What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel | 
|  | | | Title: | What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel | | Author: | William G. Dever | | Publisher: | Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | June, 2002 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 080282126X / 9780802821263 | | List Price: | $22.00 | | You Save: | $7.04 | | Amazon Price: | $14.96 | |
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Product Description
For centuries the Bible has been the fountain-head of our Judeo-Christian tradition. Yet the Hebrew scriptures and their historical background remain a mystery to most people. This fascinating book by William Dever looks behind the Bible, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures we have them today. Written for general readers but dealing with very real problems in biblical studies, this book brings together a wealth of archaeological evidence to give the clearest picture yet of the "real Israel" that existed during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200-600 B.C.). Dever's superb reconstruction of this key period recovers a reliable core history of ancient Israel that provides the best defense yet of the essential values of the biblical history and tradition under attack today.
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Customer Reviews:
• A Couple Of Points To Consider 22 June, 2007
On page x (in the foreword), Dever says that the book is "...certainly polemical." So a reader ought to expect polemic, not everybody holding hands around the campfire and singing "Kum Bah Yah."
Also, when you consider the fact that he has been personally accused of falsifying evidence, it is understandable that he would want to expose not only the absurdity of the claims of his adversaries, but to also try to put their motives into their larger context. Put yourself in his place. Would you like it if others accused you of falsifying archaeological finds? Would you want the truth to come out? Would you keep your cool?
On a final note, this book is worth it's price if only for the numerous palaeo-Hebrew inscriptions which are wonderfully reproduced in the middle chapters of the book. Those (seems to me) are not too easy to find. Many books refer to inscriptions, but this one shows the actual inscriptions. That is awesome. Not only does it lend gravitas to his argument, it is wonderful for those who know Hebrew and would like to translate them. It really adds so much when they include the reproductions of the inscriptions.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AW7RHL7L99VGJ
• A General Reader. 14 December, 2007
Engaging in a diatribe against his fellow academicians can only result in allienating his general reading public. He should engage in those discussions in his journals, not in a book meant for the general reader. I found his arguments exceedingly boring.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3VH2SCBVN6LYP
• So What Did They Know & When...? I Still Don't Know. 29 August, 2008
If you seek a new insight as to the Hebrew Bible's historical accuracy, what the authors knew and when they knew it, you'll likely be as disappointed as I.
I based my decision to purchase this book on three things:
1) The title
2) Mr. Dever's reputation as an accomplished and credible archeologist
3) The editorial reviews from respected scholars, all of whom attested to the books "riveting" revelations of archeological evidence in support of an ancient Israel.
What I had hoped to learn was exactly what the title and reviewers promised. Unfortunately, there is very little of that knowledge revealed.
The book is 298 pages long, with "long" being the operative word. Of those pages, approximately 100 are actually devoted to corroborating archeological evidence to biblical historical text, albeit, in the most mundane and obscure sense: 10th-8th century BCE stone work / architecture, seals, statuettes of pagan idols, and pottery. That the biblical authors knew of these things are thus presented as evidence that the Hebrew Bible was not a late Hellenistic / Roman era, but an earlier writing. Ok fine.
But that information, presented in a manner that only the most accomplished and advanced students of archeology would find satisfying, is simply used as evidence in what is tantamount to a war of words with Delves contemporaries who have an opposing perspective of the validity of the Bible's historical accuracy and age.
In fact, this entire book is rife with Dever's rants against his antagonists, namely (get ready): "revisionists"; "deconstructionists"; "postmodernists"; "reductionists"; "nihilists"; "minimalists"; and people who are "Anti-Enlightenment", etc., etc. It goes on like that incessantly, in every chapter. There are more "ists" and "isms" than you can shake an artifact at. It's not above name calling, derision, and frankly smacks of just plain infantile one ups manship. I was put off by it.
I didn't buy this book so the author can convince me of his higher sense of appreciation for history, or the greater validity of his method VS those of alternate theorists' of another "ism". What Devers intended with this book was to stick his finger in the eye of his antagonists, and win recruits / converts for his perspective and approach, an endeavor about which I could not care any less.
If you want to read a book that is akin to watching a schoolyard fight over who's dad is bigger, stronger and smarter, buy this book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A10HT5IV9UKPT0
• Christian Archeologist Deals With The Historical Bible 01 August, 2008
This is no doubt a must read for anyone who is studying the Bible either academically or for personal interest. The information concerning the status of the historical information and authorship of the early books of the Old Testament in particular is most enlightening. Unfortunately, Dever spends too much of the book detailing and repeating his long standing feud with those self-identified 'revisionists' who Dever quite rightly outs as 'de-constructionists' and anti-Israel, (or pro-Palestinian whatever your particular viewpoint.) Therefore it takes several chapters before he gets to the meat of his own theory, that of the existence of the Iron Age beginnings of the tribe of Israel and the conclusion that most of the Old Testament is myth or fable.
Archeology is validating facts such as there is no tangible archaeological evidence that such people as Abraham, Moses, David, Benjamin, Israel et al every existed. There is no evidence that the Israelis were ever in Egypt, nor that they left wandering the dessert for any length of time, much less 40 years. The fall of the walls of Jericho is also a myth, as the settlement of the various indigenous people in the Palestine-Syria area was not upon another civilization or ruins. The texts that are attributed to Moses and others were actually written or collected together between the 2nd Cent BC/BCE and 2AD/CE. This definitely presents difficulty in defining any of the early books of the bible as stating anything historical.
Revisionists are now calling into question the existence of a tribal Israel before the 2nd C AD/CE, while Dever presents his evidence of a separate tribe with Israeli language and culture existing from the time of the Iron Age.
The descriptions of the archeological digs, the details of the types of material found of past civilizations and the honest exegetical perspective of this once fundamentalist evangelical minister are fascinating. The clear political implementations of this academic feud are clear for anyone to see. If there was no Isreali people then there is no Israeli claim to the part of the Middle East where they now have their homeland. Dever is at the eye of this controversy and is able to assert proofs that Israel's claims are valid despite the problems with the non-history of the Old Testament.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2VVN0NW6SYXRE
• Excavation For Sensible Scholarship 25 March, 2008
Where biblical studies meet arhaeology, history and literary criticism there now exists a maelstrom of conflicting views, methods and terminology that was once represented by a "biblical archaelogy" that had a certain degree of concensus. Politically correct ideologies and politics have added to the stew. Dever does an excellent job of making sense of this confusion, showing how we got to this point, making concrete suggestions towards syncretizing the discplines and promoting his side of a surprisingly vitriolic argument. Those who can enjoy a good academic punch-up will find much of amusement and interest here. It has to be one of the best of the genre!
The book also gives a good idea of what archaeology is actually about, as well as an excellent account of what we know of the Iron Age in the area at present. One does not have to agree with all his conclusions or need for all of his carefully structured "hermaneutics" to find the book readable, interesting and of enormous value.
I once worked on Dever's excavation at Gezer. Although low on the totem pole, I came there from rigorous training in prehistoric archaeology and I could see that the archaeological standards were up to the best of its time. The number of people involved in attributing levels, reading pottery, etc. would have made it virtually impossible to "fudge" anything. Furthermore, the feeling of academic integrity that came from Dever and his close associates was clear. It motivates this book and is not a pose.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1GY95SB3A7AL1
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