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This collection of essays examines the religion of ancient Israel within its ancient context: Egypt, Western Asia, and the Aegean. Particular emphasis is devoted to the problem of the divine image. Was the prohibition on depicting the deity expressed in the Hebrew Bible followed already in early Israel and Judah? Was the conception of the divine held by Israel’s neighbors really as unsophisticated as it is depicted by the Hebrew prophets?

Several monographs and collections of essays on the topic of aniconism have appeared in the past twenty years. The contributors to this volume had the advantage of responding to, and building upon, this earlier work. In addition, most earlier studies devoted only cursory attention to the religions of Israel's neighbors, whereas this book includes contributions from experts in these areas.

What Goes In Is What Comes Out—Materials for Creating Cult Statues
—Victor Avigdor Hurowitz

The Representation of the Divine in Ancient Egypt
—Ann Macy Roth

The Structure of Divinity at Ugarit and Israel: The Case of Anthropomorphic Deities versus Monstrous Divinities
—Mark S. Smith

Will the Real Massebot Please Stand Up: Cases of Real and Mistakenly Identified Standing Stones in Ancient Israel
—Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

Arad, Qitmt—Judahite Aniconism vs. Edomite Iconic Cult? Questioning the Evidence
—Christoph Uehlinger


Sumerian Kingship and the Gods
—Jacob Klein

The Royal Cult in Hatti
—Harry A. Hoffner

Kingship and Divinity in Imperial Assyria
—Peter Machinist

Israel’s Royal Cult in the Ancient Near Eastern Kulturkreis
—Ziony Zevit

Moses as Equal to Pharaoh
—Gary A. Rendsburg


Parallelism in Popular and Official Religion in Ancient Egypt
—Carolyn Routledge

Reflections of Ptah and Memphite Theology from the Soil of Palestine: Iconographic and Epigraphic Evidence
—Othmar Keel

The ‘Ain Dara Temple and the Jerusalem Temple
—John Monson

Were There Temples in Ancient Israel? The Archaeological Evidence
—William G. Dever


Monotheism in Ancient Egypt
—James P. Allen

Concepts of God in Israel and the Question of Monotheism
—Nili Fox