Ancient Israel. A New History of Israelite Society

292 Pages·1988·7.296 MB·English

by  Lemche, Niels Peter

, ..N ew· Histo~
f Isra:eHf. eSoclei.
~jefs Peter Lernehe
~-the bibilcasle minor · ·

Tue Biblical Seminar
Series Editor
David E. Orton
ANCIENT ISRAEL

ANCIENT
ISRAEL
A New History
of Israelite Society
N iels Peter Lernehe
.
Jet
1988
jsot press
Published with support from the Danish Council ofResearch in the Humanities
Copyright© 1988 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by JSOT Press
JSOT Press is an imprint of
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
The University of Sheffield
343 Fulwood Road
Sheffield SlO 3BP
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
printed in Great Britain
by Billing & Sons Ltd
Worcester
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Lemche, Niels Peter
Ancient Israel : a new history of lsraelite
society.- (The Biblical seminar; 5).
1. Ancient Israel, to B.C. 500
1. Tide II. Series
III. Det Gamle Israel,
English
933
ISBN 1-85075-187-0
ISBN 1-85075-017-3 Pbk
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Table of Chronology 9
Chapter 1
GEOGRAPHY, DEMOGRAPHY, ECONOMY 11
1. Introduction 11
2. The Geography of Palestine 11
3. Demography and Economy 17
4. Concluding Remarks 27
Chapter 2
TEXT AND HISTORY 29
1. The Old Testament as History 29
2. The Old Testament Regarded as a Text 34
3. The Old Testament as a Historical Source 45
4. Methods of Reading the Texts 60
5. Other Sources 69
Chapter 3
THE PRE-MONARCHICAL PERIOD 75
1. Palestine Between 3000 and 1500 75
2. The Late Bronze Age 77
3. Israelite Tribal Society 88
4. The Pre-national Period in
Earlier Academic Discussion 104
5. Concluding Remarks 116
Chapter 4
THE PERIOD OF THE MONARCHY 119
1. The Deuteronomistic History 119
2. The Political History of the Monarchy 122
3. Israelite Society During the Monarchy 130
4. History as lntellectual Experience:
the Development of a National Identity 155
Chapter 5
TIIE EXILE AND TIIE POST-EXILIC PERIOD 173
1. The Sources 173
2. The Babylonian Exile 175
3. The Post-exilic Period 186
Chapter 6
ISRAELITE RELIGION 197
1. Presuppositions for Writing a History of
Israelite Religion 197
2. West Semitic Religion in the Second Half
of the Second Millennium 198
3. Monotheistic Yahwism 209
4. Pre-exilic Israelite Religion 223
5. The Transformation of Pre-exilic Religion 238
6. The Origins of Yahwism 252
7. Concluding Remarks 256
A Guide to Relevant Literature 259
Index of Biblical References 271
Index of Authors 275
PREFACE
In the last generation or so literally scores of histories of Israel and
introductions to the study of the Old Testament or of Israelite
religion have appeared. Why, then, should anyone take the trouble to
either write or edit yet another addition to this prodigious list? The
reason why this writer has chosen to do so is that a fundamentally
new approach to the study of Israelite history and religion is more
needed now than at any time in the past. Until the present, most
scholars have offered in the guise of research efforts·which are by no
means independent scholarly interpretations of the history of Israel,
but more or less rationalistic paraphrases of the biblical version of
the history of Israel and its religion. This approach is becoming
increasingly unsatisfactory, especially when it is considered in the
light of the ongoing discussion of the earliest history of the Israelite
people.
In presenting this new attempt at a synthesis 1 have been able to
build on the results of the research which was set out in detail in my
previous volume, Early Israel. Anthropologi.cal and Historical Studies
on the Israelite Society Before the Monarchy (Leiden, 1985). Here 1
argued that it is absurd to speak of historical recollections in the Old
Testament which date from before the introduction ofthe monarchy.
lt is accordingly methodologically wrong to base one's reconstruction
of the emergence of Israel in the late second millennium BCE on the
Old Testament itself. This being the case, a broader socio-historical
approach will be essential if we are to replace the usual efforts to
rewrite the Old Testament.
A corollary of this insight is the acknowledgment of the necessity
also of abandoning the usual interpretations of the history oflsraelite
religion, as such interpretations have invariably been based on the
usual reconstruction ofthe profane history ofthe nation. lt should be
obvious that a radical re-evaluation of Israel's profane history must
inevitably lead to a new synthesis as far as her religious history is
concemed.
8 Ancient Israel
The form of this work has been purposely chosen so as to present
my versions of the histories oflsrael and Israelite religion as a kind of
introduction to a renewed debate on these topics, rather than as a
definitive synthesis. 1 can only hope that this project will be received
in the spirit in which it was conceived.
Copenhagen, 24th February 1987