Israel, Judah, and Neighboring Groups in the Books of Samuel

The contributors to this volume investigate the portrayal of Israel's and Judah's relations with neighboring groups in the books of Samuel (including the Philistines, Amalekites, Edomites, Arameans, and Gibeonites) from both literary and historical perspectives. In doing so, they bring together multiple methodological approaches to the topic, including analyses of the structure, ideological content, and compositional development of the narrative depictions of Israel's and Judah's neighbors in the books of Samuel as well as syntheses of the current archaeological and historical data relevant to the interpretation of the biblical texts under investigation.Benedikt Hensel/Stephen Germany: Introduction - Aren Maeir: On Defining Israel: Or, Let's do the Kulturkreislehre Again! - Hannes Bezzel : Who are the Philistines in the Books of Samuel? - Ann E. Killebrew: The Philistines in the Books of Samuel: An Archaeological Perspective - John Will Rice/Matteo Bächtold: Tradents of the Lost Ark: The Ark of the Covenant as an Object of Discourse on Divine and Human Kingship - Jürg Hutzli: Proximity to David, Proximity to Yhwh: Foreigners in the David Narratives - Cynthia Edenburg: In Search of Amalek: The Pursuit of an Historical Referent in 1 Sam 30 - Zachary Thomas and Erez Ben-Yosef: Copper, Nomads, and Kings: Rethinking the Social and Historical Background of the Books of Samuel - Stephen Germany/Assaf Kleiman: Arameans in the Books of Samuel: Literary, Historical, and Archaeological Perspectives - Walter Bührer: The Long Shadow of the Gibeonites in the Account of Saul's Post-mortem Rejection and Restitution (2 Sam 21:1-14) - Benedikt Hensel/Stephen Germany: Shifting Trends in the Study of Non-Israelite Groups in the Books of Samuel