The Israelite Conquest During the Periods of Joshua and the Judges
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History or Myth? An Archaeological Evaluation of the Israelite Conquest during the periods of Joshua and the Judges By Titus Michael Kennedy The thesis examines the archaeological and epigraphic data from Canaan during the Late Bronze Age in order to evaluate the historicity of the Israelite Conquest accounts in the books of Joshua and Judges. The specific sites examined in detail include Jericho, Ai, Hazor, Shechem, and Dan. Additionally, the chronology and setting for the period of the alleged Israelite Conquest is explained through both textual and archaeological sources, and several ancient documentary sources are examined which demonstrate the presence of Israel in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age. The thesis concludes that a vast amount of archaeological evidence indicates that the sites of Jericho, Hazor, Shechem, and Dan were occupied, destroyed, and resettled at the specific times and in the manner consistent with the records from the books of Joshua and Judges, and that ancient documents indicate that the Israelites had appeared in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age. Key terms: Israelite Conquest; Joshua; Judges; Late Bronze Age; Canaan; Israel; Hazor; Jericho; Ai; Archaeology. THE ISRAELITE CONQUEST: HISTORY OR MYTH? AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF THE ISRAELITE CONQUEST DURING THE PERIODS OF JOSHUA AND THE JUDGES by TITUS MICHAEL KENNEDY submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF C L v W SCHEEPERS NOVEMBER 2011 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Research Question 1 1.2 Hypothesis 4 1.3 Research Methodology 6 1.4 Aim of the Study 6 1.5 Layout of the Study 7 1.6 Literature Review 10 Chapter 2 Chronology and Setting of the Israelite Conquest 19 2.1 An Absolute Chronology for the Reign of Solomon from Hebrew, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Sources 19 2.2 An Absolute Chronology for the Beginning of the Israelite Conquest under Joshua 21 2.3 An Approximate Chronology for the Israelite Conquest under the Judges 23 2.4 Fortified Cities of the Late Bronze Age and the Israelite Conquest Accounts 27 2.5 Reports of Fortified Cities 28 2.6 A Survey of Late Bronze I Fortifications in Canaan 29 2.7 How Could the Tribes of Israel Conquer Canaan? Military Strategy 35 Chapter 3 Ancient Documents and the Israelite Conquest of Canaan 40 3.1 The Amarna Letters: Chronology of the Canaanite Correspondence 40 3.2 Is the Term Hapiru Compatible with the Israelites in the Conquest? 44 3.3 The Amarna Letters and the Israelite Conquest 46 3.4 Cities in the Amarna Letters, Joshua, and Judges 52 3.5 The Hornet Sent Before 54 3.6 Ancient Texts Mentioning Israel in Canaan 56 iii 3.6.1 The Merneptah Stele 56 3.6.2 The Possible Mention of the Israelite Tribe of Asher on Lists of Amenhotep III, Seti I, Ramses II, and Papyrus Anastasi I 58 3.6.3 Hapiru of Yarmutu 60 3.6.4 Egyptian Stone Relief Fragment 60 3.6.5 Ugaritic Texts Mentioning the Name Israel 61 3.6.6 An Assyrian Text Mentioning the Jairites 62 3.7 Conclusion about the Textual Evidence 62 Chapter 4 The Israelite Conquest and the City of Jericho 64 4.1 Views of the Jericho Conquest in Scholarship 64 4.2 Ceramic Analysis of Jericho City IV 70 4.3 Scarabs and Seals from Jericho 80 4.4 Stratigraphy of Jericho IV 83 4.5 The Walls of Jericho IVc 85 4.6 The Destruction of Jericho IVc 90 4.7 Houses on the Wall, Grain, and Time of Attack 93 4.8 The Destroyers of Jericho IVc 96 4.9 Carbon-14 Samples 99 4.10 Garstang’s Middle Building and Eglon of Moab 101 4.11 Conclusion about the Conquest of Jericho 104 Chapter 5 The Late Bronze Age Conquests at Hazor According to the Books of Joshua and Judges 106 5.1 Theories for the Israelites and the Conquest of Hazor 107 5.2 The 13th Century BCE Destruction 111 5.3 Statues of Stratum XIII 114 5.4 Destruction of Lower City Areas in the 13th Century BCE 119 5.5 Forced Entry 120 iv 5.6 The Amarna Letters and Hazor 121 5.7 The Extensive 15th Century BCE Destruction 125 5.8 A Scarab of Thutmose IV 127 5.9 Ceramic Analysis of the Late Bronze I City 129 5.10 Statue Desecration in the 15th Century BCE? 130 5.11 A Divination Tablet 131 5.12 The Area H Temple 133 5.13 The Walls of Hazor 134 5.14 Abandoned Houses 135 5.15 The Area M Entrance 136 5.16 The Upper City Area A 137 5.17 The Name of Yabin, King of Hazor 140 5.18 Conclusion about the Late Bronze Age Conquests of Hazor 141 Chapter 6 The City of Ai and the Israelite Conquest 142 6.1 The Elusive Site of Ai 142 6.2 The Etymology of Ai 146 6.3 The Story of Ai as History or Myth? 147 6.4 Khirbet et-Tell as the Site of Ai 147 6.5 Beth-Aven and et-Tell 152 6.6 Bethel and et-Tell 153 6.7 Khirbet Haiyan 155 6.8 Khirbet Khudriya 155 6.9 Khirbet el-Hay 156 6.10 Khirbet Nisya 156 6.11 Khirbet el-Maqatir 159 6.12 A Solution for Ai or Site Still Unknown? 162 Chapter 7 Shechem and Dan during the Israelite Conquest Period 164 v 7.1 Shechem and Dan as Important Sites in the Israelite Conquest 164 7.2 Shechem in the Book of Joshua 164 7.3 Shechem Destroyed by Abimelech? 170 7.4 The Israelite Conquest of Dan 172 7.5 Conclusions about the Shechem and Dan Accounts 174 Chapter 8 Conclusions Regarding the Israelite Conquest Accounts in Light of the Archaeological Data 175 8.1 The Setting in Time and Place 175 8.2 The Early Conquest under Joshua 176 8.3 Later Conquests during the Rule of the Judges 179 8.4 Ancient Texts Related to the Israelite Conquest 181 8.5 Conclusion from the Composite Evidence 181 Bibliography 183 vi Chapter 1 Introduction The era of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, from the crossing of the Jordan and entrance into the Promised Land until the end of the Judges period, was a critically decisive time in the history of the nation of Israel according to the books of Joshua and Judges. Recorded in the book of Numbers is an instruction to Moses and the Israelites which says, “When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it” (Numbers 33:51-53, NASB). This conquest, according to the ancient texts of Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges, was an attempt at driving out the Canaanites and establishing a cohesive Israelite nation in the Promised Land. Although, according to the book of Joshua, many areas were conquered and taken in the initial attacks led by Joshua, the Israelites continued to battle for control of the land against the Canaanites for centuries. In the beginning of the book of Judges, commenting on the period at the end of Joshua’s command, the text lists off the many places that the Israelites were not able to conquer. These cities and areas included: Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, Gezer, Kitron, Nahalol, Akko, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, Rehob, Beth-shemesh, Beth-anath, the area of Mount Heres, Aijalon, Shaalbim, and the lowland coastal plain around Gaza and Ashkelon (Judges 1:19,27-35, NASB). Thus, not until the Monarchy period is the land completely conquered—and even then the Philistines had to be dealt with. 1.1 Research Question Regarding the series of events called the Israelite Conquest, there are three main views: the conquest began at the end of the 15th century BCE, the conquest began at the end of the 13th century BCE, or the “conquest” never really occurred, but the 1 emergence and settlement of the Israelites began in the early Iron Age. For those who do take the Israelite Conquest narratives as reliable history, according to a literal chronological reading, this era of continual conquest lasted approximately 350 years.1 Another historical view, which asserts a figurative reading of the chronological data, suggests this time period was much shorter—less than 200 years. The alternative hypotheses assert that no Israelite Conquest occurred, and offer various explanations of the textual and archaeological data from Late Bronze Age and Iron I Canaan and the origins of the narratives in the books of Joshua and Judges. The books of Joshua and Judges may appear to be written in the historical genre because names of real places mentioned, names of people are mentioned, events are arranged in a chronological order, the content is mostly about battles and land grants, and the “now it came about” phrase claiming the following events took place (Joshua 1:1; Judges 1:1). However, following in the tradition of Noth and Fritz, many current scholars propose that the conquest narratives of Joshua and Judges are not actual history, but invented history and etiologies from a much later period that are important theologically but not historically (Noort 1998: 127-28; McConville and Williams 2010: 4; Pressler 2002: 3-6).