The Ark of the Covenant and Divine Wrath in the Ancient Near East

Maria J. Metzler analyzes the role of the Ark of the Covenant during violent episodes in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in the Deuteronomistic History, through a nuanced reading of its form. She offers both a biography of the Ark and an analysis of the unaccountability of the rage of God in the Hebrew Bible, as well as considering divine wrath in the ancient Near East. In the book, Metzler considers the role of the Ark of the Covenant as a piece of cultic furniture mysteriously infused with the presence—and wrath—of Yahweh. She also examines the significance of the Ark in the conquest of Canaan in Joshua, and the connection between the Ark as Yahweh's throne and the throne in the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, which enables the plague god Nergal/Erra to pass through the borders of the Netherworld and conquer Queen Ereshkigal. Other topics considered in the book include the destructive rampage of the Ark in 1–2 Samuel in comparison to that of Erra as depicted in the Babylonian poem Erra and Ishum, and the role of female characters in the Ark Narrative and the Oresteia trilogy, which provides a feminist dimension to the analysis.