The Kingship Motif in the Near Eastern Cultures and in the Psalms

The problem which is presented, the problem of kingship in the Psalms, is not a theme that rises to the top in the Old Testament with any prominence. Yet it will be noticed that throughout the Near East the king played a decidedly important role in community and national life

Early Israel as the Kingdom of Yahweh

Archaeological evidence indicates that early Israel as the kingdom of Yahweh functioned on the analogy of Ancient Near Eastern vassal states. In the religion of Early Israel both law and warfare were vehicles for the extension of Yahweh\u27s covenant rule

The Study and Interpretation of the Old Testament

The subtitle of this study might well be: Prisoners of Hope: New Perspectives for the Study of Old Testament History and Theology. The single Biblical occurrence of the phrase, prisoners of hope” is located in a messenger speech (Botenspruch) in Zechariah 9:11-13

Settler-Colonialism, Memoricide and Indigenous Toponymic Memory: The Appropriation of Palestinian Place Names by the Israeli State

Cartography, place-naming and state-sponsored explorations were central to the modern European conquest of the earth, empire building and settler-colonisation projects. Scholars often assume that place names provide clues to the historical and cultural heritage of places and regions. This article uses social memory theory to analyse the cultural politics of place-naming in Israel. Drawing on Maurice Halbwachs’ study of the construction of social memory by the Latin Crusaders and Christian medieval pilgrims, the article shows Zionists’ toponymic strategies in Palestine, their superimposition of Biblical and Talmudic toponyms was designed to erase the indigenous Palestinian and Arabo-Islamic heritage of the land. In the pre-Nakba period Zionist toponymic schemes utilised nineteenth century Western explorations of Biblical ‘names’ and ‘places’ and appropriated Palestinian toponyms. Following the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, the Israeli state, now in control of 78 percent of the land, accelerated its toponymic project and pursued methods whose main features were memoricide and erasure. Continuing into the post-1967 occupation, these colonial methods threaten the destruction of the diverse historical cultural heritage of the land