The central argument if Smend's book is that the thesis that early Israel was a sacral tribal confederation (or amphictyony) of 12 tribes which emerged in Palestine and which came together to wage primarily defensive 'Yahweh wars' does not stand up to the evidence as (i) on close analysis the two ideas belong to separate strands of tradition and (ii) we know too little about the early tribal confederation anyway. The book is clear and well written, though it does include untranslated Hebrew words (and occasional bits of Greek and Latin).

I found it an interesting book especially in as much as it challenges some of the 'orthodoxies' of earlier OT scholarship and is more nuanced and cautious about what we can gain from historical analysis, while remaining committed to the historical critical method. ( )