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[German Version] is the oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Its combination of a warm climate and plentiful water ( En, construct of ‘Ayin/עַיִן, “spring”) has long offered ideal living conditions for people, a few animals (including panthers, cliff badgers, ibexes [Heb. gedi, “goat”), and plants (wine, henna [Song 1:14], dates [Sir 24:14], balsam [Jos. Ant. IX 7; Bell. IV 468; Pliny, Naturalis historia 12.113; Šabb. 26a]). A pilgrimage sanctuary with a walled-in court and a large main room (20 × 5 m) was l…

[German Version] “Joseph,” Heb. יוֹסֵף/ yôsep, means “He (God) adds.” In the Bible, half-a-dozen people bear the name, including Mary's husband in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the son of Jacob (I) and Rachel stands out (Gen 30:23f.). He is the eponymous ancestor of the major tribe of Israel (Tribes of Israel), whose chief heir, in turn, is Ephraim (Gen 38). J…

[German Version] Saul, Hebrew שָׁאוּל. The first king of Israel (Kingship [in Israel]) is not mentioned anywhere outside the Bible, but his reign is attested sufficiently within the Bible. The beginnings of a state in Israel (II, 1.a) were already visible before him; they met the social and economic needs at the end of the 2nd millennium. Around 1000 bce, Saul, a handsome man from a wealthy family (1 Sam 9:1f.), succeeded in uniting the tribes of the hill country in central Palestine and northern Transjordania (Judah, Galilee, and the lowlands of Canaan…

[German Version] I. Basis, Dispute and Development of the Hypothesis of a Deuteronomistic History – II. Arrangement of the Content – III. Historical Locus and Importance for the Theology of History …

[German Version] Eli was priest of the transregionally significant sanctuary of Shiloh in the 11th century (1 Sam 1–4). His name means “the highest” (cf. Ugar. 'lyn, Heb. 'lywn; the theophoric element – presumably …

[German Version] ( ‘edôm) means “reddish,” and the parallel term Seir ( sē'îr) “rough,” probably the brush in the mountains. They designate a landscape or ethnicity south of ¶ the Dead Sea: in the first instance, to the southeast, between Wādī l-Ḥasā and the Gulf of Aqaba, but also in the Wādī l-'Araba and the southern Negeb. …

[German Version] The biblical picture of Samuel (Heb. לאֵוּמשְׁ/ šĕmû’ēl), a figure at the transition from premonarchic Israel (II, 1) to the monarchy, is extremely complex. In the relatively earliest source, 1 Samuel, and then afterwards he fills an extraordinar…

[German Version] I. Bible 1. Literary analysis. The primary source for Solomon (Heb. ְׁשׁלמה/ šĕlōmōh…

[German Version] I. Bible – II. Christianity – III. Judaism – IV. Islam I. Bible 1. Old Testament From the biblical perspective, David, whose name means “darling, beloved,” is the embodiment of the ideal ruler. He governed in the early 10th century bce, allegedly for 40 years, of which seven and a half were in Hebron, the rest in Jerusalem (2 Sam 5:4f.). Although he is the king of whom the Bible has …

[German Version] I. Ancient Near East – II. Greece – III. Rome – IV. The Bible – V. Christianity – VI. Judaism I. Ancient Near East Historiography in the classic sense, with a reflective account of historical linkages, developed rudimentarily at best in the cuneiform cultures of the ancient Near East in Hittite and Neo-Assyrian annals and the introductions to treaties; even these documents were usually written to justify the political actions. Around the middle of the 3rd millennium bce…