ReViews

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The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman

(New York: Free Press, 2000) 304 pp., $26.00 (hardback)

The Bible Unearthed makes two bold claims: that the core historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible—the Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy through Kings)—was composed only at the very end of the Judean monarchy, mostly during the internal crises and attempted reforms of King Josiah in the late seventh century B.C.; and that the result is more theological propaganda than an accurate account of ancient Israel’s history in the Iron Age (starting in about 1200 B.C.), not to mention the Bronze Age (second millennium B.C.). According to authors Israel Finkelstein (codirector of the Megiddo excavation) and archaeological journalist Neil Asher Silberman, nearly all histories of ancient Israel, even the most modern, have been little more than paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible that perpetuate an invented Israel.

In the authors’ view, the only way to correct this skewed picture is archaeology, where recent discoveries have proven that the “patriarchal era” is not historical; that the “Exodus” and “conquest” never happened; that Saul, David and Solomon were little more than tribal chiefs; that Judah did not become a real kingdom until about 700 B.C. (after the Assyrians had destroyed Israel in the north); and that the Bible, which was not produced until this latter period, is a “treasury of ancient memories, fragmentary histories, and rewritten legends.”

The Bible Unearthed has some strong points. It attempts to provide a much-needed modest “revisionist” history of ancient Israel, avoiding the extremes and the rhetoric of both the maximalist and minimalist schools on the question of how much reliable history the Bible contains. The authors recognize that recent archaeological data now constitute our primary source for writing any new history of Israel. They also offer an explicit hypothesis and write admirably.

Little, however, is really new here, certainly not enough to justify the rather grandiose title and the revolutionary rhetoric throughout. Even the popular media have recently aired these controversies. Finkelstein and Silberman have added little to the discussion. They mention few scholars by name and include not a single footnote or specific reference that leads the reader to the relevant literature or, especially, to the archaeological evidence that is so crucial (there is only a general reading list at the end).

What we have in The Bible Unearthed is an ideological manifesto, not judicious, well-balanced scholarship. Even the non-specialist deserves better. The discussion of exceedingly complex matters is often simplistic and therefore misleading, even contradictory. For example, the authors’ insistent downplaying of the United Monarchy depends largely upon their down-dating of key archaeological data (such as the city walls and gates at Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer; see 1 Kings 9:15–17) from the tenth to the ninth century B.C. Yet nowhere do they inform the reader that Finkelstein’s idiosyncratic “low chronology” is not supported in print by a single other ranking archaeologist. Nor do they note the contradiction between their concession that the Biblical lists of Judean kings of the ninth to eighth centuries B.C. are historically reliable and their claim that there was no real kingdom of Judah until after 700 B.C.

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Then there are outright misrepresentations. I have never espoused Norman Gottwald’s “peasant revolt” model of ancient Israel’s emergence, but they claim I did. And here and there the authors’ arguments are disingenuous. They characterize the 12th- to 11th-century B.C. hill-country inhabitants as “Israelites,” although elsewhere Finkelstein has repeatedly rejected this ethnic label. Apparently the zeal here for popular appeal has outstripped candor.

The most damaging weakness of the book is that Finkelstein and Silberman never resolutely confront the fundamental dilemma in the entire controversy. If the Hebrew Bible is largely pious propaganda—in effect, a monstrous literary hoax that has fooled almost everyone for 2,000 years (until they set matters straight)—how can it be the basis for any religious belief or moral and ethical system?

Finkelstein and Silberman are almost certainly right in their confidence in archaeology’s potential for rewriting Israel’s history. And they are also right in their essentially minimalist reconstruction of the patriarchal era and earlier; in their stress on the indigenous origins of most early Israelites; in their recognition of the late date of the “Yahweh alone” (monotheistic) parties; and in their seventh-century B.C. date for the composition of most of the Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History. Yet The Bible Unearthed clearly wishes to preserve the Biblical worldview and to undergird the Bible’s contribution to the much-beleaguered Western cultural tradition. But its facile review of the debate and of the data will simply be co-opted by the more radical “revisionists” and will lend respectability to more Bible bashing.

What is now needed is a truly innovative and comprehensive history of ancient Israel, produced not by an idiosyncratic and doctrinaire archaeologist (Finkelstein) and a popular journalist and writer (Silberman), but by mainstream archaeological and Biblical scholars. This book’s heart is in the right place, but its head is hasty.

Ramat Hanadiv Excavations

Yizhar Hirschfeld

(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000) 768 pp., 16 color plates, $96.00 (available from the IES, PO Box 7041, Jerusalem 91070, Israel)

This is a wonderful publication. The volume is impressive in its size, design, print quality, photography (both black-and-white and color), drawings, reconstructions and analyses. And, in a welcome departure from usual practice, it presents results a mere two years after completion of the excavations. A product of more than 15 years of work in the field, lab and library, it won last year’s Irene Levi-Sala Book Prize for best excavation report. Yizhar Hirschfeld’s volume is a model of what an archaeological report ought to be.

Ramat Hanadiv sits on the south end of Mt. Carmel and consists of three sites—Horvat ‘Aqav, Horvat ‘Eleq and a field of tumuli (burials marked by heaps of stones). The excavators also conducted a comprehensive archaeological survey of the Ramat Hanadiv area, identifying 92 sites dating from prehistoric to modern times.

Ramat Hanadiv Excavations presents the architectural remains and artifacts discovered at the three main sites, followed by analyses by a team of specialists from various institutions in Israel and abroad.

The excavations at Horvat ‘Aqav, on the western portion of Ramat Hanadiv, exposed the remains of three periods: a Phoenician temple from the Persian period (fifth-fourth centuries B.C.E.); above it, a Herodian estate manor (late first century B.C.E.-early first century C.E.); and above that, a villa rustica (a farm/manor house) of the Byzantine period (fourth-seventh centuries C.E.). The architectural elements are discussed fully, and the artifacts—coins, ceramics, glass and small objects—are well presented.

The Horvat ‘Eleq excavations, on the east side of Ramat Hanadiv, exposed the remains of a small 19th-century Arab village, a fortified palace erected in the time of Herod and a small settlement from the Hellenistic period (fourth-second centuries B.C.E.). (There were also remains from the Middle Bronze Age II [2200–1550 B.C.E.] and Iron Age I [1200–1000 B.C.E.] periods.)

The tumuli field, south of Ramat Hanadiv, includes 30 to 40 tumuli, of which about 20 were unearthed. They date to the end of the Early Bronze Age (the end of the third millennium B.C.E.), though they continued to be used (or reused) in the Middle Bronze period.

Clear and accurate commentary, photographs, maps and plans throughout the volume enhance its readability. In particular, illustrations of Hirschfeld’s proposed reconstruction of such features as the ritual bath, a wine press, an oil press and a threshing floor in the Byzantine villa add luster to this exceptionally well-designed publication.

A section on related research further 063illuminates such details as the dovecote found at Horvat ‘Eleq, digging methods used in the area’s quarries and the problem of malaria at Horvat ‘Eleq.

Hirschfeld integrates these diverse inquiries into a comprehensive account of the various periods of settlement in the Ramat Hanadiv area, examining the social and historical contexts of the remains unearthed there.

In April 1999, after partial reconstruction, the site was opened to the public under the name of Ramat Hanadiv Park. It was dedicated to Amschel Mayor James Rothschild, who was a passionate student and supporter of archaeology in Israel. This book, too, is dedicated to him, and it is a most worthy memorial.

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman

(New York: Free Press, 2000) 304 pp., $26.00 (hardback)