The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred TextsIn this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 4 | |
The Bible as History? | 25 |
Searching for the Patriarchs | 27 |
Did the Exodus Happen? | 48 |
The Conquest of Canaan | 72 |
Who Were the Israelites? | 97 |
Memories of a Golden Age? | 123 |
Between War and Survival | 251 |
A Great Reformation | 275 |
Exile and Return | 296 |
The Future of Biblical Israel | 315 |
Theories of the Historicity of the Patriarchal Age | 319 |
Searching for Sinai | 326 |
Alternative Theories of the Israelite Conquest | 329 |
Why the Traditional Archaeology of the Davidic and Solomonic Period Is Wrong | 340 |
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel | 147 |
One State One Nation One People? | 149 |
Israels Forgotten First Kingdom | 169 |
In the Shadow of Empire | 196 |
Judah and the Making of Biblical History | 227 |
The Transformation of Judah | 229 |
Identifying the Era of Manasseh in the Archaeological Record | 345 |
How Vast Was the Kingdom of Josiah? | 347 |
The Boundaries of the Province of Yehud | 354 |
| 356 | |
| 373 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abraham Ahab ancient Aramean archaeological evidence army Assyrian Babylonian Beersheba valley Bethel Bible Bible’s biblical narrative biblical scholar book of Joshua books of Kings building built Canaan Canaanite Canaanite cities capital conquest cult desert destruction Deuteronomistic History dynasty early eastern Egypt Egyptian empire excavations exile Exodus Genesis God’s Hazael Hazor Hebrew Hezekiah highlands hill country identified inscription Iron Age Israelite Jacob Jeroboam Jerusalem Jezreel Josiah Judahite king of Israel kingdom of Israel kingdom of Judah Lachish Late Bronze Age late eighth late monarchic later Lord Manasseh Megiddo mentioned Middle Bronze Moab Moses ninth century bce nomads northern kingdom Omri Omrides palace patriarchs period pharaoh Philistine population pottery prophets raelites Ramesses Ramesses II region reign religious royal saga Samaria settled settlement seventh century bce Shephelah Sinai southern story Temple territories tion tribes united monarchy villages wall worship Yadin Yehud YHWH