ANET, 262.
212. Ibid., 298.
213. In Deut. 33:2, Yahweh comes from Sinai/Seir/Mount Paran; in Hab. 3:3, God comes from Teman/Mount Paran; in Ps. 7–8, God comes from the wasteland.
214. For a classical discussion of the hypothesis, see de Vaux, The Early History of Israel, 333–38; for recent surveys of the issue see K. van der Toorn, “Yahweh,” DDD, 910–19; B. Halpern, “Kenites,” ABD, 5:20–21.
215. Hebrew zeh with genitive, meaning “the one of,” is cognate to Amorite zu, Ugaritic d, Old Sinaitic d, dt, and Arabic dū. For bibliography see HALOT, 264. For a contrary opinion, see Lindars, Judges 1–5, 233–34.
216. So also A. Globe, “The Text and Literary Structure of Judges 5, 4–5,” Bib 55 (1974): 178.
217. Thus N. Naʿaman, “Amarna ālani pu-ru-zi (EA 137) and Biblical ʿry hprzyhprzwt (Rural Settlements),” Zeitschrift für Althebräistik 4 (1991): 72–75. For discussion of the Hebrew expression, see L. E. Stager, “Archaeology, Ecology, and Social History: Background Themes to the Song of Deborah,” Congress Volume: Jerusalem, 1986, ed. J. A. Emerton (VTSup 40; Leiden: Brill, 1988), 224–25; idem, “The Song of Deborah: Why Some Tribes Answered the Call and Others Did Not,” BAR 15/1 (1989): 55.
218. Thus L. E. Stager, “Merenptah, Israel and Sea Peoples,” ErIsr 18 (1985): 61*, and Freedman, Pottery, Poetry and Prophecy (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1980), 176.
219. For discussions of military organization and warfare in the ancient Near East, see A. Schulman, “Military Organization in Pharaonic Egypt,” CANE, 289–302; Dalley, “Ancient Mesopotamian Military Organization,” CANE, 413–22; R. H. Beal, “Hittite Military Organization,” CANE, 545–54. Conscription is discussed more specifically by J. N. Postgate, Taxation and Conscription in the Assyrian Empire (Studia Pohl: Series Maior 3, Rome: Biblical Institute, 1974).
220. Cf. O. Borowski, Every Living Thing: Daily Use of Animals in Ancient Israel (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira, 1998), 96–97.
221. Note how the Israelites speak of Moabites as “the people of Chemosh” (Num. 21:9; Jer. 48:46). Note too the obverse of this expression, “Chemosh, the god of Moab,” and the Ammonite equivalent, “Milkom, the god of Bene-Ammon,” in 1 Kings 11:33 (NIV, “Molech, the god of the Ammonites”). On the significance of these expressions, see Block, Gods of the Nations, 36–39.
222. For discussion and illustration, see Braun, Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine, 110–12.
223. Stager, “Song of Deborah,” 229–32.
224. So also Rainey, “Who is a Canaanite?” 11.
225. For a popular illustrated study, see G. F. Bass, “Oldest Known Shipwreck Reveals Splendors of the Bronze Age,” National Geographic 172/6 (1987): 692–733.
226. On Megiddo and Taanach see comment on 1:27–28.
227. M. Weinfeld suggests “a comet fell out of its fixed place” in “Divine Intervention in War in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East,” in History, Historiography and Interpretation: Studies in Biblical and Cuneiform Literatures, ed. H. Tadmor and M. Weinfeld (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1986), 127. J. F. A. Sawyer sees here a reference to the total eclipse of the sun in the vicinity of Megiddo and Taanach in 1131 B.C., in which case at least the nucleus of the song is to be dated early, its composer being an eyewitness of the eclipse, “From Heaven Fought the Stars,” VT 31 (1981): 87–89.
228. As translated by J. K. Hoffmeier in COS, 2, 17. For full discussion of the motif, see Weinfeld, “Divine Intervention,” 124–31.
229. Weinfeld, “Divine Intervention,” 124, notes that all three of these elements also appear in the prose account of Yahweh’s victory at the Reed Sea (Ex. 14:19–28). For a comparison of Judg. 5 and Ex. 15, see Hauser, “Two Songs of Victory,” 265–84.
230. UT ʿnt II 41 (=KTU 1.3 II 41); see the translation by Pardee in UNP, 109.
231. Josh. 10:10, 12. Cf. Naʿaman, “The Battle of Kishon,” 426; M. Hunt, “Meroz,” ABD, 4:705–6; H.-D. Neef, “Meroz: Jdc 5, 23a,” ZAW 107 (1995): 118–22.
232. For discussion, see Bass, “Splendors of the Bronze Age,” 714.
233. Third tablet of Aqhat, CTA 19:I:8–11 (UNP, 69). See also the first tablet of Aqhat, CTA 17:VI:26–28 (UNP, 61), and the second tablet of the Baal Cycle, CTA 2:II:36–37, as translated by M. S. Smith in UNP, 101.
234. AHw, 1107.
235. CAD 16.205.
236. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., 217.
237. Gen. 25:2–4 presents them as descended from Abraham.
238. See further P. J. Parr, “Qurayya,” ABD, 5:594–96; Kitchen, Reliability of the Old Testament, 214.
239. Gen. 29:1; Job 1:3. The b enê qedem are often mentioned in the prophets: Isa. 11:14; Jer. 49:28; Ezek. 25:1–10.
240. COS, 1.38 (p. 78).
241. T. Hiebert, “Joel,” ABD, 3:876; see also Borowski, Every Living Thing, 159–60.
242. See M. Ingraham et al., “Preliminary Report on a Reconnaissance Survey of the Northwestern Province (with a Brief Survey of the Northern Province),” Atlas 5 (1981): pl. 79/14.
243. On the use of these camels, see B. Rothenburg, “Egyptian Chariots, Midianites from Hijaz/Midian (Northwest Arabia) and Amalekites from the Negev in the Timna Mines: Rock Drawings in the Ancient Copper Mines of the Arabah—New Aspects of the Region’s History II,” Institute for Archaeo-metallurgical Studies 23 (February 2003): 14.
244. On the domestication and use of camels in the ancient Near East, see Borowski, Every Living Thing, 112–21; E. Firmage, “Zoology (Animal Profiles),” ABD, 6:1138–40.
245. For discussion and texts, see J. K. Hoffmeier, “The Arm of God Versus the Arm of Pharaoh in the Exodus Narratives,” Bib 67 (1986): 378–87.
246. As translated by Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy, 102.
247. Cf. J. M. Hamilton, “Ophrah,” ABD, 5:28. On ʿAfula see M. Dothan, “ʿAfula,” NEAEHL, 1:37–39.
248. Cf. J. M. Sasson, “King Hammurabi of Babylon,” CANE, 902.
249. P. Bienkowski and A. Millard, Dictionary of the Ancient Near East (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 39.
250. Sometimes ancient Near Easterners would also use threshing sledges, which consisted of boards with embedded flint or basalt studs and were drawn over the stalks of grain by donkeys or oxen. See King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 89–90.
251. See ibid., 100–101.
252. For discussion, see J. H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 87–112, 135–61.
253. AHw, 881.
254. Qere; cf. Kethib prq.
255. See also the large altar on Mount Ebal, on which see A. Mazar, “The ‘Bull Site’: An Iron Age I Open Cult Place,” BASOR 247 (1982): 27–42.
256. For the procedure followed in Assyria, see C. Walker and M. Dick, “The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mīs pî Ritual,” in Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East, ed. M. B. Dick (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 55–121. For a popular presentation, see M. B. Dick, “Worshiping Idols: What Isaiah Didn’t Know,” BRev 18/2 (April 2002): 30–37.
257. The issue is different in 1 Kings 18:21, where the purpose of the test proposed to Ahab is to determine whether Yahweh or Baal is God.
258. The jussive form used here translates lit., “Let the Baal contend against him.” Note the change of preposition from “Will you plead for (l e) Baal” in v. 31 to b e (“against”) in v. 32.
259. See M. Hunt, “Harod,” ABD, 3:62.
260. Cf. Boling’s, “Teacher’s Hill,” Judges, 144.
261. Thus A. Malamat, “The War of Gideon and Midian—A Military Approach,” PEQ 84 (1952): 61–65; idem, “Period of the Judges,” 143–47.
262. For further discussion, see Block, Judges, Ruth, 276–77.
263. For other examples of God’s speaking to non-Israelites this way, see the dreams of Abimelech (Gen. 20:3, 6), Laban (31:24), Pharaoh and his servants (chs. 40–41), and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1–3).
264. See J. Black and A. Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary (London: British Museum Press, 1992), 130–31.
265. GKC §147c.
266. C. R. Krahmalkov interprets this form as the soldier’s oath of allegiance to God and ruler. See “The Foundation of Carthage, 814 B.C.: The Douïmès Pendant Inscription,” JSS 26 (1981): 85–86.
267. For discussion of the inscription, see S. Gitin and M. Cogan, “A New Type of Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron,” IEJ 49/34 (1999): 193–202.
268. Similarly K. L. Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 190–91.
269. H. O. Thompson discusses three of these in “Beth-Shittah,” ABD, 1:698; “Zererah,” ABD, 6:1082–83; “Tabbath,” ABD, 6:291–92. On Abel Meholah see D. V. Edelman, “Abel-Meholah,” ABD, 1:11–12.
270. So also Garsiel, “Name-Derivations,” 308.
271. See further J. A. H. Seely, “Succoth,” ABD, 6:217–18; G. van der Kooij, “Deir ʿAlla, Tell,” NEAEHL, 1:338–42.
272. See Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 358.
273. For the first interpretation, see Soggin, Judges, 149; for the second, see G. E. Mendenhall, “Zebah and Zalmunna,” ABD, 6:1055. Garsiel, “Homiletic Name-Derivations,” 308, prefers an association with ṣelem (“image, shape”).
274. See further C. L. Meyers, “Kinship and Kingship: The Early Monarchy,” in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. M. D. Coogan (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), 177–78.
275. So also Younger, Judges and Ruth, 197.
276. AHw, 292a; CAD, G, 99.
277. See Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 158–59; I. Jacob and W. Jacob, “Flora,” ABD, 2:186. Also K. L. Younger Jr., “
,” NIDOTTE, 1:770–71; idem, “
,” NIDOTTE, 3:907.
278. See HALOT, 218.
279. For discussions of Shishak’s campaign, see B. Mazar, “Pharoah Shishak’s Campaign to the Land of Israel,” in The Early Biblical Period, ed. Shmuel Aḥituv and Baruch A. Levine (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1986), 139–50; K. A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 B.C.) (Warminster, Eng.: Aris & Phillips, 1986), 298–99.
280. Cf. J. C. Slayton, “Penuel,” ABD, 5:223.
281. Cf. HALOT, 1148.
282. Cf. H. O. Thompson, “Karkor,” ABD, 4:6.
283. P. N. Franklyn, “Jogbehah,” ABD, 3:880.
284. For analysis of the inscription and a discussion of its significance for the origin of the alphabet, see J. C. Darnell et al., “Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi el-Ḥôl: New Evidence for the Development of the Alphabet from the Western Desert of Egypt,” BASOR 59 (2005): 63–124.
285. See Gogel, Grammar of Epigraphic Hebrew, #6.1.5 (p. 404). For discussion of this text, see J. C. Vanderkam, “Calendars, Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish,” ABD, 1:814–17.
286. The report of the discovery is available at www.zeitah.net/UpdateTelZayit.html.
287. See M. Kochavi, “An Ostracon of the Period of the Judges from ʿIzbet Ṣarṭa,” TA 4 (1977): 1–13; Cross, “Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts,” 8–15.
288. On literacy in ancient Egypt, see J. Baines and C. J. Eyre, “Four Notes on Literacy,” GM 61 (1983): 65–96; B. M. Bryan, “Evidence for Female Literacy from Theban Tombs of the New Kingdom,” Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 6 (1985): 17–32; L. H. Lesko, “Some Comments on Ancient Egyptian Literacy and Literati,” in Studies in Egyptology: Presented to Miriam Lichtheim, ed. S. Israelit-Groll (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1990), 2:656–67. For Mesopotamia, see C. Wilcke, Wer las und schrieb in Babylonien und Assyrien: Überlegungen zur Literalität im Alten Zweistromland (SBAW Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Jahrgang 2000, Heft 6; Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000).
289. For the role and status of the na ʿar in Israel, see J. MacDonald, “The Status and Role of the NA ʿAR in Israelite Society,” JNES 35 (1976): 147–70. MacDonald renders the term “squire.”
290. Analysis of the diffusion of writing in ancient Israel has been a special project of A. R. Millard. See Millard, “Knowledge of Writing in Iron Age Palestine,” TynBul 46 (1995): 207–17; idem, “The Question of Israelite Literacy,” BRev 3 (1987), 22–31; idem, “Books in the Late Bronze Age in the Levant,” in S. Izreʾel, I. Singer, and R. Zadok, eds., Past Links: Studies in the Languages and Cultures of the Ancient Near East (Israel Oriental Studies 18; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 171–81. See also A. Lemaire, “Writing and Writing Materials,” ABD, 6:999–1008; R. S. Hess, “Literacy in Iron Age Israel,” in Windows into Old Testament History: Evidence, Argument, and the Crisis of “Biblical Israel” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 82–102; I. M. Young, “Israelite Literacy and Inscriptions: A Response to Richard Hess,” VT 55 (2005): 565–68; W. M. Schniedewind, How the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004).
291. For discussion of the role of elders in Israel, see Willis, The Elders of the City.
292. For references to Old South Arabic, see HALOT, 1311.
293. For further discussion, see Block, Judges, Ruth, 296–304.
294. Nili Fox, “Holy Piercing? The Connection between Earrings and Cult Images,” a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, November 18, 2004 (San Antonio, Tex.).
295. On the weight of a shekel, see Y. Ronen, “The Enigma of the Shekel Weights of the Judean Kingdom,” BA 59/2 (1996): 122–26.
296. CAD, E.183. Cf. C. L. Meyers, “Ephod,” ABD, 2:550.
297. H. A. Hoffner, “Hittite Equivalents of Old Assyrian kumrum and epattum,” WZKM 86 (1996): 154–56.
298. In Judges we also read of the seventy kings subject to Adoni-Bezeq (1:7) and Abdon’s seventy sons (12:14). Note also the seventy sons of Jacob (Gen. 46:27), seventy elders in Israel (Ex. 24:1), and the seventy sons of Ahab (2 Kings 10:1–7). The “Table of Nations” in Genesis 10 lists seventy descendants of Noah’s three sons (not counting the names in the parenthetical comments).
299. See COS, 2.37 (p. 158); Gibson, Aramaic Inscriptions, 14:3.
300. ANET, 134; UNP, 134, on which see M. S. Smith, in ibid., 171, n. 135. See also F. C. Fensham, “The Numeral Seventy in the Old Testament and the Family of Jerubbaal, Ahab, Panammuwa and Athirat,” PEQ 109 (1977): 113–15; J. C. de Moor, “Seventy,” in “Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf”: Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient: Festschrift für Oswald Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70. Lebensjahres mit Beiträgen von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen, ed. M. Dietrich und I. Kottsieper (AOAT 250; Münster: Ugarit Verlag, 1998), 199–203.
301. All were Philistines: Gen. 20; 26:1–33; Ps. 34, superscription. In the last case, the name replaces Achish (cf. 1 Sam. 21:10–15), the name of the king of Gath, lending support to the view that Abimelech functioned as a dynastic title for Philistine kings. Cf. V. H. Matthews, “Abimelech,” ABD, 1:21.
302. Ten of the preserved letters (EA 146–55) were written by Abi-Milku. See Moran, Amarna Letters, 232–42.
303. The chief deity of Tyre was Melqart, a conflated form of mlk + qrt, “MLK/King of the City.”
304. The national deity of the Ammonites was Milkom (cf. 1 Kings 11:5, 33; 2 Kings 23:13). For discussion of the deity Malik, see H.-P. Müller, “Malik,” DDD, 538–42. On Milkom see E. Puech, “Milkom,” DDD, 575–76.
305. Cf. Fowler, Theophoric Personal Names, 50–52; Layton, Archaic Features of Canaanite Personal Names, 116–17, 145–50; B. Halpern, “Abimelech,” ABD, 1:21.
306. According to L. E. Stager, “Perhaps Abimelech’s mother came from the most powerful founding family and leading clan of Shechem, the Hamorites (literally, the ‘Donkey’ clan), whose eponymous ancestor, Hamor, father of Shechem (Judg. 9:28), is also ‘chief’ of the land of Shechem in the patriarchal tale of Dinah (Genesis 34:2).” See “The Shechem Temple: Where Abimelech Massacred a Thousand,” BAR 29/4(July/August 2003): 66.
307. The ruins give evidence of a massive fire. Archaeologists have tended to associate this destruction with the end of the city of Labaʾyu and his sons (see L. E. Toombs, “Shechem,” ABD, 5:1183), but Stager, “The Shechem Temple,” has recently argued that the fire should be associated with events described at the end of Judges 9. See comment on 9:46.
308. For evidence of the pressure put on Jerusalem by the rulers of Shechem, see EA §§244–55, 280, 287, 289 (Moran, Amarna Letters, 298–308, 321, 328, 332–33).
309. Portrayed in iconographic images as a striding male figure brandishing a club and/or holding the lightning bolt in his hand (see IBD, 1:153). Cf. Ora Negbi’s Type III warrior deities in Canaanite Gods in Metal (Tel Aviv: Univ. Institute of Archaeology, 1976), 29–41.
310. ANET, 134. The name El is prominent in the patriarchal narratives, often appearing in conjunction with other names: El Elyon, El Shaddai, El Roi, etc.
311. See the review of this position by T. J. Lewis, “The Identity and Function of El/Baal Berith,” JBL 115 (1996): 403–4.
312. So ibid., 415. Cf. pp. 404–14 for a discussion of possible analogues to Yahweh’s covenant with Israel, though none of these is unequivocal. For variations of Lewis’s theory see R. E. Clements, “Baal-Berith of Shechem,” JSS 13 (1968): 21–32, who interprets the “men/sons of Hamor” as “men/sons of the ass,” the donkey being commonly slaughtered ritually in covenant ceremonies, and Y. Kaufmann, Religion of Israel: From its Beginning to the Babylonian Exile, trans. M. Greenberg (New York: Schocken, 1960), 138–39, who suggests that Israel drew its own understanding of Yahweh’s covenant with them from Baal’s relationship with Shechem.
313. On this temple, see further below.
314. For a study of the political situation in Canaan during the period of Israel’s conquest and settlement, see J. P. van der Westhuizen, “The Situation in Syro-Palestine Prior to the Exodus/Conquest/Settlement as Reflected in the Amarna Letters,” JSem 7 (1995): 196–231.
315. For a discussion of these elements, see A. F. Rainey, “Unruly Elements in Late Bronze Canaanite Society,” in Pomegranates and Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law, and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom, ed. D. P. Wright et al. (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 481–96.
316. As translated by K. L. Younger Jr., in COS, 2.37. For a discussion of this text and its relation to Judges 9, see Fensham, “The Numeral Seventy in the Old Testament,” 113–15.
317. Boling, Judges, 171; Gray, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 318.
318. Thus M. Görg (“Beth-Millo,” ABD, 1:690), who suggests a derivation from Egyptian m 3rw, which refers to a part of the king’s court.
319. On the government of Shechem by an assembly of notables, see J. A. Soggin, “Il regno di’Abimelek in Sichem (Giudici 9) e leistituzioni della cittag-stato siro-palestinese nei secoli XV-XI avanit Cristo,” Studi in onore di Eduoardo Volterra 6 (1973): 161–89; H. Reviv, “Early Elements and Late Terminology in the Descriptions of Non-Israelite Cities in the Bible,” IEJ 27 (1977): 192–93; idem, “The Government of Shechem in the El-Amarna Period and in the Days of Abimelech,” IEJ 16 (1966): 252–57.
320. For further discussion, see D. E. Fleming, The Installation of Baal’s High Priestess at Emar: A Window on Ancient Syrian Religion (HSM 42; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 76–79; idem, Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s Archive (Mesopotamian Civilizations 11; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 82–85.
321. Thus L. Wachter, “Zur Lokalisierung des sichemitischen Baumheiligtums,” ZDPV 103 (1987): 1–12.
322. Since it is associated with a tree rather than a temple, it is doubtful it should be associated with the large pillar (5 1/2 feet x 4 3/4 feet x 1 4/5 feet) standing stone before the entrance of the temple at Shechem. See G. E. Wright, Shechem: The Biography of a Biblical City (New York: McGraw Hill, 1965), fig. 28; Stager, “The Shechem Temple,” 31–33. For further discussion, see E. Bloch-Smith, “Will the Real Masseboth Please Stand Up: Cases of Real and Mistakenly Identified Standing Stones in Ancient Israel,” in Text, Artifact, and Image, ed. G. Beckman and T. Lewis (Brown Judaic Studies 346; Providence, R.I.: Brown Univ. Press, 2006), 38–63.
323. According to Deut. 11:29 and 27:12–13, Moses instructed the Israelites to recite antiphonally the blessings and curses of the covenant on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, once the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land. For a study of the acoustical qualities of this site, see B. C. Crisler, “The Acoustics and Crowd Capacity of Natural Theaters in Palestine,” BA 39/4 (1976): 138–39.
324. On the nature and significance of anointing in the ancient Near East, see T. N. D. Mettinger, King and Messiah: The Civil and Sacral Legitimation of the Israelite Kings (ConBOT 8; Lund: Gleerup, 1976), 185–232.
325. On the Hittite use of oil in anointing see H. A. Hoffner, “Oil in Hittite Texts,” BA 58 (1995): 111–12.
326. For further information on Tirash, see J. F. Healey, “Tirash,” DDD, 871–72. For a study of viticulture and the production of wine in ancient Israel, see V. H. Matthews, “Treading the Winepress: Actual and Metaphorical Viticulture in the Ancient Near East,” in Food and Drink in the Biblical Worlds, ed. A. Brenner and A. W. van Henten (Semeia 86; Atlanta: SBL, 1999), 19–32.
327. HALOT, 37; DCH, 1:202. The word occurs elsewhere only in Gen. 50:10–11 and Ps. 58:10.
328. Thus M. Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 155.
329. For full discussion, see Tatu, “Jotham’s Fable,” 110–24.
330. Cf. 2 Sam. 17:18–21, which describes David’s advisors Jonathan and Ahimaaz hiding in a well.
331. 1 Sam. 16:14–23; 18:10; 19:9. For discussion of these texts, see Block, “Empowered by the Spirit of God,” 50–52.
332. For summaries of ancient Near Eastern conceptions, see Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols, 63–65; G. J. Riley, “Demon,” DDD, 235–40; J. K. Kuemmerlin-McLean, “Demons,” ABD, 2:138–40.
333. The expression rûaḥ rā ʿâ (“bad spirit”) represents an exact equivalent to rwḥh bšth (“the evil spirit”) mentioned in numerous Aramaic amulets from the early Christian period. For a study of these and other magical texts, see J. Naveh and S. Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1985). See esp. text 7:6, but also 3:4 and 7:12. These demons could be either male or female.
334. Cf. Garsiel, Biblical Names, 55–57.
335. Cf. Obadiah, Obedʾel, Obedbaal, etc., in the Old Testament.
336. Cf. W. Herrmann, “Baal Zebub,” DDD, 154–55.
337. The English rendering derives from the LXX’s omphalon, via Vulgate’s umbilici terrae. Based on Ezek. 38:12, the pseudepigraphic book of Jubilees (8:19), Josephus (Wars 3.3.5), and rabbinic writings (b. Yoma 54b, Midrash Tanḥuma Qedoshim 10, b. Sanh. 37a) treat Zion as the navel of the earth. The navel of the earth was supposedly the mythographical center, functioning as a link between heaven and earth (see Boling, Judges, 179). G. R. H. Wright, “The Mythology of Pre-Israelite Shechem,” VT 20 (1970): 79, suggests the ṭabbûr identified some physical (stone?) object, which, as at Delphi, symbolized the cosmic omphalos.
338. B. W. Anderson, “The Place of Shechem in the Bible,” BA 20 (1957): 10–11. H. Eshel and Z. Erlich, “Abimelech’s First Battle with the Lords of Shechem and the Question of the Navel of the Land,” Tarbiz 58 (1988–89): 111–16, identify the center with Ras el-Tagur, on the southwestern corridor of Jebel el-Kabir, northeast of Shechem; similarly Z. Ilan, “The Location of the Navel of the Land,” Beth Mikra 27 (1981/82): 122–26 (Hebrew). For discussion and bibliography, see S. Terrien, “The Omphalos Myth and Hebrew Religion,” VT 20 (1970): 315–38.
339. So also D. Winton Thomas, “Mount Tabor: The Meaning of the Name,” VT 1 (1951): 230.
340. Cf. H. O. Thompson, “Arumah,” ABD, 1:467–68; Boling, Judges, 121.
341. For discussion of these kinds of defensive temple-towers, see Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 248–57.
342. For earlier discussions of the temple, see G. E. Wright, Shechem: The Biography of a Biblical City (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965), 95–100; M. Fowler, “A Closer Look at the Temple of El-Berith at Shechem,” PEQ 115 (1983): 49–53; E. F. Campbell Jr., Shechem II: Portrait of a Hill Country Vale (ASOR Archaeology Reports 2; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), 107–9; idem, “Judges 9 and Archaeology,” in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. C. L. Meyers and M. O’Connor (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 263–67. For a survey of the archaeological exploration of Shechem (modern Tell Balatah), see E. F. Campbell Jr., “Shechem,” NEAEHL, 4:1345–54.
343. See L. E. Stager, “The Fortress-Temple at Shechem and the ‘House of El, Lord of the Covenant,’ ” in Realia Dei: Essays in Archaeology and Biblical Interpretation in Honor of Edward F. Campbell, Jr., at His Retirement, ed. P. H. Williams Jr. and T. Hiebert (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999), 228–49; idem, “The Shechem Temple,” 26–35, 66–69.
344. Campbell, Shechem II, 107, suggests the name originally identified a tell two miles north of Tubas, but the name was transferred to the present sight in the Roman era.
345. So E. H. Dyck, “Thebes,” ABD, 6:443. A. Malamat (WHJP, 3:320, n. 61) follows Y. Aharoni in treating tēbeṣ as a corruption of tirṣâ, “Tirzah” (Tell el-Farʾah), six miles northeast of Shechem.
346. See further King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 94–95.
347. Cf. W. R. Kotter, “Shamir,” ABD, 5:1157.
348. The boundary between nāśî ʾ (“chieftain”) and melek (“king”) is unclear. See Meyers, “Kinship and Kingship,” 221–72.
349. ARM 6.76:20–25, according to A. Malamat, “Mari,” BA 34 (1971): 18; idem, Mari and the Early Israelite Experience (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 2–4, 80.
350. B. Beem, “The Minor Judges: A Literary Reading of Some Very Short Stories,” in The Biblical Canon in Comparative Perspective, ed. K. L. Younger et al. (Scripture in Context 4; Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen, 1991), 152. For a detailed study of the significance of donkeys in the ancient world, see K. C. Way, The Ceremonial and Symbolic Significance of Donkeys in the Biblical World, Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 2006.
351. Cf. H. O. Thompson, “Kamon,” ABD, 4:5.
352. See I. Singer, Hittite Prayers (SBLWAW 11; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2002), 58.
353. For translation of the prayers, see ibid., 47–69; cf. ANET, 394–96.
354. On prostitution in the ancient Near East and in Israel, see E. A. Goodfriend, “Prostitution,” ABD, 5:505–10.
355. On the possibility/problem of cult prostitution, see ibid., 5:507–9; for a different interpretation see K. van der Toorn, “Cultic Prostitution,” ABD, 5:510–13; ibid, “Female Prostitution in Payment of Vows in Ancient Israel,” JBL 108 (1989): 193–205.
356. Cf. Rainey, “Unruly Elements in Late Bronze Canaanite Society,” 481–97.
357. C. Redmount, “Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt,” in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. M. D. Coogan (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), 98.
358. O’Connell, Rhetoric of the Book of Judges, 195.
359. See J.-M. de Tarragon, “Ammon,” ABD, 1:195.
360. See further R. W. Yonker, “Ammonites,” in Peoples of the Old Testament World, ed. A. J. Hoerth et al. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 296–97.
361. On the style and function of this formula (often referred to as “the messenger formula,” see S. A. Meier, Speaking of Speaking: Marking Direct Discourse in the Hebrew Bible (VTSup 46; Leiden: Brill, 1992), 179–90.
362. See B. Routledge, Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 41–48.
363. On this site, see L. T. Geraty, “Heshbon,” ABD, 3:181–84; idem, “Heshbon,” NEAEHL, 2:626–30.
364. Josh. 21:36 also identifies Jahaz as one of the eastern Levitical cities.
365. Routledge, Moab in the Iron Age, 143–45; J. A. Dearman, “Jahaz,” ABD, 3:612.
366. As translated by K. A. D. Smelik, COS, 2.23 (p. 138).
367. For a listing of personal names deriving from Neo-Assyrian cuneiform texts as well as native Moabite inscriptions and seals, see H.-P. Müller, “Chemosh,” DDD, 188.
368. See L. Herr, “The Servant of Baalis,” BA 48 (1985): 169–72; L. T. Geraty, “Baalis,” ABD, 1:556–57, who provides discussion and bibliography. The theophore also appears on the names bdmlkm, mlkmgd, and mlkm ʿz. See E. Puech, “Milkom,” DDD, 575–76, for discussion of this deity.
369. See D. M. Howard Jr., An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books (Chicago: Moody Press, 1993), 63–65; W. H. Shea, “Exodus, Date of the,” ISBE, 2:233; J. J. Bimson and D. Livingston, “Redating the Exodus,” BAR 13/5 (1987): 42; Washburn, “The Chronology of Judges,” 414–25.
370. COS, 2.23.
371. Jacob’s vow in Gen. 28:20–22; Israel’s vow in Num. 21:2; Hannah’s vow in 1 Sam. 1:11; Absalom’s vow in 2 Sam. 15:7–8. For discussion of the forms of biblical vows, see D. Marcus, Jephthah and His Vow (Lubbock, Tex.: Texas Tech Press, 1986), 18–19.
372. For a helpful study of vows in the ancient world, see T. W. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup 147; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992).
373. So also Malamat, “Period of the Judges,” 157; G. L. Mattingly, “Aroer,” ABD, 1:399.
374. Cf. R. W. Younker, “Minnith,” ABD, 4:842.
375. Some identify the site with Naur, eight miles southwest of Amman. Cf. Malamat, “Period of the Judges,” 157; Rasmussen, NIV Atlas of the Bible, 224. For a discussion of these names, see S. Mittmann, “Aroer, Minnith und Abel Keramim,” ZDPV 85 (1969): 63–75; E. A. Knauf, “Abel Keramim,” ZDPV 100 (1984): 119–21; idem, “Abel-Keramim,” ABD, 1:10–11.
376. Cf. Ex. 15:20; 1 Sam. 18:6; Ps. 68:25; Jer. 31:4.
377. For full discussion of the instrument itself and its usage, see Braun, Music and Ancient Israel/Palestine, 29–31, 117–33; also C. L. Meyers, “Of Drums and Damsels: Women’s Performance in Ancient Israel,” BA 54 (1991): 16–27.
378. See Saul’s plea with David not to do this to him in 1 Sam. 24:21 and the widow’s complaint in 2 Sam. 14:7 that by executing her only son for murdering his brother, her townspeople “would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.” According to 2 Sam. 18:18 Absalom set up a memorial for himself because he had no children to proclaim his name after his death (see also Ps. 37:28; Isa. 14:20–21). For extrabiblical references to the same notion, see in particular the Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon, where the curse of “blotting out the name/memory” of the enemy occurs repeatedly: §§140, 161, 255, 315, 435, 524, 537, 663.
379. See lines 140, 161, 255, 315.
380. As translated by Parpola, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths, s.v. As in Hebrew, “name” is closely linked with “seed.”
381. Scholars are not united in their interpretation of the idiom or the history of child sacrifice in Israel. For full discussion, see G. C. Heider, The Cult of Molech: A Reassessment (JSOTSup 43; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1985); P. G. Mosca, “Child Sacrifice in Canaanite and Israelite Religion: A Study in Mulk and mlk,” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard Univ., 1975; J. Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989).
382. See the popular presentation of the archaeological evidence from Carthage by L. E. Stager and S. R. Wolff, “Child Sacrifice at Carthage—Religious Rite of Population Control,” BAR 10/1 (1984): 30–51. This quotation is cited from p. 45.
383. Aeneid 11.264. Cf. 3:121.
384. As translated by Witter Bynner, “Iphegenia in Taurus,” in Euripides II, ed. David Greene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1956), 117–87. Another Euripidean version (“Iphegenia in Aulis”) has Iphegenia rescued in the end, but this ending is suspect. See Charles R. Walker, trans. “Iphegenia in Aulis,” in Euripides IV, ed. David Greene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1958), 214. For a discussion of such stories, see Marcus, Jephthah and His Vow, 40–43; Burney, Judges, 332–33; Moore, Judges, 304–5.
385. Arthur S. Way, Euripides, vol. 2 (London: William Heinemann, 1919), 287. This ending is also found in Apollodorus (James G. Frazer, Apollodorus: The Library, vol. 2 [LCL; New York: Putnam, 1921], 191–93) and in Hesiod’s “Cypria” (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1943).
386. Cf. P. N. Franklin, “Zaphon,” ABD 6:1040.
387. For explanations of the phonological merger see G. A. Rendsburg, “The Ammonite Phoneme /Ṯ/,” BASOR 269 (1988): 73–79; idem,“More on Hebrew šibbolet,” JSS 33 (1988): 255–58; P. Swiggers, “The Word Šibbolet in Jud. XII.6,” JSS 26 (1981): 205–7; A. Lemaire, “L’Incident du sibbolet [Jg 12, 6]: Perspective historique,” in Mélanges bibliques et orientaux en l’honneur de M. Mathias Delcor, ed. A. Caquot et al. (AOAT 215; Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag, 1985), 275–81; A. F. L. Beeston, “Hebrew Šibbolet and Šobel,” JSS 24 (1979): 175–77; J. Blau, “ ‘Weak’ Phonetic Change and the Hebrew Œîn,” HAR 1 (1977): 67–119; and A. Faber, “Second Harvest: šibboleth Revisited [Yet Again],” JSS 37 (1992): 1–10.
388. So also J. A. Emerton, “Some Comments on the Shibboleth Incident (Judges XII 6),” in Mélanges bibliques et orientaux en l’honneur de M. Mathias Delcor, 150–57, and more recently R. S. Hendel, “Sibilants and šibbōlet (Judges 12:6),” BASOR 301 (1996): 69–75.
389. For the text, see H. A. Hoffner, “A Tale of Two Cities: Kanesh and Zalpa,” in Hittite Myths (SBLWAW 2; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 62–63; idem, COS, 1.71. For discussion of the relationship between these texts, see M. Tsevat, “Two Old Testament Stories and Their Hittite Analogues,” in Studies in Literature from the Ancient Near East: By Members of the American Oriental Society Dedicated to Samuel Noah Kramer, ed. J. M. Sasson (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1984), 321–26 (= JAOS 103 [1983]: 35–42).
390. See G. Galil, “Pirathon, Parathon and Timnatha,” ZDPV 109 (1993): 49–53; E. A. Knauf, “Pirathon—Far ʿaṭ,” BN 51 (1990): 19–24; contra N. Naʿaman, who identifies Pirathon with Farkha in “Pirathon and Ophrah,” BN 50 (1989): 11–16.
391. Cf. B. Halpern, The Emergence of Israel in Canaan (SBLMS 29; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983), 74.
392. Cf. v. 25, which describes the Spirit of Yahweh stirring up Samson in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol, and 16:31, which has Samson buried in the tomb of his father between Zorah and Eshtaol.
393. Genesis 18:9–15 (Sarah); 25:19–26 (Rebekah); 30:1–24 (Rachel); 1 Sam. 1:1–20 (Hannah); Luke 1:5–25, 57–80 (Elizabeth).
394. For the text and translation by E. L. Greenstein, see UNP, 9–48.
395. See further V. H. Matthews, “Marriage and Family in the Ancient Near East,” in Marriage and Family in the Ancient World, 17.
396. As cited by R. D. Biggs, “Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE 3:1917.
397. See H. A. Hoffner Jr., “Paskuwatti’s Ritual against Sexual Impotence (CTH 406),” AuOr 5 (1987): 271–87; see also the discussion by G. Frantz-Szabó, “Hittite Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination,” CANE, 3:2014.
398. UNP, 23.
399. ANET, 391.
400. See further J. Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991), 611–12. For a contrary position, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 101–3, who argue that šēkār can only be a grape product. On ancient viticulture Israel see C. E. Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (HSM 60; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000).
402. See E. Stone, “The Social Role of the Nadītu Women in Old Babylonian Nippur,” JESHO 25 (1982): 50–70; R. Harris, “Biographical Notes on the Nadītu Women of Sippar,” JCS 16 (1962): 1–12.
403. Cf. 5:4 above. Compare mišpaṭ hammalek (“the pronouncement concerning the king”) in 1 Sam. 8:10–11, which identifies Samuel’s response to a formal inquiry by the people before the prophet.
404. Ug. V 6.3 and 12, as translated by F. C. Fensham, “The Ugaritic Root ṯpṭ,” JNSL 12 (1984): 68. For another study of this text, see H. Cazelles, “Mṯpṭ à Ugarit,” Or 53 (1984): 177–82.
405. Cazelles, “Mṯpṭ à Ugarit,” 77.
406. On the significance of eating and drinking together and hosting a meal, see A. W. Jenks, “Eating and Drinking in the Old Testament,” ABD, 2:250–54.
407. See Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols, 130–31.
408. Of the 46 recorded instances of naming children in the Old Testament, in 28 the name is given by the mother. It is generally accepted that name-giving in the ancient world represented an expression of authority (cf. Gen. 2:19–20). On naming in the Old Testament, see D. Stuart, “Names, Proper,” ISBE, 3:483–88.
409. J. A. Motyer, “Name,” IBD, 2:1051–52.
411. See, e.g., O. Margalith, “The Legends of Samson/Heracles,” VT 37 (1987): 63–70. Margalith proposes that the Israelites became familiar with the Greek legends through their contacts with the Philistines, whose roots are traced to the Aegean. For a summary of the supposed Heracles-Samson connection, see D. E. Aune, “Heracles,” DDD, 404. But this interpretation was convincingly repudiated twenty-five years ago by G. G. Cohen, “Samson and Hercules: A Comparison between the Feats of Samson and the Labours of Hercules,” EvQ 42 (1970): 131–41.
412. J. Gray, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 220, concludes that “the role of the hero with the sun-name as the upholder of God’s order against the enemies of his people is reminiscent of the Sun as the protagonist of Cosmos against Chaos, in the Egyptian myth of the sun-god nightly menaced by Apophis, the serpent of darkness.
413. This interpretation is rejected by Fowler, Theophoric Names, 167. On the divinity Shemesh (Shamash in Akkadian) see E. Lipinski, “Shemesh,” DDD, 764–68; K. van der Toorn, “Sun,” ABD, 6:237–39.
414. Cf. HALOT, 160. According to T. G. Crawford, a blessing involves a wish for someone to receive the things considered desirable in life: land, numerous progeny, sufficient food, clothing, etc. See Blessing and Curse in Syro-Palestinian Inscriptions of the Iron Age (American Univ. Studies 7/120; New York: Peter Lang, 1992), 16.
415. As translated by K. L. Younger Jr., COS, 2.31.
416. Cf. O’Connell, The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges, 215, n. 307.
417. On ancient Canaanite names of this type, see A. F. Rainey, “The Toponymics of Eretz-Israel,” BASOR 231 (1978): 4–5 [1–17]; Layton, Archaic Features, 12.
418. See R. Greenberg, “Eshtaol,” ABD, 2:617.
419. See W. R. Kotter, “Timnah,” ABD, 6:557; A. Mazar and G. L. Kelm, “Batash, Tel (Timnah),” NEAEHL, 1:152–57.
420. J. M. Sasson, “Circumcision in the Ancient Near East,” JBL 85 (1966): 473–76; R. G. Hall, “Circumcision,” ABD, 1:1025–27; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 43–45. For ancient texts dealing with the rite, see ANET, 326; Herodotus, Histories 2.104; Josephus, Antiquities 8.10.3.
421. See W. Lemke, “Circumcision of the Heart: The Journey of a Biblical Metaphor,” in A God So Near: Essays in Biblical Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller, ed. B. A. Strawn and N. R. Bowen (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 299–319; J. Goldingay, “The Significance of Circumcision,” JSOT 88 (2000): 3–18; J. DeRouchie, “Circumcision in the Hebrew Bible and the Targumim: Theology, Rhetoric, and the Handling of Metaphor,” BBR (2004): 175–204.
422. In the Old Testament the expression “uncircumcised NN” is used only of the Philistines (cf. 15:18; 1 Sam. 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4 [1 Chr 10:4]; 2 Sam. 1:20). See D. I. Block, “Beyond the Grave: Ezekiel’s Vision of Life after Death,” BBR 2 (1992): 122–29; idem, The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 25–40 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 216–31.
423. Cf. Gen. 21:21 (Hagar arranges Ishmael’s marriage); Gen. 24 (Abraham arranges Isaac’s marriage); Judg. 1:12 (Caleb arranges Achsah’s marriage). See further Block, “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” 56–57.
424. See H. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East (OTS 49; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 49–53.
425. LE §27, as translated by M. T. Roth, Law Collections from Ancient Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1995), 63.
426. See M. Dick, “The Neo-Assyrian Royal Lion Hunt and Yahweh’s Answer to Job,” JBL 125 (2006): 245.
427. M. Streck, Assurbanipal und die letzten assyrischen Könige bis zum Untergange Niniveh’s (VAB 7; Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1916), 309 line 1.
428. See the full discussion by Dick, “Neo-Assyrian Royal Lion Hunt,” 243–70.
429. See William F. Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961), 115; more recently Dothan and Dothan, People of the Sea, 90, 134.
430. See L. E. Stager, “The Fury of Babylon: Ashkelon and the Archaeology of Destruction,” BAR 22/1 (January-February 1996): 54–77.
431. Cf. Soggin, Judges, 241.
432. So also Boling, Judges, 231; cf. S. Talmon, “The New Hebrew Letter from the Seventh Century B.C. in Historical Perspective,” BASOR 176 (1964): 33.
433. As cited by W. W. Hallo, “Sumerian Literature: Background to the Bible,” BRev 4/3 (June 1988): 31. For fuller discussion see M. Civil, “Sumerian Riddles: A Corpus,” AuOr 5 (1987): 17–37.
434. Cf. the discussion by L. E. Stager, “When Canaanites and Philistines Ruled Ashkelon,” BAR 17/2 (March-April 1991): 41. For a discussion of riddles in the Bible and the ancient Near East, see J. L. Crenshaw, “Riddles,” ABD, 5:721–23.
435. The word appears elsewhere the Old Testament only in Isa. 3:23, where it refers to an element of female festal attire, and Prov. 31:24, where it identifies a garment made by a noble woman. In the Talmud and the New Testament, sindōn denotes a sleeping wrap or shroud (cf. Matt. 27:59; Mark 14:51–52; 15:46; Luke 23:53).
436. Cf. Burney, Judges, 362.
437. Cf. HALOT, 87.
438. Since the Philistines were Indo-Europeans living in a Semitic world, it is perhaps not surprising that apart from a couple of authentic Philistine names (Achish, Goliath), scholars have identified few words in biblical and modern Hebrew that may derive from the non-Semitic language the Philistines spoke when they arrived in Canaan.
440. See HALOT, 319.
441. On which see Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 74; Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 88–91.
442. See UT, 397 (#881), for Ugaritic references; DNWSI, 363, for Imperial Aramaic, Yaudic, and Palmyrene references; for the Akkadian equivalent, kibtu, see AHw, 472; CAD, 8.340–41.
443. Thus Boling, Judges, 234.
444. For an analysis of the evidence for Old Babylonian marriage customs, see R. Westbrook, Old Babylonian Marriage Law (AfO Beiheft 23; Horn, Austria: Berger & Söhne, 1988).
445. Though the Ugaritic evidence from the thirteenth century B.C. does provide a bridge between these cultures. See the helpful study by Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel. For an analysis of the evidence for Neo-Babylonian marriage customs, see M. Roth, Babylonian Marriage Agreements 7 th–3 rd Centuries B.C. (AOAT; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1989).
446. The verb śn ʾ (“to hate”) functions as the antonym of ʾāhab (“to love, to be covenantally committed to”). See already Cf. M. San Nicolo, “Vorderasiatisches Rechtsgut in der Ägyptischen Eheverträgen der Perserzeit,” OLZ 30 (1927): 218.
447. Contra Borowski, Every Living Thing, 203–4.
448. Cf. Judg. 16:23–24; 1 Sam. 5:1–7. For a discussion of the etymology of Dagon, see L. Feliu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria, trans. W. G. E. Watson (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 19; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 278–88.
449. See Felieu, Dagan, 295–306.
450. Cf. M. Lubetski, “Lehi,” ABD, 4:275.
451. On the production of flax and derived products, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 148–52; O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 98–99.
452. See M. Dothan, “Ashdod,” NEAEHL, 1:98–99. For a mock-up of a city gate structure, see comment on 9:44. For discussion and illustrations of gate structures, see Z. Herzog, “Fortifications (Levant),” ABD, 2:844–52.
453. Ovadiah, “Gaza,” 465.
454. So also Younger, Judges, 315. See further CAD D, 46–47; S. Parpola et al., eds., The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1998-), 1/2:384. Some link the name to Arabic dalla (“to flirt”), in which case the name means “flirtatious” (Boling, Judges, 248).
455. Assuming an average modern wage is $30,000, this is equivalent to $16,500,000.
456. For Ugaritic evidence, see the Tale of Aqhat, UNP 4.vi:23 (p. 61); for Mesopotamia, see the later version of the Myth of Anzu II: 63–101. See also E. Reiner, Your Thwarts in Pieces, Your Mooring Rope Cut: Poetry from Babylonia and Assyria (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Univ. of Michigan, 1985), 64.
457. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 283.
458. See DNWSI, 2:612.
459. See R. Mayer-Opificius, “Simson, der sechslockige Held?” UF 14 (1982): 149–51: R. Wenning, “Der siebenlockige Held Simson: literarische und ikonographische Beobachtungen zu Ri 13–16,” BN 17 (1982): 43–55.
460. The discovery of large numbers of loom weights at Iron Age Timnah (Tel Batash), Ashkelon, Ekron, and Ashdod confirms that weaving was an important industry in this region. See Stager, “Forging an Identity,” 154.
461. Thus Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, IVP Bible Background Commentary, 269.
462. Thus King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 157.
463. Ibid., 154.
464. For discussion, see K. van der Toorn, “Judges XVI 21 in the Light of the Akkadian Sources,” VT 36 (1986): 248–53.
465. HKM, 58:1–14, as cited by H. A. Hoffner Jr., “The Treatment and Long-term Use of Persons Captured in Battle according to the Maṣat Texts, in Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History, ed. K. A. Yener and H. A. Hoffner Jr. (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 68–69.
466. Cf. K. van der Toorn, “Mill, Millstone,” ABD, 4:831–32.
467. On this deity, see further Felieu, Dagan; J. F. Healey, “Dagon,” DDD, 216–19; L. K. Handy, “Dagon,” ABD, 2:1–3.
468. It is appropriate that Samson be humiliated at the festival of the grain god, since he had earlier burned the crops of the Philistines (cf. 15:4–5).
469. See A. Mazar, “A Philistine Temple at Tell Qasile,” BA 36 (1973): 43–48; idem, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 319–23; idem, “Qasile, Tell,” NEAEHL, 1207–11.
470. See further, King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 364–65.
471. The name is borne by the later Israelite prophets Micaiah ben Imlah (1 Kings 22:8–28) and Micah of Moresheth (Mic. 1:1). On the name, see Fowler, Theophoric Names, 128–29, 152.
472. The Qal form appears elsewhere only in Hos. 4:2; 10:4; the Hiphil only in 1 Sam. 14:24; 1 Kings 8:31; 2 Chron. 6:22.
473. J. Scharbert, “
,” TDOT, 1:262.
474. On these inscriptions, see J. Day, “Asherah,” ABD, 1:484–85. Further bibliography is provided.
475. Pers. trans. See COS, 2.42.
476. For discussion of the calf, see L. E. Stager, “Canaanite Calf of Ashkelon,” Le Monde de la Bible, (May/June, 1991): 50–52; idem, NEAEHL, 1:106.
477. Compare also the bronze bull, measuring seven inches long and five inches high, discovered at what is thought to have been a cult site in northern Samaria, four and one half miles east of Dothan. The bull is dated to the twelfth century B.C. See A. Mazar, “Bronze Bull Found in Israelite ‘High Place’ from the Time of the Judges,” BAR 9/5 (Sept/Oct 1983): 34–40; idem, “ ‘Bull’ Site,” NEAEHL, 1:266–67.
478. Exod. 28:41; 29:9, 29, 35; 32:29; Lev. 8:33; 16:32; 21:10; Num. 3:3; 1 Kings 13:33; 1 Chron. 29:5; 2 Chron. 13:9; 29:31. In Ezek. 43:26 the idiom applies exceptionally to the dedication of the altar.
479. See further Block, Judges, Ruth, 483–84.
480. See further Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 142–43.
481. Cf. Block, Gods of the Nations, 75–79.
482. See A. Malamat, “The Danite Migration and the Pan-Israelite Exodus-Conquest: A Biblical Narrative Pattern,” Bib 51 (1970): 1–16.
483. ARM 26.420, translation by W. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, 359.
484. Kitchen, Reliability of the Old Testament, 167; idem, Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt (Warminster, Eng.: Aris & Phillips, 1983), 54–56.
485. ARM 26.209. Text and translation as given by Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy, 44; cf. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, 259.
486. Compare another oracle from Mari which opens with “The city of Mari, the pala[ce] and the district are well (šalîm).” ARM 26.201, as rendered by Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy, 34; cf. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari, 255.
487. Cf. Amos 9:4. “To be before Yahweh” could be the obverse of “Yahweh has set his face against,” as in Lev. 17:10; 20:3, 5; Jer. 21:10; 44:11.
488. For further discussion, see Block, “What Has Delphi to do with Samaria?” 189–216.
489. ANET, 329.
490. On the last name, see A. Malamat, “Northern Canaan and the Mari Texts,” in Near Eastern Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: N. Glueck Festschrift ed. J. A. Sanders (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 164–77. On the excavation and pre-Danite history of the site, see A. Biran, Biblical Dan (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1994), 27–58; idem, “Dan,” ABD, 2:12–14; “Dan,” NEAEHL, 1:323–26.
491. ANET, 242.
492. Thus A. Malamat, “After the Manner of the Sidonians and How They Were Far from the Sidonians,” EI 23 (A. Biran volume; 1992): 194–94 [Heb; English summary p. 153*].
493. The Table of Nations, which omits Tyre, lists Sidon as the firstborn of Canaan (Gen. 10:15).
494. Deut. 3:9; Josh. 13:4, 6; Judg. 3:3; 10:12; 18:7; 1 Kings 5:20; 11:5; 16:31; 2 Kings 23:13; 1 Chron. 22:4; Ezra 3:7; Ezek. 32:30. Homer interchanges “Sidonian” and “Phoenician,” suggesting that the Greeks considered this city to be representative of the entire region. Cf. Iliad 6.290, 291; 23.743–44; Odyssey 4.83–85, 618; 13.270ff.; 14.288–91; 15:118, 415–17, 473. See further J. D. Muhly, “Homer and the Phoenicians,” Berytus 19 (1970): 27; H. J. Katzenstein, The History of Tyre (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1973), 62–63; E. Gubel, “Aperçu historique de la civilization phénicienne,” in Les Phéniciens et le monde Méditerranéen (Brussels: Catalogue de l’exposition, 1986), 20.
495. For further discussion, see A. Biran, “Tell Dan, Five Years Later,” BA 43 (1980): 169–72; idem, Biblical Dan, 59–75.
496. Thus A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia B.C. (to 1115 B.C.) (RIMA 1; Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1987), 236.
497. Biran, “Dan,” NEAEHL, 1:327.
498. Most accept “Rehob” in 2 Sam. 8:3, 12 as an abbreviation of Beth Rehob.
499. Biran, “Dan,” NEAEHL, 1:327.
500. For discussions of this inscription, see A. Biran, “To the God Who Is in Dan,” in Temples and High Places in Biblical Times (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1981), 142–51; idem, Biblical Dan, 221–24. On the archaeological evidence for the Danite takeover of Laish see Biran, Biblical Dan, 125–46; “Dan,” NEAEHL, 1:323–31.
501. For a contrary opinion, see D. G. Schley, Shiloh: A Biblical City in Tradition and History (JSOTSup 63; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), 129–31. Schley argues that the chronological notes at the ends of vv. 30 and 31 (“the exile of the land” and “as long as the house of God was at Shiloh”) refer to the same time period. Accordingly, either the structures defined by archaeologists as the cult site at Shiloh have been misidentified, or the site was rebuilt and continued to function as a northern place of worship after the division of the kingdom.
502. See I. Finkelstein, “Excavations at Shiloh,” TA 12 (1985): 123–80. For the archaeological history of Shiloh, see A. Kempinski, “Shiloh,” NEAEHL, 4:1364–66.
503. Judg. 19:10–11; 1 Chron. 11:4–5; Josh. 15:8 uses the gentilic form yēbûsû (“Jebusite”) as a toponym. Some have argued that the place name is primary and that “Jebusite” derives from this toponym. J. M. Miller (“Jebus and Jerusalem: A Case of Mistaken Identity,” ZDPV 90 [1974]: 115–27) argues that Jebus identified the northern suburb of Jerusalem, modern Ša ʿfat.
504. Cf. Hoffner, “The Hittites and Hurrians,” 225.
505. N. L. Lapp, “Fûl, Tell El-,” NEAEHL, 2:445–48.
506. P. M. Arnold, “Gibeah,” ABD, 2:1007–9. For a detailed study of Gibeah in history and tradition see idem, “Gibeah in Israelite History and Tradition,” Ph.D. dissertation, Emory University, Atlanta, 1987. Gibeah (not to be confused with Gibeon, modern el-Jib, six miles west) will play an important role in the Saul narratives of 1 Samuel 9–14.
507. Cf. P. M. Arnold, “Ramah,” ABD, 5:613–14.
508. Cf. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 61–63.
509. See further, King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel,” 28–35.
510. ARM 2:48. For the Akkadian text, German translation, and commentary, see G. Wallis, “Eine Parallele zu Richter 19 29ff. und 1 Sam. 11 5ff. aus dem Briefarchiv von Mari,” ZAW 64 (1952): 57–61.
511. On the archaeological and historical significance of Dan, see comment on 18:29.
512. Appropriately the phrase never appears in the historiographic writings in contexts dealing with realities after the division of the kingdom (cf. 1 Sam. 3:20; 2 Sam. 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Chron. 21:2), except in 2 Chron. 30:5, which describes Hezekiah’s attempt to recapture pan-Israelite jurisdiction in his religious reforms (cf. Amos 8:14, which names Dan and Beersheba as a parallel pair). M. Sæbo observes that the expression concerns above all else the people and land of Israel as a whole and as a unity; see his “Grenzbeschreibung und Landideal im Alten Testament mit besonderer Beruucksichtigung der min-ad Formel,” ZDPV 90 (1974): 21–22.
513. Cf. Josh. 18:13–20. See further P. M. Arnold, “Mizpah,” ABD, 4:879–81; J. R. Zorn, “Naṣbeh, Tell en-,” NEAEHL, 3:1098–102.
514. Although the account lacks an actual declaration of the verdict, the response of the men, and especially their declared goal to give the people of Gibeah what they deserved for their outrage in v. 10, assume the verdict, “Guilty as charged.”
515. For a discussion of the issues involved see comment on 1:4.
516. ARM 6, 27:16, also cited by Boling, Judges, 284.
517. Cf. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 228–29.
518. For possible references see CAD L, 126, 1a.
519. ABL, 78, as translated by S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (SAA 10; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1993), 33.
520. This word derives from the image of the goddess Pallas, located in the citadel of Troy, on which the security of the city was thought to depend. On the use of the ark as a palladium and ancient Near Eastern analogues, see Milgrom, Numbers, 373–75.
521. Cf. the attack on Ai by the Israelites in Josh. 8:2–21; on Shechem by Abimelech’s enemies in Judg. 9:30–45; by Jeroboam II on Abijah of Jerusalem in 2 Chron. 13:13–18.
522. For a description of the events, see Kitchen, Pharaoh Triumphant, 53–60.
523. See further S. E. McGarry, “Baal-Tamar,” ABD, 1:553–54.
524. See further P. M. Arnold, “Rimmon,” ABD, 5:773–74.
Sidebar and Chart Notes
A-1. Old Greek reads 50 years, yielding a total of 420 years.
A-3. In highlighting his age and vigor at 85 years of age, Caleb uses a round figure of 40 years from the time he was sent as a spy from Kadesh Barnea to the Israelites’ arrival at the Jordan. Deut. 2:14 gives a more precise figure of 38 years, which means that the actual duration of the wars under Joshua was seven, rather than the five suggested by Caleb’s comment.
A-4. Assuming the tenures of Shamgar, Samson, Samuel, and Eli are all included in the forty years of Philistine oppression (13:1). See further below.
A-5. The biblical text creates the impression of a long judgeship.
A-6. The number is taken from Acts 13:21, where Paul offers the only specific biblical statement on the duration of Saul’s reign.
A-7. See below.
A-8. Josephus contradicts himself on the totals. Compare Ant. 8.3.1, 592 years; Ant. 20.10.1, 612 years.
A-9. B. Lindars speaks of “genuinely ancient, if legendary, scraps of tradition.” See Judges 1–5: A New Translation and Commentary, ed. A. D. H. Mayes (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1995), 4–5.
A-10. See S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (ICC; 7th ed.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1898), 162.
A-11. For further discussion, see D. I. Block, Judges, Ruth (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), 79–80.
A-12. For full discussion, see K. L. Younger Jr., “Judges 1 in Its Near Eastern Literary Context,” in Faith, Tradition and History: Essays on Old Testament Historiography in Its Near Eastern Context, ed. J. K. Hoffmeier et al. (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 207–27.
A-13. As translated by A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., vol. I (1114–859 B.C.) (RIMA 2; Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1991), 23–24.
A-14. Cf. Younger, “Judges 1,” 208–12.
A-15. As translated by A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., vol. II (RIMA 3; Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1996), 201.
A-16. For additional references in an older source, see G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, 2nd ed. (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908), 17–18.
A-17. For an illustrated study of the nature of ancient Assyrian mutilation in warfare, see E. Belibtreu, “Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death,” BAR 17/1 (January/February 1991): 52–61, 75. For discussion of the shaming intent of this torture see T. M. Lemos, “Shame and Mutilation of Enemies in the Hebrew Bible,” JBL 125 (2006): 225–41.
A-18. For discussion of the history of the use of chariotry in warfare in Mesopotamia see W. J. Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 B.C.: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (New York: Routledge, 2006), 129–53. Hamblin (p. 284) suggests that chariots were introduced to Canaan in Middle Bronze IIB (1750–1550). For discussion of the use of chariots in warfare at the end of the Bronze Age see R. Drews, The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1993), 104–34.
A-19. For studies of the subject, see P. M. McNutt, The Forging of Israel: Iron Technology, Symbolism, and Tradition in Ancient Society (JSOTSup 108; Sheffield: Almond, 1990); P. Moorey, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 278–92. For a popular presentation of the effect the introduction of iron had on military weaponry and the conduct of war, see J. D. Muhly, “How Iron Technology Changed the Ancient World and Gave the Philistines a Military Edge,” BAR 8/6 (1982): 40–54. See also idem, “Metals,” OEANE, 4:13–24.
A-20. Thus R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15–23; McNutt, The Forging of Israel, 224–25; Lindars, Judges 1–5, 45–46.
A-21. Cf. A. R. Millard, “Back to the Iron Bed: Og’s or Procrustes’?” in Congress Volume, Paris 1992 (VTSup 61; Leiden: Brill, 1995), 194–95.
A-22. On Astarte, see J. Day, “Ashtoreth,” ABD, 1:491–94; N. Wyatt, “Astarte,” DDD, 109–14.
A-23. Heimpel, Letters to the King, 26:347 (p. 303).
A-24. ABL 136, 143, et passim.
A-25. EA 155.40–47, as translated by Moran, Amarna Letters, 241.
A-26. Lachish 4:2–4, as translated by S. L. Gogel, A Grammar of Epigraphic Hebrew (SBLRBS 23; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 417. For a discussion of these and other texts, see P. Kalluveettil, Declaration and Covenant: A Comprehensive Review of Covenant Formulae from the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East (AnBib 88; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1982), 153–59.
A-27. Gray (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 261) sees the name as a scribal corruption of an original Cushan rō ʾš hattêmānî (“the chief of the Temanites”).
A-28. Papyrus Harris 1/75 (ANET, 260). Thus A. Malamat, “Cushan Rishathaim and the Decline of the Near East Around 1200 B.C.,” JNES 13 (1954): 231–42.
A-29. On these and other suggestions, see B. Webb, Book of Judges (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), 243, n. 5; Lindars, Judges 1–5, 131–34.
A-30. A. Malamat links Othniel’s deliverance of Israel with the general defeat of this foreign invader of Egypt by Setnakht, the founder of the Twentieth Dynasty, at the end of the 13th century B.C. See A. Malamat, “The Egyptian Decline in Canaan and the Sea Peoples,” in Judges, ed. B. Mazar (WHJP First Series: Ancient Times; Tel-Aviv: Massada, 1971), 26–27.
A-31. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 31–32.
A-32. The word for “key” is maptēaḥ (“opener”), from pātaḥ (“to open”).
A-33. My interpretation of this event has changed significantly from that represented in my earlier commentary—which was heavily influenced by Halpern. See Block, Judges, Ruth, 166–69.
A-34. According to the archaeological record, the city’s destruction is dated in the thirteenth century B.C. See further Y. Yadin, “Hazor,” NEAEHL, 2:594–603.
A-35. See Manfred Weippert, “ ‘Heiliger Krieg’ in Israel und Assyrien: Kritische Anmerkungen zu Gerhard von Rads Konzept des ‘Heiligen Krieges im alten Israel,’ ” ZAW 84 (1972): 472–76; R. J. van der Spek, “Assyriology and History: A Comparative Study of War and Empire in Assyria, Athens, and Rome,” in The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, ed. M. E. Cohen and D. B. Weisberg (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 1993), 265–67; Nissinen, References to Prophecy, 164–65.
A-36. For discussion of these texts, see Block, “What Has Delphi to Do with Samaria?” 189–216. For a form critical study of charges to attack, see R. Back, Die Aufforderung zur Flucht und zum Kampf in Alttestamentlichen Prophetenspruch (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1962).
A-37. Herodotus, Histories 1.53.
A-38. Ibid., 1.55, as translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, Herodotus: The Histories (Baltimore: Penguin, 1954), 33.
A-39. Ibid., 1.91 (p. 51).
A-40. ANET, 228. For a more recent translation and analysis, see K. A. Kitchen, Poetry of Ancient Egypt (Jonsered: P. Aströms Förlag, 1999), 71–74.
A-41. These are helpfully published and discussed by Kitchen, Poetry of Ancient Egypt, 165–96. See also M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. I, The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1975): Sesostris III, p. 119; vol. II, The New Kingdom (1976), Thutmosis III (pp. 36–37), Rameses II (pp. 62–70), Merneptah (pp. 74–77).
A-42. As translated by Lichtheim, AEL, 2:36–37. In the intervening strophes Amun-Re claims he hit a series of enemies; see Thutmose as a variety of animals: a youthful bull, crocodile, lion, falcon, jackal.
A-43. For introductory bibliography on the text, see K. L. Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005), 389–90.
A-44. For the text in translation, see B. R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 1993), 1:209–29; idem, From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia (Baltimore, Md.: CDL Press, 1995), 178–96.
A-45. P. C. Craigie, “The Song of Deborah and the Epic of Tikulti-Ninurta,” JBL 88 (1969): 253–65. For additional helpful studies of the relationship between the present song and ancient victory odes, see K. L. Younger, “Heads! Tails! Or the Whole Coin! Contextual Method & Intertextual Analysis: Judges 4 & 5,” The Biblical Canon in Comparative Perspective: Scripture in Context IV, ed. K. L. Younger et al (ANETS 11; Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 1993), 109–35; A. Globe, “The Literary Structure and Unity of the Song of Deborah,” JBL 93 (1974): 495–99.
A-46. The shared features include (1) an introductory statement identifying the action of those who recited the poem with syr (“to sing”); (2) style: poetry following a prose account; (3) the involvement of female singers; (4) motif: the role of waters in the victory; (5) archaic language; (6) similar opening lines; (7) colorful and mythological imagery. For a closer comparison of these poems, see A. Hauser, “Two Songs of Victory: A Comparison of Exodus 15 and Judges 5,” Directions in Biblical Poetry, ed. E. R. Follis (JSOTSup 40; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), 265–84; also O’Connell, The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges, 133–37.
A-47. Thus M. D. Coogan, “A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of Deborah,” CBQ 40 (1978): 165. Coogan’s unitary interpretation is preferable to that of J. Blenkinsopp in “Ballad Style and Psalm Style in the Song of Deborah,” Bib 42 (1961): 61–76, and followed by B. Lindars, “Deborah’s Song: Women in the Old Testament,” BJRL 65 (1983): 165–72, who propose that an originally secular ballad has been touched up with liturgical features to create a psalm celebrating the mighty acts of God.
A-48. A topographical list of Thutmose III (see ANET, 242–43) and a report Amen-hotep II’s campaign in Asia (ibid., 245).
A-49. Cf. ibid., 259. On the Egyptian evidence for Edom, see K. A. Kitchen, “The Egyptian Evidence of Ancient Jordan,” in Early Edom and Moab—The Beginning of the Iron Age in Southern Jordan ed. P. Bienkowski (Sheffield: Collis, 1992), 26.
A-50. The most important texts derive from reports of campaigns by Tiglath-pileser III (732 B.C.; ANET, 282), Sargon II (721–705 B.C., ANET, 287), Esarhaddon (680–669 B.C.), ANET, 291), and Ashurbanipal (668–633 B.C., ANET, 298, 301).
A-51. See T. Levy and M. Najjar, “Edom and Copper: The Emergence of Ancient Israel’s Rival,” BAR 32/4 (July/August, 2006): 24–35, 70.
A-52. Thus W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (Oxford: Clarendon, 1960), 42-43:71–72. CAD, A/1, 376a renders the statement, “The alû-demon has put on my body as if it were a garment.”
A-53. N. M. Waldman, “The Imagery of Clothing, Covering, and Overpowering,” JANES 19 (1989): 165.
A-54. For discussion, see D. I. Block, “Empowered by the Spirit of God: The Holy Spirit in the Historiographic Writings of the Old Testament,” The Southern Baptist Theological Journal 1 (1997): 42–61.
A-55. CT 17, 6, iii, 31–32.
A-56. Block, “Empowered by the Spirit,” 42–61; idem, “The Prophet of the Spirit: The Use of rwḥ in the Book of Ezekiel.” JETS 32 (1988): 27–50.
A-57. E.g., Luke 24:49, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised [the Holy Spirit]; but stay in the city until you have been clothed [endyēsthe] with power from on high.” Cf. Rom. 13:12; 1 Cor. 15:53; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:12.
A-58. Inasmuch as any given liver could simultaneously yield more than one binary response (it could have different markings relating to different issues), extispicy involved a complex binary mechanism.
A-59. See J. H. Walton, V. Matthews, and M. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 255.
A-60. Cf. Ezekiel’s report of Nebuchadnezzar’s triadic divinatory efforts in Ezek. 21:21–22.
A-61. For an excellent discussion of the nature, methods, and philosophical underpinnings of ancient Near Eastern divination, see Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, 239–74.
A-62. As translated by A. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Penquin Classics; London: Penguin, 2000), 10. For studies of ancient Near Eastern dream accounts, see A. L. Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1956); J. M. Lowery, “The Form and Function of Symbolic Vision Reports in the Hebrew Bible” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1999), 9–35, 183–200; S. A. L. Butler, Mesopotamian Conceptions of Dreams and Dream Rituals (AOAT 258, Neukirchener: Ugarit-Verlag, 1998). For studies of dream revelations in the Old Testament, see A. Jeffers, “Divination by Dreams in Ugaritic Literature and in the Old Testament,” IBS 12 (1990): 167–83; R. Gnuse, “Dreams in the Night—Scholarly Mirage or Theophanic Formula?: The Dream Report as a Motif of the So-called Elohist Tradition,” BZ n.s. 39 (1995): 28–53; and Jean-Marie Husser, Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999).
A-63. Cf. Westbrook, Babylonian Marriage Laws, 111.
A-64. UT 1077:6–11.
A-65. Cf. 1 Kings 9:15–16 (Solomon and Pharaoh’s daughter); 1 Kings 16:31 (Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel, a princess of Tyre, though she appears to have been his primary wife).
A-66. Note the emphasis in Dan. 1:3–4 on the qualifications of candidates for the court of Nebuchadnezzar: youths without defect, handsome, intelligent in every branch of learning, discreet, wise, knowledgeable in the protocol of the court.
A-67. See J. A. Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991), 322. On Old Testament fables, see K. J. Cathcart, “The Trees, the Beasts and the Birds: Fables, Parables and Allegories in the Old Testament,” Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J. A. Emerton, ed. J. Day, R. P. Gordon, H. G. M. Williamson (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995), 212–21.
A-68. For discussion of this and additional examples of Mesopotamian dispute literature, see S. Tatu, “Jotham’s Fable and the Crux Interpretum in Judges IX,” VT 56 (2006): 108–10; H. L. J. Vanstiphout, “The Mesopotamian Debate Poems: A General Presentation,” ActSum 12 (1990): 271–318; idem, “The Mesopotamian Debate Poems: A General Presentation. Part II. The Subject”, ActSum 14 (1992): 339–67.
A-69. Cf. S. Gevirtz, “Jericho and Shechem: A Religio-Literary Aspect of City Destruction,” VT 13 (1963): 52–62.
A-70. As translated by Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C., 24. Von Soden tentatively renders the hapax ṣipu as “salt?” AHw, 1104; cf. CAD 16 (1962), 205, which interprets the gesture as a “symbolic act signifying the annihilation of the destroyed settlement.”
A-71. See Gevirtz, “Jericho and Shechem,” 57–58.
A-72. As translated by J. A. Fitzmyer in COS, 2.82 (p. 214).
A-73. As translated by Gevirtz, “Jericho and Shechem,” 53.
A-74. #16B §11, as translated by Beckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts, 53.
A-75. 1 Kings 16:34; cf. Josh. 6:26. On salt as a symbol of barrenness and desolation, see Deut. 29:23; Ps. 107:34; Jer. 17:6; Zeph. 2:9.
A-76. As translated by S. B. Parker, UNP, 20.
A-77. Adapted from ANET, 394. For a study of these vows and a comparison with their biblical counterparts, see S. B. Parker, “The Vow in Ugaritic and Israelite Narrative Literature,” UF 11 (1979): 693–700.
A-78. All birth narratives in the Bible involve boys (Moses, Samuel, Samson, John the Baptist, Jesus). Gen. 30:21 is the exception that proves the rule. Whereas many of the births of Jacob’s sons are recounted as stories, Dinah’s birth is simply announced, “Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.”
A-79. As translated by S. B. Parker, in UNP, 52–53.
A-80. Soggin, Judges, 240–41; de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 29.
A-81. Westbrook, Old Babylonian Marriage Law, 29.
A-82. O.R. Gurney and P. Hulin, The Sultantepe Tablets (London: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1964), II, no. 257 r. 2–9.
A-83. Apollodorus, The Library 3.15.8 (LCL 121; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1989), 2:117.
A-84. Ibid., 2.4.7 (1:173).
A-85. Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 47–62.
A-86. The word occurs also in 1 Sam. 19:13; 2 Kings 23:24; Ezek. 21:21; Hos. 3:4–5; Zech. 10:2.
A-87. See further H. A. Hoffner, “The Linguistic Origins of Teraphim,” BSac 124 (1967): 230–38; idem, “Hittite Tarpiš and Hebrew Terāphîm,” JNES 27 (1968): 61–68. For a discussion of the options and an examination of the significance of the word in the Old Testament, see T. J. Lewis, “Teraphim,” DDD, 844–50.
A-88. On their relation to the Israelite Urim and Thummim see W. Horowitz and V. Hurowitz, “Urim and Thummim in Light of a Psephomancy Ritual from Assur (LKA 137),” JANES 21 (1992): 110–11.
A-89. The verb šā ʾal (“to ask, inquire”) is associated with t erāpîm in Ezek. 21:21.
A-90. See further K. van der Toorn, “The Nature of the Biblical Teraphim in the Light of the Cuneiform Evidence,” CBQ 52 (1990): 203–22; idem, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 218–25.
A-91. M. Stol, “Private Life in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 1:494.
A-92. As translated in Roth, Law Collections, 159–60.
A-93. Thus Stol, “Private Life,” 494.
A-94. See further H. A. Hoffner, “Incest, Sodomy and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East,” in Orient and Occident, ed. H. A. Hoffner (AOAT 22; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1973), 83.