Customer Reviews

East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures (ASOR Books)

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Burton MacDonald's book is "A MUST HAVE" for all thoe interested in learning how archaeology has determined when the Primary History (Genesis- 2 Kings) was composed. MacDonald has first-hand experience in surveys of Transjordan, and is a trained archaeologist, as well as a biblical scholar. His conclusions from his knowledge of Transjordan, is that the Pentateuchal narratives were set in an Iron II world that the narrator's audience could relate to (Late Iron II, ca. 640-560 BCE). MacDonald surmises that ONLY in this era are MOST of the cities, towns and hamlets mentioned in the Exodus narratives in existence. They don't exist for Late Bronze Age or Iron I, it is ONLY Late Iron II ! MacDonald's observations about the archaeological evidence from Transjordan are remarkably like Israel Finkelstein's observations from his surveys in Israel/Canaan. That is, Finkelstein also finds that the Primary History (Genesis-2 Kings) was composed no earlier than the Late Iron II period for the same reasons- that is, NO OTHER PERIOD has MOST of the towns cities and hamlets in existence ! If I had to reccomend the two most important books for readers to possess who seek to learn how archaeology has determined when the Primary History was composed, it would be Burton MacDonald's above book, and Israel Finkelstein's _The Bible Unearthed_ ...Both of these books rank 5 stars with me. ...
All the best, Walter R. Mattfeld