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Israelite And Judean Society And Economy, Roger Nam

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This article examines the economic worlds that correspond to the timeline of the histori­cal books of the Hebrew Bible from the conquest to the return from exile. During this pe­riod, Israel and Judah transformed from small subsistence-based tribal economies to more centralized organization, at least partially due to external military threats. Both the north­ern kingdom and eventually the southern kingdom fell to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires respectively, and the forced migrations instigated socially dis-embedded economies in the exile and repatriation. Even though these ancient economic modalities are largely assumed and unstated, critical analysis of the historical books requires a …