Footnotes

1.

See Ze’ev Herzog, Miriam Aharoni and Anson F. Rainey, “Arad—An Ancient Israelite Fortress with a Temple to Yahweh,” BAR 13:02.

2.

Hershel Shanks, BAR Interviews Avraham Eitan: Antiquities Director Confronts Problems and Controversies,” BAR 12:04.

3.

Ze’ev Meshel, “Did Yahweh Have a Consort?” BAR 05:02.

7.

From the Benjamin region in the north (at Bethel, Tel Nasbeh, Gibeon, Ramot and Moza) to Jerusalem, Ramat-Rahel, Beth-Zur and Tel Rabud on the mountain ridge, to Jericho and Ein-Gedi in the east; from Gezer, Beth-Shemesh, Batash, Azeka, Tel Jedeida, Tel ‘Erani, Tel Halif, Tel Lachish and Tel Beit-Mirsim in the west, to Tel Sheba, Tel Masos, Tel ‘Ira, ‘Aroer and Arad in the south. They are found in large settlements and in small fortresses, in short, from all parts of Judah.

Endnotes

1.

Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, “H|orvat Radum,” The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 4 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Carta, 1993), pp. 1254–1255.

2.

Yohanan Yadin, “Beer-Sheba: The High Place Destroyed by King Josiah,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 222 (1976), pp. 5–18.

3.

Shim’on Riklin, “A Fortress at Michmash on the Northeastern Border of the Judaean Desert, Judea and Samaria,” Research Studies of the College of Judea Ariel 4 (1994), pp. 69–74 (Hebrew).

4.

John A. Emerton, “New Light on Religion, the Implications of the Inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 94 (1982), pp. 2–20; William G. Dever, “Ashera, Consort of Yahweh,” BASOR 255 (1984), pp. 21–37.

5.

Yohanan Aharoni, Arad Inscriptions Text 18:9–10 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1981).

6.

Alan R. Millard, “The History of Israel Against the Background of Ancient Near Eastern Religious History,” in Timo Eskola and Eero Junkkaala, eds., From the Ancient Sites of Israel: Essays on Archaeology, History and Theology in Memory of Aapeli Saarisalo (1896–1986) Iustitia Supplement Series (Helsinki: Theological Institute of Finland, 1998), pp. 101–117.

7.

See Jeffrey H. Tigay, You Shall Have No Other Gods: Israelite Religion in the Light of Hebrew Inscriptions (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1986), esp. pp. 47–63.

8.

Aharoni, Arad Inscriptions; Harry Torczyner et al., The Lachish Letters (Lachish 1), (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1938); see also Christopher W. Mitchell, The Meaning of BRK “to bless” in the Old Testament, Dissertation Series, Society of Biblical Literature 95 (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1987).

9.

William G. Dever, “Iron Age Epigraphic Material from the Area of Khirbet El-Kom,” Hebrew Union College Annual 40–41 (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1969–70), pp. 139–204; Ziony Zevit, “The Khirbet el Qom Inscription,” BASOR 255 (1984), pp. 39–49; William H. Shea, “The Khirbet el-Kom Inscription,” Vetus Testamentum 40 (1990), pp. 56–63.

10.

Raz Kletter, “The Judean Pillar-Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah,” British Archaeological Reports, International Series S-636 (1996).