Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

by Lester L. Grabbe

A number of 'histories of Israel' have been written over the past few decades yet the basic methodological questions are not always how do we write such a history and how can we know anything about the history of Israel?

In Ancient Israel Lester L. Grabbe sets out to summarize what we know through a survey of sources and how we know it by a discussion of methodology and by evaluating the evidence. Grabbe's aim is not to offer a history as such but rather to collect together and analyze the materials necessary for writing such a history. His approach therefore allows the reader the freedom, and equips them with the essential methodological tools, to use the valuable and wide-ranging evidence presented in this volume to draw their own conclusions.

The most basic question about the history of ancient Israel, how do we know what we know, leads to the fundamental questions of the What are the sources for the history of Israel and how do we evaluate them? How do we make them 'speak' to us through the fog of centuries?

Grabbe focuses on original sources, including inscriptions, papyri, and archaeology. He examines the problems involved in historical methodology and deals with the major issues surrounding the use of the biblical text when writing a history of this period. Ancient Israel makes an original contribution to the field but also provides an enlightening overview and critique of current scholarly debate. It can therefore serve as a 'handbook' or reference-point for those wanting a catalog of original sources, scholarship, and secondary studies.

Its user-friendly structure and Grabbe's clarity of style make this book eminently accessible not only to students of biblical studies and ancient history but also to the interested lay reader.

Genres: History, Archaeology, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Religion, Israel, Middle East

328 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2007

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lester L. Grabbe (° 1945, emeritus University of Hull, England) is one of the most eminent experts on the early history of Israel and the Hebrew Bible. And, apparently, he is a very methodical person. In this book he explores in a systematic way which sources are available to reconstruct that history and especially to assess the historical value of the Hebrew Bible. That is very useful in a field of research where many experts sometimes stand opposite each other with drawn knives. Very interesting, but I fear that this is not immediately for the layman. Anyone who wants to take a short cut will find what they are looking for in the summary of this book. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

The study of Antiquity is characterized foremost by an enormous scarcity of sources, certainly in comparison with subsequent periods. This means that researchers often have to work very speculatively in order to reconstruct a certain period, and that there is a lot of room for different views and debate. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is done methodically, intellectually honestly and transparently. And unfortunately that is not always the case. A few examples concerning Antiquity: within (and outside) the academic world there are heated debates about the construction and function of Stonehenge, the crisis of the late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean, the origin of the Vedic culture in India, and so on. But the earliest history of Israel and the historical value of the Hebrew Bible also are such delicate subjects, with a heated debate for decades between researchers that use the Biblical story as much as possible as a historical source (maximalists), and on the other side of the spectrum others who only swear by what can be unequivocally proven through archaeology and non-Biblical sources (minimalists). It is a discussion that is sometimes conducted in a hard-hitting and even very personal manner.

Lester L. Grabbe tries to defuse the controversy by simply listing what we know, how we know it, and what we do not know. This inevitably results in a fairly academic work that is profound, but also requires perseverance from the reader. Grabbe works very methodically, starting with an extensive but solid analysis of the ins and outs of historical research. This is followed by a systematic overview and assessment of the available sources, both the Biblical stories, the archaeological finds and non-Biblical texts. To be clear: Grabbe limits himself to the period from the late Bronze Age (ca 1200 BCE) to the Exile (6th century BCE), the period that is most disputed.

The great merit of this book is that it continually and rightly emphasizes how uncertain we are about many facets of that earliest history of Israel, and how much we probably just never know. What struck me most is how often archaeological findings are radically revised after a while: what is first presented as quasi-certainty, such as definitive proof of the military conquest of Canaan by the people of Israel, turns out not to be so certain after closer examination of the finds; even dates – also after C14-analysis - can sometimes shift by more than a century due to new interpretations, and so on. Beware: this should not lead to complete relativization of our knowledge, but to modesty and, above all, caution. In other words, even the systematic listing of data does not necessarily lead to certain information.

Grabbe has done absolutely useful work, but here again a warning: this book provides a state of affairs at the time of publication; for this second, revised edition that is 2017; the first one dates from 2007. So perhaps, this should actually be repeated every 10 years. Anyone feeling like taking up the gauntlet?

[AskHistorians]

Despite the somewhat colloquial feel of the title, this is not light reading. Nor is it intended to be, it provides a succinct, easily understandable discussion of all of the major debates in Israelite archaeology today. It wonderfully fills a fairly obvious gap for a quick and dirty reference for recent discoveries.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm interested in critical histories of ancient Israel and this book seemed to fit the bill. But note, from the preface:

This book is ... not a history of Israel but the preparation--the prolegomena--for such a history. It is aimed initially at scholars, with the intent of contributing to the current debate. By laying out as clearly as possible the main primary sources and drawing attention to the areas of debate and the arguments being advanced, I hope to give a snapshot of the field at the present time.

Be aware of that going in. If you're not already very familiar with the narrative of Israel given in the Hebrew Bible you'll get very little out of this book; if you're not already somewhat familiar with modern historical and archaeological findings and conclusions about ancient Israel you'll be lost quickly here.

Though conversant with this type of material, I often found myself struggling over mentions of "lower chronology", the "Iron Age IIC" period, the names of various scholars whose theories are frequently referenced, and various other technical terms left unexplained. Adding some brief introductory and explanatory comments would have gone a long way to making this book much more accessible to a lay audience. It comes across throughout as a book intended for graduate students wanting an overview of the subject.

There are no maps and only one chart that is not particularly helpful. More of both would have been extremely helpful.

This book is, however, very interesting. It discusses problems with the Biblical narrative, such as the lack of evidence for an actual state of the sort David was said to have ruled during the time he would have lived and the anachronistic insertion of the Philistines into Israel's history before they were actually settled in coastal Palestine. Evidence from artifacts, writings, inscriptions, and monuments are discussed along with various interpretations of the data. One gets a much better understanding of Israel's position vis-a-vis the great empires of its time (Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon) from this book, which covers up to the period of the Babylonian exile.

Not recommended for anyone who hasn't already been introduced to critical scholarship regarding ancient Israel as it is a bit more opaque to the nonspecialist than it needs to be. Would have benefited from a longer introduction and conclusion. 3/5 stars.

[Bob Breckwoldt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a history but a prolegomena (wisely the editor made sure this wasn't used) for a history of the origins, development and end of Ancient Israel and Judea. It is a wide ranging, full discussion and evaluation of the evidence (at the time of writing 2006/7) pertaining to any writing of a history of ancient Israel and Judea. Included is an extensive bibliography for further research and reading. If like me, it is a while since you read about this period, then it is a very useful summary, but with a sharp learning curve with regards to archaeology, e.g. discussion of Low and Modified Conventional Chronology, the intricacies of dating, and its relationship to the Biblical narrative. Only 4 stars because the book is let down by a lack of maps, which would help in the orientation for the reader of places and periods. At the end you know and understand the difficulties of writing a history of this period, but that it is not impossible and there is much we know and mucc for which disagreement is quite legitimate and valid. Definite worthwhile purchase.

[Joshua Stager · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful synthesis from a modern, critical historical perspective of the evidence surrounding Israel, especially during the period of ca. 870-720. For the "biblical maximalist" perspective, read K. A. Kitchen "On the Reliability of the Old Testament."

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como o título sugere, o livro é uma introdução tanto às principais questões envolvendo a história de Israel quanto às principais questões metodológicas pertinentes ao assunto. Assim, cumpre bem aquilo que propõe no prefácio, de ser um prolegômeno da história de Israel, e não uma história propriamente dita. Não obstante, apesar de apenas introdutório, expõe os pontos mais relevantes do estudo, apresenta as posições mais debatidas, dialoga com os principais pesquisadores e, ao final de cada capítulo, faz um balanço do conhecimento atual que temos sobre cada período. Um adendo: a periodização, baseada na estratigrafia dos principais sítios arqueológicos da Palestina, fica confusa (e o próprio autor reconhece) para a segunda parte da Era do Bronze (séculos X à metade do IX a. C.) em função da discussão ainda não resolvida entre a Baixa Cronologia (que o autor parece tender a adotar, mas não explicitamente) e a Cronologia Convencional. Quanto a disputas enfadonhas entre "minimalistas" e "maximalistas" sobre o uso da Bíblia na pesquisa histórica de Israel, o autor aponta acertadamente que não há nenhuma razão metodológica consistente para qualquer uma das duas posições, e que não parece prudente rejeitar possíveis fontes por causa de algum compromisso teórico/ideológico anterior. Quanto à proposta do livro, cumpre perfeitamente, com a única ressalva de que as referências poderiam virar notas de rodapé e sair do corpo do texto.

[David Shelton · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Christian I am interested in the historicity of the Bible and wanted to learn more about the various archaeological discoveries that have been made and scholars have interpreted these findings.

Unfortunately the book doesn’t have much respect for the Biblical text, regarding it only as a secondary source and therefore not valuable in establishing history. In many places the author takes a lack of evidence for a Biblical event, such as the exodus and assumes that because no evidence has been found, that it didn’t happen. While I learned a few things, the book overall was pretty disappointing. I was surprised by the poor quality of arguments that were made and the writing style is not very engaging. I was not convinced and wouldn’t recommend to fellow non-scholars.

[DAJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bible is an anthology of texts put together in a time when the concept of writing scrupulous history did not yet exist, all filtered through a series of nationalistic and theological agendas. The texts within it that are most informative about the history of Israel and Judah are narratives about the remote past that derive ultimately from oral tradition; bare-bones royal annals; and religious polemics. Many ancient texts from many cultures have similar problems, but the real kicker is that this anthology is our only lengthy textual source for pre-exilic Jewish history, so we have no independent sources to check it against except the results of archaeology. On top of all that, the modern religious and political importance of the texts in question puts outside pressure on the whole discipline, which I think makes its debates more emotional than they should be even when fundamentalists aren't directly participating. The field is so fraught with controversy that it sometimes seems the interpretation of every artifact is disputed.

Given these problems, nobody can piece together a narrative for early biblical history with much hope of accuracy, so Grabbe doesn't try. Instead, he gives us a guide to the evidence and the positions taken by the significant scholars on every major issue. It's very detailed and thus not easy to read, but Grabbe's style is straightforward enough that it shouldn't be a problem, as long as you have a general understanding of biblical criticism and biblical archaeology.

Naturally, most of the book is divided into sections for the major historical periods, ending with the Babylonian exile: the middle and late Bronze Age, the transition from settlement to statehood, the rise and fall of Israel, and the peak and decline of Judah. After running through the evidence and the scholarship in each section, Grabbe sums up the state of research—what is inaccurate in the relevant biblical texts, what is accurate, and what is simply unknown—and states what he considers most likely. Most of his conclusions seem eminently reasonable to me, but the beauty of his book is that you don't have to agree with him to find it valuable. If you want to draw your own conclusions, you can delve further based on the litany of sources that Grabbe draws upon. If, like me, you just want to see the outlines of the scholarly debate, a better guide would be difficult to find.

Given how many sites and regions the books discusses, the major thing it's missing is a map.