Theology

Omer Sergi

State Formation, Religion and »Collective Identity« in the Southern Levant

Volume 4 () / Issue 1, pp. 56-77 (22)

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This study examines the role of textual production and scribal schools in the process of state formation, demonstrating that historiographic literature was used in order to constitute a collective identity. I argue that the accounts of David's battles with the Philistines (1 Sam 23:1–5; 2 Sam 5:17–25; 8:1) should be considered as early Judahite historiography, and I compare them with the accounts of Mesha battles with the Omrides (Mesha Inscription, lines 4–21), which may also be considered as an historiographical text related to state formation. I demonstrate that both texts share similar structure, content and narration and consequently both use similar strategies to reconstruct identity in a newly formed political entity. Furthermore, they both reflect the earliest stages of the development of the royal cult in Judah and Moab.
Authors/Editors

Omer Sergi is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1613-691X