Agency, Kinship and the Case of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

ABSTRACT

Scholars who study the Northern Kingdom of Israel repeatedly refer to it as a centralised state or kingdom and often take a neo-evolutionary approach in their assessments of its character. This paper argues for a different approach, one in which the agency of northern Israelite actors/taxpayers and their intricate kinship-based networks are highlighted. It applies collective action theory, which states that rational social actors cooperate with rulers, and the patrimonial household model, which states that social order is viewed as the extension of the ruler’s (and god’s) household, to an analysis of administration and cult in northern Israel during the Iron II. It argues that the Omrides benefited from taxpayer cooperation and a reliance on complex kin-based systems. The same can be said for the Nimshides who, it is suggested, were operating within an even less centralised system than their predecessors.

KEYWORDS:

• State formation
• centralisation
• Omrides
• Nimshides
• Iron IIA
• Iron IIB
• cult
• economy

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Eli Itkin for reviewing drafts of this article as well as the anonymous readers who contributed helpful insights. This paper was funded by and supported through my post-doctoral work at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. However, the section on cult is inspired by my PhD at Tel Aviv University, and I would also like to thank my advisor, Israel Finkelstein, for supporting me through the doctoral process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 As Thomas (2021) has recently pointed out, the term state is even problematic given it is a poorly understood etic category when applied to the northern Israelite kingdom.

2 The differences between these two jars were also noted by Y. Alexandre and the locally manufactured variant is classified in her work as ‘regular ridged-neck jars’ (Gal and Alexandre 2000, 48).

Additional information

Funding

Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa; ‘The History of the Pentateuch: Combining Literary and Archaeological Approaches’, Swiss National Science Fund (Sinergia project CRSII1 160785/1)

Notes on contributors

Erin Hall

Erin Hall is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology. She earned three BAs at the University of Connecticut in 2012, in Classics & Mediterranean Studies, History and Religion. After completing her undergraduate degrees, she attended Tel Aviv University, earning an MA in 2016 and a PhD in 2021. Her dissertation focused on cult in northern Canaan/Israel during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and will soon become a book.