Quinn Daniels

New York University, Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Post-Doc

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Please feel free to email me if you would like any of these papers. Email: [email protected]

Dissertation: The Kingdom of Israel in the Desert Lands South of Judah and the Formation of Biblical Traditions (Summer 2023)

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The Meṣad Ḥashavyahu Ostracon in its Regional, Economic, and Political Context

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2024

This article uses updated models of the 7th-century BCE economy to argue that the harvesting acti... more This article uses updated models of the 7th-century BCE economy to argue that the harvesting activities reported in the Meṣad Ḥashavyahu ostracon occurred at a small grain-cultivating site located in the Judahite highlands. The distance between this farmstead and the inscription's coastal findspot explains why the ostracon was inscribed in the first place: the harvester could not appeal his case in person. As can be detected in the complaint, the granary complex in the Judahite highlands specialised in cereal products and was conversely not designed for the cultivation of a diversity of crops for local subsistence. This economic choice likely originated in Judah's effort to contribute its own grain surpluses to a broader regional network of trade and commerce, one which was defined by specialised zones of surplus production that originated in the wake of Sennacherib's campaign in 701 BCE. Because Egypt build the fortress in which the inscription was found and moreover coerced Judah's king and people into a new system of obligatory payment (2 Kgs 23:29–35), the ostracon represents a stunning glimpse into a time when Judah's own administration was forcing its labourers to meet the extractive demands of an external power. The commander (śar) in the fortress was the logical authority for the harvester's case, as (1) a high-ranking figure close to both the Egyptian and Judahite powers, (2) a recipient of inland grain products, and (3) a potential keeper of important transactional documents.

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Inscribing the Northern Kingdom of Israel's Eastern and Southern Interests: The Exodus–Wilderness–Eastern Conquest Tradition

Transjordan and the Southern Levant: New Approaches Regarding the Iron Age and the Persian Period from Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology, 2024

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The Root of Ephraim among Amalek in the Song of Deborah

JBL 142, 2023

In the Song of Deborah’s list of groups that went to war, the phrase “from Ephraim, their root in... more In the Song of Deborah’s list of groups that went to war, the phrase “from Ephraim, their root in/among Amalek” (Judg 5:14a) has not been adequately explained. To better understand this line and the odd relationship it seems to recall, I investigate the crucial lexeme “root” שרש (*šrš) in biblical and extrabiblical sources. The analysis reveals that a “root” metaphorically refers to a man’s current or future “patrilineage,” that is, his line of male ancestors and offspring. In the Song of Deborah, the “root” of Ephraim therefore refers to one or many of its high-ranking patrilineal lines. Abdon ben Hillel in Judg 12:13–15 supports this conception, as he is, on the one hand, crucially buried at a location defined by both Ephraim and Amalek and, on the other, is portrayed as a prolific progenitor of male sons. In applying this definition of “root” to the internal logic of the Song of Deborah, I conclude that the fighting force from Ephraim was a body of high-ranking lineage-based leadership that mustered Amalekites (and Benjaminites) to war in the Jezreel valley. Alongside Ephraim’s leader(s), Amalek too fought for the allied “people of YHWH” (Judg 5:13).

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The Meṣad Ḥashavyahu Ostracon in its Regional, Economic, and Political Context

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2024

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Inscribing the Northern Kingdom of Israel's Eastern and Southern Interests: The Exodus–Wilderness–Eastern Conquest Tradition

Transjordan and the Southern Levant: New Approaches Regarding the Iron Age and the Persian Period from Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology, 2024

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The Root of Ephraim among Amalek in the Song of Deborah

JBL 142, 2023

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