The Historian and the Bible Essays in Honour of Lester L. Grabbe

Lester Grabbe is probably the most distinguished, and certainly the most prolific of historians of ancient Judaism, the author of several standard treatments and the founder of the European Seminar on Historical methodology. He has continued to set the bar for Hebrew Bible scholarship. In this collection some thirty of his distinguished colleagues and friends offer their reflections on the practice and theory of history writing, on the current controversies and topics of major interest. This collection provides an opportunity for scholars of high caliber to consider groundbreaking ideas in light of Grabbe's scholarship and influence. This festschrift offers the reader a unique volume of essays to explore and consider the far-reaching influence of Grabbe on the field of Biblical studies as a whole.

Philip R. Davies is Professor of Biblical Studies in the University of Sheffield, UK.
Diana V. Edelman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield.

List of AbbreviationsTHE EDITORS IntroductionHANS BARSTAD History and Memory. Some Reflections on the ‘Memory Debate' in Relation to the Hebrew BibleNIELS PETER LEMCHE Postcolonial Studies and the Study of Israelite History.NADAV NAAMAN Text and Archaeology in a Period of Great Decline: The Contribution of the Amarna Letters to the Debate on the Historicity of Nehemiah's WallRAINER ALBERTZ Secondary Sources Also Deserve to be Historically Evaluated: The Case of the United MonarchyTHOMAS L. THOMPSON Reiterative Narrative and the Problem of the ExileANDRÉ LEMAIRE Hazor in the Second Half of the 10th Century BCE: Historiography, Archaeology and HistoryMARIO LIVERANI The Chronology of the Biblical Fairy-TaleEHUD BEN ZVI The Story of Micaiah, son of Imlah: What Could the Ancient Intended Readers Learn from It?DIANA V. EDELMAN Of Priests and Prophets and Interpreting the Past: The Egyptian Hm-Ntr and Hry-Hbt and the Judahite nabi'HUGH G.M. WILLIAMSON Welcome HomeODED LIPSCHITS Here is a Man Whose Name is ?ema?'  (Zechariah 6:12)BOB BECKING Drought, Hunger, and Redistribution: A Social-Economic Reading of Nehemiah 5JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP  Footnotes to the Rescript of Artaxerxes (Ezra  7:11-26)GARY N. KNOPPERS Aspects of Samaria's Religious Culture during the Early Hellenistic PeriodE. AXEL KNAUF Biblical References to Judean Settlement in Eretz Israel (and Beyond) in the Late Persian and Early Hellenistic PeriodsPHILIP R. DAVIES The Hebrew Canon and the Origins of JudaismGEORGE J. BROOKE What Makes a Text Historical? Assumptions behind the Classification of Some Dead Sea Scrolls