A collection of Egyptological, archaeological, and biblical studies papers dealing with the history, religion, and culture of the ancient Near East, assembled in honor of James K. Hoffmeier.

The Hebrew Scriptures consider the exodus from Egypt to be Israel’s formative and foundational event. Indeed, the Bible offers no other explanation for Israel’s origin as a people. It is also true that no contemporary record regarding a man named Moses or the Israelites generally, either living in or leaving Egypt has been found. Hence, many biblical scholars and archaeologists take a skeptical attitude, dismissing the exodus from the realm of history. However, the contributors to this volume are convinced that there is an alternative, more positive approach. Using textual and archaeological materials from the ancient Near East in a comparative way, in conjunction with the Torah’s narratives and with other biblical texts, the contributors to this volume (specialists in ancient Egypt, ancient Near Eastern culture and history, and biblical studies) maintain that the reports in the Hebrew Bible should not be cavalierly dismissed for ideological reasons but, rather, should be deemed to contain authentic memories.

This is the second and final volume of scientific and interdisciplinary reports on the excavations and research conducted at Tell el-Borg, north Sinai, between 1998 and 2008, written by the scholars and specialists who worked on the site under the direction of Professor James K. Hoffmeier. This volume focuses on the cemetery areas, which yield more than a dozen tombs, typically made of mud brick, some of which were constructed for a single occupant and some of which were larger tombs that accommodated multiple family members. Included is a treatment of an area of “public” space featuring a temple and a well, among other things, and a study of the geological results of the nearby ancient Ballah Lakes that offers new data on the history of the Nile distributary that flowed by Tell el-Borg. The balance of the work deals with specialty reports, including the faunal and botanical remains, the clay coffins, and elite stones. A concluding chapter offers a synthesis of the decade of work and ties together the finds published in both volumes. In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume include Stephen Moshier, Bahaa Gayed, Gregory D. Mumford, Scott D. Haddow, Mark Janzen, Thomas W. Davis, Rexine Hummel, Hesham M. Hussein, Carole McCartney, Michelle A. Loyet, Louise Bertini, and Salima Ikram.

Between 1999 and 2008, a team of experts and specialists worked together at Tell el-Borg, a site in north Sinai, in the delta region of Egypt. This volume comprises the first report on the site. Tell el-Borg, as it turned out, was composed of four significant areas: the military zone where two forts were found (Fields IV, V, and VIII), the public space (Field II), the domestic area (Field VI), and the cemeteries (Field III and VII). The focus of this first of two volumes is as follows: the historical and archaeological setting of north Sinai, the east frontier military area commonly known as the Ways of Horus (Chapter 2); the paleo-environmental setting of Tell el-Borg and its environs (Chapter 3); the introduction to Tell el-Borg and the initial discoveries (Chapter 4). The two forts and the related discoveries are treated in detail (Chapters 5 and 6), followed by the magnetometer survey conducted in 2006 and 2007, which demonstrated that we had nearly exhausted the site’s potential (Chapter 7). The pottery finds from all fields are treated here by ceramic specialists: Egyptian pottery (Rexine Hummel, Chapter 8), Levantine wares (Catherine Duff, Chapter 9), Cypriote imports (Stuart Swiny, Chapter 10), and some ceramic specialty studies (Chapter 11). Last, a study of the weaponry discovered from the fort is offered (Chapter 12). The second volume will appear in the next few years.

This volume presents a collection of studies by international experts on various aspects of ancient Israel’s society, economy, religion, language, culture, and history, synthesizing archaeological remains and integrating them with discussions of ancient Near Eastern and biblical texts. Driven by theoretically and methodologically informed discussions of the archaeology of the Iron Age Levant, the 47 chapters in The Ancient Israelite World provide foundational, accessible, and detailed studies in their respective topics. The volume considers the history of interpretation of ancient Israel, studies on various aspects of ancient Israel’s society and history, and avenues for present and future approaches to the ancient Israelite world. Accompanied by over 150 maps and figures, it allows the reader to gain an understanding of key issues that archaeologists, historians and biblical scholars have faced and are currently facing as they attempt to better understand ancient Israelite society. The Ancient Israelite World is an essential reference work for students and scholars of ancient Israel and its history, culture, and society, whether they are historians, archaeologists or biblical scholars.

In the spring of 2001, Dr. M?ller and an American TV crew went to the bottom of the Red Sea to reveal the remains of Pharaoh’s army. They also discovered several lost places and cities recorded in the Bible, and the true location of the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. All this evidence is available in The Exodus Case. Join Dr. M?ller on his journeys and study for yourself this stunning material supported by more than 500 new colour photos and detailed satellite photos. Thoroughly researched and written by Swedish scientist Dr. Lennart M?ller, this book takes you on an exciting journey through early biblical times from Abraham to the Exodus and discloses brand new discoveries by Dr. M?ller and his team in Egypt, Sinai, Turkey, and in the Middle East.

This book aims to understand God’s interactions with Abraham in relation to God’s command that Abraham “be a blessing” (Gen 12:2d), which is directly tied to God’s goal that “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3b). The book proposes a formative narrative approach to examine interactions between character and plot, the movement of plot, and the connection between sequential plots. An analysis of thirteen Abrahamic narratives (Gen 12–22) suggests a classification based on four different types of interactions between God and Abraham, which indicate how cooperation and conflict between God and Abraham advance the narrative’s plot. The book then proposes a narrative discourse analysis to examine how Abraham evolved through different stages of the narrative by moving from deviation to cooperation. Detailed analysis of this transformation process reveals three turning points in Abraham’s life. The formative narrative approach and narrative discourse analysis proposed in this book can contribute to the analysis of two important aspects of Old Testament narratives: the formation of plot and the cause-and-effect structure in narrative discourse.