"Opening Israel's Scriptures" is a collection of thirty-six essays on the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis to Chronicles, which gives powerful insight into the complexity and inexhaustibility of the Hebrew Scriptures as a theological resource. Based on more than two decades of lectures on Old Testament interpretation, Ellen F. Davis offers a selective yet comprehensive guide to the core concepts, literary patterns, storylines, and theological perspectives that are central to Israel's Scriptures. Underlying the whole study is the primary assumption that each book of the canon has literary and theological coherence, though not uniformity.In both her close readings of individual texts and in her broad demonstrations of the coherence of whole books, Davis models the best practices of contemporary exegesis, integrating the insights of contemporary scholars with those of classical theological resources in Jewish and Christian traditions. Throughout, she keeps an eye to the experiences and concerns of contemporary readers, showing through multiple examples that the critical interpretation of texts is provisional, open-ended work—a collaboration across generations and cultures. Ultimately what she offers is an invitation into the more spacious world that the Bible discloses, which challenges ordinary conceptions of how things "really" are.

IntroductionDoing Justice: The Practical and Critical Interpretation of Scripture1 Genesis"As Our Image" - Genesis 1:1-2:3Complementarity and Rupture - Genesis 2:4-11:32Beginning with Blessing - Genesis 12-502 ExodusGetting Out of Egypt - Exodus 1-15Becoming God's People - Exodus 16-403 LeviticusEmbodying Holiness - Leviticus 1-15At-Onement with YHWH and with Land - Leviticus 16-274 NumbersMarked for Blessing, Plagued by Sin - Numbers 11-24Slowing Down for Violence - Numbers 5 and 255 DeuteronomyLearning to Love and to Fear - Deuteronomy 1-11Torah and Life in the Land - Deuteronomy 12-346 JoshuaThe Un-Conquest Narrative - JoshuaThe Big Upheaval: Canaan in the Thirteenth Century - Excursus7 JudgesLeadership and Its Discontents - Judges8 RuthVulnerable Protectors - Ruth9 1-2 Samuel & 1 KingsThe United Monarchy: The Hope That (Mostly) Failed - PrefaceThe Tragedy of the Chosen: Saul's Kingship - 1 SamuelDavid in Perspective - 2 SamuelWisdom, Power, Worship: Solomon's Reign - 1 Kings 1-12The Sovereignty of the Prophetic Word - 1 Kings 13-2110 Minor ProphetsAn Eighth-Century Poetry Jam: Prophetic Performances - PrefaceQuestioning Prosperity - AmosJustice and Intimacy - Micah and HoseaHating Our Enemies - 2 Kings, Nahum, and Jonah11 IsaiahSeeing the King - Isaiah 1-39The Vision Expands - Isaiah 40-6612 Jeremiah & LamentationsWell Acquainted with Grief - PrefaceTelling God the Truth - JeremiahThe Love Poetry of Disaster - Lamentations13 EzekielProphecy at the End of the World - Ezekiel and Haggai14 The PsalmsReality and Praise - PsalmsThe Wisdom of Lament - Psalms15 Proverbs & EcclesiastesThe Poetry of the Ordinary - Proverbs and Ecclesiastes16 Job & the Song of SongsIntimacy with God: The Agony and the Ecstasy - PrefaceLearning to Struggle with God - JobThe Ecstasy of Intimacy - Song of Songs17 Esther & DanielEquipping Jewish Imagination in a Gentile World - PrefaceJoking about Genocide - EstherSurviving the Furnace of History - Daniel18 Ezra-Nehemiah & 1-2 ChroniclesNegotiating Identity - PrefaceSettling the Land a Second Time - Ezra-NehemiahReading the Story Once More - 1-2 ChroniclesGlossaryScripture IndexIndex

Ellen F. Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke University. She has previously held positions at Union Theological Seminary, Yale University, and Virginia Theological Seminary. She is a theological consultant within the Anglican Communion and the author of Preaching the Luminous Word, Biblical Prophecy, and Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: an Agrarian Reading of the Bible.