The Land that I Will Show You: Essays on the History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honor of J. Maxwell Miller (JSOT Supplement Series)

321 Pages·2002·15.64 MB·English

by  J. Andrew Dearman

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
343
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
Andrew Mein
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum, John Goldingay,
Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, John Jarick,
Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Sheffield Academic Press

The Land that I Will
Show You
Essays on the History and Archaeology
of the Ancient Near East in Honour of
J. Maxwell Miller
edited by
J. Andrew Dearman and
M. Patrick Graham
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 343
Copyright © 2001 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19KingfieldRoad
Sheffield SI 1 9AS
England
www.SheffieldAcademicPress.com
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by MPG Books Ltd
Bodmin, Cornwall
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1 841272574
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 9
List of Contributors 13
Parti
J. MAXWELL MILLER
J. ANDREW DEARMAN
J. Maxwell Miller, Scholar and Teacher: A Sketch 16
Part II
HISTORY
EHUD BEN Zvi
Shifting the Gaze: Historiographic Constraints in Chronicles and
their Implications 38
MARTIN J. Buss
A Projection for Israelite Historiography: With a Comparison
Between Qohelet and Nagarjuna 61
DIANA EDELMAN
Did Saulide-Davidic Rivalry Resurface in Early Persian Yehud? 69
JOHN H. HAYES
The Beginning of the Regnal Year in Israel and Judah 92
PAUL K.H OOKER AND JOHN H. HAYES
The Year of Josiah's Death: 609 or 610 BCE? 96
STUART A. IRVINE
The Rise of the House of Jehu 104
6 The Land that I Will Show You
ERNST AXEL KNAUF
Solomon at Megiddo? 119
JEFFREY K. KUAN
Samsi-ilu and the Realpolitik of Israel and Aram-Damascus
in the Eighth Century BCE 13 5
STEVEN L. MCKENZIE
The Typology of the Davidic Covenant 152
JACK M. SASSON
Absalom's Daughter: An Essay in Vestige Historiography 179
Part III
ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY
PIOTR BIENKOWSKI
New Evidence on Edom in the Neo-Babylonian
and Persian Periods 198
P.M. MICHELE DAVIAU
Assyrian Influence and Changing Technologies
at Tall Jawa, Jordan 214
PHILIP R. DAVIES
The Intellectual, the Archaeologist and the Bible 239
JOHN VAN SETERS
The Geography of the Exodus 255
Part IV
MANUSCRIPTS AND EPIGRAPHY
PHILLIP R. CALLAWAY
The Qumran Scrolls and Textual Reconstruction 278
ANSON F. RAINEY
Mesha' and Syntax 287
Index of References 308
Index of Authors 316
PREFACE
It is with sincere appreciation, respect, and friendship that this collec-
tion of 17 articles is presented to J. Maxwell Miller by his colleagues
and former students on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The topics
covered in the essays reflect the wide range of Miller's own interests—
from the reconstruction of the history of the ancient Near East to the
archaeological exploration of that land to text-critical and grammatical
matters related to the study of texts that were composed there. The
contributors are not drawn from a single school of thought and are not
united methodologically. Rather, the body is international in compo-
sition, represents diverse perspectives on the study of the ancient Near
East, and so illustrate the breadth of Miller's own interests, critical en-
gagement and international connections.
The papers have been arranged alphabetically by author under four
general rubrics. First, there is a biographical sketch on the volume's
honoree, along with a select bibliography of his publications. Next,
there is 'History', which comprises articles dealing with the histo-
riography encountered in Chronicles (Ben Zvi) and the Deuteronomistic
History (Sasson and McKenzie), a comparative study of the histo-
riographies of Qohelet and Nagarjuna of India (Buss), examinations of
matters related to Israel's internal (Edelman and Irvine) and external
(Knauf and Kuan) political and military conflicts, and finally two studies
of chronological problems (Hayes, and Hooker and Hayes). The third
section is entitled 'Archaeology and Geography' and consists of four
articles. The first two are archaeological studies that deal with the ques-
tion of Edom's continuation into the Neo-BabyIonian and Persian periods
(Bienkowski) and the influence of Assyria on the culture of Ammon in
the Iron Age (Daviau). The third paper distinguishes the potential of
(secular) archaeology for writing a history of Israel from that of biblical
archaeology to do the same (Davies), and the final contribution engages
historical geography to address the matter of Israel's exodus route
(Van Seters). Two papers constitute the section on 'Manuscripts and
8 The Land that I Will Show You
Epigraphy'. The first takes up the matter of textual reconstruction in the
study of the Qumran Scrolls (Callaway), and the second is a study of
syntactical aspects of the Mesha' inscription and their parallels in pre-
exilic biblical Hebrew prose.
It is the editors' hope that these articles will make a modest con-
tribution to the study of ancient Near Eastern history, archaeology and
texts. To the extent that this is achieved, the texts will honor one who
has been a creative scholar, a conscientious and talented teacher, and a
faithful friend.
Finally, the editors would like to express appreciation to Professors
David J. A. Clines and Philip R. Davies of Sheffield Academic Press for
their support of this project and their decision to include it in the JSOT
Supplements Series. The creativity and vigor of this press under their
talented leadership has placed all students of Scripture in their debt.
M. Patrick Graham
J. Andrew Dearman
ABBREVIATIONS
AASF Annales Academiae Scientarum Fennicae
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AB Anchor Bible
ABD D.N. Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6 vols.;
New York: Doubleday, 1992)
ABS Archaeology and Biblical Studies
ACOR American Center of Oriental Research
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
ADPV Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palastinavereins
AfO Archivfur Orientforschung
AJBA Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology
AnBib Analecta biblica
ANET J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to
the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 3rd
edn,1969)
AnOr Analecta orientalia
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ARAB D.D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (2
vols.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926-27)
AsJT Asia Journal of Theology
ASOR American Schools of Oriental Research
ASORAR ASOR Archaeological Reports
AThD Acta theologica danica
AusBR Australian Biblical Review
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAMA British Academy Monographs in Archaeology
BARev Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BAT Botschaft des Alten Testaments
BEATAJ Beitrage zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des
antiken Judentums
BethM Beth Mikra
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BBS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia
Bib Biblica
Biblnt Biblical Interpretation Series