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When Israel Was Young: A History of the Jewish People from the Beginnings to the Roman Conquest of Jerusalem
432 pages, Paperback
Published October 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 11, 2025
A serviceable overview of ancient Israel from a veteran specialist, which unlike most treatments covers the period right up to and including Bar Kokhba. However, there are many nitpicks, mostly down to the book seriously needing more editing and coming across as a combination of the aged Lester Grabbe not being as vigilant as he used to be and the editors not dealing with this and rushing and / or half-baking publication:
- Although there are a few references to the latest scholarship (the treatment of this by a veteran scholar being my main reason for buying this book), many of the so-called "recent studies" cited are 20-30 years old
- The relatively short length of the book (365 pages of the main body) means that many topics are barreled through at warp speed. This could've been solved if the book was just 25-50% longer
- Citations are very inconsistent; while many claims are properly cited (especially in the Second Temple Period which is Grabbe's specialty), many claims are made with no citations at all, and occasionally Grabbe commits the cardinal historiographical sin of merely writing "one scholar said..." or "it has been claimed that..."
- There are typos throughout the text, a few duplicated sentences, and a few duplicated / mismatched references
- The conclusions of most chapters, and the concluding chapter, are totally superfluous, being mere repetitions of what's already been said rather than recapitulating with reflection
Aside form this there is still a wealth of information and critical scholarship to be found, so I'd recommend it as an introduction (but maybe not to someone familiar with the subject since it treads ground covered by many other books)
- Although there are a few references to the latest scholarship (the treatment of this by a veteran scholar being my main reason for buying this book), many of the so-called "recent studies" cited are 20-30 years old
- The relatively short length of the book (365 pages of the main body) means that many topics are barreled through at warp speed. This could've been solved if the book was just 25-50% longer
- Citations are very inconsistent; while many claims are properly cited (especially in the Second Temple Period which is Grabbe's specialty), many claims are made with no citations at all, and occasionally Grabbe commits the cardinal historiographical sin of merely writing "one scholar said..." or "it has been claimed that..."
- There are typos throughout the text, a few duplicated sentences, and a few duplicated / mismatched references
- The conclusions of most chapters, and the concluding chapter, are totally superfluous, being mere repetitions of what's already been said rather than recapitulating with reflection
Aside form this there is still a wealth of information and critical scholarship to be found, so I'd recommend it as an introduction (but maybe not to someone familiar with the subject since it treads ground covered by many other books)
Displaying 1 of 1 review