Full Description
The Shephelah borderlands in the southwestern region of Iron Age Israel (ca. 1200-586 BCE) are one of the most intensely excavated areas in the world, a complex social-political place standing between the central highlands and the coastal home of the so-called biblical "Philistines." Yet the lives of these people on the margins of ancient Israel are lost to us today, left only in the fragments of archaeological remains and in the Bible's entangled representations of the proximate Other.
In Scribal Representations and Social Landscapes of the Iron Age Shephelah, Mahri Leonard-Fleckman delves into how the Other is created and fashioned in ancient witnesses to these regions by analyzing identity in the Iron Age Shephelah. Focusing on two contemporary archaeological sites with plausible ancient connections, Tel Batash (ancient Timnah) and Tell es-Safi (ancient Gath), she journeys through texts and archaeology that bear witness to the social and political complexities of the region. Significantly, she presents irresolution as a practice for scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Levant and illustrates how resisting conclusions can be an asset to investigating the distant past. Along the way, she advances new hypotheses that illuminate biblical passages describing individuals and communities from the regionsuch as the stereotypical Philistines, Samson, Tamar, Delilah, and others. The book draws together a range of critical perspectives to spark compelling conversations about identity and history between anthropologists, archaeologists, biblical scholars, literary theorists, and historians.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Irresolution as Practice
History's Relevance
Identity Irresolution
History Marked by Tension
Composition History as a Mosaic
Disclaimer
Chapter Guide
Chapter 2: Entangled Landscapes
Communities of Practice
Object Naming and Tell es-Safi
Identity
Chapter 3: Political Mapping
The Literary Artistry of Maps
Border Conflicts: Joshua and the Neo-Assyrian Royal Annals
The Chronicler's Retelling
Drawing it Together
Chapter 4: David, Gath, and the Politics of Identity
"The Philistines"
David and Ittai (2 Samuel 15)
David and Achish (1 Samuel 27)
Re-Presenting the Other, from Ittai to Ruth
Rewriting Ittai and Achish
Gath, a Colorful Whole
Chapter 5: Women as Landscapes
The Landscape of the Samson Cycle
The Unnamed Woman (Judges 14-15)
Delilah (Judges 16)
Tamar (Genesis 38)
Landscapes as Aesthetic Representations
Chapter 6: Samson Mosaics
Samson in Judges
Becoming Samson
Samson Rewritten
Tel Batash (Tell el-Batashi) Remains
Samson Mosaics
Chapter 7: The Art of History
Bibliography
Index
