Kitchen's book, while a very good (very) conservative approach, suffers from some very severe issues. However, for everyone's sake, I'm going to take it part by part.
Chapter 1: First Things First- What's in Question
This chapter is simply an introduction to the problem. Kitchen is straightforward in stating his desire to set the record straight against the (very loud) minimalists, who claim the OT is largely "pious fiction" with little attachment to truth. Kitchen, on the other hand, firmly places himself in the maximalist camp, which claims that parts of the OT are reliable, often with reference to the Books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets. However, Kitchen will go beyond this, arguing for the historicity of both the Exodus, Conquest, and the patriarchal narratives. Overall, there's little to quibble over in this chapter.
Chapter 2: In Medias Res - The Era of Hebrew Kingdoms
Again, little to complain about here. Kitchen discusses the Israelite and Judean kings as they were known to the rest of the Ancient Near East. He discusses Kings and Chronicles in the context of Ancient Near Eastern literature, and delves into archaeology as well. Overall, nothing particularly objectionable shows up.
Chapter 3: Home and Away: Exile and Return
Little to object to here, Kitchen argues well for the historicity of the return as described in the OT, discussing Persian administration.
Chapter 4: The Empire Strikes Back - David, Saul, and Solomon.
Kitchen assumes the maximalist stance here, arguing for a historical David, Saul, and Solomon, marshaling the usual evidence for such a claim (the Tel Dan stele, among other). He also argues for a mini-empire of Solomon/David from known trade and the like. His discussion against the argument that Egyptian pharaohs didn't give their daughters to foreign brides highlights his Egyptological experience and truly provides a compelling argument. Moreover, his arguments for why we have little evidence of said mini-empire are, to my mind at least, not awful. There are some issues here, and they largely go around evidence that Kitchen either ignores or somehow dismisses.
Chapter 5: Humble Beginnings- In and Around Canaan
This is where Kitchen starts to go off the rails. His argument, though not bad in and of itself, has some significant problems. First, he ignores that Jericho may not have existed during the period the conquest supposedly took place. His attempts to explain this away are problematic, basically boiling down to "we shouldn't expect a lot of evidence." True as that may be, another issue arises when Kitchen discusses foreign invaders, whom he almost automatically assumes must be Israelites. Such an issue is not so cut and dried, however. These foreign invaders were very possibly different, and their conquests and raids may have led to the stories of Joshua. Kitchen's distaste for the Documentary Hypothesis also pervades this chapter, although his evidence doesn't arise until the next one.
Chapter 6: Lotus Eating and Moving On: Exodus and Covenant
Here, Kitchen goes beyond what we know (or have found) and into the realm of speculation. I am not unsympathetic to Kitchen's goal here, per se, but I am unsympathetic to the way he goes about. First, the good. Kitchen shows that the tabernacle the Israelites make is not an anachronism, nor is the form of the covenant out of place in the ANE (Ancient Near East). Now, the bad: in order to create a historical Exodus (that fits with the time frame), Kitchen is required to use a rather odd dating system as well as an Exodus route that does not follow what the OT actually suggests. He suggests that Mt. Sinai is in the peninsula, when it is far more likely in NW Arabia. This also fits far more neatly with our knowledge of YHWH's introduction into what is now known as Israel. Finally, Kitchen's discussion of Moses is just a disaster. In order to save his rejection of the DH, he has to suppose an Israelite who is well-educated in rhetoric, treaty-making, and languages. Somehow, this Israelite happens to have worked in an Egyptian foreign ministry, who then decides to lead the Israelites to freedom. Rather unsurprisingly, he identifies this Israelite as Moses. The amount Kitchen has to twist to meet this theory is astounding, though I must say he is highly inventive.
Chapter 7: The Patriarchs
This was likely the worst chapter of the book. Kitchen shows little desire to actually discuss the patriarchs, instead creating hypotheses that either don't make sense or are overly complex. His discussion of ANE practices was interesting, but he really doesn't engage with some issues on any substantive level. On the plus side, he convincingly shows that camels are not anachronistic (contra many). The lowlight, however, comes when Kitchen somehow conflates the Philistines (who don't exist until nearly 1000 years later) with another Semitic tribe, in a vain attempt to show that the OT authors were writing far earlier than is usually supposed.
Chapter 8: The Prophets
This chapter is interesting, though Kitchen runs into two problems. First, he refuses to consider any evolution of Israelite religion. Most evidence seems to suggest they were henotheists, believing in a high god, YHWH, with lesser gods. Kitchen does a good job discussing Aten and how monotheism was not unheard of, so this point is not nearly as bad as his dating of Isaiah. The dating of Isaiah is miserable. In order to make his position work, Kitchen has to guess that Isaiah is referring not to Cyrus the Great, as everyone logically thinks he is, but to some earlier ruler also named Cyrus. Such a statement belies common sense, and the more logical conclusion is that Isaiah is written by more than one author.
Chapter 9: Genesis 1-11
Kitchen here does a good job showing how this passage fits rather well into ANE proto-history. Little to complain about here, but I think Kitchen too readily dismisses the parallels between Genesis 1 and the Enuma Elish. He does, however, provide an interesting case for the ANE flood myths being based in reality.
Chapter 10: Last things Last
This is the most entertaining chapter in the book. Kitchen goes directly after certain minimalists (Thompson, Lemche, Davies especially!) and insinuates their conclusions are based on shoddy scholarship. I really liked this chapter, although Kitchen overreached on going after Dever for his discussion of Deutronomy and the Exodus. I am far from sympathetic to the minimalists, but one could very plausibly argue that Kitchen creates a bit of a strawman when it comes to discussing them.
Conclusion: Overall, this is a good ultra-conservative approach to the OT. Kitchen, while not always convincing (or correct) does attempt to portray the majority of the OT as historically reliable. The biggest weaknesses come from ignoring data that fails to fit his hypothesis (don't we all) and a dogmatic opposition to the DH, claiming that it is not based in fact. While the DH does have problems, it explains data far better than Kitchen wants to allow. In terms of a discussion of the Exodus, I recommend Hoffmeier's Israel in Egypt, as well as its successor, Israel in Sinai. All three works, however, even if not completely accurate, provide a good overview to the problem of the Exodus. Some of the biggest issues here, however, come from Kitchen's unwillingness to treat the text at anything less than face value. Some of his scholarship is also not the most current, but that is forgivable.
As counterpoints, I would suggest Lester Grabbe's Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? as well as William Dever's What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When did They Know It? Dever's book is itself a response to the Copenhagen (Davies/Thompson/Lemche) minimalists.
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Paul Natterer
Alttestamentliche Exegese: Nichts ist mehr wie es war
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on January 24, 2010
