Grabbe - Ancient Israel

The earliest mention of the name ‘Israel’ in history is found in an inscription by Merenptah from about 1208 BCE (§6.3.4). We know, therefore, that an entity called Israel had its origins already in the second millennium BCE. If that entity in Merenptah’s inscription had anything to do with the historical kingdom of Israel - which most scholars accept - then Israel (in some form) originated probably as early as the mid-second millennium and perhaps even earlier. It is part of the purpose of the present study to explore these roots.

 

The biblical text of course has the ancestors of Israel active already by this time. In the text only a few generations separate Abraham from the worldwide flood (Gen. 11:10-26), and a past generation of scholars commonly dated Abraham to about 2000 BCE. As we shall see, the biblical text cannot be taken at face value in this case (§ 1.2), but it illustrates that were we to be guided by the text, much of Israel’s prehistory would fit quite comfortably into the second millennium BCE. We shall see whether this is ultimately likely to be historical, but it gives us reason to want to know more about what was happening in the ancient Near East during this important millennium.

 

The aim of the present study is to give a survey of ancient Near Eastern history as a context for events in Canaan where the kingdoms of Israel and Judah existed in the first millennium все. The focus will be on the area of Canaan, often referred to - and this is a neutral geographical term without political or ideological implications - as Palestine. Primary sources (archaeology, inscriptions and contemporary texts) will be emphasized as the basis for any history of the time, though the views of present-day scholars will be considered where possible. The present study will thus link up with Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know it? (Grabbe 2017), which is primarily set in the first millennium BCE, though the contents relating to the earlier chapters of that book will be considered here in more detail.

 

London – New York – Dublin: T&T Clark, 2023. – 375 p.

ISBN 9780567663221 (hardback)

ISBN 9780567663214 (paperback)

ISBN 9780567663238 (pdf)

ISBN 9780567663245 (epub)

 

Preface

Abbreviations

Part I. INTRODUCTION

Part II. MIDDLE BRONZE AGE (C.2000-1600 BCE)

Part III. LATE BRONZE AGE (C.1600-1200 BCE)

Part IV. EARLY IRON AGE (C. 1200–900 BCE)

Part V. CONCLUSIONS

Lester L. Grabbe – Ancient Israel - What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Lester L. Grabbe – Ancient Israel – Contents

• 1. Principles and Methods of Investigating the History of Ancient Israel

• 2. Second Millennium: Middle and Late Bronze Ages (2000-1300 BCE)
• 3. Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (ca. 1300-900 BCE): From Settlement to Statehood
• 4. Iron IIB (900-720 BCE): Rise and Fall of the Northern Kingdom
• 5. Iron IIC (720-539 BCE): Peak and Decline of Judah

• 6. 'The End of the Matter': What Can We Say about Israelite and Judahite History?

Lester L. Grabbe – Introduction to Second Temple Judaism - History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel and Jesus

Lester L. Grabbe – Introduction to Second Temple Judaism – Contents

• 1 INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND SOURCES
• 2 TEXTUAL JUDAISM: THE PRIESTLY AND SCRIBAL CURRENT
• 3 REVOLUTIONARY JUDAISM: THE POLITICAL AND ‘MESSIANIC’ CURRENT
• 4 ESCHATOLOGICAL JUDAISM: THE APOCALYPTIC CURRENT
• 5 INVERTED JUDAISM: THE GNOSTIC CURRENT
• 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Lester L.Grabbe – Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period - Belief and practice from the Exile to Yavneh

Lester L.Grabbe – Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period – Contents

• 1 Introduction

• 2 Persian period (539–333 BCE) - 3 Early Greek period (333–200 BCE) - 4 Later Greek period and Hasmoneans (200–63 BCE) - 5 Under Roman rule (63 BCE–70 CE) - 6 Transition to rabbinic Judaism: Yavneh

• 7 Temple and priesthood - 8 Scripture, prayer, and synagogue - 9 Sects and movements - 10 Concepts of the Deity and the spirit world - 11 Prophecy, apocalypticism, the esoteric arts, and predicting the future - 12 Eschatologies and ideas of salvation - 13 Messiahs - 14 Jews and Judaism in the Hellenistic world

• 15 Judaism in the Second Temple period: a holistic perspective

• Index of modern authors - Index of names and subjects - Index of citations

Lester L. Grabbe - A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Volume 1 - Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah

Lester L. Grabbe - A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Volume 1 - Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah - Contents

• Chapter 1. Introduction: Principles and Method

• Chapter 2. Archaeology: Unwritten Material
• Chapter 3. Archaeology: Written Material
• Chapter 4. Biblical Writings
• Chapter 5. Persian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian Sources
• Chapter 6 . Greek and Latin Sources

• Chapter 7. Administration
• Chapter 8. Society and Daily Living
• Chapter 9. Economy
• Chapter 10. Religion I: Temple, Cult, and Practice
• Chapter 11. Religion II: Law, Scripture, and Belief

• Chapter 12. The Early Persian Period
• Chapter 13. The Fifth Century BCE
• Chapter 14. The Fourth Century BCE

• Chapter 15. A Holistic Perspective: What We Know, What We Can Guess, and Where Our Ignorance Is

Lester L. Grabbe - A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Volume 2 - The Coming of the Greeks: The Early Hellenistic Period (335-175 BCE) - Contents

• Chapter 1. Introduction: Principles and Method

• Chapter 2. Archaeology
• Chapter 3. Papyri, Inscriptions and Coins
• Chapter 4. Jewish Literary Sources
• Chapter 5. Greek and Latin Writers

• Chapter 6. Hellenism and Jewish Identity
• Chapter 7. Administration
• Chapter 8. Society and Daily Life
• Chapter 9. Economy
• Chapter 10. Religion I: Temple, Cult and Practice
• Chapter 11. Religion II: Law, Scripture and Belief

• Chapter 12. Time of Alexander and the Diadochi (335-280 BCE)
• Chapter 13. The Ptolemaic Period (280-205 BCE)
• Chapter 14. Early Seleucid Rule (205-175 BCE)

• Chapter 15. The Early Hellenistic Period - A Holistic Perspective

Lester L. Grabbe - A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Volume 3 - The Maccabaean Revolt, Hasmonaean Rule, and Herod the Great (175-4 BCE) - Contents

• Chapter 1. Introduction

• Chapter 2. Archaeology, Including Coins and Inscriptions
• Chapter 3. Jewish Literature
• Chapter 4. Greek and Latin Sources

• Chapter 5. Economics
• Chapter 6. Sects and Movements
• Chapter 7. Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Chapter 8. The Samaritans: From Sanballat to Vespasian
• Chapter 9. The Idumaeans, Arabs and Pakthians
• Chapter 10. The Diaspora: Jewish Communities Outside Judah from Alexander to Herod (330 BCE to 4 BCE)
• Chapter 11. Causes of the Maccabaean Revolt
• Chapter 12 Religion: Temple, Scripture, Belief and Practice

• Chapter 13. Background: The Ptolemies, the Seleucids and the Romans
• Chapter 14. Events Preceding the Maccabaean Revolt (175-168 BCE): A New Constitution for Jerusalem
• Chapter 15. The Maccabaean Revolt to the Death of Judas (170-161 BCE)
• Chapter 16. The Hasmonaean Kingdom: From Jonathan to Alexandra Salome (161 to 67 BCE)
• Chapter 17. End of the Hasmonaean Kingdom and the Beginning of Roman Domination (67-40 BCE)
• Chapter 18. The Reign of Herod the Great (40-4 BCE)

• Chapter 19. Judaism from Onias III to Herod the Great: A Holistic Perspective

Lester L. Grabbe - A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Volume 4 - The Jews Under the Roman Shadow (4 BCE-150 CE) - Contents

• Chapter 1. Introduction

• Chapter 2. Archaeology, Including Inscriptions and Coins
• Chapter 3. Jewish Literature
• Chapter 4. Greek, Roman, and Christian Sources

• Chapter 5. Economics
• Chapter 6. Jews in the Diaspora (4 BCE to 117 CE)
• Chapter 7. Sects and Movements
• Chapter 8. Mystical and Gnostic Trends, and the Esoteric Arts
• Chapter 9. Religion I: Temple and Text, Religious Practice
• Chapter 10. Religion II: Beliefs
• Chapter 11. Religion III: Judaeophilia and Judaeophobia, Religious Rights, and Conversion

• Chapter 12. The Reign of Herod Archelaus and the Roman Province of Judaea (4 BCE to 37 CE)
• Chapter 13. The Reign of Agrippa I, Once More a Roman Province, and the ‘Spiral of Violence’ (37-66 CE)
• Chapter 14. The Great Revolt—The War with Rome (66-73/74 CE)
• Chapter 15. Roman Control (from 70 to c. 150 CE)

• Chapter 16. The Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period— a Holistic Perspective