Maps of the Ancient Near East and Palestine on endpapers

Includes bibliographical references (p. 591-625) and index

The Story of a People -- The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament -- The Story of the Bible -- Part I. The Creation of a People -- 1. The Beginnings of Israel -- The Nature of the Tradition -- The Oral Tradition -- The Prologue to the Exodus -- Population Unrest in the Fertile Crescent -- The God of Israel's Ancestors -- The Descent into Egypt -- The Oppression in Egypt -- 2. Liberation from Bondage -- The Role of Moses -- The Disclosure of God's Name -- The Contest with Pharaoh -- The Victory at the Sea -- 3. Covenant in the Wilderness -- Guidance in the Wilderness -- The Covenant at Sinai -- Covenant and Law -- The Breaking of the Covenant -- The Mosaic Faith -- 4. The Promised Land -- A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey -- Forty Years of Wandering -- Detour via Transjordan -- The Invasion of Canaan -- Israel's Conquest of Canaan: The Deuteronomistic View -- An Alternative View of the Conquest in Joshua and Judges 1 -- The Nature of the Israelite Occupation -- The Formation of the Tribal Confederacy -- 5. The Formation of an All-Israelite Epic -- From Tradition to Literature -- The Scope of the Old Epic Narrative -- Overview of Israel's Epic Narrative -- The Primeval History -- The Ancestral History -- The People's History -- 6. The Struggle Between Faith and Culture -- Temptations of Canaanite Culture -- Leaders in Crisis -- The Decline of the Confederacy -- The Last Judge of Israel -- Part II. Israel Becomes Like the Nations -- 7. The Throne of David -- A Time of International Favor -- Israel's Rustic King -- David, Architect of the Israelite State -- Solomon in All His Glory -- New Horizons of Faith -- 8. Prophetic Troublers of Israel -- The Background of Prophecy -- The Divided Kingdom -- One Prophet Against Four Hundred -- Elijah, the Tishbite -- Elisha and the Closing Years of the Omri Dynasty -- 9. Fallen is the Virgin Israel -- The Revolution of Jehu -- The Age of Jeroboam II -- The Herdsman from Tekoa -- The Prophecy of Hosea -- The Fall of Samaria -- 10. Judah's Covenant with Death -- The Reign of Uzziah -- The Book of Isaiah -- Micah, A Rural Prophet -- Isaiah's Later Career -- 11. The Rediscovery of Mosaic Torah -- Differing Views of the Covenant -- Manasseh, the Villain of Judah -- New Outbursts of Prophecy -- The Deuteronomic Reformation -- The Book of Deuteronomy -- The Renewal of the Covenant -- Inadequacies of the Reform -- Habakkuk's Watchtower of Faith -- Faith and Nationalism -- 12. The Doom of the Nation -- The Suffering Prophet -- The Book of Jeremiah -- In the Reign of Jehoiakim -- Jeremiah's Confessions -- In the Reign of Zedekiah -- Beyond the Day of Doom -- Part III. The Covenant Community Is Renewed -- 13. By the Waters of Babylon -- The Jewish Dispersion -- Ezekiel the Priest -- Lamentation, Mourning, and Woe -- The Promise of a New Beginning -- Life Under Captivity -- Preservation of the Tradition -- The Priestly Point of View -- 14. The Dawn of a New Age -- New World Horizons -- The Poems of Second Isaiah -- A Herald of Good Tidings -- The Creator and Redeemer -- A Light to the Nations -- The Servant of YHWH -- Victory Through Suffering -- The Servant and the Messiah -- The Continuing Isaiah Tradition -- The Book of Isaiah as a Whole -- 15. A Kingdom of Priests -- Cyrus' Edict of Liberation -- The Work of the Chroniclers -- Zerubbabel, the Branch -- Reconstruction and Reform -- Ezra, the Architect of Judaism -- Nehemiah's Terms as Governor -- The Law and the Prophets -- 16. The Praises of Israel -- The Book of Psalms -- Israel at Worship -- Israel's Pilgrimage Festivals -- The Book of Psalms as a Whole -- 17. The Beginning of Wisdom -- The Wisdom of the East -- Israel's Wisdom Literature -- An Anthology of Proverbs -- The Wise and the Foolish -- The Skepticism of Ecclesiastes -- The Book of Job -- From Despair to Faith -- 18. The Unfinished Story -- Tensions Within Judaism -- The Hellenistic Era -- The Evolution of Wisdom -- The Resistance Movement -- The Apocalypse of Daniel -- The Kingdom That Is God's -- Beyond the Hebrew Bible -- Israel's Pilgrimage.