Early History of the Israelite People from the Written and Archaeological Sources by ThomasL. ThompsonReview by: J. A. SogginJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 115, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1995), pp. 317-318Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/604689 .

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Reviews of Books Reviews of Books

The issue of the population makeup of Judah during Baby- lonian rule must also be reassessed. While the recorded number of deportees does not suggest a complete emptying out of the

countryside (see I. Ephcal, "Babylonian Exile," in The Resto- ration: The Persian Period, ed. H. Tadmor, World History of the Jewish People [Tel-Aviv: Am Oved, 1983], 17-18 [He- brew]), the loss of population due to war and the consequent flight of refugees to safe havens, taken together with the influx of squatters/settlers (especially in the Hebron hills and northern

Negev), does make for a mixture of peoples in Judah. Their number is much disputed, and their cultic life was most natu-

rally at odds with the one followed by the returnees from Baby- lon. Some of the local residents, with stated foreign pedigrees, claimed rights within the renewed cult of Yahweh (Ezra 4:1-

2), and the Second (Third?) Isaiah held out a welcoming hand to those foreigners who "attach themselves to Yahweh" (Isa. 56). Might these newcomers have been one of the sources and

support of the alien cults this prophet so decried?

Considering the many open questions concerning the end of the monarchic period in Judah and the Exile, a neutral title, without the word "popular," might have been a better choice for this challenging investigation.

MORDECHAI COGAN

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY

Early History of the Israelite People from the Written and Ar-

chaeological Sources. By THOMAS L. THOMPSON. Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 4. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1992. Pp. ix + 489. HF1 215, $122.86.

When T. L. Thompson's first work appeared in 1974, it sounded quite revolutionary, and as such did not go unchal-

lenged. It was also noteworthy that he was an American and was trained in America, but who spent time in Germany, where his first work was fashioned. Since then, he has published sev- eral other works. One of these, The Origin Tradition of Ancient Israel, vol. 1 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987), promised a sequel which did not appear. Could the volume under review be what we are waiting for?

The problem posed by the author since 1974 is a simple one. The Hebrew Bible is not only a book of religion and faith, as it has been for millennia in the Synagogue and the Church; it is part, as has been well known for over a century, of the lit- erature of the ancient Near East. As such it attempts to convey information which is relevant on both the historiographical and the historico-religious levels. But is it reliable? The author's an-

The issue of the population makeup of Judah during Baby- lonian rule must also be reassessed. While the recorded number of deportees does not suggest a complete emptying out of the

countryside (see I. Ephcal, "Babylonian Exile," in The Resto- ration: The Persian Period, ed. H. Tadmor, World History of the Jewish People [Tel-Aviv: Am Oved, 1983], 17-18 [He- brew]), the loss of population due to war and the consequent flight of refugees to safe havens, taken together with the influx of squatters/settlers (especially in the Hebron hills and northern

Negev), does make for a mixture of peoples in Judah. Their number is much disputed, and their cultic life was most natu-

rally at odds with the one followed by the returnees from Baby- lon. Some of the local residents, with stated foreign pedigrees, claimed rights within the renewed cult of Yahweh (Ezra 4:1-

2), and the Second (Third?) Isaiah held out a welcoming hand to those foreigners who "attach themselves to Yahweh" (Isa. 56). Might these newcomers have been one of the sources and

support of the alien cults this prophet so decried?

Considering the many open questions concerning the end of the monarchic period in Judah and the Exile, a neutral title, without the word "popular," might have been a better choice for this challenging investigation.

MORDECHAI COGAN

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY

Early History of the Israelite People from the Written and Ar-

chaeological Sources. By THOMAS L. THOMPSON. Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 4. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1992. Pp. ix + 489. HF1 215, $122.86.

When T. L. Thompson's first work appeared in 1974, it sounded quite revolutionary, and as such did not go unchal-

lenged. It was also noteworthy that he was an American and was trained in America, but who spent time in Germany, where his first work was fashioned. Since then, he has published sev- eral other works. One of these, The Origin Tradition of Ancient Israel, vol. 1 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987), promised a sequel which did not appear. Could the volume under review be what we are waiting for?

The problem posed by the author since 1974 is a simple one. The Hebrew Bible is not only a book of religion and faith, as it has been for millennia in the Synagogue and the Church; it is part, as has been well known for over a century, of the lit- erature of the ancient Near East. As such it attempts to convey information which is relevant on both the historiographical and the historico-religious levels. But is it reliable? The author's an-

swer to this question has been, as is well known, negative, and several alleged parallels with ancient Near Eastern texts and in- stitutions have been severely criticized by him. The present re- viewer can only agree with him. The biblical text is for me as well a theological (i.e., ideological) product of post-exilic Ju- daism. Its greatest historical value lies in communicating what learned people in those times thought about the nation's pre- history and ancient history. Less charitably put, it represents an

ideological reconstruction of the past, especially of the prehis- tory of the nation, in order to legitimize current institutions.

The work shows, using both archaeological and literary sources, that Israel's origins (the reviewer would rather say: "the

origins of Israel and Judah," but see the author at pp. 401ff.) as described by the Hebrew Bible, oriental sources, and Josephus, must be seen as having taken place in a completely different, although not easily identifiable way.

Thompson joins those who have been arguing in recent

years that the "J" source of the Pentateuch must be late, not much earlier than Ezekiel and Second Isaiah (p. 95); he recog- nizes explicitly the ideological character of biblical histori-

ography (pp. 116ff.). He follows N. P. Lemche in stating that there is nothing specifically "Canaanite" about the Late Bronze

Age nor specifically "Israelite" in the following Early Iron

Age, rightly criticizing at the same time those (myself in- cluded) who have argued that the history of Israel can only be-

gin with David's monarchy (pp. 133-34, 163ff., 312ff.). (But I

hope I have made my argument clearer in the second edition of A History of Ancient Israel from the Beginnings to the Bar Kochba Revolt, A.D. 135 [London: SCM Press, 1993].) This

proposal needs to be checked also against its "falsifiability": the contention that archaeology can offer a new picture of the Israelite settlement is of course true, but not as a confirmation of the Biblical texts (pp. 158ff.), rather only the opposite!

Furthermore, it is important that pottery from the Upper Galilee is to be associated with Phoenicia rather than with Samaria or Judaea (pp. 243-44). The arrival and the presence of the Philistines in Palestine is independent of and has no cor- relation with their pottery (pp. 266-67). Nor can any continuity be established between the "Israel" mentioned by Merneptah at the end of the thirteenth century B.C.E. and the state of Samaria at the end of the ninth (pp. 306-7). On sedentarization, the author argues (pp. 327ff.) convincingly that the problem is ex-

tremely complex and defies simplistic solutions, and that a slow transition from pastoralism and steppe nomadism to village ag- riculture took centuries to be completed.

Of interest are his descriptions of the reign of Nabonidus (pp. 349ff.) and of the Persian period, in which context he treats the Biblical traditions of the return from the Exile by the decree of Cyrus, by order of YHWH, as an adequate illustration of the Persian policy towards new subjects. The historicity of the law code promulgated by Ezra seems to Thompson historically

swer to this question has been, as is well known, negative, and several alleged parallels with ancient Near Eastern texts and in- stitutions have been severely criticized by him. The present re- viewer can only agree with him. The biblical text is for me as well a theological (i.e., ideological) product of post-exilic Ju- daism. Its greatest historical value lies in communicating what learned people in those times thought about the nation's pre- history and ancient history. Less charitably put, it represents an

ideological reconstruction of the past, especially of the prehis- tory of the nation, in order to legitimize current institutions.

The work shows, using both archaeological and literary sources, that Israel's origins (the reviewer would rather say: "the

origins of Israel and Judah," but see the author at pp. 401ff.) as described by the Hebrew Bible, oriental sources, and Josephus, must be seen as having taken place in a completely different, although not easily identifiable way.

Thompson joins those who have been arguing in recent

years that the "J" source of the Pentateuch must be late, not much earlier than Ezekiel and Second Isaiah (p. 95); he recog- nizes explicitly the ideological character of biblical histori-

ography (pp. 116ff.). He follows N. P. Lemche in stating that there is nothing specifically "Canaanite" about the Late Bronze

Age nor specifically "Israelite" in the following Early Iron

Age, rightly criticizing at the same time those (myself in- cluded) who have argued that the history of Israel can only be-

gin with David's monarchy (pp. 133-34, 163ff., 312ff.). (But I

hope I have made my argument clearer in the second edition of A History of Ancient Israel from the Beginnings to the Bar Kochba Revolt, A.D. 135 [London: SCM Press, 1993].) This

proposal needs to be checked also against its "falsifiability": the contention that archaeology can offer a new picture of the Israelite settlement is of course true, but not as a confirmation of the Biblical texts (pp. 158ff.), rather only the opposite!

Furthermore, it is important that pottery from the Upper Galilee is to be associated with Phoenicia rather than with Samaria or Judaea (pp. 243-44). The arrival and the presence of the Philistines in Palestine is independent of and has no cor- relation with their pottery (pp. 266-67). Nor can any continuity be established between the "Israel" mentioned by Merneptah at the end of the thirteenth century B.C.E. and the state of Samaria at the end of the ninth (pp. 306-7). On sedentarization, the author argues (pp. 327ff.) convincingly that the problem is ex-

tremely complex and defies simplistic solutions, and that a slow transition from pastoralism and steppe nomadism to village ag- riculture took centuries to be completed.

Of interest are his descriptions of the reign of Nabonidus (pp. 349ff.) and of the Persian period, in which context he treats the Biblical traditions of the return from the Exile by the decree of Cyrus, by order of YHWH, as an adequate illustration of the Persian policy towards new subjects. The historicity of the law code promulgated by Ezra seems to Thompson historically

317 317

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995) Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995)

certain (pp. 349ff., but without referring to G. GE ments which he otherwise mostly accepts).

As a result of all this, Thompson concludes

"historiography" must not be considered as such and this applies also to occasional historiographic as Gen. 14 (p. 377). That we are dealing in all the

"theology" rather than with "history" cannot be se

lenged, and this applies as well to the Babylonian the Return.

There can be no doubt that with Thompson's la have reached an important point of arrival. Most been done in the past will have to be revisited, corrected, and Thompson's work, which will angel tional scholars (perhaps addicted to a docetic-like Word of God), is a fundamental contribution. It ou

ignored by scholars of the Bible or the ancient Or

UNIVERSITX DI ROMA-"LA SAPIENZA"

History and Traditions of Early Israel: Studies Eduard Nielsen, May 8th 1993. Edited by ANDRI BENEDIKT OTZEN. Supplements to Vetus Testamen Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1993. Pp. vii + 165. HF1 13

This volume is a Festschrift to a highly respe scholar and former professor of Old Testament ex

University of Copenhagen, presented by a group ( vian colleagues and members of the editorial bo.

Testamentum, on which he served for several yea jects vary greatly, including archaeology, history, ] ies, and biblical law. The entries are arranged al

by author. G. W. Ahlstrom, "Pharaoh Shoshenq's Campai

tine" (pp. 1-16), reviews the previous discussioi structs the course of the campaign somewhat diffi earlier proposals. R. A. Carlson, "David and the A uel 6" (pp. 17-23), interprets the event historica

tempt by David to establish continuity with p tradition of the Shiloh sanctuary and to introduci with the new setting in Jerusalem. J. A. Emerton,' tain of God' in Psalm 68:16" (pp. 24-37), gives a

plication of how to understand the reference to "

God" in this difficult verse. S. Holm-Nielsen, "Did 'Warren's Shaft'?" (pp. 38-49), argues that sinnor i is not a shaft but an aqueduct for bringing water i

certain (pp. 349ff., but without referring to G. GE ments which he otherwise mostly accepts).

As a result of all this, Thompson concludes

"historiography" must not be considered as such and this applies also to occasional historiographic as Gen. 14 (p. 377). That we are dealing in all the

"theology" rather than with "history" cannot be se

lenged, and this applies as well to the Babylonian the Return.

There can be no doubt that with Thompson's la have reached an important point of arrival. Most been done in the past will have to be revisited, corrected, and Thompson's work, which will angel tional scholars (perhaps addicted to a docetic-like Word of God), is a fundamental contribution. It ou

ignored by scholars of the Bible or the ancient Or

UNIVERSITX DI ROMA-"LA SAPIENZA"

History and Traditions of Early Israel: Studies Eduard Nielsen, May 8th 1993. Edited by ANDRI BENEDIKT OTZEN. Supplements to Vetus Testamen Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1993. Pp. vii + 165. HF1 13

This volume is a Festschrift to a highly respe scholar and former professor of Old Testament ex

University of Copenhagen, presented by a group ( vian colleagues and members of the editorial bo.

Testamentum, on which he served for several yea jects vary greatly, including archaeology, history, ] ies, and biblical law. The entries are arranged al

by author. G. W. Ahlstrom, "Pharaoh Shoshenq's Campai

tine" (pp. 1-16), reviews the previous discussioi structs the course of the campaign somewhat diffi earlier proposals. R. A. Carlson, "David and the A uel 6" (pp. 17-23), interprets the event historica

tempt by David to establish continuity with p tradition of the Shiloh sanctuary and to introduci with the new setting in Jerusalem. J. A. Emerton,' tain of God' in Psalm 68:16" (pp. 24-37), gives a

plication of how to understand the reference to "

God" in this difficult verse. S. Holm-Nielsen, "Did 'Warren's Shaft'?" (pp. 38-49), argues that sinnor i is not a shaft but an aqueduct for bringing water i

arbini's argu- Gaining control of the water supply was the way by which the city was taken. A. S. Kapelrud, "You Shall Surely Not Die"

that biblical (pp. 50-61), compares this statement from the serpent in the

(pp. 374ff.), Garden of Eden with the problem of eternal life and death in the :al tales such Adapa myth and the role of the snake in the Gilgamesh epic. se cases with A. Lemaire, "Cycle primitif d'Abraham et contexte geograph- -riously chal- ico-historique" (pp. 62-75), argues for a primitive premonar- Exile and to chic Abraham tradition that was put together in a first edition

during the period of David's reign in Hebron. N. P. Lemche, test book we "City-Dwellers or Administrators. Further Light on the Canaan- of what has ites" (pp. 76-89), builds upon his recent book about the

updated, and Canaanites (The Canaanites and Their Land: The Tradition r many tradi- of the Canaanites, JSOT Supplement Series, 110 [Sheffield: vision of the JSOT Press, 19911]) to propose a new social origin for the anti- ight not to be Canaanite sentiment of the Old Testament, in which the rient. Canaanites are an administrative class in continuity with the

foreign administrators of the Late Bronze Age Egyptian prov- J. A. SOGGIN ince of Canaan. M. Ottosson, "The Iron Age of Northern Jor-

dan" (pp. 90-103), examines the archaeological evidence for settlement in the region in the transition LB II-Iron I period. The strong continuity with Late Bronze, the heavy concentra- tion in Iron I, and the depletion in Iron II have important his- torical implications for early Israelite history. B. Otzen, "The

Promoting Mother: A Literary Motif in the Ugaritic Texts and in the Bible" (pp. 104-14), presents Ugaritic parallels to the

APresented to biblical figures of Bathsheba, Rebecca, and Sarah. M. Saeb0,

LEMAIREt and "Divine Names and Epithets in Genesis 49:24b-25a. Some

itum, vol.5.

50 Methodological and Traditio-Historical Remarks" (pp. 115-32),

5, $77.25. argues that the accumulation of divine names and epithets in this text reflects "an old and important stepping-stone in the

cted biblical long traditio-historical process of the indigenous theological

egesis at the apprehension of God in ancient Israel" (p. 132). J. A. Soggin,

of Scandina- "Genesis Kapitel 34: Eros und Thanatos" (pp. 133-35), sug- ard of Vetus gests that the story reflects a concern for conversion to Judaism irs. The sub- and thus a date in the Maccabean period for this story. literary stud- J. Strange, "The Book of Joshua: A Hasmonaean Manifesto?" Iphabetically (pp. 136-41), argues for a similarly late date for the book of

Joshua. M. Weinfeld, "The Ban on the Canaanites in the Bib- ign to Pales- lical Codes and its Historical Development" (pp. 142-60),

and recon- discusses the various injunctions on the treatment of the indige- erently from eren rm nous inhabitants from expulsion to annihilation and proposes a

historical development among the codes in the Pentateuch on lly as an at- this basis.

ast northern The volume concludes with a bibliography of Nielsen's works e innovation by J. H. Gr0nbaek. 'The 'Moun- detailed ex- JOHN VAN SETERS JOHN MAN SETERS

arbini's argu- Gaining control of the water supply was the way by which the city was taken. A. S. Kapelrud, "You Shall Surely Not Die"

that biblical (pp. 50-61), compares this statement from the serpent in the

(pp. 374ff.), Garden of Eden with the problem of eternal life and death in the :al tales such Adapa myth and the role of the snake in the Gilgamesh epic. se cases with A. Lemaire, "Cycle primitif d'Abraham et contexte geograph- -riously chal- ico-historique" (pp. 62-75), argues for a primitive premonar- Exile and to chic Abraham tradition that was put together in a first edition

during the period of David's reign in Hebron. N. P. Lemche, test book we "City-Dwellers or Administrators. Further Light on the Canaan- of what has ites" (pp. 76-89), builds upon his recent book about the

updated, and Canaanites (The Canaanites and Their Land: The Tradition r many tradi- of the Canaanites, JSOT Supplement Series, 110 [Sheffield: vision of the JSOT Press, 19911]) to propose a new social origin for the anti- ight not to be Canaanite sentiment of the Old Testament, in which the rient. Canaanites are an administrative class in continuity with the

foreign administrators of the Late Bronze Age Egyptian prov- J. A. SOGGIN ince of Canaan. M. Ottosson, "The Iron Age of Northern Jor-

dan" (pp. 90-103), examines the archaeological evidence for settlement in the region in the transition LB II-Iron I period. The strong continuity with Late Bronze, the heavy concentra- tion in Iron I, and the depletion in Iron II have important his- torical implications for early Israelite history. B. Otzen, "The

Promoting Mother: A Literary Motif in the Ugaritic Texts and in the Bible" (pp. 104-14), presents Ugaritic parallels to the

APresented to biblical figures of Bathsheba, Rebecca, and Sarah. M. Saeb0,

LEMAIREt and "Divine Names and Epithets in Genesis 49:24b-25a. Some

itum, vol.5.

50 Methodological and Traditio-Historical Remarks" (pp. 115-32),

5, $77.25. argues that the accumulation of divine names and epithets in this text reflects "an old and important stepping-stone in the

cted biblical long traditio-historical process of the indigenous theological

egesis at the apprehension of God in ancient Israel" (p. 132). J. A. Soggin,

of Scandina- "Genesis Kapitel 34: Eros und Thanatos" (pp. 133-35), sug- ard of Vetus gests that the story reflects a concern for conversion to Judaism irs. The sub- and thus a date in the Maccabean period for this story. literary stud- J. Strange, "The Book of Joshua: A Hasmonaean Manifesto?" Iphabetically (pp. 136-41), argues for a similarly late date for the book of

Joshua. M. Weinfeld, "The Ban on the Canaanites in the Bib- ign to Pales- lical Codes and its Historical Development" (pp. 142-60),

and recon- discusses the various injunctions on the treatment of the indige- erently from eren rm nous inhabitants from expulsion to annihilation and proposes a

historical development among the codes in the Pentateuch on lly as an at- this basis.

ast northern The volume concludes with a bibliography of Nielsen's works e innovation by J. H. Gr0nbaek. 'The 'Moun- detailed ex- JOHN VAN SETERS JOHN MAN SETERS mountain of I Joab Climb in 2 Sam. 5:8 into the city.

mountain of I Joab Climb in 2 Sam. 5:8 into the city.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

318 318

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