From Conquest to Coexistence: Ideology and Antiquarian Intent in the Historiography of Israel’s Settlement in Canaan (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East)

717 Pages·2011·3.54 MB·English

by  Koert van Bekkum

From Conquest to Coexistence
Culture and History of the
Ancient Near East
Founding Editor
M.H.E. Weippert
Editor-in-Chief
Thomas Schneider
Editors
Eckart Frahm
W. Randall Garr
B. Halpern
Theo P.J. van den Hout
Irene J. Winter
VOLUME 45
From Conquest to Coexistence
Ideology and Antiquarian Intent
in the Historiography of Israel’s
Settlement in Canaan
By
Koert van Bekkum
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bekkum, K. van.
From conquest to coexistence : ideology and antiquarian intent in the
historiography of Israel’s settlement in Canaan / by Koert van Bekkum.
p. cm. — (Ancient Near East)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-19480-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Jews—History—To 586
B.C.—Historiography. 2. Bible. O.T. Joshua—Historiography. 3. Bible. O.T.
Joshua—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Excavations (Archaeology)—Palestine.
5. Palestine—Antiquities. 6. Canaanites—Antiquities. I. Title. II. Series.
DS115.5.B44 2011
222’.2095—dc22
2010042244
ISSN 1566-2055
ISBN 978 90 04 19480 9
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ..................................................................... ix
Abbreviations .............................................................................. xi
List of Figures, Maps, and Tables ............................................. xvii
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
PART I
TEXT AND ARTEFACT
Chapter One. Historiography and Settlement Debate ............. 7
1.1 Three Models ................................................................. 7
Peaceful Infiltration .................................................... 7
Conquest .................................................................... 9
Peasant Revolt ............................................................ 11
Monologues of Text and Artefact ............................. 13
1.2 Historiography ............................................................... 16
As It Really Was ........................................................ 17
The Age of Reality-Fictions ...................................... 21
Antiquarian Interest ................................................... 28
The Pitfalls of Empiricism ........................................ 31
Methodological Considerations ................................. 36
Concluding Remarks .................................................. 40
1.3 Settlement Debate .......................................................... 40
Conquests and Excavations ....................................... 41
Settlers and Surveys ................................................... 49
Origin and Identity of the Iron I Settlers ................. 62
Identity Markers ......................................................... 70
Long-Term History and Social Theory .................... 84
Methodological Considerations ................................. 89
1.4 Dialogue of Text and Artefact ...................................... 91
vi contents
PART II
MONOLOGUE OF TEXT
Chapter Two. Translation and Annotation ............................... 95
2.1 Preamble ........................................................................ 95
2.2 Translation ..................................................................... 98
Annotations ................................................................ 106
Chapter Three. Kings, Peoples, and their Lands ..................... 127
3.1 Kings and Peoples in Cisjordan .................................... 127
Forming a Cisjordanian Front (9:1a–4a) ................... 127
3.2 Kings in Southern Cisjordan ......................................... 143
Forming the Southern Coalition (10:1a–5e) ............. 143
Keeping the Treaty (10:6a–10d) ................................ 146
Pursuit and Capture (10:15a, 16a–27f) ..................... 149
Southern Sweep (10:28a–39g) ................................... 151
Summary (10:40a–43a) .............................................. 162
3.3 Kings in Northern Cisjordan ........................................ 166
Forming the Northern Coalition (11:1a–5c) ............. 166
Northern Defeat (11:6a–11c) ..................................... 173
Summary (11:12a–15d) .............................................. 185
3.4 Conquered Lands and Defeated Kings ......................... 188
Conquered Cisjordan (11:16a–23c) ........................... 188
Defeated Kings (12:1a–6b, 7a–24b) .......................... 196
3.5 Remaining Land ............................................................ 213
Joshua’s Legacy (13:1a–d) .......................................... 213
Two Areas (13:2a–6b) ................................................ 215
Measure and Divide (13:6c–7b) ................................ 229
3.6 Geography and Ideology ............................................... 233
Inner and Outer Space .............................................. 234
Conventions ................................................................ 236
Joshua’s Ideological Geography ................................. 239
Chapter Four. Covenant, Execution, and Elimination ............. 243
4.1 Ruse of Gibeon ............................................................. 243
Making a Treaty (9:4a–15c) ...................................... 243
The Trickery Discovered and Resolved (9:16a–27d) 255
4.2 Captured in a Cave ....................................................... 267
Locked Up (10:16a–22c) ........................................... 268
Object Teaching (10:23a–27f) ................................... 270
contents vii
4.3 Divine Aid ...................................................................... 273
Oracles (10:8a–d; 11:6a–e) ........................................ 274
Panic and Fear (10:10a–d) ......................................... 276
Violent Epiphany (10:11a–14c) ................................. 279
Hardening of Hearts (11:20a–c) ............................... 295
4.4 Elimination ..................................................................... 297
Conquest and Settlement in Stereotypes .................. 298
Southern Sweep (10:28a–39g) ................................... 304
Laws of Warfare ........................................................ 309
4.5 Warfare and Ideology .................................................... 312
Ideological Patterns ................................................... 313
‘Royal’ Historiography .............................................. 316
Chapter Five. Joshua 9:1–13:7 and Its Literary Development 321
5.1 Literary Criticism .......................................................... 321
Beginnings .................................................................. 322
Documentary Hypothesis .......................................... 325
Evaluation .................................................................. 329
5.2 Form Criticism ............................................................... 339
Evaluation .................................................................. 346
5.3 Deuteronomism ............................................................. 360
Evaluation .................................................................. 369
5.4 Patterns and Sources ..................................................... 389
Egyptian and West Semitic Parallels ......................... 389
Use of Sources ........................................................... 392
Ethnographic and Geographical Patterns ................ 403
5.5 Historiographical Hypothesis ........................................ 410
Scribes ........................................................................ 411
Traditions ................................................................... 412
Sources and Narratives .............................................. 416
Claims and Convictions ............................................ 420
PART III
MONOLOGUE OF ARTEFACT
Chapter Six. Joshua 9:1–13:7 and Archaeology ....................... 427
6.1 Archaeology and Chronology ....................................... 427
Defining the Upper and Lower Limits ..................... 428
Establishing an Absolute Archaeological
Chronology ................................................................ 434
viii contents
6.2 Cities and Regions in the LB II—IA I Transition and
in IA II ........................................................................... 461
Galilee ........................................................................ 462
Northern Valleys ........................................................ 471
Central Hill Country (N) ........................................... 493
Carmel Coast and Sharon Plain ............................... 498
Central Hill Country (S) ............................................ 508
Chalk Valleys and Shephelah .................................... 527
Steppe and Desert ..................................................... 543
6.3 Socio-Archeological and Historical Considerations ...... 549
Kinglets in a Restless Region .................................... 550
Political and Cultural Transformation ...................... 561
PART IV
DIALOGUE OF TEXT AND ARTEFACT
Chapter Seven. Joshua 9:1–13:7 as Historiography ................. 575
7.1 Joshua 9:1–13:7 and History ......................................... 575
From History to Historiography ............................... 575
From Historiography to History ............................... 582
7.2 Joshua 9:1–13:7 as Historiography ............................... 587
Conventions of Historiography ................................. 588
Ideology ..................................................................... 589
Antiquarian Intent ..................................................... 589
Scribes and Materials ................................................ 590
Relation to Previous Scholarship .............................. 592
Epilogue .................................................................................... 593
Appendix I—Syntactical Presentation of Joshua 9:1–13:7 ....... 599
Bibliography .............................................................................. 611
Index
Index of Ancient Sources ..................................................... 653
Index of Hebrew Words and Phrases .................................. 670
Index of Geographical Names ............................................. 671
Index of Proper Names ........................................................ 676
Index of Subjects .................................................................. 679
Index of Modern Authors .................................................... 683
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For a decade the experience of the Israeli summers of 1998 and 2000
in the Valley of Jezreel made an unexpected imprint on my life. Since
then, every time the temperature in the Netherlands reached a 30º
Celsius or more—which occurred quite often during those years—the
weather conditions reminded me of the archaeological excavations at
Tel Megiddo and inspired me to read and write about the problems
of the archaeology of the Southern Levant. This spur was a welcome
stimulation during the long and sometimes difficult process of writ-
ing this study. The subject was too big; the obligation to focus on just
one book was incompatible with my interest in many other issues;
and finally, it turned out to be very hard to combine the finishing of
a monograph with a fulltime job in the greedy field of journalism.
Nevertheless, writing this book has always been a joy. In fact, it even
became so normal that ‘I was working on it’ that I now experience
the final result as a great gift. Therefore, I look back gratefully and
surprised, and humbly say thanks to the Lord.
I would also like to thank those people who were a great help and
stimulus during this God given journey. First the supervisor of this
dissertation at Theological University, Kampen, which was slightly
revised for publication after submitting it in March 2010, prof. Gert
Kwakkel. Although his primary interest is not so much in history, he
taught me almost everything: Hebrew, Aramaic, the beginnings of
archaeology and Akkadian, and later—when he had become profes-
sor of Old Testament—all aspects of the interpretation of the Hebrew
Scriptures. Without his detailed treatment of my texts, his philological
skills and insistence on clarity, his friendship and our common faith
and theological interests, this book would not have come into exis-
tence. I highly appreciate all he has given to me. It was his Doktorvater
and my second supervisor, prof. Ed Noort of Groningen University,
who first made the suggestion of writing a thesis which combined the
text and archaeology of the Book of Joshua, and also of doing that
at my alma mater in Kampen. He opened for me the door to interna-
tional biblical studies and archaeology. I greatly profited from his deep
conviction that all theology is historical in nature, and his devotion to
the subject and stimulating balance between praise and criticism kept