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William G. Dever

What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel Paperback – May 10, 2001

by William G. Dever (Author)

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For centuries the Hebrew Bible has been the fountainhead of the Judeo- Christian tradition. Today, however, the entire biblical tradition, including its historical veracity, is being challenged. Leading this assault is a group of scholars described as the "minimalist" or "revisionist" school of biblical studies, which charges that the Hebrew Bible is largely pious fiction, that its writers and editors invented "ancient Israel" as a piece of late Jewish propaganda in the Hellenistic era. In this fascinating book noted Syro- Palestinian archaeologist William G. Dever attacks the minimalist position head-on, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures as we have them today. Assembling a wealth of archaeological evidence, Dever builds the clearest, most complete picture yet of the real Israel that existed during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200–600 B.C.). Dever's exceptional reconstruction of this key period points up the minimalists' abuse of archaeology and reveals the weakness of their revisionist histories. Dever shows that ancient Israel, far from being an "invention," is a reality to be discovered. Equally important, his recovery of a reliable core history of ancient Israel provides a firm foundation from which to appreciate the aesthetic value and lofty moral aspirations of the Hebrew Bible.

Print length

327 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Publication date

May 10, 2001
Dimensions

6 x 0.82 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

080282126X
ISBN-13

978-0802821263
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Editorial Reviews

Review

David Noel Freedman
"Dever is one of the very best archaeologists of the Near East, and everything he writes needs to be taken with the utmost seriousness. . . . Required reading."

Library Journal
"Dever provides a judicious analysis of archaeological data and shows how it squares with what much of the biblical text tells us. . . . Highly polemical (and for good reason), this book attempts to correct various recent assertions based more on feelings for the modern Israeli-Palestinian question than on any concern for honest history. . . . Dever's accessible book offers a sound critical examination of Israel's origins. An advisable purchase for all academic and most public libraries."

Publishers Weekly
"A helpful introduction to the world of Syro-Palestinian archaeology and its possible interaction with biblical studies."

The Jerusalem Report
"Meticulously detailed . . . very illuminating, well-informed and surprisingly balanced."

Lawrence E. Stager
"William Dever, a master of the world of Syro-Palestinian archaeology and history, has written a masterpiece."

From the Back Cover

For centuries the Hebrew Bible has been the fountainhead of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Today, however, the entire biblical tradition, including its historical veracity, is being challenged. Leading this assault is a group of scholars described as the "minimalist" or "revisionist" school of biblical studies, which charges that the Hebrew Bible is largely pious fiction, that its writers and editors invented "ancient Israel" as a piece of late Jewish propaganda in the Hellenistic era.

In this fascinating book noted Syro-Palestinian archaeologist William G. Dever attacks the minimalist position head-on, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures as we have them today. Assembling a wealth of archaeological evidence, Dever builds the clearest, most complete yet of the "real Israel that existed during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200-600 B.C.).

Dever's exceptional reconstruction of this key period points up the minimalists' abuse of archaeology and reveals the weakness of their revisionist histories. Dever shows that ancient Israel, far from being an "invention, " is a reality to be "discovered. Equally important, his recovery of a reliable core history of ancient Israel provides a firm foundation from which to appreciate the aesthetic value and lofty moral aspirations of the Hebrew Bible.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; Later Printing edition (May 10, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 327 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 080282126X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802821263
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.82 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,484,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,607 in History of Judaism
- #1,666 in Old Testament Criticism & Interpretation
- #21,326 in Christian Bible Study (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 80 ratings

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4 out of 5

80 global ratings

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More then Minimal

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2009

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The author, an archaeologist with background in biblical studies, investigates the historical backgrounds of the culture and times of the various biblical writings, from the point of view of archaeology. He addresses recent "revisionist" or "minimalist" scholars who have declared that there was no real historical Israel and that the ancient Hebrew literature now collected in what we call the Bible (different number of books included by Jews and Christians) are just fictional literature.

He investigates various biblical themes and events in light of the culture of the periods mentioned in the texts. The author does not write as an apologist for a faith-tradition. Though himself an agnostic, he defends the integrity of the biblical texts from a scientific position. His analysis of the self-styled post-modernist revisionist school presents some good worldview analysis, including a summary discussion of western thought and approaches to biblical interpretation.

He especially reveals the self-contradiction of post-modern history, which claims there is no objective history, yet writes what Dever calls "non-histories" in a dogmatic and authoritative tone. The amazing thing about this is the extensive quotes from the post-modernists, which really offer no evidence for claims, but only polemic and reassertion of the unproven claims, which reject extensive archaeological evidence that must be taken account of in Middle Eastern history.

He is very conversant with related disciplines and competently discusses the cross-disciplinary implications of history and archaeology, comparing and criticizing various schools of Biblical interpretation, archaeology and history. In evaluating the integrity of the biblical texts, Dever notes that their style and format differ from modern writing.

You would think this was an obvious fact, yet it is facilly overlooked by modern writers who simplistically apply modern standards and requirements to ancient literature. It has often seemed to me that they apply inapplicable criteria to the ancient texts form a recent historical concept of history or literature. This precludes the texts speaking to us on their own grounds.

I appreciate Dever's honest attempt to deal with the ancient texts on their own grounds within the assumptions of the Hebrew world view of the ancient Fertile Crescent. Dever concludes that the texts as we now have them include source information from oral or written sources contemporary to the pre-monarchial and monarchial periods in ancient Israel and Judah, making them reliable sources of actual history, in the modern rationalist sense of that word.

He concludes that the content of the biblical writings finds extensive corroboration in archaeology. He also discusses less commonly-known information actually available in the biblical texts which differs from the common "received" and normative summary traditions more familiar to Christians. This ignored information in the biblical texts also coincides with findings of Archaeology concerning ancient Israel's culture and faith.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Edward G. Simmons

The Bible's Historical Core

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 4, 2009

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Dever has written a polemic and a magisterial scholarly review of archeological evidence to show that the book of Kings does have reliable historical information and can be relied upon for developing a political historical outline for early Israel and Judah. The polemic is aimed against the revisionists or minimalists who dismiss the Bible as fable or "pious fraud." Dever takes them on by looking at the works of the four leading revisionists, whom he calls nihilists and representatives of postmodernism. More interesting to me was his review of the convergences between archaeological evidence and biblical text which lead him to find historical value in the Hebrew Bible.

Dever denies that he is a biblical archaeologist in the mold of William Albright, as the revisionists would portray him, for he places primary emphasis on the archaeological record rather than trying to defend the authority of the Bible. In fact he is a convert to Judaism and a theistic secular humanist rather than a conservative Christian. Even so, his discovery of convergences and his "reading between the lines" of scripture lead to insights into the Bible as well as to valuable historical information.

A number of interesting historical conclusions emerge. Dever concludes that there was no patriachcal period, so that the patriarchs cannot be seen as historical personages. He also points to lack of evidence for the Exodus and conquest of Canaan. But he does maintain that the Bible was accurate in describing a United Monarchy under David and Solomon. He also points to parallels of other temples in Canaan to show that what the Bible says about the construction of Solomon's temple was nothing unusual in that time and therefore likely to be historically reliable. His survey of popular religion during the Divided Monarchy brings to light the key role of a female consort for YHWH that was prevalent in popular religion but hardly acknowledged by the Bible writers and editors because of their dominant message in favor of the Deuternomistic reform agenda. He reminds us that the Bible was a `minority report.' "Largely written by priests, prophets, and scribes who were intellectuals, above all religious reformers, the Bible is highly idealistic. It presents us not so much with a picture of what Israelite religion really was, but of what it should have been - and would have been, had the biblical writers only been in charge." (p. 173)

This book can be recommended for those who want to see what archaeology has to say about accounts in the Hebrew Bible. Those seeking new insights into the Bible will also find this book rewarding but will have to wade through a lot of polemics and archaeological evidence to get to those insights.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mrs Brown

Stirs the little grey cells!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 21, 2012

Verified Purchase

A visit to Israel led me to try to improve my knowledge of the Old Testament. My first purchase was The Bible Unearthed (Finkelstein)which is very interesting but left unanswered questions - in particular why and when did the Jews decide not to eat pork as this seems to have been a trait that separated them from wider Canaanite society from a very early stage - and what made them monotheistic in the first place?

Well I still don't know the answers to the above, but William Dever does answer many other questions about the Old Testament accounts and where and how they have been authenticated by archaeology. Dever also discusses the current academic debate about historical and archaeological methodology and how it can be validated intellectually which was a bit unexpected and quite hard going for a non-specialist to read about but it is nonetheless interesting. It would seem that Sheffield University's theological department has joined the fairies along with the meterological department of the University of East Anglia.

The end section, where Dever summarises his own thinking about the value of the Old Testament to the development of Western thought and political/social values was also challenging, as I found myself generally at odds with his ideas. This is probably because he is an American who is steeped in the Old Testament and I am English and am commited to the New Testament. Amongst other things, where Dever lists the cultural values of the Judaeo-Christian tradition which he considers most important for Western thought he totally excludes Christ's command that we should love one another - the command that led to so much social reform in Britain in the 19th century and underlies much British political thinking to this day.

I bought the Kindle version but I wish I hadn't - there are so many things I want to refer to it would be much more convenient to have the book book.

5 people found this helpful

EOtti

A convincing treaty on what the people living in then Israel / Canaan.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

The author does a convincing job in trying to sieve the obvious later additions to elder remains and show how to use the Bible as a teller of different truths. He just seems to make it clear that we have to sort out the additions from the monotheistic times in order to glimpse old facts. And from my reading this is really a possibility. I can warmly recommend his books.

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