| Chapter 1 | Introduction | |
| A. | Archaeology or Biblical Criticism? | 1 |
| B. | The Biblical Chronologies for the Patriarchal Period | 9 |
| Chapter 2 | The Names of the Patriarchs and the "Patriarchal Period" | |
| A. | Statement of the Problem | 17 |
| B. | The Names in Context: Abraham | 22 |
| C. | Isaac, Israel, and Jacob | 36 |
| Chapter 3 | Mari and the Patriarchs | |
| A. | "Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria ..." | 52 |
| B. | "Benjamin" at Mari | 58 |
| Chapter 4 | The Early West Semites of Mesopotamia and the "Patriarchal Period" | |
| A. | The "Amorites" of Ur III and Mari | 67 |
| B. | Proto-Aramaeans | 75 |
| C. | The Early West Semitic "Migration" from Ur to Harran | 79 |
| Chapter 5 | The Early West Semites in Palestine and Syria | |
| A. | The "Patriarchal Period" | 89 |
| B. | The Linguistic Material for Palestine from the Early Second Millenium | 91 |
| C. | The Execration Texts and their Historical Setting | 98 |
| D. | The Dating of the Execration Texts | 106 |
| E. | The Execration Texts and the Political Organization of Palestine at the End of the Twelfth Dynasty | 113 |
| Chapter 6 | Egypt and the Amorite Question | |
| A. | The Incursion of the Amorites into the Eastern Delta | 118 |
| B. | The '[characters not reproducible]mw and the Amurru | 121 |
| C. | The "Asiatics" of the Eastern Desert | 123 |
| D. | Sinai and the Delta in Old and Middle Kingdom Records | 134 |
| E. | The Incursion of the '[characters not reproducible]mw into Egypt during the First Intermediate Period | 137 |
| Chapter 7 | EB IV/MB I: A Period of Amorite Semi-Nomadic Invasions? | |
| A. | The Influence of the Amorite Hypothesis on Archaeological Interpretation | 144 |
| B. | The Evidence for an Invasion from the North | 159 |
| C. | The So-called Nomadic Character of EB IV/MB I | 165 |
| Chapter 8 | Abraham as a Caravaneer | |
| A. | The Thesis of C. H. Gordon and W. F. Albright | 172 |
| B. | Some Chronological Notes on EB IV/MB I | 175 |
| C. | Abraham the Caravaneer, and EB IV/MB I | 180 |
| D. | Abraham and the Hapiru Caravans | 184 |
| Chapter 9 | The Problem of Historicity and Genesis 14 | 187 |
| Chapter 10 | Nuzi and the Patriarchal Narratives | |
| A. | The Discovery of the Texts and their Dating | 196 |
| B. | Nuzi Family Customs and the Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives | 199 |
| C. | Gen 15[subscript 2-4] | 203 |
| D. | Gen 11[subscript 29] | 230 |
| E. | Gen 12[subscript 10-20] 20[subscript 1-18] and 26[subscript 6-11] | 234 |
| F. | Gen 24 | 248 |
| G. | Gen 16 21[subscript 1-21] and 29[subscript 31]--30[subscript 24] | 252 |
| H. | Gen 29[subscript 9-30] and 30[subscript 25]--31[subscript 54] | 269 |
| J. | Gen 25[subscript 29-34] | 280 |
| K. | Gen 27[subscript 1-45] | 285 |
| L. | Conclusion to Chapter 10 | 294 |
| Chapter 11 | Genesis 11[subscript 10]--12[subscript 9] and the Wanderings of Abraham | |
| A. | The Patriarchs and the Aramaeans | 298 |
| B. | The Editorial Construction of the Wanderings of Abraham | 308 |
| C. | Some Notes on the Structure of Genealogies and Sagas in Antiquity | 311 |
| Chapter 12 | Summary and Conclusions | |
| A. | The Historical Background of the Patriarchal Narratives | 315 |
| B. | Historical and Christian Faith | 326 |
| Abbreviations | 330 |
| Bibliography | 336 |
| Index | 379 |
