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In Search of Ancient Israel: A Study in Biblical Origins (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

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Many readers will remember the great impact that this book had on the question of the relationship of the history of ancient Israel to the biblical text. Though Davies had been preceded by others, it was this book more than any other that sparked the Minimalist-Maximalist debate (see Ziony Zevit in Biblica 83).

Immediately Davies says that the genre of literature of "history of Israel" is obselete. Instead there are three ancient Israels: one is the narrative found in the Bible; one is the history of the inhabitants of Palestine during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age; and the third is the amalgamation of these former two. For Davies the "ideo-logical structure" of the Bible is the Persian period although a certain amount of material must have survived from earlier times (see page 91).

It is unfortunate that this debate became as volatile as it did. For example, five years before Davies' book came out, Norman Whybray argued that the Pentateuch was a post-exilic document. One might expect Whybray and Davies to be allies in this matter. Yet he and Davies find themselves at odds in V Philips Long's _Israel's Past in Present Research_ which was published seven years after Davies' book.

Davies has a fascinating book. However I hope that any readers will read some more and not think that Davies has settled the matter.

A fascinating book, and one that has had quite an impact for its length. Davies may stretch his point a bit, and can be a little too creative at times. But he not only presents his overall case well, he was about the first to do it. And no one has yet answered his primary objection to mainstream historians of 'ancient Israel': for the vast majority of the biblical literature, there is absolutely no evidence of the sort required to claim it as historically reliable -- yet they continue to treat it as if it were.

This is a relatively short but provocative book about the myth vs. reality vis-a-vis our ideas about ancient Israel. Philips systematically approaches the topic with chapters entitled "Defining the Biblical Israel," "The Social Context of the Biblical Israel," "Who Wrote the Biblical Literature, and Where," and "How was the Biblical Literature Written, and Why?" He indicates that the book is designed for "students" and this may explain the dearth of notes and more extensive documentation that scholars may expect. On the other hand, the level of writing is sufficiently advanced to suggest the book only to serious or advanced students. This isn't a book for the general public.