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The fundamental issue addressed in this thesis is use of the Hebrew Bible to assert right of possession of the whole land of Israel/Palestine. It is structured in four parts, as follows. PART I INTRODUCTORY CONCERNS. A Preface outlines key terms and basic issues in contemporary Israel/Palestine. It includes important dates and critical historical events that still affect the peoples of the land today. Chapter 1– General Introduction: this summarises use of the Bible to warrant possession of the ‘land of Israel’; it then outlines insights from postcolonial studies relevant to the study of the Bible and to contemporary Israel/Palestine. Postcolonial study of the Bible considers its development over many centuries within the context of a series of empires. PART II QUESTIONS OF INTERPRETATION Chapter 2– General Interpretative Approaches: discussion of Archaeology and History. Chapter 3– Biblical Interpretation: Dating of the Bible and Historical Critical approaches. PART III STUDY OF JUDGES chapters 1-5 Chapter 4– General Introduction to Judges: this includes discussion of Judg. ch. 1 and the Book of Joshua; ANE Texts; Dating and Context of Judges; Possible Sources of Judges. Chapter 5– Major Themes in Judges 1:1-36: Socio-political Background to Judg. ch.1; study of Judah’s conquests in southern Canaan and limited successes of the northern tribes. Chapter 6– Major Themes in Judges 2:1-5: close study of the Hebrew text examines issues such as the Exodus traditions; YHWH’s promise of the land; ideologies of the Canaanites. Chapter 7– Israel in the days of the Judges (Judges 2:6-5:31). This is in two sections: Key themes in 2:6-3:6 include apostasy and judgement; the judges; enemies all around. Major Themes in 3:7-5:31 include the significance of the Kenizzites and Kenites; origins and development of Yahwism; Israel’s responses to oppression; women in Judges 1-5. PART IV CONTEMPORARY ISRAEL/PALESTINE Two major issues that emerged in our textual studies and are reflected in Israel/Palestine today are discussed: Naming/renaming (in Chapter 8); and Terror/terrorism (in Chapter 9). Both issues open a wide range of significant areas for scrutiny. First, relevant biblical references are summarised; this is followed by discussion of similar contemporary issues. In conclusion, Chapter 10 Reflections considers various ways in which concerns that were expressed in the opening chapters have been addressed during the course of this study.

A Way in the Wilderness. The 'Second Exodus' in the Message of Second Isaiah (Journal of Semitic Studies. Monograph, 12; Manchester: The University of Manchester, 1989); The Babylonian Captivity of the Book of Isaiah. 'Exilic' Judah and the Provenance of Isaiah 40-55 (The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture. Series B, 102; Oslo: Novus, 1997); The Myth of the Empty Land. A Study in the History and Archaeology of Judah During the 'Exilic' Period (Symbolae Osloenses Fasc. Suppl., 28; Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1996); History and the Hebrew Bible. Studies in Ancient Israelite and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography (Forschungen zum Alten Testament, 61; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008). A Way in the Wilderness is a study of the Hebrew text of Isaiah 40-55. In this volume I argue that many of the references to 'wilderness', 'water', and 'way' have misguidedly been taken as allusions to a 'second Exodus'. Rather than being Exodus motifs, the majority of these texts refer to a new Judah after the exile, and the likely location of the text is Jerusalem/Judah, not Babylon. Another important outcome of this study concerns the nature of prophetic language. Whereas numerous scholars have dealt with linguistic, grammatical, and literary features of Hebrew poetry, not many have taken into consideration that metaphoric/poetic texts also have a different cognitive status from Hebrew prose. In The Babylonian Captivity of the Book of Isaiah, I follow up the textual study of Isaiah 40-55 with a study of the history of research surrounding the birth of the Babylonian location thesis of this Isaian text. Based on a thorough study of the older secondary literature, particularly in Germany, I am able to conclude that none of the 19th century arguments (many of them still prevailing in recent scholarship) can be upheld today. The 'Babylonian Isaiah' therefore provides us with a striking example of how a thesis has continued to be influential long after the presuppositions that once led to its birth have ceased to be valid. One of the major premises for placing Isaiah 40-55 in Babylon and not in Judah was the former belief that Judah and Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. However, recent archaeological excavations and surveys have demonstrated beyond doubt a continued material culture in Judah and Jerusalem in the period. In The Myth of the Empty Land, I use archaeology, economical models, and Hebrew and Neo-Babylonian sources to argue for continuity rather than a gap in the culture of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Simultaneously with textual, historical, and archaeological research, I have always taken an interest in method and theory. Some of my studies in these areas, together with the updating of The Myth of the Empty Land by considering also the most recent discussions, are collected in History and the Hebrew Bible. These four volumes are all dealing with a unified topic: The history and literature of Judah in the post exilic period illuminated through the Hebrew text of Isaiah 40-55, as well as with questions concerning theory and method.

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The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of כבוד.

This work consists of a portfolio of creative writing in the form of a collection of short stories, The Jerusalem Syndrome, followed by a thesis, “Biblical Perspectives on the Holiness of Place, Body, and Mortality in The Jerusalem Syndrome Collection”. Attempting to engage the question, ‘what does it mean to be Jewish?, the latter seeks to provide the academic lens to unearth the former. In its stories of ancestry, land, rituals, body practices, theological beliefs and the nature of God’s relationship with his people, the Hebrew Bible lies at the heart of ancient and modern Jewish constructions of identity. The stories of The Jerusalem Syndrome Collection draw on a number of these biblical themes, and similarly seek to explore diverse constructions of Jewish identity in worlds seemingly far removed in time and context from the ancient social contexts from which the biblical texts emerged. Critical biblical scholarship offers modern readers various ‘lenses’ with which to engage the biblical texts — not as ‘scripture’, or even ‘history’ — but ancient literature rich in ancient cultural and ideological debates about the construction of identity, many of which continue to impact modern notions of Jewish identity today. Illustrations of this impact suffuse the stories of The Jerusalem Syndrome Collection. As such, this discussion explores the socio-religious, mythological and theological themes pervading The Jerusalem Syndrome Collection by bringing them into dialogue with critical, scholarly reflections on Judaism’s biblical traditions. A number of these themes cluster around the notion of Israel and the city of Jerusalem as the place at which Jewish identities are negotiated. The characters of The Jerusalem Syndrome Collection encounter various Jewish identities in bodily and material ways, as well as by topographical indices. With particular emphasis on the themes of how place, body, and death are sanctified, this piece will explore the ways in which Jewish identity continues to be contextualized in terms of the cultic, mythological and ritual language derived from the Hebrew Bible. This portfolio — the stories and their dialogue with the Hebrew Bible — is an exploration of some of the key aspects of how Jewish identity unfolds, and how the stories are re-mythologized through biblical history.

After the invasion of Spain by the Muslims in 711-A. D., Southern Spain and North Africa, from which the invaders had come, were linked in such a way that they could no longer be counted separate countries with separate cultures. There was a steady traffic between the two, not only in regard to people and merchandise, but in ideas, writings and translations. The Caliph resided sometimes in Andalusia, sometimes in North Africa. In 817, after a revolt of the Christians at Cordoba, Hakam massacred some and deported others to North Africa. Thirty years later, a famine in Spain drove many to emigrate and join the exiles. Later still, in 1126, Ali ben Yusuf beat back the king Alonso and, to punish those Christians of his realm who had been willing to join the king, had them deported from Granada to Morocco, where they were settled in Mequinez and Fez. It was in the latter city, in 1137, that a bishop Michael ibn abd-el-aziz had a copy of the Gospels made for a certain Ali ibn abd-el-aziz. A year after this copy had been made, a further deportation by the son of All ibn Yusuf swelled the ranks of the exiles and emigres. The Christians in North Africa fared quite well. They became soldiers and the Christian militia played no small part in North African history. Some were chosen by the Caliph to join his personal bodyguard and others held good posts at Court. Even the Almohades, strict Unitarians though they, were, allowed churches. to be built. In 1224, when Ferdinand's help was sought by the Almohades in North Africa to quell risings of local Moorish rulers, the Christian king asked in payment not only money and ten Andalusian fortresses, but that a Christian church should be built in Morocco and bells sound the hours of service.

Applying utopian theory to the Bible reveals a number of issues surrounding the biblical text within academic disciplines such as biblical studies, which study the Bible as an ancient cultural artefact, and among religious readers of the Bible. The biblical passage Numbers 13 was chosen as a case study of a utopian reading of the image of the Promised Land to demonstrate the Bible’s multifaceted potential by externalising the presupposition brought to the text. The underlying method is derived from an ideal type procedure, appropriated from Weber. Instead of comparing phenomena to each other, one compares a phenomenon to a constructed ideal type. This method enables one to compare phenomena independently of exclusive definitions and direct linear influences. It has been suggested by biblical scholars that utopian readings of the Bible can yield insights into socio-political circumstances in the society which produced biblical texts. Using observations by Holquist about utopias’ relationships to reality it is asked if applying the concept of utopia to a biblical passage allows drawing conclusions about the originating society of the Hebrew Bible. The answer is negative. Theory about literary utopias is applied to the case study passage. Numbers 13 is similar to literary utopias in juxtaposing a significantly improved society with a home society, the motif of travellers in an unfamiliar environment, and the feature of a map which is graphically not representable. Noth’s reading of the biblical passage’s toponyms reveals that its map is a utopian map. Numbers 13 is best understood as a literary utopia describing an unrealistic environment and using common utopian techniques and motifs. Despite describing an unrealistic environment, the passage was understood as directly relevant to reality by readers throughout time, for example by Bradford. Following two Puritan readings, it is observed that biblical utopian texts have the potential of being applied in reality by those who see them as a call to action. If a literary utopia is attempted to be brought into reality, it becomes apparent that it marginalises those who are not utopian protagonists; in the case study passage, the non-Israelite tribes, in Bradford’s reading, the Native Nations in New England. The interplay of utopia and dystopia is explored and it is concluded that a definitive trait of literary utopias is their potential to turn into an experienced dystopia if enforced literally. This argument is supported by demonstrating that the utopian traits of the case study passage contain dystopian downsides if read from a different perspective. A contemporary utopian reading of the case study passage is proposed. Today utopian speculation most often appears in works of science fiction (SF). Motifs appearing in the case study passage are read as tropes familiar to a contemporary Bible reader from SF. Following D. Suvin’s SF theory, it is concluded that the Bible in the contemporary world can be understood as a piece of SF. It contains the juxtaposition of an estranged world with a reader’s experienced world as well as a potential utopian and dystopian message.

Despite the dynamic portrayal of clothes in the Hebrew Bible scholars continue to interpret them as flat and inert objects. They are often overlooked or reduced to background details in the biblical texts. However, this thesis will demonstrate that the biblical writers’ depictions of clothes are not incidental and should not be reduced to such depictions. This thesis employs a multidisciplinary approach to develop and challenge existing approaches to the clothing imagery in the Hebrew Bible. It will fall into two main parts. In the first part, I draw insights from material-cultural theories to reconfigure ways of thinking about clothing as material objects, and reassessing the relationships between people and objects. Having challenged some of the broader conceptions of clothing, I will turn to interrogate the material and visual evidence for clothing and textiles from ancient Syro- Palestinian and ancient West Asian cultures to construct a perspective of the social and material impact of clothing in the culture in which the biblical texts were constructed and formed. In the second part, I will examine the biblical writers’ depiction of clothing through two case studies: Joseph’s ketonet passim (Genesis 37) and Elijah’s adderet (1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2). These analyses will draw from the insights made in the first part of this thesis to reassess and challenge the conventional scholarly interpretations of clothing in these texts. In this thesis, I argue that clothes are employed in powerful ways as material objects which construct and develop the social, religious and material dimensions of the text. They are also intimately entangled in relationships with the characters portrayed by the biblical writers and can even be considered as extensions of the people with whom they are engaged. Clothes manifest their own agency and power, which can transform other persons and objects through their performance and movement in a biblical text.

This thesis proposes that integrated rituals of netherworld descent and heavenly ascent are represented in the Hebrew Bible as having been performed by Davidic royals – royal women, as well as male monarchs. In some instances (e.g. Psalms 2; 18; 24; 89:2-38; and 110) these rituals are represented idealistically, with Yahweh confirming the king’s ritual status and potency, through re-presented speech acts. In other instances, however, while an idealistic picture of monarchy continues to be upheld, it is subverted from within in varying ways (e.g. 2 Kgs 9:30-37; 11; Ps. 89:39-52; Isa. 14.4b-20; Jer. 13:18-20; Ezekiel 19). The differing portrayals of monarchy reflect the differing ways with which biblical texts are negotiating and interacting with ambiguous discourses embodying memories of monarchy. On the one hand, after the fall of monarchic Judah, ‘foreign’ monarchy (and especially trading monarchies, such as those of Phoenicia) were fetishised within biblical authors’ discourses of political and economic imperialism, and so Davidic monarchy became a signifier of an enchanting and mystifying ‘indigenous’ past. On the other hand, discourses concerning the past frequently referenced exile, and the collapse of monarchy. Some biblical representations of ritual netherworld descent and heavenly ascent acknowledge this latter, uncomfortable kind of remembering – even as they reify and reinforce these enchanting memories which they subvert. The remembered, cosmically liminal first temple and the remembered royal body become loci for these paradoxical, contradictory, and competing memories. This much is evident in mystifying royal cosmic liminality and heavenly ascent, access to divine knowledge, and mimesis of Yahweh; in cathartic myths of the subjugation of the forces of chaos and disorder, both cosmic and military; and in the subversion of the enchanting remembered Davidic cultic praxis of descent and ascent, through these motifs’ re-presentations in montages alongside rituals which connote displacement, destruction, profanation, desecration, subjugation and being forgotten. In these instances, the vulnerabilities inherent in cultural idealising of the Davidic monarchy’s potent cosmic liminality are brought into sharp relief.