The View from Nebo: How Archeology Is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East [Paperback]

Amy Dockser Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

This compelling blend of science, history, politics, and biblical scholarship explains how modern archeology is challenging our understanding of the Bible and its accounts of ancient history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Were the ancient Jews unique in forbidding the eating of pork or was the prohibition more widespread in the region? Did King David really exist, or is he a mythical figure, a composite of several actual ancient leaders? Marcus, a Wall Street Journal contributor formerly reporting from the Middle East, describes the cutting-edge archeological research that is posing such questions. Yet, despite its intriguing subtitle, this book never convincingly demonstrates that archeology is, in fact, "reshaping the Middle East" or rewriting the Bible. Instead, Marcus provides something more modest: an engaging overview of the theories circulating in alternative contemporary biblical scholarship, on subjects such as Abraham, the Ammonites, the Exodus. Disappointingly, she fails to provide an adequate amount of political, historical or historiographical context in which to evaluate these new theories, and she never explains exactly how the new ideas fit into the overall state of contemporary biblical scholarship. Still, drawing from an extensive set of interviews she conducted with archeologists and others on the forefront of biblical scholarship, Marcus provides readers with a lovely window onto a little-known set of ideas. Some of this work may come to contradict, or even counteract, some of the basic political ideas of the modern state of Israel, but it seems clear that politicians, particularly in the Israeli context, will only utilize biblical scholarship if it fits their agenda--so it is unlikely that archeology alone will ever be able to "reshape the Middle East."
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Nebo, the mountain from which Moses gazed at the Promised Land, is the starting point for a cogent review of recent archaeology that illuminates biblical scholarship. Marcus, a journalist who covered the Middle East for the Wall Street Journal from 1991 to 1998, presents the latest research and thinking with clarity, synthesizing what is often published in news bites with little follow-up. Marcus argues that the Bible tells an incomplete and one-sided story of the region, which archaeology can substantiate or supplement. She documents how the discipline is used for political gain as well as for understanding history or exploring the veracity of the Bible. On the other hand, she finds that some archaeologists pay no heed to the Bible in pursuing their research. To support her conclusions, Marcus visited many of the sites and interviewed archaeologists and other scholars. Recommended to readers of archaeology and of Biblical history.DJoyce L. Ogburn, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316591629
• ISBN-13: 978-0316591621
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,746,157 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

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Confused Point of View, February 17, 2001

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The View from Nebo: How Archeology is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East (Hardcover)

Because I have an MA in ancient history and my main area of interest is the Near East and Egypt, I expected to find The View from Nebo an interesting read. To some extent I did, but for the most part I found it somewhat confusing. I had expected the author's main thrust to be the newer archaeological data on the biblical period and a clarification of the life and cultures of that period. Instead what I found was an overview of some of that data, of the personalities involved in the research and of the on going problems in the modern Middle East. The author is a journalist rather than an archaeologist, and while her vita might not lend itself to "expert" views on the topic under discussion, it should have led to a less biased view of the overall work in the field. Instead the book seems to wander from topic to topic, starting off well in some parts but then going off the rails or at least onto side tracks all over the Middle East using biblical narrative as justification for the digressions.

I found particularly confusing the author's embarrassing confrontation with modern Egyptian archaeologists and museologists over the Exodus tradition. I wasn't quite sure what had she expected to accomplish other than to irritate her hosts. With an extensive native history of its own, with limited funds for excavation, preservation, presentation, and publication, and with a tumultuous relationship with modern Israel, why would Egypt feel compelled to study or present the history of the Exodus? Were they expected to be "good sports?" Were they expected to emulate the recent papal move, and as to Galileo, apologize? For what? I couldn't help but suspect the trip had functioned as a tax write-off for an exotic vacation.

I was also rather surprised to have the Exodus used to date the explosion on ancient Thera. The occurrence of the Exodus itself is difficult to document; certainly people of Levantine origin crossed and recrossed Egypt's borders in antiquity, and doubtless some of these people contributed genetic material to the creators of the Israelite nation state. That this occurred in the manner in which it was described in the Bible, which is hard put to it to remain consistent with its own narrative, would be--indeed has been--difficult to prove. The event on Santorini (ancient Thera), though it would conveniently explain a lot about the biblical plagues and the tsunami like behavior of the Sea of Reeds, can be dated by geophysical methods and core samples taken from the northern and southern ice sheets. A volcanic event is an indisputable fact of nature, and geologists would place this one at a much earlier date than 1500 BCE. If the author wants to use it to date the Exodus, then the Exodus occurred considerably earlier, the reverse dating is not doable!

What I felt the author did do extremely well in the book was to point out how "history" is reshaped by each new generation to meet it's own needs and philosophy and to point out that historical "truth" is something redefined with each rewriting of the narrative. It reminded me of Shaw's general in the Devil's Disciple. When asked by his aide what history would say when the British army surrendered to the Americans during the civil war, he responded that "History would lie as usual." And again of Napoleon's "History is lies agreed upon." As the author points out, each of the modern day states in the Middle East has chosen its particular brand of historical truth to achieve its own agenda.

60 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Grave Disappointment, December 22, 2000

By 

Amazed (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The View from Nebo: How Archeology is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East (Hardcover)

When I found this book in the inventory of a local discount book liquidator, priced at less than six dollars, I felt gratified by what appeared to be an extraordinary bargain presenting itself to me. An acquaintance of mine had heard claims that its author, Amy Dockser Marcus, had uncovered a great deal of new information regarding the historicity of the Hebrew Bible, and ever since had persistently and enthusiastically asked me to read this book so that I could give her my "expert" (I am a doctoral student with a candidacy for a Ph.D. in Near Eastern History, specializing in the formation and development of ancient Israel) opinion of it. Having been led into a state of hopeful expectation by my friend's enthusiasm, I began to read this book as soon as I returned home from the bookstore, only to find myself immediately disappointed at the poor quality of Ms. Marcus' work.

This is an exasperating text to read. It is composed in a style that is confusing and seemingly without direction, and defies the reader's every attempt to determine what the point of the author's treatment might be. The book is filled with incomplete thoughts, non-sequitors, latent postulations, and sudden reversals of the tone and tenor of its argumentation. Archaeological discoveries of monumental importance are blithely noted and then passed by, leaving the reader in a state of unrequited expectation, waiting for the other foot to fall. Other discoveries of equal importance are completely omitted from discussion, possibly because they render the positions of Biblical apologists completely untenable. Ms. Marcus also contradicts herself on many important points developed in the text, and I got the sense at times that she was being unwittingly impelled to and fro across a landscape of contentious scholarship by a number of conflicting forces. It seems that her ignorance of the subject matter leaves her insensible to the true depth and nature of the conflicts in which she has become embroiled. Thus, the resulting composition contains a number of mischaracterizations of both scholars and the data they treat, and frequently launches into unprofitable tangents away from relevant analysis.

Further, Ms. Marcus commits some grotesque factual errors in her text. For example, she states that most modern scholars believe that the island of Thera erupted ca. 1500 BCE, and states that a portion of the "historical" basis for the Exodus narrative might be found in this event. However, the fact is that such low dating of the Thera eruption has always been in the minority opinion of scholarship, and has been refuted by recent radiometric, isotopic ratiometric, and other physical studies that allow us to conclude with strong certainty that Thera's eruption occurred in the seventeenth century BCE. Similarly, she claims that historians have never offered a satisfactory explanation of why a tradition of a past slavery in Egypt would emerge among the Israelites if it were not based on fact. However, an analysis of the works of Stiebing, Fields, and other prominent historians gives the lie to this claim, showing that there are a number of models that adequately explain the emergence of such a tradition as an historical fiction. These historical models exclude no pertinent data from their analyses, which, of course, cannot be accurately stated of the models produced by any Biblical apologist.

This book also suffers from Ms. Marcus' clear bias and partiality on the issues she discusses. The positions and factual underpinnings of the scholarship of the "Copenhagen School" are somewhat misrepresented and largely minimalized, while the positions of a vast cadre of Biblical apologists are substantially over-credited. She seems to be unduly influenced by some key personalities (such as William Dever), and I got the impression that at times the author was "duped" regarding the true motives and imperatives that motivate some of the scholars upon whom she relies (several of whom I know personally). At other times Ms. Marcus has her own philosophical ax to grind. Models developed from the impartial application of disciplined historical methodologies are termed "radical" or "highly controversial", whereas thoroughly disproven and discredited positions of Biblical apologists are given strong credence. She seems to want to maintain the relevance of the Biblical narrative, though in slightly non-traditional terms, and refuses to give proper countenance to the vast amount of data that completely undermines the Bible's veracity as an historical document.

However, with the foregoing detractions being noted, this book might prove to be of value to novices in the field of Near Eastern History. The author does provide an extensive bibliography and list of source references, and for this reason I give this book two stars in my rating instead of only one. But for those of us who possess more than a rudimentary knowledge of the subject, this book cannot fail but to disappoint. I would recommend that all serious students of the ancient Near East eschew this book in preference of more scholarly, objective, and reliable works.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a Really Terrific Read!, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The View from Nebo: How Archeology is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East (Hardcover)

The View From Nebo is not just about the Bible, or about archaeology, or about the Middle East. It's about all three, and that's what I found so interesting about it. Amy Dockser Marcus weaves together archaeological finds and how they might change well-known biblical accounts-such as the story of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt and the image of King Solomon as the Bible's greatest builder-along with what's happening in the Middle East today. Each chapter gives you background about the traditional reading of the biblical text and also explains how archaeology might add or change that story. Marcus is a journalist, so the style of writing is very accessible and the book moves very quickly. It made me want to join a dig this summer!