Table of Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Plates -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One. INTRODUCTION -- Reasons for Their Neglect -- Principle Aims of the Current Study -- Chapter Two. TENT TERMINOLOGY: THE MANY WORDS FOR TENTS AND THEIR INTERCHANGEABILITY -- 1. Tent (אהל) -- 2. Booth (סכה) -- 3. Tabernacle (משכן) -- Ten Additional Tent-related Designations (צל ,סתר ,חזה ,טרה ,נוה ,יריעה ,שפריר ,חפה ,רק ,קכה) -- Tent Accessories -- Tent Verbs -- Ambiguity in Hebrew Terms for Dwellings -- Portable Terminology for Permanent Dwellings-אהל for בית -- Portable Terminology for Permanent Dwellings- משכן for בית and היכל -- Permanent Domiciliary Terminology for Portable Dwellings -- Sociohistorical Reasons for Fluidity in Terminology -- A Few Further Remarks on the Fluidity in Terms for Dwellings -- Chapter Three. TENT HOMES: THE TEXTUAL CASE FOR ANCIENT ISRAEL'S TENT-DWELLING HERITAGE -- Ancient Israel's Tent-Dwelling Heritage: The Evidence from Genesis -- Ancient Israel's Tent-Dwelling Heritage: The Period of Wanderings -- Yahweh's Tent-Dwelling Heritage -- Positively Connoted Tents and Their Inhabitants in the Hebrew Bible -- Arabian Tents of the Past Remembered Fondly: A Case-Study From Modern Jordan -- Persian Tent-Heritage Maintained -- Tent-Dwellers of the Bronze Age: The Amurru, Habiru, Shasu, and Israelites -- Some Concluding Remarks on Ancient Israelite Tent Homes -- Chapter Four. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF TENTS AND PASTORAL NOMADS -- Archaeological Evidence For and Against Ancient Israel's Tent-Dwelling Heritage -- Houses from Tent Prototypes: The Evolution of Architecture -- Missing Tents in the Material Record: The Case from Qumran -- Tent Homes and Nomadism in the Early Iron Age: New Evidence from the Jabal Hamrat Fidan Project Cemetery and Survey -- Some Concluding Remarks on the Archaeology of Tents.

Chapter Five. MILITARY TENTS: AN ANCIENT TRADITION -- Egyptian Military Tents -- Assyrian Military Tents -- Canaanite Military Tents -- Military Tents from Greece, Persia, and Rome -- The Israelites' Enemies and Their Tents in the Hebrew Bible -- King David's Military Tent -- Two Tents, Two Heroines, and Two Dead Generals: The Cases of Jael and Judith -- Israelite and Opposing Militaries Campaigning in Tents, and Issues of Sanitation -- Israelite and Syrian Militaries Campaigning in Booths -- Some Concluding Remarks on Military Tents in the Hebrew Bible -- Chapter Six. LOVE TENTS: SEX AND MARRIAGE UNDER TENT SHELTERS -- Tents in Israelite Marriage Ceremonies -- Marriage-Tents: The Extra-biblical Evidence -- Four Lascivious Stories with a Tent Setting: Ham, Jael, Judith, and Pughat -- The Many Lusts of the Tent-Girl Sisters in Ezekiel 23 -- The Love Tabernacle: Taboo Sex in Yahweh's Tent -- David's Concubines, A Rooftop Tent, and Absalom's Claim on the Throne -- Chapter Seven. TABERNACLE PARALLELS: NEAR EASTERN PORTABLE SHRINES ACROSS THE AGES -- History of Research -- Bedouin and Pre-Islamic Shrines: The 'utfah, mahmal, and the qubba -- The Ka'ba and the Tabernacle -- Tents in Ugaritic and Hittite Mythology and the Tabernacle -- Portable Shrines of Phoenicia and Carthage: The Literary Evidence -- Portable Shrines in Phoenicia, Syria, and Judea: Pictorial Evidence -- Egyptian Funeral Tents -- The Tent of Min -- Other Egyptian Tent Shrines -- Tent Homes of the Egyptian Gods -- Rameses's Military Camp and the Tabernacle -- Mesopotamian Tent Shrines and 10 Big Qersu from Mari -- A Midianite Tent Shrine in the Negev -- Semitic Names, Sacred Tents, and a New Etymology for Aaron -- Making Tents in the Temple? Further Evidence for Tent Shrines -- Tent-like Temples: Jerusalem, Tayinat, and Arad -- Chapter Eight. THE TABERNACLE: HISTORICITY, FORM, AND FATE.

The Actuality of the Tabernacle -- P's Motivation and the Model for the Tabernacle: A Synthesis -- The Tabernacle's Form -- A. Boards -- B. Two Corner Pieces and the Arrangement of the Boards -- C. Bars -- D. Curtains of Fine Linen -- E. Curtain of Goat-Hair -- F. Skins -- G. Veil/Canopy -- H. Screen/Cover -- Comprehensive Solutions to the Tabernacle Puzzle: Some Variations on a Standard Model -- Sloped-Roof Reconstruction with Ridgepole -- Curtains Inside Frame -- Rationale for the 30 X 10 Cubit Tabernacle -- Another Tenable Tent: Friedman's Tabernacle -- Could the Tabernacle Have Stood in the Temple? -- A New Reconstruction of the Tabernacle -- Will the Real Tabernacle Please Stand Up: The Quest for an Unobtainable Solution and Other Conclusions -- Chapter Nine. TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL! THE LEGACY OF A TENT HERITAGE IN AN ARCHAIC PROCLAMATION OF DISBANDMENT -- To Your Tents, O Israel! Some Possible Interpretations -- To Your Tents, O Israel, O Ugarit, and O Egypt! The Meeting is Adjourned -- Conclusion -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- TEXTUAL CITATION INDEX -- SUBJECT INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z -- PLATES.