Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context Review

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(More customer reviews)George E. Mendenhall has been described by eminent students of the Bible as one of the most creative American scholars of the ancient Near East in the twentieth century. Yet his fundamental work is largely unknown outside the guild of professional historians, philologists, and archaeologists. Now a comprehensive account of his reconstruction of the history of ancient Israel is available in a beautifully edited, attractively produced form. It can be understood and appreciated even by those who haven't mastered the technical tools of the professional scholar.
His pre-eminent interest, studied over a period of some six decades, has been the origins of ancient Israel. In Mendenhall's view, it is in Israel's origins that we find the essential clues to the interpretation of all subsequent Israelite history-including the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth and the early Christian Church some 1200 years after the time of Moses. A brief review such as this cannot hope to do justice to the enormous wealth of material in this superb book. I will attempt only a sketchy summary of each chapter.
Introduction
First he posits several illuminating general principles for understanding the phenomenon of religion, which are applied throughout the following chapters to Israel's particular historical phases.
Abraham to Moses
Then Mendenhall surveys the later part of the Bronze Age (2500-1200 B.C.) in the Eastern Mediterranean, covering the rise and fall of empires. He also characterizes (the main thrust of the chapter) the emergence, from at least 2000 B.C. onward, of numerous groups of "Apiru"--people who altogether disavowed political loyalties. He cites linguistic reasons for associating "Apiru" with "transgressor" or "outlaw." Apiru groups, lacking any legal protection, survived via banditry, mercenary militarism, or by converting agricultural assets to movable livestock and escaping to uninhabited regions inaccessible to political authorities. The less fortunate among them were prey to enslavement as state laborers--as were thousands of Apiru in Egypt.
Moses and the Exodus
Moses' leadership of the "exodus" of a few hundred Apiru from Egypt is tied in Biblical tradition (correctly, in Mendenhall's view) to two revolutionary religious innovations: monotheism in which the defining characteristic of God ("Yahweh") is ethical concern; and the use of a new form for the mediation of this Yahwism--the Covenant, derived by analogy from the forms and functions of international suzerainty treaties in use already for a millennium.
The Twelve-Tribe Federation
Mendenhall continues his historical reconstruction to the formation in two stages of the Twelve-Tribe federation of ancient Israel, created and sustained by the Mosaic Covenant, which put into practice the seemingly exotic notion of a state-less society.
David and the Transition to Monarchy
The federation functioned for about two centuries; pressure by Philistines accelerated the decline in morale and prompted desires for the institution of a political state capable of dealing more effectively with them. Samuel himself foresaw this move as the repudiation of Yahweh and the Covenant. Mendenhall illuminates the ingenious strategy then employed by David and the pagan bureaucrats inherited from the defeated Jerusalem to construct a synthesis of Yahwism and paganism, for which he adopts the term "Yahwisticism".
The Legacy of King Solomon
With King Solomon the "re-paganization of Israel" reached new heights. Mendenhall relates how Solomon's building program--involving the imposition of the corvée labor from which the Apiru slaves had escaped with Moses!--provided a new Phoenician Temple for the theologians and a swell Hittite palace for the king. "Yahweh," once the repudiator of coercion, had become merely the new "Baal," the Bronze Age hypostasis of state legitimacy and power. Mendenhall limns the intricate, unscrupulous struggles among Solomon's successors, and correlates the poetic oracles of Hosea and Amos to the ongoing upheavals of state, bringing into relief their invocation of the old covenantal elements.
Josiah Reforms the Imperial Religion
Mendenhall next turns to the fate of the kingdom of Judah and the biblical literature catalyzed by its history. He presents the historical preparation for Josiah and the latter's reforms. He also offers insights into the perverse consequences of the failure of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem during Hezekiah's reign (the unwarranted confidence that Yahweh's highest priority was the protection of Jerusalem and its Temple).
Destruction and Exile: The Creative Reform of Yahwism
The destruction of Jerusalem predicted by Jeremiah (and Ezekiel) was a catastrophe for Israel-as-Davidic-Dynasty and produced enormous suffering for countless hapless individuals. Meditations on it by some of the greatest religious geniuses of history are enshrined in various Biblical writings, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel; Job (the book is worth having for this section alone); and "Second Isaiah." But the universalizing re-expression of Israel's covenant faith by these writers was just one response to the Exile. With the return of the exiles to Palestine under the Persian Cyrus, Ezra and Nehemiah wrote another new chapter in the evolution of Yahwism.
Jesus and the New Testament Reformation
Reading the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament makes it clear that Jesus' message hearkens back to the Covenant faith and the inspired re-expressions and adaptations of it by the great prophets. In a word, it was a creative reformation movement within the tradition of Israel's faith. Mendenhall throws a flood of light on "the Kingdom of God," "Messiah," "Law," and on "covenant" itself as it reappears in the Christian Eucharist.
Summary
This magnificent book by one of the towering figures in Biblical scholarship throws an arresting new light on the universal significance of the ancient ethical-religious vision of Moses and pre-monarchic Israel. It shows how, despite the ever-changing vicissitudes of Israel's history, this vision reappears, creatively readapted, in the prophetic legacy, in the Exile, in Jesus and the early Church. It is well worth having just for the fascinating word-studies to be found throughout the text. No one who takes its insights seriously can look at either the Bible or the surviving religious institutions in the same way. I believe it should be read and deeply pondered by all who are committed to the life of faith.

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The author's magisterial survey leaves no scholarly stone unturned and no discipline disregarded. Findings from anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, historical analysis and social theory are all combined to paint a complete picture of Ancient Israel - a picture that is detailed and nuanced, yet presented in an accessible style. While careful not to move beyond the comprehensive evidence he has assimilated, the author does not shy from providing an account of the theological dimensions of both of Israel's history and the beginnings of the Christian faith.

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The Creation of History in Ancient Israel Review

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(More customer reviews)This book examines the process of the creation of history in the Hebrew Bible. Brettler sets out to "show what various biblical authors were `trying to do' when they wrote" their respective works.
The author begins with a strong survey of the history of historical criticism, followed by a presentation of what he believes to be the "four central factors responsible for the production of ancient Israelite biblical texts:" the use of typologies, the interpretation of earlier texts, literary shaping, and ideological influence. During an introductory discussion of `history,' `ideology,' and `literature,' Brettler suggests that what has classically been understood as `history' should actually be called `historiography' or `history writing,' while history should be understood simply as, "a narrative that presents a past." Along the same lines, `ideology' is best considered "a specific set of beliefs," which Brettler differentiates from `propaganda,' which is the method used to disseminate those beliefs. Finally, the author discards the word `literature' as an accurate description of the biblical text, arguing that "literary works are determined by the community, not by their authors." Therefore since the author did not consider his work to be literature, but rather a history, we too should refrain from calling the narrative `literature.' Brettler does concede that there are various rhetorical or literary devices and genres employed within the biblical text, but since the author employed these devices with the intention of writing a narrative history, we too should refrain from referring to the results of his literary endeavors as `literature.' This is a fine hair to split and will certainly be criticized by future respondents.
Brettler then presents his evidence in a series of six chapters that increase in degree of redaction-critical difficulty. This section is cleverly bracketed by a discussion of Chronicles (chapter 2) on the front end, in which we have the extant sources (Samuel and Kings) used by the Chronicler in his redaction, and concluding with "Text in a Tel" (chapter six), a detailed discussion of redaction-criticism that uses the multi-layered redactions of 2 Kings 17 as the literary ground in need of excavation.
Brettler's indebtedness to his teacher, Michael Fishbane, is evident the moment Brettler begins his intrabiblical exegesis of the text (chapters 2-7). This is a strength of the book, in that the author highlights many textual examples essential to any survey of redaction-criticism methodology, and in seeking an explanation of each highlighted redaction, the author tells the story of the creation of the history of Israel.
Brettler's best work is with his treatment of Chronicles. He states, "The Chronicler...provides an incontrovertible example of the flexibility of the past in the hands of one biblical historian." But Brettler ultimately leaves open for debate the question of whether the Chronicler felt he was correcting earlier scribal errors or whether he was the historian "of a totalitarian regime, attempting to control the ideology of the population." This is an important question to say the least, for its answer determines whether the Hebrew Bible was composed as multiple redactions of early oral and written themes and histories, or was composed late in history solely from the ideological imagination of the Deuteronomistic Historians.
The author then proceeds with his analysis, suggesting that the repeated promotion of Judah over the firstborn Reuben in the Genesis narrative illustrates the biblical author's use of typologies within the text. In Deuteronomy, Brettler offers a classic treatment in which he substantially demonstrates a revision of history on the behalf of the Deuteronomist. The author's treatment of the Ehud-Eglon story as satire was a surprisingly compelling argument. Here, Brettler suggests that the purpose of this genre is to increase the life span of the story's moral by using mocking, sexual, and scatological references towards Israel's Moabite enemies. Finally, Brettler discusses ideology, using the book of Samuel as a vehicle that promotes David and offers an apology for the royal ideology of the Davidic line.
Brettler ends his book with a healthy discussion of whether it is possible to reconstruct actual history. Following R. G. Collingwood, Brettler offers an analogy to the American legal system which discusses the two tests that are used in determining the validity of an argument: the unanimity rule of criminal courts that requires something be "beyond a reasonable doubt," and the less stringent majority rule of a civil court that only requires a "preponderance of evidence." Holding up Lionel Grossman's view as a model, Brettler concludes that "history cannot be objective in the sense of `ontologically founded,' but can be `something like rationally justifiable or defensible, not arbitrary, and open to criticism.'" Inasmuch, one can never be certain that one has recreated the actual past, because the past, especially a narrative one, is never fully recoverable. The responsible scholar should accept this reality and "decide which of the alternative reconstructions of the Israelite past best fits the evidence." Brettler concludes, "Biblical historical texts reflect a combination of genuine interest in the past, strong ideological beliefs and refined rhetorical devices."
With the exception of the persistent denotation of possessive plurals with a double apostrophe (or is it a quotation mark?), a practice never before encountered by the present reviewer, Brettler's work is well written, well argued, and is a great addition to the library of the biblical scholar or historian interested in the narrative history of Israel.

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The Creation of History in Ancient Israel demonstrates how the historian can start to piece together the history of ancient Israel using the Hebrew Bible as a source.

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A Brief History of the Middle East Review

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(More customer reviews)The book is a very readable overview of the history of the Middle East. Catherwood avoids academic flourishes (no footnotes) but does pay attention to the intricacies of the historiography of the region, often referencing other authors and conflicting interpretations of various events. The book is not terribly detailed -- if you want a more detailed analysis I would recommend Hourani's "History of the Arab Peoples," but Catherwood makes a nice beginning point. I plan to use the book for a high school class I am teaching on the history of the Middle East.

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The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts Review

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(More customer reviews)In "The Bible Unearthed," Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman display a rare talent among scholars--the ability to make specialized research accessible to a general audience. In this book the authors reveal how recent archaeological research forces us to reconsider the historical account woven into the Hebrew Bible. Among the conclusions they draw are:
1) The tales of patriarchs such as Abraham are largely legends composed long after the time in which they supposedly took place. This is seen in anachronisms such as the use of camels, not domesticated in the Near East until nearly 1000 years after Abraham's time, in many of the stories.
2) There is good reason to believe that the Exodus never happened. Had migrants to the number of even a small fraction of the 600,000 claimed in the Bible truly sojourned in the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years, archaeological evidence of their passage would be abundant. In fact, there are no traces of any signifant group living in the Sinai at the supposed time of the Exodus.
3) The Israelite "conquest" of Canaan, such as there was, was far from the military invasion of the books of Joshua and Judges. Many of the cities described as being conquered and destroyed did not even exist at the time, while those that did were small, unfortified villages, with no walls to be brought down, by blowing trumpets or otherwise.
4) While there is evidence that a historical David existed, and founded some sort of ruling dynasty known by his name, there is good reason to believe that he did not rule over the powerful united monarchy described in II Samuel. One reason for doubt: Jerusalem, portrayed as the great capital of a prosperous nation, was during the time of David little more than a village.
5) Neither Israel nor Judah emerged as organized kingdoms until significantly after the supposed period of the united monarchy. Israel does not appear as a recognizable kingdom until the time of the Omrides of the 9th century BCE, while Judah does not appear as such until the late 8th century BCE, at the time of kings Ahaz and Hezekiah.
Along with their revision of the biblical account of history, Finkelstein and Silberman attempt to explain the origins of the Hebrew Bible, suggesting that the composition of much of the Bible can be tied to the religious agenda of King Josiah of Judah during the late 7th century BCE. While the origins of the Bible will never be known with certainty--there simply isn't enough evidence--Finkelstein and Silberman definitely provide a plausible interpretation.
The authors, as I noted above, do a superb job of making their work understandable to non-specialists; since even college history majors often don't study the ancient Near East, they take care to include sufficient background information for the reader to understand the context of their account. Anyone with an interest in the subject will find "The Bible Unearthed" to be fascinating reading. And anyone who thinks the Bible is an accurate history book should definitely read it.

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History of Ancient Israel Review

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(More customer reviews)J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes' A History of Ancient Israel and Judah provides a solid introduction to the methods and problems of studying the development of the kingdoms that came to be known as Israel and Judah. The book deals with events from the time of Israel's origins (the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages) to the work of Ezra and Nehemiah (the fifth and fourth centuries BCE). On the whole, A History is more cautious with the biblical texts than other histories of ancient Israel, such as John Bright's A History of Israel. Miller and Hayes spend less time offering guesses about the more speculative aspects of Israel's history, such as the patriarchs and exodus, and concentrate their efforts on the later period (tenth to fifth centuries BCE) for which conclusions are more certain. From its beginning, this study is very much set within the geographical, political, economic, and religious context of the ancient Near East and Egypt as a whole. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this work is the inclusion of both photographs and fairly complete translations of extra-biblical documents pertinent to various stages of Israel's history. A History is divided into chronological segments, and the authors proceed by summarizing the biblical texts germane to the time period, critically examining these accounts along with extra-biblical and archaeological evidence, and then drawing conclusions. If the book has a major weakness, it is the absence of either footnotes or endnotes, but the authors provide a sizable topical bibliography at the conclusion of the book, and overall, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah is sound, readable scholarship.

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Discusses the history of Israel during Old Testament times and examines economic and political factors.

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