The marz_-ea_.h in the prophetic literature : an examination of the references and possible allusions in light of the extra-biblical evidence

"The word ''marze_ah&dotbelow;'' occurs in epigraphic and literary contexts from a variety of locations in the ancient Near East encompassing a period of three thousand years. These references indicate the '' marze_ah&dotbelow;'' played an important social, political and economic role in the ancient semitic world. It is surprising, therefore, that the word only occurs twice in the Bible, at Amos 6:7 and Jer 16:5. As a result, in recent years scholars have claimed a number of texts, mostly within the prophetic literature, allude to the ''marze_ah&dotbelow;'' without using the word itself. This is done on different grounds in each case, which begs the question whether there are fundamental elements of the '' marze_ah&dotbelow;'' that should be present before such texts can be considered allusions to the ''marze_ah&dotbelow;''. This study addresses that methodological issue by examining all of the extra-biblical ''marze_ah&dotbelow;'' references in order to identify features consistently present throughout the''marze_ah&dotbelow; ''''s history..."