Text Sources for Levantine Archaeology: the Bible

Text Sources for Levantine Archaeology: The Bible

The books of Jewish and Christian scripture are referred to generally as the Bible. Actually, it is more appropriate to speak of “Bibles,” since Jews and Chris- tians have different canons of scripture, and even Christian canons are not all ex- actly the same. Common to all, however, is a collection of Hebrew writings (with some small sections in Aramaic) that came to be recognized as authoritative by Jews by the end of the 1st century c.e. This collection is known today as the Tanakh, Tanakh being an acronym derived from the initial letters of its three sub- divisions: the Torah (generally translated into English as ‘the Law’ and referred to also as the Pentateuch), the Neviªim (‘the Prophets’), and the Kethuvim (‘the Writings’). Christians know the Tanakh as the Old Testament; many contempo- rary scholars prefer the more neutral designation “Hebrew Bible.” The Torah (specifically the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) presents a composite account of Israel’s origins that begins with creation and concludes with Moses’ farewell address and death. The Neviªim consists of the so-called Former Prophets (the books of Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, and 1–2 Kings, which continue the narrative from Moses’ death and the conquest of Canaan under Joshua to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem), and the Latter Prophets (the specifically prophetic books, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah). The Kethuvim consist of various miscellaneous books, such as 1–2 Chronicles, Psalms, and Daniel. Apparently the Kethuvim was still a somewhat loose category of writings during the 2d century b.c.e., when the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek. Thus the standard Greek trans- lation, the Septuagint, includes books among the Kethuvim that do not appear in the traditional Hebrew canon. Early Christians tended to use the Septua- gint, with the result that the Christian Old Testament includes these extra books. These books have come to be known as the Old Testament Apocrypha, and Protestants tend to ascribe to them secondary canonical status or drop them from their canon altogether. In addition to the Tanakh/Old Testament, Christian Bibles include specifically Christian writings known collectively as the New Testament. While the New Tes- tament canon is not entirely uniform among Christians, the basic components are the same, having been established by the 4th century c.e. Specifically, the New Testament consists of letters (including several letters from Paul to fledgling churches in Asia Minor and Greece), the “Gospels” of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (narrative accounts pertaining to the deeds and sayings of Jesus), the Acts of the Apostles (a continuation of the Luke gospel account that describes the begin- Copyright © 2004. Pennsylvania State University Press. All rights reserved. rights All Press. University State Pennsylvania 2004. © Copyright nings of the Christian movement), and an apocalyptic work known as the Revela- tion to John. Mention should be made also of various religious writings that

Richard, S. (Ed.). (2004). Near eastern archaeology : A reader. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from mqu on 2019-09-26 15:15:29. Text Sources for Levantine Archaeology: The Bible 61

circulated among Jews and Christians during the late Hellenistic and Roman periods, apparently were regarded as scriptural in at least some worshiping commu- nities, but did not find their way into either the Jewish or Christian Bible. Many of these writings have been collected and published in modern times under the rubrics Pseudepigrapha and New Testament Apocrypha. Few of the biblical books can be dated with absolute certainty, and of course no original autographs survive. Generally speaking, however, the books of the Torah and Neviªim reached essentially their present form during the Persian period, while the books of the Kethuvim are mostly products of the Hellenistic period, and the New Testament books derive from the Roman period (specifically the last half of the 1st century and early 2d century c.e.). Thus, the biblical materials take their place alongside other written materials from Persian, Helle- nistic, and Roman times as potential sources of information for historians, soci- ologists, anthropologists, and archaeologists working with these periods. As with all ancient documents, they must be evaluated carefully and used with critical judgment. Furthermore, as with the other ancient documents, there is a two-way exchange of information between the Bible and archaeology—that is, while archaeology sheds light on the material culture of the peoples and times from which the Bible emerged, the Bible presents verbal data from these peoples and times that aids in the interpretation of archaeological remains. There are wide differences of opinion about the way this two-way exchange should work out in practice, much of the debate focusing on the Torah and Former Prophets. As indicated above, these books (Genesis through 2 Kings) combine to present a kind of theological history of Israel’s past that begins with creation and concludes with the exile of the Jews following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. The latter event can be dated from Babylonian records to the early 6th century b.c.e., thus providing a post ad quem date for the final composi- tion of the work. This theological history clearly is a composite work, however, and some scholars contend that its compilers used sources that may date back as early as the time of David and Solomon. Accordingly, they regard the biblical account of this early period as a legitimate source of information for interpreting the material remains of Iron I Palestine. Thus, for example, the relatively impres- sive Iron I fortifications uncovered at Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer have been at- tributed to Solomon on the basis of 1 Kgs 9:15–17, which states that Solomon fortified Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Other scholars are less convinced that the books of the Torah and Former Prophets are based on such early sources, however, and contend that whatever historical memory survives in these books is ir- retrievably mixed with legend and thoroughly overshadowed by the theological agenda of their postexilic compilers. In short, they regard the Genesis–2 Kings account as useful only as a source of information about the assumptions, atti- tudes, and conditions of the Persian period or later. The ongoing debate is further exacerbated by the fact that the Bible is re- Copyright © 2004. Pennsylvania State University Press. All rights reserved. rights All Press. University State Pennsylvania 2004. © Copyright garded by many as sacred scripture. Some scholars, in other words, are perhaps inclined for personal and theological reasons to attribute more credibility to the

Richard, S. (Ed.). (2004). Near eastern archaeology : A reader. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from mqu on 2019-09-26 15:15:29. 62 Text Sources for Levantine Archaeology: The Bible

biblical materials than they might otherwise. Other scholars, reacting against fundamentalistic notions, are perhaps more dismissive than they might be otherwise. Some, in fact, tend to write the Bible off as totally irrelevant for serious historical research. The goal of most biblical scholars and archaeologists, of course, is to work out a balanced approach, one that examines the Bible with the same careful and analytical spirit that a scholar would apply to any other written source from the past. Bibliography Coogan, M. D.; Exum, J. C.; and Stager, L. E. (eds.) 1994 Scripture and Other Artifacts: Essays on the Bible and Archaeology in Honor of Philip J. King. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox. Dever, W. G. 1985 Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archaeology. Pp. 31–74 in The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. D. A. Knight and G. M. Tucker. Philadelphia: Fortress. Drinkard, J. F.; Mattingly, G.; and Miller, J. M. (eds.) 1988 Benchmarks in Time and Culture: An Introduction to Palestine Archaeology Dedi- cated to Joseph A. Callaway. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Edelman, D. V. (ed.) 1991 The Fabric of History: Text, Artifact and Israel’s Past. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplements 127. Shefﬁeld: JSOT Press. Freedman, D. N. (ed.) 1992 The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. Miller, J. M. 1998 Archaeology and the Bible. The International Bible Commentary, ed. W. R. Farmer. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press. Moorey, P. R. S. 1991 A Century of Biblical Archaeology. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox. Perdue, L. G.; Toombs, L. E.; and Johnson, G. L. (eds.) 1987 Archaeology and Biblical Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox.

Richard, S. (Ed.). (2004). Near eastern archaeology : A reader. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from mqu on 2019-09-26 15:15:29.