1 On the excavations see: Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor/M. Hasel/G.D. Stiebel, Khirbet Qeiyafa, 2009, IEJ 59, 2009, 214–220; Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, in: Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1: Excavation Report 2007–2008, Jerusalem 2009, 69–118. The site has been identified with Biblical Shaʿarayim (Josh 15:36; 1Sam 17:52; 1Chron 4:31); see Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, Khirbet Qeiyafa: Shaʿarayim, JHS 8, 2008, # 22. G. Galil argues for an identification with Netaʿim (1Chron 4:23); see the press release of the University of Haifa at http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=2654 (16.7.2011) as well as G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim: Script, Language, Literature and History, UF 41, 2009 (2011), 193–242, esp. 223.

2 See, e.g., the ostraca from Arad and Lachish; W.W. Hallo (ed.), The Context of Scripture, Volume 3, Leiden – Boston 2003, 75–87 (late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE).

3 See H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, in: D. Amit/G.D. Stiebel/O. Peleg-Barkat (eds.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, Jerusalem 2009, 111–123; G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 199–210. C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age, ArBiSt 11, Atlanta 2010, who did not yet discuss the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription, argues that the 10th-century texts from Israel/Palestine do not yet show a Canaanite or Hebrew script different from the Phoenician script. See for a discussion of the script of the ostracon itself: C.A. Rollston, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon: Methodological Musings and Caveats, Tel Aviv 38, 2011, 67–82, esp. 76–77.

4 See H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, in: Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor (eds.), Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1, 243–257; A. Yardeni, Further Observations on the Ostracon, in: Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor (eds.), Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1, 259–260. See also H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, 111–123, with the ‘responses’ by Yardeni, Demsky and Aḥituv in the same volume.

5 http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=2043 (16.7.2011). It should be noted that Galil is inclined to take the honour of the decipherment for himself overlooking the fact that other scholars had done important work on the decipherment (see previous footnote). Galil does not refer to them in the press release. See also the ‘Open Letter to Prof. Gershon Galil’ published at: http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il/galil.asp (16.7.2011). See also H. Shanks, Prize Find, Oldest Hebrew Inscription Discovered in Israelite Fort on Philistine Border, BArR 36.2, 2010, 51–54. In his more recent article in Ugarit Forschungen, Galil is more honest: G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 194–196.

6 These conclusions were adopted by H. Shanks, Prize Find.

7 H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 254–256.

8 The verb עשה was also used extensively in Moabite; see H. Donner/W. Röllig, Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, Band 1, Wiesbaden 52002, 41–42. The other words on the ostracon occur also in other Semitic languages. See further C.A. Rollston, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, 71–76.

9 H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 254.

10 H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 255.

11 E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa et les débuts de la royauté en Israël, RB 117, 2010, 162–184.

12 B. Becking/P. Sanders, De inscriptie uit Khirbet Qeiyafa: Een vroege vorm van sociaal besef in Oud-Israël?, NedThT 64, 2010, 238–252.

13 G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, esp. 196.

14 E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 171–172.

15 G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 196.

16 E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 171, 173–174.

17 G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 196.

18 E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 171, 173–174.

19 See H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 255; A. Yardeni, Further Observations, 259.

20 This rendition, ‘rehabilitate’, is obviously based on Modern Hebrew שקם piʿel ‘to re-establish’. However, the verb is unknown in Biblical Hebrew and West Semitic epigraphy.

21 B. Becking/P. Sanders, De inscriptie uit Khirbet Qeiyafa; pace E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 171.

22 E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 171, 173–174.

23 יסד is attested with ‘the temple’ (e.g., 1Kgs 6:37; Zech 8:9; Ezra 3:6) or ‘the earth’ (e.g., Ps 104:5; Prov. 3:19) as its object.

24 Similarly G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 210–211.

25 Similarly G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 210–211.

26 E.g., in Judg 19:23 (plural), 2Sam 13:12 (singular).

27 E.g., in Ex 10:8, 11, 24.

28 G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 196, 214–215.

29 See, e.g., Ex 21:6; Judg 3:7–8,14; Mal 3:1.

30 See G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 211. C.A. Rollston, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, 74, stresses that in line 2' the reading of a nÛn ([אלמ[ן) is far from certain.

31 See G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 216.

32 For details, see B. Becking/P. Sanders, De inscriptie uit Khirbet Qeiyafa, 241–242.

33 See also G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 214.

34 See also G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 213–214.

35 See also G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 217.

36 See Exod 25:20; the difference in idiom could be explained by accepting that the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription reflects an older phase in the development of the Canaanite/Hebrew language. However, as the verb is very rare in Biblical Hebrew, no firm conclusions can be drawn.

37 See the literature mentioned above in footnote 1.

38 Already in the 14th century BCE, cuneiform Akkadian texts were sent from Jerusalem, which has been confirmed by the recent find of a small piece of a clay tablet in Jerusalem itself. See E. Mazar/W. Horowitz/T. Oshima/Y. Goren, A Cuneiform Tablet from the Ophel in Jerusalem, IEJ 60, 2010, 4–21. Previously, in El Amarna (Egypt) six 14th-century cuneiform letters of a certain king Abdi-Heba from Jerusalem had surfaced. See W.L. Moran, The Amarna Letters, Baltimore 1992, 325–334.

39 I. Finkelstein/N. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origins of the Sacred Texts, New York 2001, 238. They leave the ‘Gezer calendar’ outside their considerations.

40 See now C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, 29–32.

41 S. Levy/G. Edelstein, Cinq années de fouilles à Tel ʿAmal (Nir David), RB 79, 1972, 336, 341: לנמט, ‘to Nimsh(i)’, and […]לאח, ‘for Achy[…]’.

42 G.L. Kelm/A. Mazar, Tel Batash (Timnah) Excavations: Third Preliminary Report (1984–1989), in: Preliminary Reports of ASOR-Sponsored Excavations, 1982–89, BASOR.S 27, Baltimore 1991, 55–56; ב] ן חנן], ‘[the s]on of Hanan’, most probably the owner of the luxury item.

43 S. Bunimovitz/Z. Lederman, Six Seasons of Excavations at Beth Shemesh, Qad. 30, 1997, 22–37. On games from Israel/Palestine, see U. Hübner, Spiele und Spielzeug im antiken Palästina, OBO 121, Fribourg – Göttingen 1992.

44 A. Mazar, Three 10th–9th Century B.C.E. Inscriptions from Tel Reḥōv, in: C.G. den Hertog/U. Hübner/S. Münger (eds.), Saxa Loquentur: Studien zur Archäologie Palästina/Israels. FS fur Volkmar Fritz zum 65. Geburtstag, AOAT 302, Münster 2003, 171–184.

45 A. Mazar/N. Panitz-Cohen, It is the Land of Honey: Beekeeping at Tel Reḥōv, NEA 70, 2007, 202–219; B. Becking, David between Evidence and Ideology, in: B. Becking/L.L. Grabbe (eds.), History of Israel between Evidence and Ideology, OTS 59, Leiden 2011, 14–15, 21–22.

46 R.E. Tappy/M.J. Lundberg/P.K. McCarter/B. Zuckerman, An Abecedary of the Mid-Tenth Century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah, BASOR 344, 2006, 5–46; see also: R.E. Tappy/P.K. McCarter (eds.), Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context, Winona Lake 2008. The archaeological context supplies a certain date in the 10th century.

47 See A. Lemaire, Les écoles et la formation de la Bible dans l'Ancien Israël, OBO 121, Fribourg – Göttingen 1981; C.A. Rollston, Scribal Education in Ancient Israel: The Old Hebrew Epigraphic Evidence, BASOR 344, 2006, 47–74; K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Cambridge (Ma.) – London 2007, 75–108; S.L. Sanders, The Invention of Hebrew (Traditions), Urbana (Il.) 2009, 93–97, 129–130; C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, 111.

48 An inscription from ʿIzbet Sartah – in the coastal plain – is even dated to the 12th or 11th century; see M. Kochavi, An Ostracon of the Period of the Judges from ʿIzbet Sartah, Tel Aviv 4, 1977, 1–13; A. Demsky, A Proto-Canaanite Abecedary Dating from the Period of the Judges and its Implications for the History of the Alphabet, Tel Aviv 4, 1977, 14–27.

49 Pace W.M. Schniedewind, How the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of Ancient Israel, Cambridge 2004, 48–63.

50 S.L. Sanders, The Invention of Hebrew, 108–113; see also H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 246–254; C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, 27–37.

51 See recently S.L. Sanders, Writing and Early Iron Age Israel: Before National Scripts, beyond Nations and States, in: R.E. Tappy/P.K. McCarter (eds.), Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan, 104.

52 See D.M. Master, State Formation Theory and the Kingdom of Ancient Israel, JNES 60, 2001, 117–131; C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, 127–136.

53 See also H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 246–254; G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 199–210.

54 For the sophistication of experienced scribes in ancient Israel and Judah, see C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, esp. 127–132.

55 See also A. Demsky, in: D. Amit/G.D. Stiebel/O. Peleg-Barkat (eds.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, 227; S. Aḥituv, in: Idem, 131–132; G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 222. Galil apparently adopted this view from our Dutch essay that we had sent him before he published his article.

56 See G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 199–210.

57 See also E. Puech, L'ostracon de Khirbet Qeyafa, 165–170; G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 199–200; C.A. Rollston, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, 77.

58 See also G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 221.

59 See also Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 221.

60 See next to G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Netaʿim, 221, e.g., R. Treiman, Beginning to Spell, New York 1993; S. Abu-Rabia/H. Taha, Phonological Errors Predominate in Arabic Spelling Across Grades 1–9, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 35, 2006, 167–188.

61 See already H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 255.

62 Remark by G. Galil quoted in the press release of the University of Haifa, http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=2043 (16.7.2011). Galil's approach is more nuanced in The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Neta'im, 227–229, which seems to be due to our critical remarks in B. Becking/P. Sanders, De inscriptie uit Khirbet Qeiyafa, 247–249.

63 Deut 24:17 (WEB); cf. 27:19.

64 Jer 7:5–7 (WEB); cf. 22:3.

65 Cf. Isa 1:17b. See also C. van Leeuwen, Le développement du sens social en Israël avant l'ère chrétienne. SSN 1, Assen 1954; E. Otto, Theologische Ethik des Alten Testaments, ThW 3.2, Stuttgart – Berlin – Köln 1994, 59–61, 244–248; J.W. Rogerson, Theory and Practice in Old Testament Ethics (edited and with an introduction by M. Daniel Carroll R.), JSOT.S 405, London – New York 2004, 109–112.

66 The following article is older but still informative: F.C. Fensham, Widow, Orphan, and Poor in Ancient Near Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature, JNES 21, 1962, 129–139. See also E. Otto, Die biblische Rechtsgeschichte im Horizont des altorientalischen Rechts, in: E. Otto, Altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte: Gesammelte Studien, BZAR 8, Wiesbaden 2008, 56–82.

67 Codex Hammurabi XLVII r. 59–78. Translation from W.W. Hallo (ed.), The Context of Scripture, Volume 2, Leiden – Boston 2003, 351. The same theme can be found in the prologue of the Ur-Nammu Codex; see J.V. Canby, The “Ur-Nammu” Stela, University Museum Monographs 110, Philadelphia 2001, 13–17.

68 Translation in W.W. Hallo (ed.), The Context of Scripture, Volume 1, Leiden – Boston 1997, 526; cf. also W. Heimpel, The Nanshe Hymn, JCS 33, 1981, 65–139.

69 A. 1968:7'–10', see M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (with contributions by C.L. Seow and R.K. Ritner), SBL.WAW 12, Atlanta 2003, 22 (No. 2). The text is partially damaged.

70 KTU 1.16:vi.45–50. Translation: J.C. de Moor, An Anthology of Religious Texts From Ugarit, Leiden 1987, 222; cf. E.L. Greenstein, in: S.B. Parker (ed.), Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, SBL.WAW 9, 1997, 41.

71 KTU 1.17:v.7–8. Translation J.C. de Moor, An Anthology, 233; cf. S.B. Parker, in Parker (ed.), Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 59.

72 Hebrew אלמן ‘widow’ // Ugaritic ʾalmnt; Hebrew טפט ‘judge’ // Ugaritic ṯpṭ; Hebrew דל ‘poor’ // Ugaritic dl; Hebrew יתם ‘orphan’ // Ugaritic ytm.

73 However, we do not share the opinion that in the Ancient Near East there was a common ethos without local variations. This opinion is rightly contested by E. Otto, Jenseits der These einer einheitlichen Rechtskultur eines ‘common law’ im Alten Orient, ZAR 15, 2009, 333–343.

74 Cf. W.G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, Oxford 1960, 86–89, 100–101.

75 Cf. Job 29:7–17. For the exact location where the ostracon was found, see H. Misgav/Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, The Ostracon, 243.

76 Contra S.L. Sanders, The Invention of Hebrew, 85. C.A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, esp. 134–135, also assumes that before the 8th century literary compositions could be produced in Israel and Judah.

77 Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor, Khirbet Qeiyafa in Context, in: Y. Garfinkel/S. Ganor (eds.), Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1, 3–18. Archaeologist Eilat Mazar argues that some buildings in Jerusalem that were unearthed under her direction date from the time of David and Solomon; see E. Mazar, Did I Find King David's Palace?, BArR 32/1, 2006, 16–27, 70; E. Mazar, The Palace of King David: Excavations at the Summit of the City of David. Preliminary Report of Seasons 2005–2007, Jerusalem – New York 2009. Mazar's suggestion is contested in I. Finkelstein/Z. Herzog/L. Singer-Avitz/D. Ussishkin, Has King David's Palace in Jerusalem Been Found?, Tel Aviv 34, 2007, 142–164.

78 For the inscription, see H. Hagelia, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Critical Investigation of Recent Research on Its Palaeography and Philology, SSU 22, Uppsala 2006; for the consensus see B. Halpern, David's Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King, Grand Rapids – Cambridge 2001, 71; K.L. Noll, Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction, BiSe 83, London – New York 2001, 223–224; I. Finkelstein, N. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, 238, 264–266. For a critical voice, see P.R. Davies, Memories of Ancient Israel: An Introduction to Biblical History – Ancient and Modern, Louisville – London 2008, 95–97.

79 Galil expresses a slightly more moderate view in G. Galil, The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Neta‘im’, 223–227.

80 Cf. W. Dietrich, Die frühe Königszeit in Israel: 10. Jahrhundert v. Chr., Biblische Enzyklopädie 3, Stuttgart – Berlin – Köln 1997; S.L. McKenzie, King David: A Biography, Oxford 2000; Halpern, David's Secret Demons.

81 J. van Seters, The Biblical Saga of King David, Winona Lake 2009.

82 M. Garsiel, The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographic Source, JHS 10, 2010, # 5; Sanders, The Invention of Hebrew, 113. See also Noll, Canaan and Israel in Antiquity, 174–179.