Festive meals in ancient Israel: Deuteronomy's identity politics in their ancient Near Eastern context

The festive meal texts of Deuteronomy 12-26 depict Israel as a unified people participating in cultic banquets - a powerful and earthy image for both preexilic Judahite and later audiences. Comparison of Deuteronomy 12:13-27, 14:22-29, 16:1-17, and 26:1-15 with pentateuchal texts like Exodus 20-23 is broadened to highlight the rhetorical potential of the Deuteronomic meal texts in relation to the religious and political circumstances in Israel during the Neo-Assyrian and later periods. The texts employ the concrete and rich image of festive banquets, which the monograph investigates in relation to comparative ancient Near Eastern texts and iconography, the zooarchaeological remains of the ancient Levant, and the findings of cultural anthropology with regard to meals.

Front matter --; Acknowledgements --; Table of Contents --; Abbreviations --; Introduction --; 1. Overview of the History of Scholarship of Deuteronomy --; 2. Treatment of the Deuteronomic Cultic Meals --; 3. Material Culture and the Symbolic Meaning of Meat in Deuteronomy 12 --; 4. The Cultic Meals of the Deuteronomic Cultic Calendar (16:1-17) in Light of Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Texts --; 5. Deuteronomy 14:22-29 in Light of Ancient Near Eastern Tribute and Modern Anthropology --; 6. Conclusion --; Index