The present study offers a comprehensive analysis of leonine imagery in the Hebrew Bible. After an introduction that discusses God-language and the theological significance of metaphor (Chapter 1), the biblical lion imagery is typed according to naturalistic or metaphorical use, along with various subdivisions (Chapter 2). When metaphorically employed, biblical lion imagery is found with four referents: the self/righteous, the enemy/wicked, the monarch/mighty one, and the deity. An analysis of the lion in the archaeological record of ancient Israel/Palestine from 1500-332 BCE is then offered (Chapter 3). In addition to finds from excavated sites, unprovenanced seals and related onomastica are discussed. The finds show: a) a common association of the lion with the monarch/mighty one and various deities; b) the presence of lion artifacts in cultic and official contexts; and c) evidence of artistic connections to other regions. Given the latter point, the study proceeds to investigate the use of the lion in the art and literature of the ancient Near East (Chapter 4). This vast corpus is organized according to rubric and function, categorizing the attested imagery as to whether it utilizes the lion as a negative image for the enemy or wicked; as a positive image for the monarch/mighty one or victor; or as an image for the gods and/or goddesses. The widespread use of the lion as a guardian of portals and gateways is also considered. In all three contexts (Hebrew Bible, archaeology of ancient Israel/Palestine, and ancient Near East), it is argued that the function of lion imagery as well as its main tenor in metaphorical presentations seem primarily dependent on the power and threat that this predatory animal represents.	
Chapter 5 brings the comparative data of Chapter 4 into dialogue with the materials presented in Chapters 2-3 in order to cast further light on the different uses of the lion in the Hebrew Bible. Similarities and differences are noted and assessed. It is argued that: 1) the lion as trope of threat and power is relatively stable across the different data sets; 2) the use of the lion with monarch/mighty one is quite different (and muted) in the biblical text when compared to the comparative and archaeological materials; 3) the use of the lion with Yahweh is similar in many ways to the comparative and archaeological contexts; and 4) the use of the lion as an image for the enemy is also similar but somewhat more pronounced in the Hebrew Bible (esp. in the Psalms). Possible explanations for #2 are offered, as is an investigation of Yahweh’s leonine profile. That profile could stem from the storm-god composite Baal-Seth or, more probably, from the tradition of violent leonine goddesses (esp. Sekhmet and/or Ishtar). A third possible source for the imagery is the use of militant lion metaphors in ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions if, in fact, Israel’s use is not sui generis.	
Chapter 6 concludes the study by returning to the theological and metaphorical significance of zoomorphic imagery. Three appendices (lion terminology, semantic domain of lion imagery, biblical lion passages) and 483 images round out the volume.

https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/150391/1/Strawn_2005_What_Is_Stronger_than_a_Lion.pdf

What Is Stronger than a Lion?: Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East

This study presents an analysis of various aspects relating to the changes in cooking vessels during the Iron Age in Philistia and the southern Levant, with particular emphasis on the morphology, manufacturing technology, and regional distribution of cooking jugs. We have combined archaeological data and petrographic analyses to evaluate the technological aspects of these vessels. It is argued that cooking jugs, while first appearing in Philistia, subsequently spread to other regions and cultures. The relationship of this process of dissemination to other factors, such as economic and social changes in the southern Levant, is discussed, and it is argued that the possible incorporation of Philistine cooking practices into the neighboring Iron Age cultures may have implications for understanding the multifaceted, if at times ambiguous, relationships between the Philistines and their neighbors.

Cooking Identities: Aegean-Style Cooking Jugs and Cultural Interaction in Iron Age Philistia and Neighboring Regions

Searching for Sarah in the Second Temple Era: Portraits in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Narratives

The Legacy of Israel in Judah's Bible undertakes a comprehensive re-evaluation of the Bible's primary narrative in Genesis through Kings as it relates to history. It divides the core textual traditions along political lines that reveal deeply contrasting assumptions, an approach that places biblical controversies in dialogue with anthropologically informed archaeology. Starting from close study of selected biblical texts, the work moves toward historical issues that may be illuminated by both this material and a larger range of textual evidence. The result is a synthesis that breaks away from conventional lines of debate in matters relating to ancient Israel and the Bible, setting an agenda for future engagement of these fields with wider study of antiquity.

/pdf/the-legacy-of-israel-in-judah-s-bible-history-politics-and-24sb6zlkyg.pdf

The Legacy of Israel in Judah's Bible: History, Politics, and the Reinscribing of Tradition

Scarcity of water is a major problem in many parts of the Near East today and in the past. In order to survive in such a region people have to be able to structurally procure more water than rainfall alone can supply. The archaeology of this area should not only identify when people inhabited such a region and what the character of this habitation was, but also how people were able to survive in such a region and why they chose it in the first place. 



In this book these questions have been posed of the Zerqa Triangle: a region in the middle Jordan Valley around Tell Deir ‘All? (Jordan). The intensity of habitation of the region from the Neolithic to early modern periods was investigated by means of a detailed pedestrian archaeological survey. Efforts have been undertaken to reconstruct the agricultural practices in the various periods and simultaneously the means by which the different communities were able to practise agriculture; in other words, how did they irrigate the land? By focussing on the varying social responses of communities, conclusions have been drawn on how and why people created a living in this arid, but potentially very fertile region.

https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2960247/view

Life on the Watershed. Reconstructing Subsistence in a Steppe Region Using Archaeological Survey: A Diachronic Perspective on Habitation in the Jordan Valley

Pottery and Potters: Past and Present: 7000 Years of Ceramic Art in Jordan

There has been considerable scholarly debate in the last few years over the Khirbet el-Qom inscription. The text was chiselled out from a pillar in a burial cave near the site of Kh. el-Qom, which has been identified with biblical Makkedah (Dorsey, p. 192). Palaeographically, the inscription dates to ca. 750 B.C. (Lemaire 1977, p. 603, and Dever 1970, p. 165; however Dever states in n. 53 that F. M. Cross prefers a date closer to 700 B.C.). Much of the debate is due to the fact that the inscription is difficult to read, for several reasons. First, besides being naturally cracked and faulted, the stone surface appears to have been poorly smoothed and prepared. The tools used to smooth the writing surface left further ridges and striations in the rock. Secondly, when the inscription was incised, the writer formed some letters with a high degree of pressure, thereby making a strong impression in the rock, but other letters were poorly formed and hardly incised at all. This leaves some letters difficult to read, as the strokes of the letters are barely distinguishable from the natural cracks and striations in the rock. Lastly, it appears that someone has retraced many of the letters, thereby leaving "ghost images". Whether this was done by the writer or some later visitor to the cave is uncertain. Many of these ghost images are faint and not deeply incised; nevertheless such a surplus of unnecessary lines makes the inscription difficult to read. All the above factors contribute to the extreme difficulty in reading and interpreting this inscription. Therefore, suitable lines could be found to support almost any interpretation, within reason. The inscription consists of four main lines, with two fragmentary

Judith M. Hadley

Papers

Pottery and Potters: Past and Present: 7000 Years of Ceramic Art in Jordan

The khirbet el-qom inscription

Some Drawings and Inscriptions On Two Pithoi From Kuntillet 'Ajrud1

Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women's Lives in the Hebrew Bible

The New international dictionary of biblical archaeology