Giving Goliath His Due: New Archaeological Light on the Philistines [Paperback]

Neal Bierling (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 281 pages
• Publisher: Baker Pub Group; 1St Edition edition (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801010187
• ISBN-13: 978-0801010187
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,658,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope a revised version comes out soon!, January 11, 2003

By 

Kim Khabuli (Cornell University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giving Goliath His Due: New Archaeological Light on the Philistines (Paperback)

I understand that a new study by Prof. Bierling is due out soon. This work only suffers from being ten years out of date. We have found out a lot more about Philistine sites since tis book was published.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource, April 14, 2005

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Giving Goliath His Due: New Archaeological Light on the Philistines (Paperback)

I read a lot of books, but sometimes one comes along that really surprises me with its excellence, and this is one of those books. In this book, Professor Neil Bierling presents up-to-date information on those bad guys of the Old Testament, the Philistines. Combining the Biblical references to the Philistines with recent archeological finds, Prof. Bierling fleshes out the Philistines, following their history from their origination in the Aegean(!), their arrival in Egypt and Canaan, their interaction with the Israelites, and on to their final destruction by the Babylonian Empire.

This is an excellent resource for any student of the Bible who has wondered who the Philistines really were. The author uses the Biblical references to them in a skillful way, showing where the archaeological finds have complemented the Biblical narrative, and where they have not. Indeed, he does not simply follow the Bible (though the Bible does give the book its organization), but follows the history of the Philistines as they interacted with such Middle Eastern nations as Egypt and Assyria.

So, let me just sum up by saying that this is a great book on the Philistines, one that is sure to amplify your understanding of who they were.

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Rocks In The Head, December 29, 2000

By 

Holy Olio "holy_olio" (Grand Rapids, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giving Goliath His Due: New Archaeological Light on the Philistines (Paperback)

Actually not bad. This book suffers from the author's reliance on the conventional pseudochronology, but it is worth exploring, particularly for students of the Bible.

A lot of rubbish has been written about the Bible, both pro and con, but ultimately it is the only thing that resembles a coherent and continuous history that can be found until Greek times. Like the Greeks, the Hebrews mingled their faith with then-current events. Unlike the Greek accounts, the Hebrews' is rejected, probably in large part due to anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and hostility toward Christianity.

The Philistines remain enigmatic, and while they seem to have thrived, most of what we know still comes from the Old Testament. Bierling attempts to gather together everything that is known about the area in which the Philistines are said to have lived. Since they cease to appear as a distinct people sometime during the period of the Biblical kings, and since their very existence is only known from the Biblical account, interpretations of new data which suggest otherwise merely support the need for chronological revision and a retirement of hostility toward the historical content of the Bible.

See also Immanuel Velikovsky's (new and used) "Ages In Chaos", "Ramses II and His Time", "Peoples of the Sea", and "Worlds In Collision", as well as David Rohl's "Pharaohs and Kings", Peter James' "Centuries of Darkness", Ryan and Pitman's "Noah's Flood", and "The End of the Bronze Age" by Robert Drews.