Royal Dynasties in Ancient Israel

Preface
The present study is the result of my doctoral dissertation which was submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and the Senate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in March 1974, and was approved by them in November of the same year. The work was carried out under the supervision of Professors A. Malamat and B. Mazar. Some revisions of the text and additions of the literature which appeared since that date have been introduced, but only to a limited extent. Although I undertook the research for this study in 1968, it is clear
that this is a product of my study in Jerusalem since 1963, where many prominent scholars and serious students are engaged with unparalleled enthusiasm in researches into the history, languages and other studies of ancient Israel and the ancient Near East. Without participating in these exciting academic activities in Jerusalem, I could have never
produced this study. Therefore, I am much indebted to all my teachers and colleagues in Jerusalem who illuminated problems of my study directly and indirectly.
At this opportunity, I should like to express my special thanks to Professors A. Malamat and B. Mazar for their constant guidance and encouragement as the supervisors of my doctoral research and their most inspiring teaching, which I have enjoyed since the first year of my study in Jerusalem. Thanks are owed to those who took part in the seminar of the Hebrew University for the graduate students of the School of History of the Jewish People in Biblical Times, conducted by both my supervisors, where I read parts of the study and received
valuable comments. I am very grateful to Professor K. Deller of Heidelberg and Professor H. Tadmor of Jerusalem, both of whom kindly showed me their unpublished manuscripts of Akkadian texts, which I could utilize in the study.
I owe thanks to the Hebrew University, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel for their generous grants, which enabled me to complete my ten-year study in Jerusalem.
I thank Professor G. Fohrer for his kind acceptance of my dissertation in the series of Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. I am also obliged to Mr. M. Nurock for his help in improving my English text.
University of Tsukuba, Japan, August 1976 Tomoo Ishida