These critical readings explore the history of ancient Israel, from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian period, as it relates to the Bible. Selected by one of the world's leading scholars of biblical history, the texts are drawn from a range of highly respected international scholars, and from a variety of historical and religious perspectives, presenting the key voices of the debate in one convenient volume.
Divided into five sections - each featuring an introduction by Lester Grabbe - the volume first covers general methodological principles, before following the chronology of Israel's earliest history; including two sections on specific cases studies (the reforms of Josiah and the wall of Nehemiah). A final chapter summarizes many of the historical principles that emerge in the course of studying Israelite history, and an annotated bibliography points researchers towards further readings and engagements with these key themes.
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It is well known that for the last several decades the study of ancient Israelite history has been a hotbed of scholarly dispute. Lester Grabbes new book addresses this dispute directly. The essays, from a variety of scholars, range from general reflections on historical method to studies of particular episodes in the history of ancient Israel and the sources for them, especially the Hebrew Bible. To help the reader sort these essays out, Grabbe provides summaries of them, along with remarks on the common issues they treat and the context of contemporary scholarship to which they belong. The essays themselves are detailed and provocative, and while a number of them take a seriously critical stance toward the Hebrew Bible as a reliable historical source, Grabbe has sought in places to balance these out with others that offer an opposing or moderating voice. In all, a substantial volume that repays close scrutiny. * PETER MACHINIST, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, USA * There is no doubt that these are all important essays that should be read by any serious student of the history of Israel, and it is rather convenient to have them all assembled in one volume. * Review of Biblical Literature *
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Critical readings from the history of scholarship on the Hebrew Bible and History/Historiography
Contents
Original Publication
Introduction
Principles for Writing History
Contents of the Volume
Part I: Studies in Methodology
Introduction
1. Herbert Niehr: Some Aspects of Working with the Textual Sources
2. Hans M. Barstad: The Strange Fear of the Bible: Some Reflections on the
Bibliophobia in Recent Ancient Israelite Historiography
3. J. Maxwell Miller: Is it Possible to Write a History of Israel without
Relying on the Hebrew Bible?
4. Max Miller: Reading the Bible Historically: The Historian's Approach
5. Nadav Naaman: Does Archaeology Really Deserve the Status of a High
Court in Biblical Historical Research?
6. Ehud Ben Zvi: Malleability and its Limits: Sennacheribs Campaign
against Judah as a Case-Study
7. Niels Peter Lemche: On the Problems of Reconstructing Pre-Hellenistic
Israelite (Palestinian) History
8. Thomas L. Thompson: Text, Context, and Referent in Israelite
Historiography
9. Lester L. Grabbe: The Big Max: Review of A Biblical History of Israel by
Iain Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III
10. Iain Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III: Who Is the
Prophet Talking about, Himself or Someone Else? (Acts 8.34): A Response to
Lester Grabbes Review of A Biblical History of Israel
Further Readings
Part II: The Beginnings of Israel and the Rise of the Monarchy
Introduction
11. John Van Seters: The Geography of the Exodus
12. Ernst Axel Knauf: History in Joshua
13. Ernst Axel Knauf: History in Judges
14. Diana Edelman: Saul ben Kish in History and Tradition
15. Lester L. Grabbe: The Mighty Men of Israel: 1-2 Samuel and History
16. Nadav Naaman: Sources and Composition in the History of David
17. Walter Dietrich: David and the Philistines: Literature and History
18. Ernst Axel Knauf, King Solomons Copper Supply
19. Hermann Michael Niemann: The Socio-Political Shadow Cast by the
Biblical Solomon
20. Ann E. Killebrew: Biblical Jerusalem: An Archaeological Assessment
21. Rainer Albertz: Secondary Sources also Deserve to Be Historically
Evaluated: The Case of the United Monarchy
Further Readings
Part III: Case Study: The Question of the Reform under Josiah
Introduction
22. Philip R. Davies: Josiah and the Law Book
23. Rainer Albertz: Why a Reform like Josiahs Must Have Happened
24. Christoph Uehlinger: Was There a Cult Reform under King Josiah? The
Case for a Well-Grounded Minimum
Further Readings
Part IV: Case Study: The Problem of Nehemiahs Wall
Introduction
25. Israel Finkelstein: Geographical Lists in Ezra and Nehemiah in the
Light of Archaeology: Persian or Hellenistic?
26. Oded Lipschits: Jerusalem between Two Periods of Greatness: The Size
and Status of the City in the Babylonian, Persian and Early Hellenistic
Periods
Further Readings
Part V: Conclusions
27. Lester L. Grabbe: Seventeen Years of the European Seminar in Historical
Methodology: The Results
Further Readings
Index
Lester L. Grabbe is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, UK, and the author of numerous books on the history of Ancient Israel.
