Most of the work underlying this book was completed five years ago, and it expands upon the approach that I developed when working on King David. Since then, the world has witnessed populistic upheavals and nationalistic ferment on a scale that I never imagined having to face in my lifetime. Although I did not write this book in response to the current political climate, my work demonstrates the power of a written, national narrative that fosters both veneration of the nation’s laws and a sense of kinship and solidarity capable of bridging deep divides. The national identity constructed in the biblical narrative is far removed from the xenophobic, insular, chauvinistic discourse that, with the help of villainous leaders, is gaining traction both at home and abroad.

This book is a prelude to a more ambitious monograph, also to be published by Cambridge University Press, that I wrote for a broad audience after finishing the work on my Coursera course (The Bible’s Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future). In that volume, I tell the story of the rise and fall of Israel’s kingdoms, provide a new model for the formation of the biblical corpus, and explore the strategies that the biblical scribes adopted in an effort to fashion what has proved to be one of the most influential paradigms of the nation.

The present work would not have been completed without the encouragement and inspiration provided by my colleagues and students. I am fortunate to have exceptionally capable and gracious editors: Beatrice Rehl and Eilidh Burrett. The Mellon Foundation and the Digital Publishing in the Humanities initiative at Emory University (under the direction of Sara McKee) awarded a generous grant that made it possible to publish this work in an open access format on the Cambridge University Press platform.

I dedicate this book to my dearest friend, Professor Rabbi Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, who has been a joy to know and learn from for many years now.