Re-reading Mobility, Settlement, and Religion in Ancient Israel and Judah

This paper examines well-rehearsed narratives of Israel’s emergence through the lens of mobility and migration studies. I offer an account of Yahwism’s arrival and acceptance in the region through a mobilities-informed analysis and conclude with an exposition of the lingering tensions between mobility and settlement in Israel’s religious life and Judah’s Bible. The paper aims to demonstrate that we can cultivate accurate social models that account for the relational intersection of mobility, religion, and settlement, and in doing so, better articulate the social grammars and physical infrastructures that establish and enforce particular cultures of mobility.