Homeland and Exile: Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of Bustenay Oded. Edited by Gershon Galil, Mark Geller, and Alan Millard.

This Festschrift, dedicated to Bustenay Oded, Professor Emeritus at the University of Haifa, contains 30 relatively short articles written by established scholars from all around the world. It is an excellent, although somewhat eclectic, collection of new studies on the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East that has its given place in any research library.

The first part of the volume contains studies on the ancient Near East, with focus on the Neo-Assyrian time period. Bob Becking offers a translation and commentary of a recently discovered Moabite inscription (eighth century bce), and argues that the Ammonite prisoners of war mentioned in the inscription were dedicated to Kemosh, the god of Moab. Mordechai Cogan suggests that the annals of Ashurbanipal can inform on Fortschreibung of biblical texts. For instance, these annals were frequently edited and the new editions reflect ideological trends contemporary with the editors. Muhammad Dandamayev argues that Ardiya, mentioned in YOS 19, 52 (the archives of the Eanna temple in Uruk), is the same person as the Ardiya referred to in two other documents. This, in turn, sheds light upon the business life of the Eanna temple personnel. Manfried Dietrich maintains that export and import of trumpet snails (used as objects of worship) and purple snails (used for dyeing for wool) were a matter of both technology transfer and transfer of religion. Betina Faist discusses what the still unpublished legal document from Ashur (VAT 9755), dealing with the sale of Elamite captives, can tell about Assyrian mass deportations. Frederick Mario Fales provides an in-depth survey of the Assyrian terms used for ‘soldier’, and explores what tasks and administrative/military status each term denotes. Gershom Galil discusses the ways in which Neo-Assyrian letters can deepen our understanding of land appropriation by Assyrian officials. He highlights that these officials often violated the ideal picture presented in royal inscriptions and law codes. Victor Avigdor Hurowitz’s substantial article explores the literary features of the so-called Thompson Prism of Esarhaddon (Nineveh A). The study focuses on the literary connections between the various sections of the work. André Lemaire discusses the alternatives that faced fortified cities of either paying tribute or braving a siege. In particular, by a close reading of 1 Kings 14:2–6, Lemaire suggests that Shoshenq I managed to enter and plunder Jerusalem. Sarah C. Melville suggests that Assyria collapsed due to its lack of strategic imagination. As past experience had taught them that to take the offensive was the only way to make war, the Assyrians responded with a counter-attack when the Babylonians attacked instead of defending their own territory. Alan R. Millard surveys the Assyrian military contact with the Aramaeans from the eleventh century onwards, discusses the Assyrian influence over the Aramaeans, and notes the curious fact that the former adopted Aramaic as their language. Jamie Novotny and Greta Van Buylaere present a new edition of Sîn-šarru-iškun’s inscription recording his temple restoration in Calah (Cylinder B). The article contains an introduction to his building activities, a survey of previous editions of the text, a transliteration, a translation, and a commentary. Nili Shupak looks at the pairing of the silent versus the hot-tempered man in Egyptian wisdom literature, and suggests that the former symbolizes the ideal man (modest, restrained, pious) while the latter (quarrelsome, denying the existence of the gods) is his negative opposite. Finally, David B. Weisberg discusses the food and drink served in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. He argues that the king received substantial portions of the meal presented to the gods, and further compares this with 1 Sam. 21:1–7.