Archaeology and History of Eighth-century Judah


Book Description

The book explores what we know about eighth-century Judah from multiple angles, including a survey of what we know about Judah's neighbors, the land and its cities, daily life and material culture, religious beliefs and practices, and early forms of what are now biblical texts.




The Last Century in the History of Judah


Book Description

An incomparable interdisciplinary study of the history of Judah Experts from a variety of disciplines examine the history of Judah during the seventh century BCE, the last century of the kingdom’s existence. This important era is well defined historically and archaeologically beginning with the destruction layers left behind by Sennacherib’s Assyrian campaign (701 BCE) and ending with levels of destruction resulting from Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian campaign (588-586 BCE). Eleven essays develop the current ongoing discussion about Judah during this period and extend the debate to include further important insights in the fields of archaeology, history, cult, and the interpretation of Old Testament texts. Features A new chronological frame for the Iron Age IIB-IIC Close examinations of archaeology, texts, and traditions related to the reigns of Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah An evaluation of the religious, cultic, and political landscape /UL




Age of Empires


Book Description

Storage jars of many shapes and sizes were in widespread use in the ancient world, transporting and storing agricultural products such as wine and oil, crucial to agriculture, economy, trade and subsistence. From the late 8th to the 2nd century BCE, the oval storage jars typical of Judah were often stamped or otherwise marked: in the late 8th and early 7th century BCE with lmlk stamp impressions, later in the 7th century with concentric circle incisions or rosette stamp impressions, in the 6th century, after the fall of Jerusalem, with lion stamp impressions, and in the Persian, Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods (late 6th–late 2nd centuries BCE) with yhwd stamp impressions. At the same time, several ad hoc systems of stamp impressions appeared: “private” stamp impressions were used on the eve of Sennacherib’s campaign, mwṣh stamp impressions after the destruction of Jerusalem, and yršlm impressions after the establishment of the Hasmonean state. While administrative systems that stamped storage jars are known elsewhere in the ancient Near East, the phenomenon in Judah is unparalleled in its scale, variety and continuity, spanning a period of some 600 years without interruption. This is the first attempt to consider the phenomenon as a whole and to develop a unified theory that would explain the function of these stamp impressions and shed new light on the history of Judah during six centuries of subjugation to the empires that ruled the region—as a vassal kingdom in the age of the Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian empires and as a province under successive Babylonian, Persian, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid rule.




Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period


Book Description

The Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. was a watershed event in the history of Judah, the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the exilic period, during which many of the biblical texts were probably written. The conquest left clear archaeological marks on many sites in Judah, including Jerusalem, and the Bible records it as a traumatic event for the population. Less clear is the situation in Judah following the conquest, that is, in the sixth century, a period with archaeological remains the nature and significance of which are disputed. The traditional view is that the land was decimated and the population devastated. In the last two decades, archaeologists arguing that the land was not empty and that the exile had little impact on Judah’s rural sector have challenged this view. This volume examines the archaeological reality of Judah in the sixth century in order to shed new light on the debate. By expanding research into new avenues and examining new data, as well as by applying new methods to older data, the author arrives at fresh insights that support the traditional view of sixth-century Judah as a land whose population, both urban and rural, was devastated and whose recovery took centuries.




The Bible Unearthed


Book Description

In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.




The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel


Book Description

"In this book William Dever addresses the question that must guide every good historian of ancient Israel: What was life really like in those days? Writing as an expert archaeologist who is also a secular humanist, Dever relies on archaeological data, over and above the Hebrew Bible, for primary source material. He focuses on the lives of ordinary people in the eighth century B.C.E. - not kings, priests, or prophets - people who left behind rich troves of archaeological information but who are practically invisible in "typical" histories of ancient Israel."--Résumé de l'éditeur.




Jerusalem the Center of the Universe


Book Description

Jerusalem is the center of the universe, the hub of the three great monotheistic religions, yet how did a city located on the desert fringe, in the semi-arid southern highlands of Israel with little tillable land achieve such dominance? To provide answers to this enduring riddle, Israel Finkelstein has collected twenty-four of his best articles and essays covering the Middle Bronze Age to the late Hellenistic period. With critical and well-informed care, he analyzes archaeological evidence that often stands in tension with the biblical text. Topics of particular interest include the archaeology of the tenth century BCE; Saul, David, and Solomon in the Bible and archaeology; the first expansion of the city in the ninth century; its full growth in the late eighth to seventh centuries; Jerusalem and Judah under the Assyrian Empire; the days of King Josiah; and transformations in the Persian-Hellenistic era. Short addenda update the reader on recent developments.




Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah


Book Description

Excavations at Beth-Shemesh are actually a story within a story. On the one hand, they are the story of the archaeology of the Land of Israel in a nutshell: from the pioneering days of the Palestine Exploration Fund, through the “Golden Age” of American biblical archaeology, to current Israeli and international archaeology. On the other hand, they are the fascinating story of a border site that was constantly changing its face due to its geopolitical location in the Sorek Valley in the Shephelah—a juncture of Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite entities and cultures. It is no wonder that two celebrated biblical border epics—Samson’s encounters with the Philistines and the Ark narrative—took real or imagined place around Beth-Shemesh. In this report, summarizing the first ten years (1990–2000) of archaeological work in the ongoing project of the renewed excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, the authors have strived to tell anew the story of the Iron Age people of Beth-Shemesh as exposed and interpreted. Using the best theoretical and methodological tools that modern archaeology has made available, every effort has been made to keep in view archaeology’s fundamental duty—to read the ancient people behind the decayed walls and shattered pottery vessels and bring alive their lost world. Furthermore, the story of ancient Beth-Shemesh has been written in a way that will enable scholars, students, and other interested people to learn and understand the life of the communities living at Beth-Shemesh. As a result, the book is organized in a manner different from usual archaeological site reports. The two volumes will be essential for anyone who wishes the best and latest information on this important site.




Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah


Book Description

The question of the existence and nature of scribal institutions in ancient Israel has up to now been debated primarily on literary grounds. In placing the question of scribes and schools in a socio-archaeological context, as the present study does, this problem is reformulated. The focus shifts from the question of the prevalence of literary skills to the broader question of the function of those skills within ancient society.




Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology


Book Description

What are archaeologists and biblical scholars saying about Jerusalem? This volume includes the most up-to-date cross-disciplinary assessment of Biblical Jerusalem (ca. 2000-586 B.C.E.) that represents the views of biblical historians, archaeologists, Assyriologists, and Egyptologists. The archaeological articles both summarize and critique previous theories as well as present previously unpublished archaeological data regarding the highly contested interpretations of First Temple Period Jerusalem. The interpretative essays ask the question, "Can there be any dialogue between archaeologists and biblical scholars in the absence of consensus?" The essays give a clear "yes" to this question, and provide suggestions for how archaeology and biblical studies can and should be in conversation. This book will appeal to advanced scholars, nonspecialists in biblical studies, and lay audiences who are interested in the most recent theories on Jerusalem. The volume will be especially useful as a supplemental textbook for graduate and undergraduate courses on biblical history.