The Bible came from Arabia

241 Pages·2016·8.29 MB·English

by  Kamal Saibi

The Bible Came from Arabia
Kamal Salibi was born in Beirut in 1929. He studied in Beirut
and London and is currently professor of history at the
American University of Beirut. He has had many articles
published, including a series on Lebanese history in medieval
and modern times, and among the books he has written are
The Modern History of Lebanon, Crossroads to Civil War and A
History of Arabia.

Kamal Salibi
THE BIBLE CAME
FROM ARABIA
Pan Books
in association with Jonathan Cape
First published in Great Britain 1985 by
Jonathan Cape Ltd
This edition published 1987 by Pan Books Ltd,
Cavaye Place, London swio 9PG
in association with Jonathan Cape Ltd
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
© 1985 by Spiegel Verlag, Hamburg
English language © 1985 by Kamal Salibi
isbn o 330 29519 5
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading
This book is sold subject to the condition that it
shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,
hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior
consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which
it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

CONTENTS
Key to Hebrew and Arabic transliteration xi
Consonantal transformations xiii
Preface s xv
Introduction 1
1 The Jewish world of antiquity 7
2 A question of method
27
3 The land of Asir
38
4 The search for Gerar 47
5 Non-findings in Palestine 63
6 Starting from Tehom 76
7 The Jordan question 83
8 Arabian Judah 97
9 Jerusalem and the City of David 110
10 Israel and Samaria 124
11 The itinerary of the Sheshonk expedition 133
12 Melchizedek: clues to a pantheon 143
13 The Hebrews of the Asir woods 151
14 The Arabian Philistines 157
15 The Promised Land 166
16 A visit to Eden
173
17 Songs from the Jizan mountains 180
Epilogue 189
Appendix: Onomastic evidence relating to the twelve
tribes of Israel in West Arabia 191
Notes 197
Index 217

MAPS
. . /
1 The Near East in antiquity 10
2 Palestine at the time of the Old Testament 13
3 Asir: physical characteristics 39
4 Asir: administrative areas (provinces and
districts), 1978 41
5 Primary routes and centres of population 45
6 Gerar in Palestine 48
7 Gerar(s) in Asir 61
8 The ‘Jordan’ and ‘Eden’ and its ‘Garden’ 84
9 The itinerary of Sheshonk I - in Palestine 134
I o The itinerary of Sheshonk I ~ in Asir 138
II The Promised Land 167