Given the length of this monograph, I have provided aids to make its
contents more accessible, and its comparative analysis more useful.
The first aid is the Table of Contents. Its organization reflects my thesis:
the Covenanters’ alternative civic ideology motivated their development
of organizational and regulatory patterns along the lines of a
state. Evidence in support for the thesis often comes in the laws of the
Rule Scrolls themselves, which reflect state-like concerns (e.g., capital
punishment, proper conduct during warfare, authority over the Jerusalem
priesthood and temple cult, registration of native-born citizens,
comprehensive care for the vulnerable); much evidence also comes in
analogies to contemporary political literature and practices. Complementary
to the TOC, and probably more immediately useful, are the
synoptic tables at the end of the Conclusion and Synopsis (Chapter
Six).