Acknowledgments
Translator's Note
Introduction: When God Fought the Sea DragonsPart 1. The World of Myth
1. Eden's Winged Serpent
2. When Gods Seduced Women
3. Moses or God? Who Split the Sea of Reeds?
4. What Is Manna?
5. The Hero Who Stopped the Sun
Part 2. Cult and Sacred Geography
6. The Wandering Gate of Heaven
7. Seeing and Weeping: Managing the Story of a Divine Defeat
8. Where Were Rachel and Jacob Buried?
9. Where in the Wilderness Did Israel Receive the Torah?
10. Some More Reasons for Eating Matzah
11. Was Worshiping the Golden Calf a Sin?
12. Where Was the Law Given? In the Wilderness or in the Land of Israel?
13. When and How Was the City of Dan Sanctified?
Part 3. Biblical Heroes and Their Biographies
14. What Did Ham Do to His Father?
15. Out of the Fire: Recovering the Story of Abraham's Origins
16. The Reinterpretation of a Name: Jacob's In Utero Activities
17. Were the Israelites Never in Egypt? A Peculiar Tradition about Ephraim
18. Moses's Most Miraculous Birth
19. Moses's African Romance
20. Moses's Necessary Death
21. Son of God? The Suspicious Story of Samson's Birth
22. A Cinderella Tale: Clues to David's Lost Birth Story
23. Finding the Real Killer of Goliath
24. How a Savior Became a Villain: Jeroboam and the Exodus
Part 4. Relations between Men and Women
25. Sister or Not: Sarah's Adventures with Pharaoh
26. The Story of Rebekah and the Servant on the Road from Haran
27. Reuben, Bilhah, and a Silent Jacob
28. Seduction before Murder: The Case of Jael
29. No Innocent Death: David, Abigail, and Nabal
30. Not Just Riddles: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
In Closing
Glossary of Extra-Biblical Sources
Index