Archeology and the Old Testament

280 Pages·1959·13.52 MB·English

by  James Bennett Pritchard

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A R C H A E O L O G Y
A N D T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T

©
Copyright i958
by Princeton University Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
L. C. Card 58-10053
Second Printing 1959
James B. Pritchard is Professor of Old Testa
ment Literature at the Church Divinity
School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California.
He is the editor of Ancient Near Eastern
Texts Relating to the Old Testa1nent and
author of The Ancient Near East in Pictures
Relating to the Old Testament, from both
of which materials have been drawn in the
writing of tl1is book. Professor Pritcl1ard has
also been an arcl1aeologist in the field, and
his recent excavation of tl1e ancient biblical
city of Gibeo11 l1as been '\'idely praisecl.
Printed in tl1e United States of A1nerica
by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey
PREFACE
is a science in \vhicl1 prog1·ess can be meas
ARCI-IAE<)LOGY
t11·ecl by tl1e adva11ces made back\vard into the past. The
last one l1u11dred years of arcl1aeology have added a score
of centt11·ies to the story of the gro\vth of our cultt1ral and
i·elig·ious l1eritag·e, as tl1e ancient \Vorld has been recovered
from tl1e sands ancl caves of the modern Near East Egypt,
Jord<111, Is1·ael, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq. Meas
ured by the number of centuries 'vhich have been annexed
to inan's l1istory in a relatively fe,v years, progress has been
trt1ly phenomenal. This book deals \Vith the recent ad
vance and 'vith those pioneers to the past who made it pos
sible.
Inte1·est in biblical history has played an important part
in this recovery. Names such as Babylon, Nineveh, Jericho,
Jerusalem, and otl1ers prominent on the pages of the Bible,
11ave gripped tl1e popular imagination and worked like
magic to gain suppo1·t for excavations. 'This book is written
from the widely-sl1ared conviction that the discovery of
the ancient Near East has shed significant light on the
Bible. Indeed, the ne\vly-discovered ancient world has ef
fected a revolution in the understanding of the Bible, its
peoples, and their history.
My
purpose is to assess, in non-technical language which
the layman can understand, the kind of change in viewing
tl1e biblical past which archaeology has brought about in
the last century. Since the text of the Bible has remained
constant over this period, it is obvious that any new light
on its meaning must provide a better perspective for seeing
the events which it describes. In short, I am concerned
with the question, How has history as written in the Bible
been changed, enlarged, or substantiated by the past cen
tury of archaeological work?
v
PREFACE
011e might suppose tl1at tl1e story of arcl1aeology i11
Palesti11e, tl1e la11d of tl1e Bible, 'vould provide tl1e ans,ver
to tl1e question. But it has supplied only a part of tl1e rele
vant data. One of lie surprises of modern arcl1aeological
!
discovery has been tl1at tl1e peripl1eral lands of Mesopo
tamia, Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia have added to biblical
knowledge. From eacl1 of tl1ese neigl1boring areas 11ave
come 'vritten documents and monuments of great impor
tance for an understanding of tl1e life, literature, and his
tory of the peoples of Palestine, and any fair appraisal of
archaeology's contribution to an understanding of the
Bible must take into account these widely scattered re-
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mains.
Whenever possible, I l1ave tried to let the evidence speak
for itself. In presenting the picture of new material made
available by archaeologists, I have sought to place before
the reader a translation of a relevant document or a photo
graph of a significant archaeological object. Tl1ese trans
lations and pictures, for the most part, are taken from t'vo
large collections wl1icl1 I have edited for the use of scholars
and advanced students in the field of Old Testa111e11t
studies. Ancient Nea1· Easter11 Texts Relati11g to t/1e Old
Testanient, Princeton University Press, 2nd edition, 1955
(abbreviated ANET), contains translations of texts made
by tl1irteen specialists. For their collaboration in tl1is t111-
dertaking I 'visl1 agai11 to express app1-eciatio11 to: \V. F.
Albrigl1t, H. L. Ginsberg, Albrecl1t Goetze, A. Jam1ne, S.
N. Kramer, Tl1eopl1ile J. Meek, A. Leo Oppe11l1ei1n,
Robert H. Pfeiffer, Franz Rosentl1al, A. Sacl1s, E. A.
Speiser, Ferris J. Stepl1e11s, and ] ol1n A. Wilson. The A 11-
cient Near East in Pictures Relatin,f:S to the Old Testame11t,
Princeton University Press, 1954 (abbreviated ANEP), re
produces relevant artifacts and monuments whicl1 have
come from the lands of the Bible and gives a documenta
tion for each. It is l1oped that the present volume 'vill pro-
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Vl
PREFACE
vide tl1e i11terested non-specialist witl1 an introduction
\Vl1icl1 ,,,ill enable !1im to make t1se of these larger and
1no1·e co111plete collections.
Tl1e 1nen \vl10 !1ave made tl1e discoveries and decipl1ered
the texts are a11 important part of tl1e story. I have tried to
satisfy in a measure, by some specific details, the general
ct1riosity as to wl10 tl1e archaeologists were, how they
cl1anced to take up tl1eir occupation, 'vho supported them,
110,v tl1ey lived and \Vorked in the field, and wl1at were tl1e
costs of exploration and excavation.
Tl1e passages from the Old Testament have been quoted
f1·om Tlze Holy Scriptu1·es According to the Masoretic
Text, llJ1iladelphia, 1942, with the generous permission of
tl1e publisl1er, The Jewish Publication Society of America.
I11 tl1e qt1otations from ANET there have been eliminated
editorial conventions \Vhich are customarily used by schol
ars to indicate relatively certain reconstructions of a broken
text a11d tl1e addition of words required by English idiom
for a !Jetter understanding of the original. These important
de\·ices of tecl1nical scl1olarship, along 'vith explanatory
foot11otes, may be fot1nd in the original pt1blication of the
tra11slations in ANET.
,<\. g·Iance at tl1e a1·1·a11g·e1ne11t of the chapters in tl1e table
of co11tcnts '''ill sl10\v tl1at I !1ave proceeded from tl1e geo
g·rapl1ical center to tl1e peripl1ery. Chapters and provide
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i
ill t1strations of metl1ods and results from tl1e excavations
and explorations \vl1icl1 !1ave been carried on in Palestine
(111odern Israel a11d Jordan). Chapter 3 is concerned large
ly '''ith '''ork do11e in Syria (modern Lebanon and Syria)
and 'vitl1 an important discovery in tl1e area of ancient
l\1oab (no\v in Jordan). Chapters 4 and 5 provide materials
\vl1icl1 l1ave come from the area of Mesopotamia (modern
Iraq), 'vhere the ancient empi1·es of Assyria and Babylonia
flourished. The final cl1apter, Chapter 6, dra\vs from the
results of excavations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Anato
lia (modern Turkey).
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VII
PREFACE
As tl1e field of Near Eastern archaeology is immense, it
can be readily understood that tl1is volume is intended to
serve only as an introdt1ction to a study of those results of
the past century wl1ich relate to tl1e Bible. Obviously, one
who is at home in tl1is field of researcl1 'vill miss much
which may be of importance to 11im. 111 g·eneral, I l1ave
tried to choose those examples 'vl1icl1 can be understood by
the layman who has had no occasion to study tl1e la11guages
of the ancient Near East, and who has not concerned him
self with the more minute problems of philology and
history.
J.
B. P.
Berkeley, Califor11ia
January I958
CONTENTS
v
PREFACE
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XI
I. THE SCIENCE OF PALESTINIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
1
Tl1e Essential Alphabet of Archaeology
1
A St11)pleme11 t to J e1·emial1 o
1
Sennacl1e1·ib befo1·e Lacl1isl1 18
vVar ancl Co1nn1e1·ce at lVIegiddo 24
Jerusalem Underground 35
Scrolls from Caves Overlooking the Dead Sea 42
2. THE MAKING OF A MAP 53
Pilgrims and Soldiers 53
The Founder of Palestinology: Robinson 57
Surveying Western Palestine 62
New Sources for an Ancient l\!Iap 65
St'lrface Exploration for Pottery 82
Excavating for a Map 85
3·
BAAL AND THE RELIGION OF
CANAAN 91
The French in Phoenicia 91
Monument of Mesha, King of Moab
103
The Canaanite Bible from Ugarit
106
Sex, Fertility, and Religion 124
4·
ASSYRIA, ISRAEL'S ENEMY 127
Learning to Read Cuneifo1111 127
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