Chieftains Of The Highland Clans: A History Of Israel In The Twelfth And Eleventh Centuries B.C. (The Bible in Its World) [Paperback]

Mr. Robert D. Miller III (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bible in Its World | Publication Date: May 2, 2005

An illuminating social history of ancient Israel, Chieftains of the Highland Clans offers an unusually thorough and original reconstruction of Israelite society prior to the rise of the monarchy around 1000 B.C. Using the latest archaeological research and anthropological theories, Robert Miller presents an intriguing picture of what life was like in early Israel. / Ethnographic evidence from diverse cultures suggests the "complex chiefdom" model as the most appropriate for the archaeology of twelfth- and eleventh-century highland Palestine. This model details the economic and political realities of prestate societies with ascribed rank and hierarchical political control. As he applies and fine-tunes the complex chiefdom model, Miller illustrates areas of potential correspondence and contradiction between his reconstruction and the biblical text. Students of archaeology, Palestine, and the Hebrew Bible will not want to miss Miller's fresh and fascinating conclusions about the sociopolitical nature of early Israel.

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About the Author

Robert D. Miller II, S.F.O., is associate professor of Old Testament at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (May 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080280988X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802809889
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong evidence, poor maps, April 7, 2006

By 

David Nunes da Silva - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chieftains Of The Highland Clans: A History Of Israel In The Twelfth And Eleventh Centuries B.C. (The Bible in Its World) (Paperback)

This book concerns the highlands of Palestine, north of Jerusalem, in the 11th and 10th centuries BC. The basic archaeological fact about that place and time is that small villagers of farmers appeared, in large numbers, suddenly - the area was before that used only by nomadic herders. If you look at a map of the locations of these villages, you can more or less spot five clusters. This book applies statistical techniques to the village locations, and the main claim is that these five clusters really exist and were probably more or less independant. The pattern of large and small villages corresponds well to what is called a complex chieftancy. In a complex chieftancy, there is at any time a paramount chief and several sub-chiefs. Food is carried in from the whole chieftancy to the chief, who redistributes it. The fit of the data to this model seems very good to me.

We can try to compare this archaeological discovery to written sources, which for this period means only the Bible. This would be the period of Judges. So the first question is, what in the Bible corresponds to the paramount chief of the complex chieftaincy model? There is one title held by people who do many of the things that a chieftan would do, and that is "Judge", or in Hebrew "Sophet." But to see the Sophet as a chieftan changes the way we see Judges, or the way we see chieftans, or both. This is not really explored in the book.

So the book is of most value as providing solid detailed geographical information for further studies. But the information is not accessible, because there isn't a good map. I would like to know the archaeologically determined boundries of these five chieftaincies, for further research, but no useable map is provided.

- David Nunes da Silva