Ancient Near Eastern Index – Parashat Vayakhel

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See The Tabernacle: A Bronze Age Artifact, by Kenneth A. Kitchen, for comparison of the structure, characteristics, and furnishings of the Tabernacle to parallels in other Ancient Near Eastern societies of the late Bronze Age, including Egypt and Ugarit. Kitchen argues that the descriptions of the Tabernacle are consistent with this historical context.
See The Jewish Temple at Elephantine, by Stephen G. Rosenberg, for a discussion about a temple from antiquity in Elephantine that was designed to resemble the Tabernacle.

See The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context, by David A. Falk, for Ancient Near Eastern parallels and analysis of how the construction of the ark turned idolatrous ideas on their heads to introduce principles of monotheism.

See Understanding the Jewish Menorah for information about an ancient engraving depicting the menorah found in a drainage channel near the City of David. Archaeologists suggest that the engravng was made by a passerby who saw the [Temple] menorah with his own eyes …and incised his impressions on a stone."The article questions whether the Menorah had a tripod base or a solid triangular one and how much one can rely on depictions of the Menorah when trying to determine how it looked.
For images of archaeological finds which depict the Menorah and might similarly shed light on how it looked, see Olam HaMikra and the discussion there.

See Text and Textile in Exodus: Toward A Clearer Understanding of Ma’aseh Choshev, by Judith Lapkin Craig, for discussion of the term "מַעֲשֵׂה חֹשֵׁב". She suggests that the common translation of "designer work" is too general, and that in light of evidence from the Ancient Near East, it seems to instead refer to a very specific technique, one associated with the art of sash-making.

See Tanakh and the Literature of the Ancient Near East (3), by R. Amnon Bazak, for analysis of the claim that ancient Mesopotamian literature contains parallels to the institution of Shabbat. R. Bazak demonstrates the significant differences between the Biblical and Mesopotamian institutions.¹ While the latter were very much related to the lunar calendar and considered days of bad luck, appeasement to the gods, and meant for only a small segment of society, the Biblical Shabbat is unrelated to the lunar cycle, is considered a day of blessing and affirmation of faith in Hashem as creator, and is an egalitarian institution applying to everyone from servants to rulers.