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Archaeology and the Religion of Israel
Originally published in 1942, this classic statement of twentieth-century biblical archaeology demonstrates a premier archaeologist at work in relating the findings of archaeology to the history of Israel as conveyed in the Old Testament. Now in this Old Testament Library edition, the seminal study includes a new introductory essay by Theodore J. Lewis. The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.
- GenresBiblical Studies
247 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1956
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March 21, 2025
A COMPLEMENT TO HIS EARLIER ‘STONE AGE AND CHRISTIANITY’ BOOK
William Foxwell Albright (1891-1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1942 book, “This book contains the substance of the Ayer Lectures, which I had the honor to deliver … in April, 1941. I have expanded the four lectures which were actually given then by the addition of Chapter III, as well as by including matter not suitable for oral presentation… It is in no sense a reproduction of my larger book, ‘From the Stone Age to Christianity’… At least 90% of the material in this volume will not be found there at all. On the other hand, I have constantly endeavored to complement the treatment of Israelite religion and related matters which was given in that book.”
He states in Chapter 1, “What we have in mind is nothing less than the ultimate reconstruction, as far as possible, of the route which our cultural ancestors traversed in order to reach Judeo-Christian heights of spiritual insight and ethical monotheism. In this book we are concerned with the religion of the Old Testament, of which the religion of the New was only the extension and the fulfillment. We have no illusions about the ease with which this somewhat grandiose task can be accomplished. By systematizing and analyzing the data which Near-Eastern archaeology has accumulated, we can at least provide a foundation on which future scholars can build.” (Pg. 4)
He observes, “The recovery of the long-lost Hittite culture and religion is much more recent than the achievements of Assyriology and Egyptology. No attention was paid to the scattered Hittite
Hieroglyphic inscriptions of Asia Minor until after the discover of monuments in this script at Hamath in Syria, and the few known tablets in Hittite cuneiform passed practically unnoticed until ...1907, when many more tablets were found. Since the Hittite hieroglyphs have been only partially deciphered … great caution is still needed.” (Pg. 52)
He explains, “In order to utilize the archaeological data to fullest advantage we must supplement them by reference to literary sources such as the Bible and the Graeco-Roman authors. It is interesting to note that we now supplement archaeological information by the use of literary sources, whereas only twenty years ago we still had to base any study of Canaanite religion on surviving literary sources, which could at best only be illustrated by the use of archaeological data.” (Pg. 67)
He reports, “The extent to which human sacrifice was practiced among the Canaanites has not been clarified by the discoveries at Ugarit… That it was prevalent in the early first millennium is certain from numerous biblical allusions. As well as the fact… that the Carthaginians … practiced human sacrifice on a large scale… In the preceding pages we have made no attempt to give an exhaustive sketch of Canaanite religion. We have not tried to list all known deities nor to describe all the elements of mythology which are now available... Enough, however, has been said to accentuate the significance of Israel’s borrowings from Canaanite religion. These adaptations lay almost entirely in the domain of religious architecture, cultic symbolism and sacrificial practice, poetic language and temple music. But the God of Israel was so far superior to the gods of the pagans, both conceptually and ethically, that theological borrowing from Canaanite sources was scarcely thinkable---at least until much later times, when the elements in question had become dissociated from their crude prophetic background.” (Pg. 91-92)
He acknowledges, “Archaeological discoveries have compelled us to modify the standard tradition of the Conquest, as reflected in the book of Joshua. They have not, however, yielded results which conflict with the older traditions, which we find embedded in the Deuteronomic narrative in the books of Joshua and Judges… supplemented by scattered data elsewhere. At present we cannot propose any safe reconstruction of the actual course of events during the period of the Israelite settlement in Palestine. What we already know from archaeological sources is, however, enough to disprove any radical reconstruction. The Mosaic period certainly preceded that age of Joshua and the Israelite conquest of Canaan reached its climactic stage about 1230 B.C. … We are in a more favorable position with reference to Israelite religion just before the invasion of Canaan than we are with regard to its external history. The Mosaic transition is so consistent, so well attested… that only hypercritical pseudo-rationalism can reject its essential historicity… We shall, accordingly, presuppose the historicity of Moses and his role as founder of Yahwism… we shall describe some of the social aspects of early Israel before they became modified in detail by the exigencies of sedentary life and by influences from pagan Hebrew and Canaanite sources.” (Pg. 94)
He asserts, “Under no circumstances must we underestimate the power of the religious factor. Mosaic Yahwism was a missionary religion, still in its first and most active phase, when compromise between faith in the jealous God of Israel and pagan practices was unthinkable. We can safely suppose that some of the groups which joined in the Mosaic movement were entire clans, each with a normative patriarchal tradition behind it. Other elements must have been quite without such organization.” (Pg. 97)
He summarizes, “From various fragmentary sources we may reconstruct, in very broad lines, a rough picture of what Yahwism was like in the eleventh century, B.C., after the process of consolidation had reached a relatively stable phase. Periods of violent impact of social and cultural forces usually produce rapid change, followed by much longer periods of when change is almost imperceptible to the close observer… the belief that god is invisible to man except under special conditions and no graphic nor plastic representation of Him is permissible; the belief that God is not restricted to any part of His creation… the belief that God has chosen Israel by formal compact to be His favored people, guided exclusively by laws imposed by Him.” (Pg.112-113)
He points out, “Any doubt about the correctness of the tradition that Solomon was himself interested in chariots and horses, and that he built up a powerful standing army, is removed by the discovery of the royal stables of the 10th and 9th centuries at Megiddo… to have had 1400 chariots and approximately 4000 horses, we have full agreement between tradition and archaeological discovery.” (Pg. 132)
He concludes, “The history of Israel’s religious evolution can be understood only in the light of this bitter century-old struggle. Every conflict with paganism brought with it new spiritual insight and new ethical rigor. The religion of orthodox Jewry had traveled a long distance since the earliest days of Yahwism. In essentials, however, orthodox Yahwism remained the same from Moses to Ezra. From first to last ethical monotheism remained the heart of Israelite religion, though there were many crises through which it had to pass during the slow change from the primitive simplicity of the Judges to the high cultural level of the 5th century B.C. The foregoing pages illustrate the significance of modern archaeological discovery in reconstructing the details of this development.” (pg. 168)
He adds in the Postscript, “Archaeology checks all extreme views with regard to the meaning and content of biblical tradition. Neither radicalism nor ultra-conservatism receives any support from the discoveries and the discoveries of the archaeologist. In general archaeology confirms the traditional picture of the evolution of religious life and thought through Hebrew, Israelite and Jewish history… Thanks to archaeology we can see more clearly that the prophets of Israel were neither pagan ecstatics nor religious innovators… To the Christian Israel’s religion thus remains the essential nucleus of his spiritual arsenal… still charged with latent power… Israel saw a vision of God at its coming-of-age---a vision through which man can alone be saved from the tyranny of nature and history.” (Pg. 169-171)
Albright’s works were the foundation stones of the heyday of “biblical archaeology.” If later scholarship has sometimes rejected his conclusions [see 'William Foxwell Albright and the Origins of Biblical Archaeology' and 'Planting and Reaping Albright: Politics, Ideology, and Interpreting the Bible,' for example], his books are nevertheless “must reading” for anyone studying this area.
William Foxwell Albright (1891-1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1942 book, “This book contains the substance of the Ayer Lectures, which I had the honor to deliver … in April, 1941. I have expanded the four lectures which were actually given then by the addition of Chapter III, as well as by including matter not suitable for oral presentation… It is in no sense a reproduction of my larger book, ‘From the Stone Age to Christianity’… At least 90% of the material in this volume will not be found there at all. On the other hand, I have constantly endeavored to complement the treatment of Israelite religion and related matters which was given in that book.”
He states in Chapter 1, “What we have in mind is nothing less than the ultimate reconstruction, as far as possible, of the route which our cultural ancestors traversed in order to reach Judeo-Christian heights of spiritual insight and ethical monotheism. In this book we are concerned with the religion of the Old Testament, of which the religion of the New was only the extension and the fulfillment. We have no illusions about the ease with which this somewhat grandiose task can be accomplished. By systematizing and analyzing the data which Near-Eastern archaeology has accumulated, we can at least provide a foundation on which future scholars can build.” (Pg. 4)
He observes, “The recovery of the long-lost Hittite culture and religion is much more recent than the achievements of Assyriology and Egyptology. No attention was paid to the scattered Hittite
Hieroglyphic inscriptions of Asia Minor until after the discover of monuments in this script at Hamath in Syria, and the few known tablets in Hittite cuneiform passed practically unnoticed until ...1907, when many more tablets were found. Since the Hittite hieroglyphs have been only partially deciphered … great caution is still needed.” (Pg. 52)
He explains, “In order to utilize the archaeological data to fullest advantage we must supplement them by reference to literary sources such as the Bible and the Graeco-Roman authors. It is interesting to note that we now supplement archaeological information by the use of literary sources, whereas only twenty years ago we still had to base any study of Canaanite religion on surviving literary sources, which could at best only be illustrated by the use of archaeological data.” (Pg. 67)
He reports, “The extent to which human sacrifice was practiced among the Canaanites has not been clarified by the discoveries at Ugarit… That it was prevalent in the early first millennium is certain from numerous biblical allusions. As well as the fact… that the Carthaginians … practiced human sacrifice on a large scale… In the preceding pages we have made no attempt to give an exhaustive sketch of Canaanite religion. We have not tried to list all known deities nor to describe all the elements of mythology which are now available... Enough, however, has been said to accentuate the significance of Israel’s borrowings from Canaanite religion. These adaptations lay almost entirely in the domain of religious architecture, cultic symbolism and sacrificial practice, poetic language and temple music. But the God of Israel was so far superior to the gods of the pagans, both conceptually and ethically, that theological borrowing from Canaanite sources was scarcely thinkable---at least until much later times, when the elements in question had become dissociated from their crude prophetic background.” (Pg. 91-92)
He acknowledges, “Archaeological discoveries have compelled us to modify the standard tradition of the Conquest, as reflected in the book of Joshua. They have not, however, yielded results which conflict with the older traditions, which we find embedded in the Deuteronomic narrative in the books of Joshua and Judges… supplemented by scattered data elsewhere. At present we cannot propose any safe reconstruction of the actual course of events during the period of the Israelite settlement in Palestine. What we already know from archaeological sources is, however, enough to disprove any radical reconstruction. The Mosaic period certainly preceded that age of Joshua and the Israelite conquest of Canaan reached its climactic stage about 1230 B.C. … We are in a more favorable position with reference to Israelite religion just before the invasion of Canaan than we are with regard to its external history. The Mosaic transition is so consistent, so well attested… that only hypercritical pseudo-rationalism can reject its essential historicity… We shall, accordingly, presuppose the historicity of Moses and his role as founder of Yahwism… we shall describe some of the social aspects of early Israel before they became modified in detail by the exigencies of sedentary life and by influences from pagan Hebrew and Canaanite sources.” (Pg. 94)
He asserts, “Under no circumstances must we underestimate the power of the religious factor. Mosaic Yahwism was a missionary religion, still in its first and most active phase, when compromise between faith in the jealous God of Israel and pagan practices was unthinkable. We can safely suppose that some of the groups which joined in the Mosaic movement were entire clans, each with a normative patriarchal tradition behind it. Other elements must have been quite without such organization.” (Pg. 97)
He summarizes, “From various fragmentary sources we may reconstruct, in very broad lines, a rough picture of what Yahwism was like in the eleventh century, B.C., after the process of consolidation had reached a relatively stable phase. Periods of violent impact of social and cultural forces usually produce rapid change, followed by much longer periods of when change is almost imperceptible to the close observer… the belief that god is invisible to man except under special conditions and no graphic nor plastic representation of Him is permissible; the belief that God is not restricted to any part of His creation… the belief that God has chosen Israel by formal compact to be His favored people, guided exclusively by laws imposed by Him.” (Pg.112-113)
He points out, “Any doubt about the correctness of the tradition that Solomon was himself interested in chariots and horses, and that he built up a powerful standing army, is removed by the discovery of the royal stables of the 10th and 9th centuries at Megiddo… to have had 1400 chariots and approximately 4000 horses, we have full agreement between tradition and archaeological discovery.” (Pg. 132)
He concludes, “The history of Israel’s religious evolution can be understood only in the light of this bitter century-old struggle. Every conflict with paganism brought with it new spiritual insight and new ethical rigor. The religion of orthodox Jewry had traveled a long distance since the earliest days of Yahwism. In essentials, however, orthodox Yahwism remained the same from Moses to Ezra. From first to last ethical monotheism remained the heart of Israelite religion, though there were many crises through which it had to pass during the slow change from the primitive simplicity of the Judges to the high cultural level of the 5th century B.C. The foregoing pages illustrate the significance of modern archaeological discovery in reconstructing the details of this development.” (pg. 168)
He adds in the Postscript, “Archaeology checks all extreme views with regard to the meaning and content of biblical tradition. Neither radicalism nor ultra-conservatism receives any support from the discoveries and the discoveries of the archaeologist. In general archaeology confirms the traditional picture of the evolution of religious life and thought through Hebrew, Israelite and Jewish history… Thanks to archaeology we can see more clearly that the prophets of Israel were neither pagan ecstatics nor religious innovators… To the Christian Israel’s religion thus remains the essential nucleus of his spiritual arsenal… still charged with latent power… Israel saw a vision of God at its coming-of-age---a vision through which man can alone be saved from the tyranny of nature and history.” (Pg. 169-171)
Albright’s works were the foundation stones of the heyday of “biblical archaeology.” If later scholarship has sometimes rejected his conclusions [see 'William Foxwell Albright and the Origins of Biblical Archaeology' and 'Planting and Reaping Albright: Politics, Ideology, and Interpreting the Bible,' for example], his books are nevertheless “must reading” for anyone studying this area.
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