Concise History of Ancient Israel

Bernd U. Schipper is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Religion at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

• List of IllustrationsPreface List of AbbreviationsChronologyChapter 1 Introduction1.1. Ancient Israel and Biblical Israel1.2. The Approach of This Work1.3. Israel/Palestine and the Southern Levant1.4. Story and History: Preliminary Methodological RemarksChapter 2 The Origins of Israel and Its Early History (1208–926/925BCE)2.1. Egypt and the Southern Levant (Fifteenth to Twelfth Cent.)2.2. “Israel” in the Merneptah Stela and the “Conquest of the Land” (Thirteenth to Twelfth Cent.)2.3. Israel in Egypt? The Exodus2.4. Philistines, “Canaanites,” Arameans, and the Early Monarchy in Israel (Eleventh to Tenth Cent.)2.5. The Davidic Monarchy and Jerusalem (Tenth Cent.)2.6. The Reign of Solomon and the Ancient Near East (Tenth Cent.)2.7. The Palestine Campaign of Shoshenq I (926/925) and Solomon’s Architectural Politics2.8. SummaryChapter 3 Israel and Judah from 926/925 to the Conquest of Samaria in 722/720 BCE3.1. The Ancient Near East and the Western Expansion of the Neo-Assyrians3.2. The Israelite Monarchy in the Ninth Century and the Omrides3.3. Neo-Assyrians, Arameans, and Israelites in the Ninth Century3.4. The Kingdom of Judah in the Ninth and Eighth Centuries3.5. Israel in the Eighth Century and the Consolidation of the State3.6. Judah and Its Capital Jerusalem in the Eighth Century3.7. Israel and Judah from Tiglath-pileser III to the Conquest of Samaria (722/720)3.8. SummaryChapter 4 The Judean Monarchy from 722/720 to the Conquest of Jerusalem in 587/586 BCE4.1. Hezekiah and the Growth of Judah in the Eighth/Seventh Centuries4.2. The Anti-Assyrian Coalition from 713 and Sennacherib’s Siege of Jerusalem (701)4.3. The Kingdom of Manasseh and the Neo-Assyrian Conquest of Egypt (Seventh Cent.)4.4. Josiah, the Egyptian Intermezzo, and the “Cultic Reform”4.5. Nebuchadnezzar II and the Two Conquests of Jerusalem (598/597 and 587/586)4.6 SummaryChapter 5 The Persian Period (550–333BCE)5.1. The Babylonian Exile5.2. Persian Policy from 539 to 3335.3. The Administrative System of the Persian Empire and the Province of Yehud Until the Fourth Century5.4. Egypt and the “Judeans/Arameans” of Elephantine5.5. The YHWH-Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the Samaritans5.6. Persian Religious Policy and the Second Temple in Jerusalem5.7. SummaryChapter 6 The Hellenistic Period (333–64/63 BCE)6.1. Alexander the Great and the Rise of the Ptolemies6.2. Judea Under Ptolemaic Rule (Third Cent.)6.3. Jerusalem and the Ptolemies6.4. High Priests Between Ptolemies and Seleucids6.5. Antiochus IV and the Maccabean Revolt (Second Cent.)6.6. The Hasmonean Kingdom: Judea in the Second and First Centuries6.7. Qumran6.8. Outlook: Palestine Under Roman Rule—From 63BCE to the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE6.9. SummaryArchaeological PeriodsMapsBibliographyIndex of AuthorsIndex of Place and Personal NamesIndex of ScriptureIndex of Other Ancient Sources

“It is an incredibly useful work that can function as a primer for more in-depth discussions of Israel and Judah’s history.”—David Schreiner Review of Biblical Literature