In this chapter, the subjection of the Israelites in Egypt and their later liberation from oppression is examined with extracts from the Hebrew Torah, and the Greek Septuagint. The vocabulary of servitude of both Hebrew and Greek is discussed through the account of Joseph’s service and disgrace in the house of Potiphar, followed by the suffering of the Israelites, the later descendants of Jacob. The oppression inflicted by the Egyptians and their pharaoh on the Israelites in Egypt is to be seen in their forced labour in making bricks and construction work. Liberation involved leaving the country together, under the leadership of Moses. A final section examines a few further literary texts dating from the Hellenistic and Roman periods that treat related Jewish subjects.

This chapter copes with the challenge of portraying a divinity which is supposed to be nameless and imageless, and evoked by ‘abstract’ notions such as the ‘God’, the ‘Lord’, the ‘Name’ or even the ‘Place’. The bans on pronouncing his name and depicting his image are two faces of the same coin: to explore in a new and unpredictable way his identity. Starting from the role played by names in ancient Near Eastern traditions and in the Hebrew Bible, this chapter explores the onomastic puzzle of the biblical god, who holds many names, but whose name YHWH is the only one regarded as a proper name and revealed by himself to Moses. Such a central and enigmatic name is interpreted as a promise of presence and assistance to the people god chose on earth (Israel). The onomastic connection between YHWH and the Jews never ceased to strike external observers and produced many misunderstandings, and even mystifications, in the history of the research of the biblical divine names.

This chapter argues that Jewish philosophers throughout the ages have tended toward an epistemology that might be described as “communitarian.” To that end, it explores three key notions at the heart of Jewish epistemology: knowledge by testimony, corporate knowledge, and epistemic rootedness. These notions are mined from the Hebrew Bible in conversation with Rabbinic commentaries and two great medieval philosophers, Rabbi Yehuda Halevy and Maimonides. In contemporary times, a number of philosophers have described themselves as communitarian epistemologists. This chapter argues that they might more aptly be described as communist epistemologists, and that Jewish thought is a better guide to how a communitarian epistemology might look.

Examines the Museum of the Bible as a site of pilgrimage that generates affective responses from visitors through immersive and interactive exhibits. Through its evangelical presentation of Jesus and sacralization of landscapes special to white evangelicals in the United States today, the museum works through a variety of media to conscript visitors into Christian supersessionism and Christian Zionism.

In the Introduction, the editors briefly sketch the parametres of the volume, and give an overview of each subsequent chapter.

In this chapter, a wide-angle historical approach contextualizes the use and significance of precious metal money in the broader region of the Levant from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age. It is argued that the weakening of centralized authority – reflected by the collapse of Egyptian rule in the southern Levant – left trade networks and routes vulnerable, profoundly affecting trade networks and leading to an increasing reliance on precious metal in order to carry out transactions. Next, the importance of precious metal money and fiscal institutions are examined in the context of emerging territorial states, based on a critical approach to biblical sources documenting the hoarding and use of gold and silver in tributary payments to overlords. Rather than having stimulated monetization, the incorporation of the southern Levant into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the late eighth and seventh century is argued to have led to a depletion of the region from its silver. Only after the Egyptian takeover do we again observe fresh silver – e.g. from Aegean sources – arriving to the region through Egypt.

Chapter 6 outlines a political theology of monotheism using Assmann’s concepts of the Mosaic distinction, supplemented by other scholars like Mark S. Smith, Robert Gnuse, Rainer Albertz, et al. We dwell closely here on Israel’s political conditions of sovereignty, subjugation, and exile that all help illuminate – as we saw in Gans’ critique – what historical peculiarities constitute the Hebrew discovery of monotheism. I explore how monotheism could be composed of polytheistic building blocks – first in state-based religion and political symbols, like monolatry and despotic vassal treaties – but transform among an exiled people into a division of God from political representation.