Lester L. Grabbe

This seemed like the perfect conclusion to my reading program on the earliest history of Israel/Palestine, but that was a bit disappointing. Especially since some of the approximately 30 articles in this volume date back to the 1990s. That is quite far back in time to still be relevant, especially in the sometimes bitter debate about the historical value of the Hebrew Bible.
The book is the result of almost 20 years of activities of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology. The show more American Bible study expert Lester L. Grabbe founded it in 1996 to bring together experts in the study of ancient Israel/Palestine on a regular basis, and thus to bring the various positions on the historical value of the Bible a little closer together. The seminar focused on the principles and techniques of ancient and modern historiography, aiming to facilitate methodological discussions (Grabbe himself wrote a seminal book on this: Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?). But in the conclusion to this book, Grabbe admits that his efforts have not really succeeded, but that progress has been made in limited areas.
The experts in this book generally argue for an intermediate position between minimalists and maximalists. As a reminder: radical minimalists believe that historical information in the Bible “has value only if it is confirmed by a reliable external source (written or material)”, while radical maximalists believe that “everything that could not be proved wrong has to be accepted as historical” (Grabbe’s words).
Personally, I can absolutely agree with the pragmatic position expressed in this book by the old, American Bible expert James Maxwell Miller: “The important question is not whether we should use the Hebrew Bible in our attempts to understand the origin and early history of Israel, but how we should use it. In my opinion it should be approached critically, examined with the same careful attention to its internal typology and stratigraphy that archaeologists give to their data, and then used very cautiously, alongside other kinds of evidence, always with a conscious effort to avoid excessive circular argumentation. This process involves judgment calls every step of the way and will never lead to scientifically provable conclusions.” Let’s hope that some day this reasonable approach will deliver a consensus. show less

I'm interested in critical histories of ancient Israel and this book seemed to fit the bill. But note, from the preface:

"This book is ... not a history of Israel but the preparation--the prolegomena--for such a history. It is aimed initially at scholars, with the intent of contributing to the current debate. By laying out as clearly as possible the main primary sources and drawing attention to the areas of debate and the arguments being advanced, I hope to give a snapshot of the field at the show more present time."

Be aware of that going in. If you're not already very familiar with the narrative of Israel given in the Hebrew Bible you'll get very little out of this book; if you're not already somewhat familiar with modern historical and archaeological findings and conclusions about ancient Israel you'll be lost quickly here.

Though conversant with this type of material, I often found myself struggling over mentions of "lower chronology", the "Iron Age IIC" period, the names of various scholars whose theories are frequently referenced, and various other technical terms left unexplained. Adding some brief introductory and explanatory comments would have gone a long way to making this book much more accessible to a lay audience. It comes across throughout as a book intended for graduate students wanting an overview of the subject.

There are no maps and only one chart that is not particularly helpful. More of both would have been extremely helpful.

This book is, however, very interesting. It discusses problems with the Biblical narrative, such as the lack of evidence for an actual state of the sort David was said to have ruled during the time he would have lived and the anachronistic insertion of the Philistines into Israel's history before they were actually settled in coastal Palestine. Evidence from artifacts, writings, inscriptions, and monuments are discussed along with various interpretations of the data. One gets a much better understanding of Israel's position vis-a-vis the great empires of its time (Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon) from this book, which covers up to the period of the Babylonian exile.

Not recommended for anyone who hasn't already been introduced to critical scholarship regarding ancient Israel as it is a bit more opaque to the nonspecialist than it needs to be. Would have benefited from a longer introduction and conclusion. show less

Lester L. Grabbe (° 1945, emeritus University of Hull, England) is one of the most eminent experts on the early history of Israel and the Hebrew Bible. And he is apparently a very methodical person. In this book he explores in a very systematic way which sources are available to reconstruct that history and especially to assess the historical value of the Hebrew Bible. That is very useful in a field of research where many experts sometimes stand opposite each other with drawn knives. Very show more interesting, but I fear that this is not immediately for the layman. Anyone who wants to take a short cut will find what they are looking for in the summary. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7453984210 show less

This book draws attention to the variety of differences and the pluralism of pre-70 Judaism. Moreover, It serves as a brief background for the study of Judaism and the New Testament era.