The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts 9780684869124, 0684869128

Citation preview

I

i

UNEARTHED ^ARCHAEOLOGY'S NEW VISION OF ANCIENT ISRAEL ANO THE ORIGIN OF ITS SACRED TEXTS

##

lie?

-

SKwSS

SILBERMAN

v:

J

The

Bible

Unearthed Archaeology's

and

New

Vision of Ancient Israel

Origin of

the

Its

Sacred Texts

ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN and

NEIL ASHER SILBERMAN

A

TOUCHSTONE BOOK

PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY SINGAPORE

TOUCHSTONE Rockefeller Center

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020 Copyright

© 2001 by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman All rights reserved,

including the right of reproduction in

whole or

First

any form.

in part in

Touchstone Edition 2002

For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact

Simon

& Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798

or [email protected]

Touchstone and colophon of Simon

are trademarks

& Schuster Inc.

Designed by Charles B. Hames

Manufactured

United States of America

in the

13579 The

10

8642

Library of Congress has cataloged the Free Press edition as follows: Finkelstein, Israel:

The

Bible unearthed

:

archaeology's

of its sacred texts

/

by

new vision of ancient

Israel Finkelstein p.

Israel

and the origin

and Neil Asher Silberman.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. 1.

Bible.

O.T.

—

Antiquities. 1.

2.

Bible.

O.T.

Silberman, Neil Asher

— 11.

Evidences, authority, Title.

BS621.F56 2001 221. 9'5

—

dc2i

00-057311

isbn 0-684-86912-8

0-684-86913-6 (Pbk)

etc.

Acknowledgments

Almost eight years ago families

on the

— during —

coast of Maine

a peaceful

summer weekend with our

the idea for this

book was born. The de-

bate about the historical reliability of the Bible was again beginning to attract considerable attention outside scholarly circles

realization that

needed. In

it,

chaeological

an updated book on

we would

and

set

out what

and we came

to the

this subject for general readers

we

was

believed to be the compelling ar-

historical evidence for a

new understanding of the

rise

of

ancient Israel and the emergence of its sacred historical texts.

Over the intervening years, the archaeological grown

increasingly bitter.

sonal attacks

It

has sunk

—

and accusations of hidden

in

battle over the Bible has

some times and places

Did

political motives.

—

to per-

the Exodus

happen? Was there a conquest of Canaan? Did David and Solomon actually rule

over a vast empire? Questions like these have attracted the atten-

tion of journalists

and commentators

all

over the world.

discussion of each of these questions has often gone far fines

of academic archaeology and

tested realms of theology

and

the public

biblical criticism into the hotly

con-

religious belief.

Despite the passions aroused by this subject,

ment of finds from

And

beyond the con-

earlier excavations

we

believe that a reassess-

and the continuing

discoveries

by

new digs have made it clear that scholars must now approach the problems

Acknowledgments of biblical origins and ancient

Israelite society

spective. In the following chapters,

contention and

we must

Before beginning,

if

our reconstruction

Our direct quotations from

RSV in

followed the

within the quotations,

the biblical text

referring to the

we have used

Hebrew

all

come from

Bible.

Although

names of the God of Israel

name

the

YHWH

name of God.

designate the tetragrammaton or explicit

word "Lord," while Elohim

represented by the

the evidence.

fits

note a few items regarding sources and

the Revised Standard Version translation of the

we have

to bolster that

to reconstruct a very different history of ancient Israel.

Readers must judge for themselves

transliterations.

from a completely new per-

we will present evidence

in our text to

In the

or Elohei

is

RSV it

is

represented

by the word "God." Regarding biblical chronology, with

we have decided

its

monarchy

Gershon

Galil,

uncertainties

and

pitfalls,

that a combination of dating systems provides the best

match with the emerging archaeological Israelite

many

to the time of Ahab,

reality:

we

from the beginning of the

follow the dates determined in

The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and fudah (Leiden:

1996). For the dates of the subsequent reigns of Israelite

and Judahite kings,

we

in the

follow Mordecai Cogan's article

Dictionary

(New York:

1992).

on "Chronology"

Of course many uncertainties (relating to the and contradictions

precise dates of the earliest kings, later coregencies,

we

within the biblical material) remain, but chronological scheme

The renewed

is

reliable for the

feel that in general, this

purposes of this general work.

excavations of Tel Megiddo, undertaken by Tel Aviv Uni-

versity in partnerhip

with Pennsylvania State University, have offered a

unique opportunity for thinking,

reflecting,

the material contained in this book. to the other co-directors

sishkin

Anchor Bible

and discussing with colleagues

We would like to extend special thanks

of the Megiddo Expedition, Professors David Us-

and Baruch Halpern, and

many

to the

members of the Megiddo Expedition who

staff

members and team

have, over the years, played such

an important role in the excavations and in the wider scholarly work of biblical archaeology.

The

research

and

initial

writing of this

Finkelstein during a sabbatical year in Paris

New to

book was

carried out

by

Israel

and by Neil Asher Silberman

in

Haven. Colleague and friend Professor Pierre de Miroschedji helped

make possible a productive and enjoyable time in Paris. During the writ-

Acknowledgments ing of this book, the library of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv Uni-

of the Institut Catholique, the Centre d'Archeologie Orientale in

versity;

the Sorbonne, and the Section des Etudes Semitiques of the College de

France in

Paris;

and, at Yale, the Sterling Memorial Library and the library

of the Yale Divinity School

all

provided excellent research

facilites.

Our deep appreciation goes to Judith Dekel of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University who prepared the maps, diagrams, and drawings that appear in this book.

Baruch Halpern, Nadav Naaman, Jack Sasson, and David

Professors

Ussishkin have been generous with their advice and knowledge.

been greatly helped by questions posed (and answered) in

phone

calls to

We

have

many late-night

Nadav Naaman and Baruch Halpern, who helped

us to sort

out the complex problems of biblical redactions and biblical history.

Baruch

and discussed with us

also read

early drafts of many of the chapters.

We are grateful to these and all other friends and colleagues with whom we have consulted, even result

In

from

is

as

we acknowledge that the responsibility for the final

entirely ours.

New York, our literary agent Carol Mann skillfully guided the project initial

idea to publication.

At the Free

Press,

we want

to

thank

assis-

tant editor Daniel Freedberg for his efficiency and continuing help at every stage of the work. Senior editor Bruce Nichols has tireless

been an enthusiastic and

supporter of this book from the very beginning. Thanks to his per-

ceptive insights

and

editorial skill,

our evolving manuscript has been im-

measurably improved. Lastly,

our families

Maya Silberman tience,

—

—

Joelle,

deserve a great share of the credit for their love, pa-

and willingness

to forgo

while this book took shape. justifies their

Adar, and Sarai Finkelstein and Ellen and

confidence in us

ogy and the Bible that

first

many weekend

outings and family events

We can only hope that the result of our efforts

— and

in our idea of a

book about

archaeol-

took shape in their presence just a few years ago.

I.E N.A.S.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012

http://www.archive.org/details/bibleunearthedarOOfink

Contents

Prologue: In the Days of King Josiah

i

Introduction: Archaeology and the Bible

4

PART ONE The

Bible as History?

1.

Searching for the Patriarchs

27

2.

Did

Happen?

48

3.

The Conquest of Canaan

72

4.

Who Were the Israelites?

py

5.

the Exodus

Memories of a Golden Age?

123

PART The 6.

One

7.

Israel's

8.

In the

State,

One

TWO

Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel

Nation,

Forgotten First

One

People?

(c.

930-720 bce)

Kingdom (884-842 bce)

Shadow of Empire (842-720 bce)

149 169

196

Contents

x

PART THREE Judah and the Making of 9.

The Transformation of Judah

(c.

Biblical

History

930-705 bce)

229

Between War and Survival (705-639 bce)

2$i

11.

A Great Reformation

275

12.

Exile

10.

(639-586 bce)

and Return (586-c. 440 bce)

Epilogue:

The Future of Biblical

296

Israel

3/5"

Appendix A: Theories of the Historicity of the Patriarchal Age

Appendix

$ip

B: Searching for Sinai

$26

Appendix C: Alternative Theories of the Appendix D:

Israelite

E:

F:

Is

Wrong

340

Identifying the Era of Manasseh in the Archaeological

Appendix

329

Why the Traditional Archaeology of the Davidic and Solomonic Period

Appendix

Conquest

How Vast Was

the

Record

Kingdom of Josiah?

345

547

Appendix G: The Boundaries of the Province of Yehud

$$4

Bibliography

356

Index

375

The

Bible

Unearthed

PROLOGUE In the Days of King Josiah

The world cities

and

in

which the Bible was created was not a mythic realm of great

saintly heroes, but a tiny, down-to-earth

kingdom where people

struggled for their future against the all-too-human fears of war, poverty, injustice, disease, famine,

the Bible

and drought. The

— from Abraham's

historical saga

encounter with

God and

contained in

his

journey to

Canaan, to Moses' deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage, to

and

the rise

of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah

fall

lous revelation, but a brilliant product of the first

conceived

—

— was not

human

a miracuIt

was

— during

the

imagination.

as recent archaeological findings suggest

span of two or three generations, about twenty-six hundred years ago. birthplace was the

kingdom of Judah,

and farmers, ruled from an out-of-the-way in the heart of the hill country

on

Its

a sparsely settled region of shepherds royal city precariously perched

a narrow ridge between steep, rocky

ravines.

During a few extraordinary decades of spiritual ferment and political itation

ag-

toward the end of the seventh century bce, an unlikely coalition of

Judahite court

officials, scribes, priests, peasants,

gether to create a

new movement. At

paralleled literary

and

from an astonishingly

its

and prophets came

to-

core was a sacred scripture of un-

spiritual genius. It

was an epic saga woven together

rich collection of historical writings, memories, leg-

a

Prologue

2

ends, folk

tales,

etry. Partly

and

anecdotes, royal propaganda, prophecy, and ancient po-

an original composition, partly adapted from

would undergo

sources, that literary masterpiece

elaboration to

become

streets

and

historical core

and

a spiritual anchor not only for the descendants of

the people of Judah but for communities

The

earlier versions

further editing

over the world.

all

of the Bible was born in the bustle of the crowded

of Jerusalem, in the courts of the royal palace of the Davidic dynasty,

in the

Temple of the God of Israel. In

stark contrast to the countless

other sanctuaries of the ancient Near East, with their ecumenical readiness

conduct international relations through the honoring of

to

and

Temple stood

religious symbols, Jerusalem's

tion to the pace

allies' deities

insistently alone. In reac-

and scope of the changes brought

to

Judah from the out-

—

seventh-century leaders in Jerusalem, headed by King Josiah

side, the

King David

sixteenth-generation descendant of foreign worship to be anathema,

They embarked on

misfortunes.

—

declared

all

of

traces

and indeed the cause of Judah's current

a vigorous campaign of religious purifica-

tion in the countryside, ordering the destruction of rural shrines, declaring

them

to be sources of evil. Henceforth, Jerusalem's Temple, with

and surrounding courtyards

sanctuary, altar,

would be recognized of

Israel.

as the only legitimate place

the Jerusalem

kingdom, a

leaders' political

Temple and

realization

summit of

its

inner

the city

of worship for the people

modern monotheism* was born. At

In that innovation,

same time, Judah's

at the

ambitions soared.

the

They aimed to make

royal palace the center of a vast Pan-Israelite

of the legendary united

Israel

of David and

Solomon.

How denly

strange

—

it

is

to think that Jerusalem only belatedly

rose to the center of Israelite consciousness.

the Bible's

to the experience

David were always blessed with

Israelite

"monotheism" we

Jerusalem Temple a

—

that

of

sud-

in

which

long time afterward the worship of the

in the

and that the descendants of

mandated worship of one God

a special holiness. a single

We

God

divine attendants and other heavenly beings. But

made

all Israel

refer to the biblically

was imbued with

wide spectrum of modes of worship

theism was

— and

the power of

special holiness, rather than being just an-

secondary deities and various heavenly beings). for a

is

own story that it has persuaded the world that Jerusalem was al-

ways central

By

Such

god

is

The modern

in

—

one place

the

scholarly literature has identified

central but not exclusive

(i.e.,

accompanied by

recognize that during the late monarchic period and

of Israel was regularly accompanied by the veneration of

we

suggest that a decisive

time of Josiah, with the Deuteronomic ideas.

move toward modern mono-

Prologue

5

other aristocratic clan fighting to remain in power despite internal

and unprecedented

How The

threats

from outside.

tiny their royal city

would have appeared

Old City of

would have made

Jerusalem. it

to the west

Its

fifty acres,

walls

and

it

gates,

and south of a modest

was bursting

cials, priests,

any

at the

identity, destiny,

and

size

area

of the pres-

a small

Middle Eastern market

with bazaars and houses clustered

royal palace

and Temple complex. Yet this.

In the seventh cen-

seams with a swollen population of royal

prophets, refugees, and displaced peasants

historical eras

observer!

bce covered an

about half the

Jerusalem had never before been even as large as tury

modern

population of around fifteen thousand

seem hardly more than

town huddling behind

in

to a

built-up area of Jerusalem in the seventh century

of no more than one hundred and ent

strife

.

Few

other

offi-

cities

have been so tensely self-conscious of their history, direct relationship with

God.

These new perceptions of ancient Jerusalem and the stances that gave birth to the Bible are

due

in large

historical

circum-

measure to the recent

discoveries of archaeology. Its finds have revolutionized the study of early Israel

and have

cast serious

biblical stories as the

doubt on the

historical basis

of such famous

wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt

and conquest of Canaan, and the glorious empire of David and Solomon. This book aims to

tell

the story of ancient Israel*

and the birth of its

cred scriptures from a new, archaeological perspective.

Our goal will be

sa-

to

attempt to separate history from legend. Through the evidence of recent discoveries,

we will construct a new history of ancient Israel in which some

of the most famous events and personalities mentioned in the Bible play unexpectedly different construction. largely

why the

*

It is

unknown

roles.

to share the

Bible was written, and

Throughout

this

northern kingdom

not mere de-

— — not only on when, but

why it remains so powerful

insights

still

also

today.

name "Israel" in two distinct and alternative senses: as the name of the name for the community of all Israelites. In most cases, we refer to the "the kingdom of Israel" and the wider community as "ancient Israel" or "the people of

book we as

is

most recent archaeological

outside scholarly circles

use the

northern kingdom and as a collective

Israel."

Yet our purpose, ultimately,

INTRODUCTION Archaeology and the Bible

The

story of how

and why the Bible was written

extraordinary history of the people of Israel

nating tale of

hemmed

in

modern

on two

discovery.

sides

—

Its cities

it fits

closely linked to a fasci-

side

on a

And

and population were minuscule

yet this land

in

and

comparison

and Mesopotamia. Likewise,

was the birthplace of a

piece that has exerted an unparalleled impact

sacred scripture

tiny land,

by the Mediterranean,

material culture was poor in comparison to the splendor

gance of theirs.

into the

been plagued by recurrent drought and almost

to those of the neighboring empires of Egypt its

is

search has centered

by desert and on one

that has, over the millennia,

continual warfare.

The

— and how

on world

and

extrava-

literary master-

civilization as

both

history.

More than two hundred years of detailed study of the Hebrew text of the Bible

and ever more wide-ranging exploration

in

all

the lands between the

Nile and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have enabled us to begin to un-

derstand when, why, and

how the Bible came to be.

Detailed analysis of the

language and distinctive literary genres of the Bible has led scholars to identify oral

based.

and written sources on which the present

biblical text

was

At the same time, archaeology has produced a stunning, almost en-

cyclopedic knowledge of the material conditions, languages, societies, and historical

developments of the centuries during which the traditions of an-

— Introduction

cient Israel gradually crystallized, spanning roughly six

hundred

from about iooo to 400 bce. Most important of all, the textual

and the archaeological evidence have combined

years insights

to help us to distinguish

between the power and poetry of biblical saga and the more down-to-earth events and processes of ancient Near Eastern history.

Not since ancient times has

the world of the Bible been so accessible and

so thoroughly explored.

Through archaeological excavations we now know

what crops the

and

Israelites

and with

built their cities,

mentioned

what they ate, how they

their neighbors grew,

whom

they traded. Dozens of cities and towns

been identified and uncovered. Modern exca-

in the Bible have

vation methods and a wide range of laboratory

tests

have been used to

date and analyze the civilizations of the ancient Israelites and their neigh-

bors the Philistines, Phoenicians, Arameans, Ammonites, Moabites, and

Edomites. In a few

cases, inscriptions

and signet seals have been discovered

that can be directly connected with individuals

But that

text.

to be true in

is

of its

all

mentioned

in the biblical

not to say that archaeology has proved the biblical narrative details.

Far from

it: it is

now evident that many events

of biblical history did not take place in either the particular era or the manner described.

happened

at

Some of the most famous

events in the Bible clearly never

all.

Archaeology has helped us to reconstruct the history behind the Bible,

both on the

day

life.

that the early

history were

place

of great kings and kingdoms and in the modes of every-

level

And

we

as

will explain in the following chapters,

books of the Bible and

first

some

famous

stories

we now know

of early

Israelite

codified (and in key respects composed) at an identifiable

and time: Jerusalem

in the seventh century bce.

What Is First,

their

basic definitions.

the Bible?

When we speak of the

Bible

we

are referring

known as the Old Tesas the Hebrew Bible. It is

primarily to the collection of ancient writings long

tament

— now commonly

referred to

by scholars

a collection of legend, law, poetry, prophecy, philosophy,

ten almost entirely in alect called Aramaic, after

600 bce).

It

Hebrew

and

history, writ-

(with a few passages in a variant Semitic di-

which came to be the lingua franca of the Middle East

consists of thirty-nine

books that were originally divided

Introduction

by subject or author 1

and

first

or in the case of longer books like

and 1 and

2 Kings,

or papyrus

—

rolls.

2 Chronicles,

The Hebrew

Bible

part of Christianity's canon,

is

i

and 2 Samuel,

by the standard length of parchment the central scripture of Judaism, the

and a

rich source of allusions

and

ethical

teachings in Islam conveyed through the text of the Quran. Traditionally the

Hebrew Bible

The

Torah

—

has been divided into three

also

known

books" in Greek)

("five

—

as the Five

main

parts (Figure 1).

Books of Moses, or the Pentateuch

includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers,

and Deuteronomy. These narrate the story of the people of Israel from the creation of the world, through the period of the flood to the

the

Exodus from Egypt, the wanderings

Law

at Sinai.

and the

in the desert,

The Torah concludes with Moses'

patriarchs,

and the giving of

farewell to the people

of Israel.

The

next division, the Prophets,

The Former Prophets

scriptures.

2 Kings river

—

tell

—

is

divided into two main groups of

Joshua, Judges,

and 2 Samuel,

1

Jordan and conquest of Canaan, through the

Israelite

kingdoms, to

their defeat

and

exile at the

rise

and

fall

of the

oracles, social teach-

condemnations, and messianic expectations of a diverse group

of inspired individuals spanning a period of about three hundred and

from the mid-eighth century bce

years,

Finally, the Writings are a collection

erbs,

and

hands of the Assyrians

and Babylonians. The Latter Prophets include the ings, bitter

1

the story of the people of Israel from their crossing of the

to the

fifty

end of the fifth century bce.

of homilies, poems, prayers, prov-

and psalms that represent the most memorable and powerful expres-

sions of the devotion of the ordinary Israelite at times of joy, crisis, worship,

and personal to

any

reflection. In

most

cases,

they are extremely difficult to link

specific historical events or authors.

They

are the products of a

continuous process of composition that stretched over hundreds of years.

Although the tions)

may

earliest material in this collection (in

have been assembled in

late

Psalms and Lamenta-

monarchic times or soon

after the

destruction of Jerusalem in 586 bce, most of the Writings were apparently

composed much Persian

and

later,

from the

fifth to

the second century

bce

—

in the

Hellenistic periods.

This book examines the main "historical" works of the Bible, primarily the Torah Israel

and the Former Prophets, which narrate the saga of the people of

from

its

beginnings to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in

THE TORAH Exodus

Genesis

Numbers

Leviticus

Deuteronomy

THE PROPHETS THE FORMER PROPHETS Joshua i

Judges

Samuel 1

2

Kings

Samuel

2 Kings

THE LATTER PROPHETS Jeremiah

Isaiah

Hosea

Zephaniah

Amos

Joel

Micah

Jonah

Ezekiel

Obadiah

Nahum

Haggai

Habbakkuk

Zechariah

Malachi

THE WRITINGS POETRY Psalms

Proverbs

Job

THE FIVE SCROLLS Song of Solomon

Ruth

Lamentations

Esther

Ecclesiastes

PROPHECY Daniel

HISTORY I

Chronicles

Ezra

Figure

1

:

Books of the Hebrew

Bible.

II

Chronicles

Nehemiah

— Introduction

We compare this narrative with the wealth of archaeological data

586 bce.

that has been collected over the last few decades.

The

result

the discovery

is

of a fascinating and complex relationship between what actually happened in the land of the Bible

during the biblical period

can be de-

(as best as it

termined) and the well-known details of the elaborate historical narrative that the

Hebrew

Bible contains.

From Eden The heart of the Hebrew Bible

to

Zion

an epic story that describes the

is

of the

rise

people of Israel and their continuing relationship with God. Unlike other ancient Near Eastern mythologies, such as the Egyptian tales of Osiris,

and Horus or the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh firmly in earthly history.

It is

a divine

epic, the Bible

is

drama played out before

Isis,

grounded the eyes of

humanity. Also unlike the histories and royal chronicles of other ancient

Near Eastern nations, and ruling

dynasties.

it

It

does not merely celebrate the power of tradition

offers a

complex yet

unfolded for the people of Israel

pattern directly connected with the

people of their

all

The fate

to

readers of the Bible

up

—

become

—

and, through

garden of Eden and continues through

traveled with his family

and

finally focusing

faithfully followed

from

his original

home

Sarah, begot a son, to

Abraham.

chaotic

life

Meso-

in

life,

he

among the settled population and, by his wife, Isaac, who would inherit the divine promises first given

an outsider

as

who became

the

God's com-

potamia to the land of Canaan where, in the course of a long

wandered

on

Abraham was chosen by God

that of Abraham.

the father of a great nation,

He

in a

the direction in

to the people of Israel

and Abel and the flood of Noah,

—

—

to determine the fate of the world.

Bible's tale begins in the

of a single family

mands.

is

world

drama. Their behavior and

commandments determine

will flow. It

the stories of Cain

of why history has

for the entire

demands and promises of God. The

Israel are the central actors in this

adherence to God's

which history them,

clear vision

— and indeed

It

was

Isaac's

son Jacob

—

the third-generation patriarch

the father of twelve distinct tribes. In the course of a colorful,

of wandering, raising a large family, and establishing

altars

throughout the land, Jacob wrestled with an angel and received the name Israel

(meaning "He

who

struggled with God"), by which

all

his descen-

Introduction

The

dants would be known.

among one

another,

to seek shelter in

Egypt

Jacob declared in his

would

The

rule over

worked

all

great saga then

The God of Israel

and testament

awesome power

Moses

as

human

homeland

the patriarch

Judah

to historical spectacle.

demonstration against

in a

ruler

a great nation, but they

minority, building the great

tention to

And

that the tribe of his son

moves from family drama

revealed his

had grown into

twelve sons fought left their

(Genesis 49:8-10).

the pharaoh of Egypt, the mightiest Israel

how Jacob's

and eventually

time of a great famine.

at the

last will

them

Bible relates together,

on

earth.

were enslaved

monuments of the Egyptian

make himself known

to the

And

in perhaps the

as a despised

regime. God's in-

world came through

an intermediary to seek the liberation of the

could begin their true destiny.

The children of

his selection

Israelites so that

of

they

most vivid sequence of

events in the literature of the Western world, the books of Exodus, Leviticus,

and Numbers describe how through

rael led the

God

their lives as a

letters)

community and

The holy terms of tablets

God of Is-

children of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness.

revealed to the nation his true identity as

composed of four Hebrew

tle

and wonders, the

signs

and contained

Israel's

in the

At Sinai,

YHWH (the Sacred Name

and gave them a code of law

to guide

as individuals.

covenant with

YHWH,

written

Ark of the Covenant, became

on stone

their sacred bat-

standard as they marched toward the promised land. In some cultures,

a founding

myth might have stopped at this point

—

as a

miraculous expla-

nation of how the people arose. But the Bible had centuries more of history

many triumphs, miracles, unexpected reverses, and much collective suffering to come. The great triumphs of the Israelite conquest of to recount, with

Canaan, King David's establishment of a great empire, and Solomon's construction of the Jerusalem Temple were followed by schism, repeated lapses into idolatry, and, ultimately, exile. For the Bible describes how, soon after

the death of Solomon, the ten northern tribes, resenting their subjugation to Davidic kings in Jerusalem, unilaterally seceded chy, thus forcing the creation of two rival

in the north,

and the kingdom of Judah,

from the united monar-

kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel, in the south.

For the next two hundred years, the people of Israel lived in two separate

kingdoms, reportedly succumbing again and again to the lure of foreign deities.

The

leaders of the northern

kingdom

are described in the Bible as

Introduction

all

some of

irretrievably sinful;

strayed

the kings of Judah are also said to have

from the path of total devotion

and oppressors

invaders

God. In time, God sent outside

to

to punish the people of Israel for their sins. First

kingdom of Israel. Then the mighty As-

the Arameans of Syria harassed the

syrian empire brought unprecedented devastation to the cities of the

northern kingdom and the bitter fate of destruction and exile in 720 bce for a significant portion

more than

of the ten

a century longer, but

tribes.

judgment of God. In 586 bce, the

The kingdom of Judah

rising, brutal

mated the land of Israel and put Jerusalem and

With that great tragedy, epics. In

many such

end of his

stories,

cult as well.

rael

was seen

its

Temple

to the torch.

humbled by

the normal pattern of ancient religious

god by a

the defeat of a

But in the

seen to be even greater after the Far from being

Babylonian empire deci-

the biblical narrative dramatically departs in yet

way from

another characteristic

survived

people could not avert the inevitable

its

Bible, the

fall

army

rival

of Judah and the

spelled the

God of Israel was

power of the

of the

exile

the devastation of his Temple, the

to be a deity of unsurpassable power.

He

Israelites.

God of Is-

had, after

ma-

all,

nipulated the Assyrians and the Babylonians to be his unwitting agents to

punish the people of Israel for their

infidelity.

Henceforth, after the return of some of the exiles to Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Temple, Israel religious

would no longer be

fulfillment of the rituals prescribed in the it

would be the

free choice

— empires —

divinely decreed order

and

fall

monarchy but

a

community, guided by divine law and dedicated

of great

community's sacred

men and women

of

texts.

And

to keep or violate that

rather than the behavior of that

a

to the precise

its

kings or the

rise

would determine the course of Israel's sub-

human responsibility lay the epics would fade over time. The impact

sequent history. In this extraordinary focus on Bible's great

of the

power. Other ancient

Bible's story

on Western

civilization

would only grow.

Who Wrote the Pentateuch, and When? For centuries, Bible readers took divine revelation

and accurate

wide variety of Israelite authorities,

it

for granted that the scriptures

history,

sages, prophets,

conveyed directly from

and

priests.

were both

God

to a

Established religious

both Jewish and Christian, naturally assumed that the Five

Introduction

his death

—

down in writing by Moses himself just before on Mount Nebo as narrated in the book of Deuteronomy. The

Books of Moses were

set

books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel were

all

regarded as sacred records

preserved by the venerable prophet Samuel at Shiloh, and the books of

Kings were seen

as the

product of the prophet Jeremiah's pen. Likewise,

King David was believed

to be the author of the Psalms,

and King

Solomon, of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. Yet by the dawn of the

modern

seventeenth century, scholars

era, in the

to the detailed literary

and

linguistic study

who

devoted themselves

of the Bible found that

it

was

The power of logic and reason applied to the text of the

not quite so simple. holy scriptures gave

rise to

some very troubling questions about

the Bible's

historical reliability.

The first question was whether Moses could of the Five Books of Moses, since the great detail the precise time

last

have been the author

book, Deuteronomy, described in

and circumstances of Moses' own death. Other

became apparent: the

incongruities soon

really

ary asides, explaining the ancient

biblical text

names of certain

was

These

factors

Bible's first five

lished

By

many hand

by

later,

anonymous

least,

still

visible "to this

had been shaped, expanded, and embel-

editors

and

revisers over the centuries.

more

the late eighteenth century and even critical biblical scholars

had begun

to

work of later

of several recognizable hands.

had come

writers exclusively.

to be different versions of the

books of the Pentateuch, suggesting that the

so in the nineteenth,

doubt that Moses had any

in the writing of the Bible whatsoever; they

what appeared

liter-

convinced some seventeenth century scholars that the

books, at

the Bible was the to

with

and frequently

places

noting that the evidences of famous biblical events were day."

filled

to believe that

These scholars pointed

same

stories within the

biblical text

was the product

A careful reading of the book of Genesis, for

example, revealed two conflicting versions of the creation (1:1-2:3 ana< different genealogies of Adam's offspring (4:17-26

2:4-25),

two quite

5:1-28),

and two spliced and rearranged flood

tion, there

were dozens more doublets and sometimes even

same events

and

stories (6:5-9:17). In additriplets

of the

in the narratives of the wanderings of the patriarchs, the

Exo-

dus from Egypt, and the giving of the Law. Yet there was a clear order in this seemingly chaotic repetition. As observed as early as the nineteenth century (and clearly explained by the

Introduction

12

American

Richard

biblical scholar

Elliott

Friedman

book Who Wrote

in his

the Bible?), the doublets occurring primarily in Genesis,

Exodus, and

Numbers were not

same

arbitrary variations or duplications of the

They maintained certain

readily identifiable characteristics of terminology

and geographical focus, and

— most conspicuously — used

in narration to describe the

tently used the

God

tetragrammaton

of Israel. Thus one

—

the four-letter

tory of Judah in

The

various accounts.

names Elohim or El for God and seemed tribes

and

asseh,

territories in the

man) and "E"

name

The

"J" to the

spective of the united

was written

text

seemed

tive

of the kingdom of

to

life

Deuteronomy,

its

Solomon

in

And among

and the laws of

result

source documents

asides.

religious

symbols

and represented the perat

970-930 bce). Likewise, the E

(c.

930-720 bce). The book of style,

seemed

to be an inde-

the sections of the Pentateuch that

D were a large number of passages dealing came

to be considered part of a long trea-

or the Priestly source, which displayed a special interest in sacrifice.

the conclusion that the

scribal

(c.

message and

distinctive

ritual matters. In time, these

scholars

and

two sources convinced

and would have been composed during

Israel,

could not be ascribed to J, E, or

by

in Jerusalem

of that kingdom

pendent document, "D."

them were the

tribes in the

have been written in the north and represented the perspec-

the independent

came to

different places.

monarchy or the kingdom of Judah, presumably

or soon after the time of King

purity, cult,

and

Yahwist source (spelled Jahvist in Ger-

by the various

roles played

tise called "P,"

and terri-

to the Elohist source.

scholars that the J text

with

in the tribe

— mainly Ephraim, Man-

distinctive uses of geographical terminology

and the

in the course of its

clear that the doublets derived

distinct sources, written in different times

Scholars gave the

names

particularly concerned with the

became

it

different

of stories consis-

other set of stories used the

north of the country

and Benjamin. In time,

from two

—

and seemed to be most interested

its

set

name YHWH (assumed

by most scholars to have been pronounced Yahweh) historical narration

stories.

In other words, scholars gradually

first five

books of the Bible as we

now know

of a complex editorial process in which the four main

—

J,

E,

P,

and

D — were skillfully combined and linked

compilers or "redactors," whose literary traces (called by some

"R" passages) consisted of

The

latest

transitional sentences

and

editorial

of these redactions took place in the post-exilic period.

Introduction

In the

75

few decades scholarly opinions about the dates and author-

last

ship of these individual sources have varied wildly.

While some

scholars

argue that the texts were composed and edited during the existence of the united monarchy and the kingdoms of Judah and Israel

1000-586 bce),

(c.

others insist that they were late compositions, collected priests

sixth

and

scribes

and

during the Babylonian

centuries),

fifth

and the

and edited by

restoration (in the

or even as late as the Hellenistic period

(fourth-second centuries bce). Yet single, seamless

exile

all

agree that the Pentateuch

is

not a

composition but a patchwork of different sources, each

written under different historical circumstances to express different

reli-

gious or political viewpoints.

Two Versions of Israels The bers

first

and

Numand P

sources. Yet the fifth, the case.

It

sources)

—

to be the result of a skillful interweaving of the J, E,

four books of the Bible

— seemed

Later History

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

book of Deuteronomy, was an

bears a distinctive terminology (shared

entirely different

by none of the other

and contains an uncompromising condemnation of worship of

other gods, a

new view of God

as

completely transcendent, and the ab-

solute prohibition of the sacrificial worship of the

God

of

Israel in

any

place but the Temple in Jerusalem. Scholars long ago recognized this book's possible connection to the otherwise mysterious

"book of the Law" discov-

ered by the high priest Hilkiah in the course of renovations to the

during the reign of King Josiah

—

in 622 bce.

document became the

22:8-23:24, this

unprecedented

As narrated

Temple

in 2 Kings

inspiration for a religious reform of

severity.

The impact of the book of Deuteronomy on the ultimate message of the Hebrew Bible goes far beyond its strict legal codes. The connected historical narrative

of the books that follow the Pentateuch

and 2 Samuel, guistically

and 2 Kings

1

—

is

and theologically that

it

—

so closely related to

has

come

Joshua, Judges,

Deuteronomy

to be called

by scholars since

the middle of the 1940s the "Deuteronomistic History." This great literary

story of

work on

Israel's

Babylonian

the history of Israel in the Bible.

1

lin-

It

is

the second

continues the

destiny from the conquest of the promised land to the

exile

and expresses the ideology of a new

religious

movement

Introduction

14

among

that arose

during the tity

the people of Israel at a relatively late date. This

more than once. Some

too was edited

exile in

scholars argue that

an attempt to preserve the

it

work

was compiled

history, culture,

and iden-

of the vanquished nation after the catastrophe of the destruction of

Jerusalem. Other scholars suggest that in the main, the Deuteronomistic

History was written in the days of King Josiah, to serve his religious ideol-

ogy and

territorial

decades later in

ambitions, and that

it

was finished and edited a few

exile.

The books of Chronicles

— — were put

the third great historical

dealing with pre-exilic Israel

work

in the Bible,

in writing only in the fifth or

fourth century bce, several centuries after the events they describe. Their historical perspective cal

is

sharply slanted in favor of the historical and politi-

claims of the Davidic dynasty

nore the north. In

many ways

and Jerusalem; they almost

Chronicles uniquely

and needs of Second Temple Jerusalem,

for the

torical saga that already existed in written

make minimal earlier

entirely ig-

ideology

reflects the

most part reshaping an

his-

we

will

form. For these reasons

use of Chronicles in this book, keeping our focus

on the

Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic History.

As we

shall see in the

coming

chapters, archaeology has provided

enough evidence to support a new contention

that the historical core of the

Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History was substantially shaped in the seventh century bce.

We will therefore put the spotlight on late eighth

and seventh century bce Judah, when earnest,

and

shall

argue that

much

creation, advocating the ideology as

such

is

shall side

this literary process

of the Pentateuch

is

a late

began in

monarchic

and needs of the kingdom of Judah, and

intimately connected to the Deuteronomistic History.

with the scholars

was compiled,

in the

who

And we

argue that the Deuteronomistic History

main, in the time of King Josiah, aiming to provide an

ideological validation for particular political ambitions

and

religious re-

forms.

History, or

Not History?

Archaeology has always played a crucial role in the debates about the composition and historical reliability of the Bible. to refute the

more

At

first,

archaeology seemed

radical critics' contention that the Bible

was a rather

late

Introduction

i$

composition, and that

much of it is unreliable historically. From the end of modern

the nineteenth century, as the

exploration of the lands of the Bible

got underway, a series of spectacular discoveries and decades of steady ar-

and interpretation suggested

chaeological excavation

that the

accounts were basically trustworthy in regard to the main outlines

Bible's

of the story of ancient

was

many

to

Israel.

Thus

it

seemed that even

down in writing long after the events it describes,

set

if

the biblical text

it

must have been

based on a substantial body of accurately preserved memories. This conclusion was based

on

several

new classes of archaeological and historical ev-

idence.

Geographical Identifications

Although Western pilgrims and explorers had roamed over the land of the Bible since the Byzantine period, torical

and geographical studies,

it

was only with the

in the late eighteenth

centuries, that scholars well versed in

rise

of modern

his-

and early nineteenth

both the Bible and other ancient

sources began to reconstruct the landscape of ancient Israel

on the

basis

topography, biblical references, and archaeological remains, rather than lying

on the

in this field

ecclesiastical traditions

who undertook two

1838

and

in 1852, in

an

long explorations through

effort to refute the theories

and identifying authentic,

While some of the main Hebron,

of the various holy places. The pioneer

was the American Congregationalist minister Edward Robin-

son,

locating

of re-

Jaffa,

locales

Ottoman

Palestine in

of the biblical

critics

by

historically verified biblical sites.

of Biblical history, such

as Jerusalem,

Beth-shean, and Gaza, had never been forgotten, hundreds

of additional places mentioned in the Bible were unknown. By using the geographical information contained in the Bible and carefully studying the

modern Arabic place-names of the ble to identify dozens of ancient

ten biblical

it

was

possi-

mounds and ruins with previously forgot-

sites.

Robinson and

his successors

places like el-Jib, Beitin, sites

country, Robinson found

and

were able to identify the extensive ruins

Seilun,

all

north of Jerusalem,

at

as the likely

of biblical Gibeon, Bethel, and Shiloh. This process was particularly

effective in regions that

centuries

had been inhabited continuously throughout the

and where the

site's

name had been

preserved. Yet subsequent

—

6

Introduction

1

generations of scholars realized that in other places, where the

names bore no such

ria

as size

fications.

relation to those

of biblical

sites in

and datable pottery types could be

Thus Megiddo, Hazor,

locations were gradually

geography In the

late

added

modern

the vicinity, other criteutilized to

make

identi-

Lachish, and dozens of other biblical

to the evolving reconstruction of biblical

nineteenth century, the British Royal Engineers of

the Palestine Exploration

Fund undertook this work in

a highly systematic

manner, compiling detailed topographical maps of the entire country,

from the sources of the Jordan River

Negev

More important even than familiarity with the

(Figure foothills

2):

north to Beersheba in the

the specific identifications was the growing

major geographical regions of the land of the Bible

the broad and fertile coastal plain of the Mediterranean, the

of the Shephelah rising to the central

arid Negev, the try,

in the

in the south.

Dead Sea

and the broad

hill

country in the south, the

region and Jordan valley, the northern

valleys in the north.

The

biblical land

and environmental

area with extraordinary climatic

hill

coun-

of Israel was an

contrasts.

It

also

served as a natural land bridge between the two great civilizations of Egypt

and Mesopotamia.

Its

virtually every case to

characteristic landscapes

and conditions proved

in

be reflected quite accurately in the descriptions of the

biblical narrative.

Monuments and Archivesfrom Egypt and Mesopotamia

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, repeated attempts were

made

to establish a standard

Bible.

Most were

dutifully

chronology for the events described in the

literal.

the Bible's inner chronology,

chaeological remains of two of the civilizations

late

most important

— and most

literate

of the ancient world.

Egypt, with inscriptions,

Outside sources were needed to verify

and they were eventually found among the ar-

its

awesome monuments and

vast treasure of hieroglyphic

began to be intensively explored by European scholars in the

eighteenth century. But

it

was only with the decipherment of Egyptian

hieroglyphics (on the basis of the trilingual Rosetta Stone) by the French scholar Jean-Francois

Champollion

in the 1820s that the historical value

of

Egyptian remains for dating and possibly verifying historical events in the

I

Figure

1

10

LOWLANDS

2:

|;

J

HIGHLANDS

Geographical zones of the Land of Israel.

20

Miles

8

Introduction

1

Bible

became apparent. Although

mentioned

in the stories

other direct connections became

Merneptah rael.

in 1207

identification of the specific pharaohs

of Joseph and of the Exodus remained uncertain, clear.

A victory stele erected by Pharaoh

bce mentioned a great victory over a people named Is-

In a slightly later era, Pharaoh Shishak (mentioned in

having come up against Jerusalem to

demand

of the reign of Solomon's son) was identified

second Dynasty,

who

campaign on a wall Another fications

rich source

temple of Amun

at

as

of the Twenty-

He left an account of his

Karnak, in Upper Egypt.

and Euphrates

Beginning in the 1840s, schol-

of England, France, and eventually the United States

arly representatives

and Germany uncovered the

cities,

main monuments and

were uncovered. Places

like

marily from the Bible, were

whose and

military campaigns

number of important

—

cuneiform archives

vast palaces,

and Babylonia. For the

the empires of Assyria

a

I

plains between the Tigris

Rivers, the ancient region of Mesopotamia.

gressive empires

Kings 14:25

of discoveries for chronology and historical identi-

came from the broad

period, the

Sheshonq

as

ruled from 945 to 924 bce.

in the

1

tribute during the fifth year

and cuneiform

first

archives of

time since the biblical

of those powerful Eastern empires

cities

Nineveh and Babylon, previously known

now seen to be the capitals of powerful and ag-

artists

and

scribes

political events

biblical kings

thoroughly documented the

of their time. Thus references to

were identified in Mesopotamian

the Israelite kings Omri, Ahab,

Judahite kings Hezekiah and Manasseh,

among

others.

and Jehu and the These outside

erences allowed scholars to see biblical history in a wider perspective, to synchronize the reigns

pri-

of the

biblical

ref-

and

monarchs with the more complete

dating systems of the ancient Near East. Slowly the connections were

made, and the regnal dates of Babylonian

rulers,

Israelite

precise dates for the

In addition, the

first

as

kings, Assyrian

and

set in order, giving quite

time.

much

earlier

Mesopotamian and Egyptian

from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages such

and Judahite

and Egyptian pharaohs were

(c.

2000-1150 bce)

archives

at ancient sites

Mari, and Tell el-Amarna and Nuzi, shed important light on the

wotld of the ancient Near East and thus on the cultural milieu from which the Bible eventually emerged.

Scatteted inscriptions Israel that offered

would

also

even more specific

be found in areas closer to the land of links.

A triumphal description by the

Introduction

ip

Moabite king Mesha, discovered

in the nineteenth century in Transjordan,

mentioned Mesha's victory over the armies of Israel and provided an outside testimony to a

2 Kings 3:4-27.

The

war between single

most

Israel

and Moab that was reported

in

significant inscription for historical vali-

dation was discovered in 1993 at the

site

of Tel

Dan

in northern Israel, ap-

parently recording the victory of the Aramean king Hazael over the king of Israel

and the king of the "house of David"

the Moabite inscription,

of ancient

it

in the ninth century

provides an extrabiblical anchor for the history

Israel.

Excavations of Biblical

By

far the

bce. Like

Sites

most important source of evidence about the

historical context

of the Bible has come from more than a hundred years of modern archaeological excavations in Israel, Jordan,

and the neighboring

regions. Closely

tied to advances in archaeological technique worldwide, biblical archaeol-

ogy has been able to identify a long sequence of readily datable architectural styles, pottery forms,

and other

artifacts that

enable scholars to date

buried city levels and tombs with a fair degree of accuracy. Pioneered by the

American scholar William

F.

Albright in the early twentieth century, this

branch of archaeology concentrated mostly on the excavation of large

mounds

(called "tells" in Arabic, "tels" in

perimposed

city levels, in

city

Hebrew), composed of many su-

which the development of society and culture

can be traced over millennia. After decades of excavation, researchers have been able to reconstruct the vast archaeological context into which biblical history

must be

evidence of agriculture and settled

fit

(Fig-

commu-

ure 3). Beginning with the

first

nities in the region at the

very end of the Stone Age, archaeologists have

gone on to delineate the (3 500-11 50 bce) and

its

rise

of urban civilization in the Bronze Age

transformation into territorial states in the suc-

ceeding period, the Iron Age (1150-586 bce),

when most of the

historical

events described in the Bible presumably occurred.

By

the end of the twentieth century, archaeology had

were simply too

and

that there

many material correspondences between the finds in

in the entire

that the Bible

shown

Near East and the world described

was

late

and

Israel

in the Bible to suggest

fanciful priestly literature, written with

no

his-

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERIODS* Early Bronze

Age

Intermediate Bronze

3500-2200 BCE 2200-2000 BCE 2000-1550 BCE I55O-II5O BCE II5O-9OO BCE 9OO-586 BCE 586-538 BCE 538-333 BCE

Age

Middle Bronze Age Late Bronze

Age Iron Age Iron

Age

I

II

Babylonian Period Persian Period *

The

dates follow the system in this book. Dates for the Early Bronze through the

Middle Bronze

Ages are approximate and depend mainly on cultural considerations. Dates for the Late Bronze Age through the Persian Period depend in the main on historical events.

KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH* Judah

Israel

Saul ca. 1025-1005 bce

David

ca.

Solomon

Temple of

(priest),

Jezebel,

Queen of Israel, x9

169, 172-74, 232

2 202-3 >

during Omride period, 189

Solomonic

cities

and, 342-43

of.

Judah, tribe

of, 98, 121,

destiny 315,

Judean

of,

desert, 126, 132, 266,

river, 16,

Judges,

Jordan

valley, 16, 28,

in Egypt, 54

on

150

27, 31, 33, 229

43-46

Jordan

Joseph, 31-33

kingdom

316

Judeans (Jews), 316

192

See Southern

Judah (son of Jacob),

Joash, king of Israel, 198, 206, 209, 218

73

237

(Judah)

Judea,

179

233,

J text, 12, 45, 46-47, 324

299-300, 310

Jezreel, 157, 186-87,

site plan,

Jotham, king of Judah,

Judah, kingdom

Jerusalem

Jeshua

99

Joshua, 35

267

of,

territory,

97-98, 101

Israelite origins,

book of,

91,

240

97

Israelite origins,

99-101, 120-22

on unconquered Canaanite Justinian,

enclaves, 99

Emperor of Byzantium, 326

story of, 67

Joshua, 35 Joshua,

book of

Kadesh, battle

at (13th c.

bce), 85

Kadesh-barnea, 42, 63, 67, 268, 349, 351-52

380

Ind(

Manetho

Kedar, 41

Khu-Sebek (Egyptian Kidron

of, 194, 195, 197, 231,

on Hezekiah's Israel

240

of,

54-56

322

(northern kingdom), 196,

YHWH-alone movement and, town

of, 82,

Kittim people, 348-49,

Masos,

Tell, 333

Mazar, Benjamin, 36, 134-35, 3 2 3~ 2 5> 35°

rebellion, 252-56

197-99, 206-7, 2I 4> 222-23

Kiriath-jearim,

(historian),

Marquet-Krause, Judith, 82

valley, 132

Kings, books

on

Mari, city

general), 155

248

Medinet Habu, temple Megiddo, 78-79, 90,

rule, 215, 216-17,

desertion of, 204

destruction of (12th

bce), 160

c.

in eighth century bce, 182

Laban, 30-31 Labayu, king of Shechem, of,

excavations

155

80, 90, 235, 245, 257

conquest of

by Assyrians (701 bce), 260-63, 345 by Babylonians (587/6 bce), 345 pottery evidence from, 345-46

II,

stratum

III,

135-41

348, 350

347-48

stratum VIA, 341-44

by Yadin, 183-84,

dating

276, 277, 280-81

13,

of, vi,

stratum

185,

210

gate of, 135-38, 139, 140

289

re-fortification of,

Law, book of the,

342

of,

Jerusalem compared with, 140

Layard, Austen Henry, 178, 261

Omride dynasty and,

Leah,

rebuilding under Jeroboam

31

Solomonic

Lemaire, Andre, 129

Lemche, Niels

B

209 209-12

198, 214, 219

Mercenaries

Oded, 307

Greek, 350-51

Literacy, 280, 281 in Judah,

Lot, 28-29,

Judahite, 351

284

Merneptah, pharaoh,

39~4°

Merneptah

of,

stele, 57,

18,

57

60, j6n, 102

Mesad Hashavyahu site, 286-87,

Luke, John, 335

80

Mesha, king of Moab,

19, 174, 177,

Mesha

Maccabean

Meshullemeth (Manasseh's

kings, 316

Micah

McCarter, Kyle, 324

Machpelah, cave

of,

archaeological identification of, 345-46

account of reign

of, 252,

254

Midianites, 99 59,

66

Minimalists, biblical, 128

Miqne, Tel. See Ekron

Dtr2 on, 304

economic policy of, 267-70 religious pluralism under, (tribe), 33,

wife),

(prophet), 263

Migdol,

264-65

46W, 98, 150

Mizpah, town

Moab,

of,

297, 306-7

39, 190, 191, 201

settlement history

201

190

stele, 129, 177,

Michal, 125

229

Manasseh, king of Judah, 264-73, z %9

Manasseh

34^. 35°,

35i

Macalister, R.A.S., 137

Bible's

II,

"stables in," 135-38,

Mendenhall, George, 104, 335-36 script, 85

Lipschits,

Luz, city

182-89, J 93-94

Menahem, king of Israel,

Peter, 128

Levi, 35

Linear

347-48

under Canaanites, 193-94

351

Kuntillet Ajrud, 242

Lachish, city

87-88

289-92

architectural similarities with Samaria, 343

under Assyrian

126

of,

161,

of, 119

268

Index

381 207-9

Moabites, 99, 127

population expansion

Monolith Inscription, 178

prophetic protest against, 212-14

Monotheism, in Judah,

Moses,

Aram

in, 120, 122

9, 35, 48, 50, 51-52, 73.

See also

Exodus

n

authorship of Bible by,

kings of (list), 20 religious practice in,

247

southern kingdom (Judah) compared

Hecataeus on, 315-16

with, 149-68

190

el-,

and, 39

Judah and, 39-40, 230

246-49, 276

Mudayna, Khirbet

in,

Deuteronomistic History on, 167-68

Muwatallis, king of Hittites, 85

Mycenaean world, 85-86

Egyptian textual evidence, 154-55

environmental and topographical

Naaman, Nadav,

203, 239, 268, 291, 351, 352

features, 155-58

Naboth, 173-74

prophecies and, 162-67

Nadab, king of Israel, 170

state formation, 158-59

Naphtali, 98, 150

Noth, Martin,

Nebaioth, 41

Nuzi

tablets,

91

322-23

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 292-95

Necho Negev

II,

pharaoh, 66,

71,

289-92, 348

desert (biblical Negeb), 16, 30, 64

Nehemiah, book

Nehemiah

Old Testament. Olive

297

of,

Old City of Jerusalem,

(Persian official), 300-301

See

Judah (705-639 bce) and, 268-70, 273

Omri, king of Israel,

Nesbeth, Tell en-, 307

Omride

169, 170, 171, 172

dynasty, 169-95

archaeological records of, 180-86

Nile, 53

Nile delta,

58.

See also

Exodus

from Ataroth, 190 from Dan,

foreign settlement of, 66

mentioned

Nineveh,

18, 42,

Nomadism,

(Israel),

9-10, 24, 46, 169.

Omride dynasty

Aramean presence

in,

201-5

179, 180-83, 189

Assyria and, 178-79, 196-97 biblical

214-22

account

222-23 of,

220-22

city-states and,

monarchical structure

Deuteronomistic History on, 223-25

multi-ethnic society

end of, 217-20

rise

Hazael's invasion of, 174-75,

I

77~78>

kings of (lists), 20, 171, 218-19

210-n, 212

II,

and

fall of,

of,

of,

193-94 187-88

191-94

170-75

"Solomonic" gates and palaces attributed to, 186-87, 189-90, 202-3

197, 200, 201-5

under Jeroboam

172-75, 194-95,

inconsistencies in, 175-76

Canaanite

deportees and survivors

of, 169,

201

books of Kings on, 196, 197-99, 206-7, 214,

from Megiddo, 182-89, J 93-94

underground water tunnels, 184-86

Assyrian empire and, 198-99, 200, 201, 211,

from Jahaz, 190-91

from Samaria,

842-740 bce, 196-225

205-6, 207,

204

188, 189

from Hazor, 184-85, 187-88, 189

290

pastoral, 320, 321, 334-35

See also

184, 203,

from Gezer,

in Exodus, 58

Northern kingdom

c.

Bible

oil industry, 159

Nelson, Richard D., 95

sites

132

Hebrew

206, 207, 209,

territorial

Oren,

holdings

Eliezer, 61

Othniel, 99

of, 178, 190, 191

382

Index

Palestine, 354

epic of Judah created by, 283-84

Pan-Israelite ideal, ^6n, 283-85

J source of,

Canaanite conquest and, 92, 94-96 in Patriarchal narratives,

source documents

44

Passover sacrifice, 280 Pastoral

nomadism,

Abraham, as

8,

320, 321, 334-35

299-300

44

Amorite, 320-21

Philistia,

failed search for historical,

Yehud and

33-36

story of, 312

war with Mesopotamian

29-30,

as father

as

31, 35,

of twelve

evidenced

in,

324

134-35

in patriarchal narratives, 37-38

43

tribes,

as

340-41

Israelites vs.,

Pi-Ramesses, city of (Raamses), 56, 57, 59

40, 43

35,

Davidic conquests

Philistines, 125, 127, 160,

Amorite hypothesis, 319-21 Isaac, 8, 27,

89

Philistine pottery, 141

kings, 46*2

historicity of, 33-35, 319-25

Jacob, 27, 30-33,

Judahite exiles and, 308 rebuilding of Temple of Jerusalem and,

27, 28-30, 43,

post-exilic

12-13

of,

Persia

27-47

Patriarchal age,

46-47

Priestly (P) source of, 12, 42/2, 45/2, 310

8-9

Pithom,

66

59,

Laban and, 39

Polytheism in Judah, 240-43, 264-65

pious "prehistory" of Israel, 45, 46

Pork, ban on, 119-20

sites

connected with, 29

tombs of patriarchs

in

Patriarchal narratives,

70

anachronisms

in,

Hebron,

Priestly source (P) in Pentateuch, 12, 4272,

36-38

Canaanite peoples and places mentioned in,

45"> 3io

4472, 312

Pr-Itm, 59

Proto-Aeolic capitals,

Psammetichus

I,

181,

182-83, 189

pharaoh, 66, 69, 281-82,

289, 350

32

dating controversy over, 36-38

E version of,

Pul, King. oV^Tiglath-pileser III, king of

Assyria

45

J version of, 45 as living

map

of ancient Near East,

38-40

Qarqar, battle of (853 bce), 211 Qasile, Tel, 134

Pan-Israelite idea in,

44

Qedarites, 41, 67

on peoples of desert and Eastern empires, Raamses, city of (Pi-Ramesses),

41-43 Peaceful infiltration theory of Israelite origins, 102, 329-33. 335

Peasant revolt theory of Israelite origins, 104-5, 333-39 archaeological context of, 333-35

king of Israel, 199, 214-15, 219, 233

141

(harlot), 73

Ram esses

I,

Ramesses

II,

Ramesses

III,

pharaoh, 56 pharaoh,

57, 65, 78, 85

pharaoh, 87-88, 341

Ramesses VI, pharaoh, 90

Pekahiah, king of Israel, 199, 219

Ramesside pharaohs, 76/2

Pelethites, 144

Rebecca, 29-31, 40

Pentateuch,

6, 7,

authorship earliest

of,

source

56, 57, 59

31

Radiocarbon dating,

Rahab

critique of, 103-4

Pelcah,

Rachel,

280

Redactors, 12

10-13

Redford, Donald, 65-66, 67, 68-69

of,

22-23

Red

Sea, parting of, 51

Inde;

383

Rehoboam, king of Judah, 236,

151, 152,

231-32,

of, 161

159, 178, 211

252

Reuben, 31-33, 98

Shaphan, 277

Rezin, king of Damascus, 215, 233-34

Sheba, queen

Robinson, Edward, 15-16

Sheba people, 41-42

no

of, 127, 143

Shebna, tomb

Shechem,

Rosetta Stone, 16

"R" passages,

206

Shamgar, 99

Rehov, Tel, 142, 160

Rosen, Baruch,

of,

king of Assyria,

III,

Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria, 199, 217-20,

forts built by, 235

Rehov, city

Shalmaneser, "black obelisk"

Shalmaneser

240

12

of,

246

154, 155

altars at,

44

Shema, commander, 212 Saint Catherine Monastery, 326-27

Shephelah, the, 232, 245, 263-64, 266 Josianic expansionism into, 93

Sake Dynasty, 6

Sheshbazzar, governor of Yehud, 299, 309-

Samaria, 215 architectural similarities with

Megiddo,

3io

Sheshonq

343

dynastic upheavals

Omride dynasty and, population

of,

I,

pharaoh,

214-15

Shiloh, 124

172, 179, 180-83, 189

Shiloh, Yigal, 132

at,

Shishak, pharaoh,

Shosu (people),

299

220

of,

Simeon, 98-99

by Assyrians,

199,

217-20

tribe of, 121, 150

180-83

Sinai,

Mount, 326-28

Samaria ostraca, 207, 212

Sinai, wilderness of,

Samson,

Sisera,

98,

100

Samuel (prophet), n, 124-25

II,

211,

Sodom,

267

of Israel,

revolt theory

217-20, 221,

123, 125-26, 131, 150

of Israelite origins

city of, 28

Solomon, King, n,

Satrapies, 354 Saul, king

60, 62, 63, 326-28

"Social revolution" hypothesis. See Peasant

king of Assyria,

230, 250,

51,

99

Smith, Morton, 248

Sarah, 28-30

Sargon

161-62, 231-32

18,

103, 239, 332

Siloam inscription, 256-57

sieges of, 203

site of, 179,

See also Shishak

Shiqalaya (people), 87

191-92

rebuilding of Temple of Jerusalem and,

repopulation

18.

See also

123, 127, 131, 151, 168, 191.

Golden age of Israel

Schliemann, Heinrich, 85

biblical critique of,

Seal impressions

breakup of Israel's unity and, 163-64

rosette-shaped, 352

existence of, 128-30

Yehud boundaries

as hill

inferred from, 355

Sea Peoples, 87-89

Second Temple Judaism, 300, 301 Seti

I,

pharoah, 60, 61

Sedentarization, 330-31, 332

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 250, 251-52, 259-63, 345

Shallum, king of Israel, 198, 219

242

country chieftain, 190, 238

stables, cities,

and

gates of, 135-38, 139,

140, 141, 152

archaeological evidence of, 342-44

Omride dynasty and, 202-3

Solomons Temple, Song of the

Sea, 51

132-33

186-87, 189-90,

3*4

Indt

Southern kingdom (Judah), 9-10, 24, 41-42

284

literacy in,

monotheism

930-705 bce, 229-50 Assyrian empire and, 243,

245^6,

Pan

250

puritan reforms

biblical

prominence

burial customs,

229-30

of,

276

in,

Israelite ideal of,

283-85

277-80, 287-89

in,

revolution in countryside, 285-87

586-C.440 bce, 296-313. See also Yehud

245-46

environmental constraints on, 239

Babylonian

expansion

non-exiled population

fidelity to

243-46

of,

YHWH as ideal vs. reality of,

of,

305-8

rebuilding of Temple of Jerusalem,

234

299-300

idolatry of, 234

restoration of, 297-301

inaccurate portrayal by Bible, 235-38

kings

297-301, 305-6

rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, 301

Hezekiah's religious reforms, 249-50

Israel's

exile,

dominance

of,

over,

Hezekiah's rebellion against, 251—64

Assyrian kings involved in history

231-34, 236-37

monotheism

in,

Assyrian empire and, 270-71

230

246-49

of,

201

69-70

polytheism

in,

240-43

attitudes toward Egypt,

population

of,

208

kingdom of Israel and, 39-40, 223-25

settlement patterns

of,

kings of (lists), 20,

241

131,

236-37, 272

245

Speiser,

Ephraim,

705-639 bce, 69-70, 120-22, 251-74

Stables,

Solomonic, 135-38, 209-12

statehood

for,

Arabian trade and, 267—68

Stager,

assessment of kings

Succoth, 59

of,

270-73

36, 322

Lawrence, 241

Assyrian empire and, 270-71 geopolitical factors in religion,

270-

Taanach, city

of, 161,

203

Tamar, 42

7i

Hezekiah's rebellion, 251-64, 271

Tammuz (Mesopotamian god),

under Josiah. Seejosiah, king of

Tayma,

Judah

Tel

Dan

under Manasseh. See Manasseh, king of

Judah

inscription. See

Tell

el-Amarna (Tell

letters.

Tema,

polytheism

Temple of Jerusalem,

in,

264-65

639-586 bce, 275-95 of,

292-95

book of Law discovery and, 276, 277, 280-81

284

Deuteronomy and,

285

Egypt- Assyria balance of power and, 281-83

Davidic kings

as center

of

123, 127, 241, 310

YHWH worship, 250 of,

56

cultic activities in ruins of,

306—7

destruction by Babylonians, 295 Jehoash's renovation of, 233

Deuteronomistic History and, 275, 276,

last

letters)

41

construction

Babylonian conquest

See Amarna tablets

el-Amarna

olive oil industry and, 268-70, 273

ambitions, 46^

"House of David"

inscription

material culture of, 352-53

territorial

242

oasis of, 41

rebuilding

of,

51

Thompson, Thomas,

36-37, 38, 128

Thutmose

III,

Tiglath-pileser of,

292-95

299-300

Ten commandments,

pharoah, 60 III,

king of Assyria, 199

Arabian trade and, 267

Inch

38S

conquest of Israel, 215

opposition to peaceful infiltration theory,

Judah and, 233-34, 2 43 resettling

of conquered

332 stratification

territories by, 216,

scheme, 203

Solomonic discoveries

221

Tiryns, 85

137-40,

Hazor excavations, 80—81,

Tirzah, 154

137, 184,

187-88, 203

Tjkw, 59

Megiddo

Torah. See Pentateuch Trade, Arabian caravan, 41, 320

Yael,

Yehud,

in seventh century bce, 143

99 315

boundaries

of,

354-55

Davidic family's role

Transjordan

Exodus story and, 64

kingdoms

excavations, 183-84, 185,

210

Judah and, 267-68

of,

in Persian period, similarities of,

308-9

with late-monarchic Judah,

3H

86

Unified conquest theory of Israelite origins,

YHWH, 9, 12, 120-21 fidelity to, reality vs. ideal of,

332, 335

Ur, city of, 28, 312-13

kingdom

309-10

historical revisionism and, 310-13

90

Ulu Burun, shipwreck

in,

Edomites and, 312

67-68

Ugarit, city of, 87,

Urartu,

of,

342

Israel's

234

covenant with, 9

Omrides and, 172-73

of, 211

Temple of Jerusalem

Urusalim, 238-39 Ussishkin, David, 132, 139, 187, 262, 342

Uzziah (Azariah), king of Judah,

233,

237

as center for

worshipping, 250

YHWH-alone movement,

247-50, 271,

273-74

Van

Seters,

Hezekiah and, 249-50

John, 36-37

Wapnish, Paula, 267

Zadok

Ways of Horus, 60

Zebulun, 98, 150

Weinfeld, Moshe, 281

Zechariah, king of Israel, 198, 219

Wellhausen, Julius, 36

Zechariah (prophet), 297

Williamson, Hugh, 192-93

Zedekiah, king of Judah, 294-95

Woodhead, John,

Zephaniah (prophet), 290

187, 342

Zertal,

Israelite origins

334

Adam,

127

221

Zerubbabel, governor of Yehud, 299-300,

Yadin, Yigael, 342

on

(priest),

and

characteristics, 333,

309-10 Zimri, king of Israel, 172

RELIGION/HISTORY /SOCIAL SCIENCE

"The boldest and most

exhilarating synthesis of the Bible

and archaeology

in fifty years."

— Baruch Halpern, author of The

First Historians:

The Hebrew Bible and History

and provocative work, leading

this iconoclastic

InAsher Silberman draw on

revised portrait of ancient Israel (or a telling lack

of evidence)

many of the most famous

scholars Israel Finkelstein

and Neil

recent archaeological research to present a dramatically

and

its

neighbors.

They argue

at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan,

stories in the Bible

—

that crucial evidence

and Lebanon suggests

that

the wanderings of the patriarchs, the

Exodus from Egypt, Joshua's conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon's empire

—

reflect the

world of the

later

authors rather than actual historical

vast

facts.

Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the est archaeological

Unearthed

evidence to support

offers a fascinating

Bible was written and

its

new

vision of ancient Israel,

The Bible

and controversial perspective on when and why the

why it possesses

such great spiritual and emotional power today.

"A bold and provocative book, well researched, well written, and powerfully argued. lenges

many

of the assumptions developed by the

traditional possibilities to

new

lat-

literal religious

minds of the

It

chal-

opening

— John Shelby Spong,

conclusions."

author of Here I Stand:

ages,

My Struggle for a

Christianity

of Integrity, Love, and Equality

A brutally honest assessment of what archaeology can and cannot

tell

us about the historical

accuracy of the Bible... presented with both authority and panache."

— Jonathan ISRAEL FlN KELSTEIN at Tel

Aviv University.

for the is

Ename Center

is

director of the Sonia

NEIL ASHER SlLBERMAN for Public

is

magazine.

N

&

of Archaeology

director of historical interpretation

TOUCHSTON

Published by Simon

Institute

Archaeology and Heritage Presentation in Belgium and

a contributing editor to Archaeology

A

and Marco Nadler

Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

Schuster

New

BOOK

E

York

5

Cover

1400

photograph: Royal Israelite signet seal

from the era of Jeroboam 11(788-747 BCE) Visit us online at

III

III

II

www.simonsays.com

III

II

9 17806841 869131'

DbDEmDD

U.S. $14.00 Can. $22.00

ISBN D-bflM-flb c113-b