A Concise History of Ancient Israel: From the Beginnings Through the Hellenistic Era

by Bernd U. Schipper, Michael Lesley (Translator)

The history of biblical Israel, as it is told in the Hebrew Bible, differs substantially from the history of ancient Israel as it can be reconstructed using ancient Near Eastern texts and archaeological evidence. In A Concise History of Ancient Israel, Bernd U. Schipper uses this evidence to present a critical revision of the history of Israel and Judah from the late second millennium BCE to the beginning of the Roman period.

Considering archaeological material as well as biblical and extrabiblical texts, Schipper argues that the history of “Israel” in the preexilic period took place mostly in the hinterland of the Levant and should be understood in the context of the Neo-Assyrian expansion. He demonstrates that events in the exilic and postexilic periods also played out differently than they are recounted in the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. In contrast to previous scholarship, which focused heavily on Israel’s origins and the monarchic period, Schipper’s history gives equal attention to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, providing confirmation that a wide variety of forms of YHWH religion existed in the Persian period and persisted into the Hellenistic age.

Original and innovative, this brief history provides a new outline of the historical development of ancient Israel that will appeal to students, scholars, and lay readers who desire a concise overview.

Genres: History, Ancient History

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2020

About the author

Bernd Ulrich Schipper

Reviews

[Sense of History]

That the Hebrew Bible is not a fully-fledged, reliable historical source should actually be an open door. Certainly for the earliest period of ancient Israel, say from 1200 to 600 BCE, the historical value of the Bible stories is very limited. And that is also logical: the oldest texts from the Hebrew Bible were only put into writing after 600 BCE, centuries after the facts, and then continuously edited, in some cases even dozens of times, until they more or less reached their definitive form in the 3rd century BCE (and even later). Moreover, and above all: the texts primarily served a religious goal; not the historical but the religious message was paramount, and that message also evolved over time, which meant that the text also had to be continuously adapted, not least in function of the radical Yhwh-ism that placed the temple in Jerusalem at its center.

That’s why it is logical that we look at the Bible texts with some skepticism if we intend to discover what the real history of the Jewish people is. The German theologian Bernd U. Schipper makes this abundantly clear here. Schipper is particularly strict: the patriarchal stories, the stay in Egypt and the exodus, the military conquest of Canaan, the glorious united kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon, …: according to him, these are almost certainly largely made-up stories. As said, there certainly are strong arguments for this, although in my opinion Schipper passes over the question of whether and which (limited) historical cores could be hidden in all these stories a little too quickly. And if he does, he sometimes dares to propose a very far-fetched alternative explanation, such as that the exodus actually referred to the departure of a very limited group of inhabitants of Canaan after corvée labour in the service of a city in the southern Levant that, at the time, was an Egyptian stronghold. And subsequently, he presents that hypothesis as a fact in his summary. Rather questionable, isn't it?

To put it a bit sharply, Schipper’s attitude boils down to the fact that he rejects almost all Biblical stories as historical sources, whilst non-Biblical texts (Assyrian, Phoenician, Egyptian, etc.) are almost automatically considered reliable, and the archaeological finds by definition indisputable. Methodologically, this, at the very least, can be called unbalanced. Incidentally, you can notice that he does not fully maintain his strict position for the more recent Biblical books (from the Persian and Hellenic period), since he regularly refers to them to confirm historical facts. To be clear: here too, in general, he remains critical and regularly points out errors or misrepresentations.

I am certainly not going to claim that this book is no good. It offers a comprehensive overview of the earliest history of the Jewish people and it also raises many pertinent issues. But in his zeal to be the best in the (skeptic) class, Schipper has in my opinion gone a bit too far, and is not always consistent. Well, I'm just beginning my reading program on ancient Israel, so I may change my mind later.

Disclaimer: This review is only about the Bible as a historical source, not about the theological value of the texts; these are two very different things.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This primarily is a political history of early Israel, roughly the period 1200-63 BCE. You will find little here on religious evolution. Bernd Schipper (° 1968, professor of Old Testament at the Humboldt University in Berlin) clearly belongs to the minimalist movement. That is to say, for him the historical value of the Hebrew Bible is very limited, if not non-existent. “The history contained in the Hebrew Bible offers little in the way of solid foundations upon which to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel, though in particular cases one might still look its theologically-influenced depiction of history in hope of finding a historical kernel”. Time and again in this book he points out which passages in the Bible are completely fabricated, or anachronistic. And of course one should certainly approach the historical value of the Bible critically. But to my taste he assumes a bit too much that non-Biblical sources, textual or archaeological, are almost by definition reliable. This does not take away from the fact that this still offers a concise and interesting overview of the earliest history of Judaism. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that this book gave me a solid, initial grasp of the history of ancient Israel and surrounding nations in a short, quick read. The chapter summaries were very helpful and the information was fascinating. However, a word of caution: the author does not integrate extra-biblical evidence with the Bible itself (and its theology) which may be a challenge for many Christian readers. The reader will need to do this integrating work on their own + with those in their community.

[Levi Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of this was really helpful, some of was not. The preferential treatment given to extra biblical sources was wild. If it was in the Bible, it was assumed to be false. If it was from another source, it was assumed to be 100% accurate. I felt as if this was more a history on the surrounding nations around Israel and not necessarily Israel proper.

[Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Claiming to be "original and innovative," Mr. Schipper has produced a nice-sized book on the history of Ancient Israel. By using extra-biblical and archaeological sources, a more evidenced-based history is unveiled, one that shows the Bible to be full of historical holes and misrepresentations.

It is all fine and well to look to extra-biblical sources for more information about biblical times. I would go so far as to say it's a great idea. Bible scholars have long pointed out some of the exaggerations and biases of the history recorded in the Bible, so looking to other sources for a more accurate understanding of biblical history is a good idea.

The problem I have with the execution of this book is that the Bible is not treated as a reliable source of history. At all. At the same time, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman sources are given free-passes and accepted as immutable fact. The Bible is unreliable; extra-biblical sources are reliable. One wonders upon what these presuppositions are in fact based.

It has been said that all history, all eye-witness accounts are biased. I think that's an inescapable part of life. The Bible, therefore, records a biased account of Israel's history, but in all fairness, the Bible doesn't present Israel as infallible. In fact, it presents Israel quite to the contrary. Can the same be said of Ancient Egyptian or Babylonian sources?

While A Concise History of Ancient Israel is filled with interesting information, the clear bias against the Bible is off-putting, and by the end of the book, it's grating to the reader. When every shred of extra-biblical evidence is given more importance than the Bible, it gives an appearance that Mr. Schipper has an axe to grind that, to him, is more important than actually seeking truth.

Read this book for some interesting history, but please don't accept this history as uncritically as Mr. Schipper accepts the histories of extra-biblical sources.

[reyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

mandatory reading for my theology class