Table Of Content

THE MYTHIC PAST Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel This page intentionally left blank The Mythic Past Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel Thomas L. Thompson BASIC B BOOKS A Member of the Perseus Books Group First published in Great Britain m 1999 by Jonathan Cape Randon House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V2SA Copyright €> 1999 by Thomas L. Thompson. Published by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced m any manner without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, New York, NY A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-465-00622-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-465-00649-3 Cpbk.) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32 To all my children Christina Samir Hilary Jacob Andreas and to their beautiful mothers by the same author THE HISTORICITY OF THE PATRIARCHAL NARRATIVES THE ORIGIN TRADITION OF ANCIENT ISRAEL THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ISRAEUTE PEOPLE Contents Preface: the academic debate xi PART ONE HOW STORIES TALK ABOUT THE PAST Introduction to Part One 3 Chapter 1 History and origins: the changing past 8 / When texts are confirmed by texts 8 2 There is nothing new under the sun 1 3 Stories of conflict 25 4 The Bible as survival literature 33 1 Chapter 2 Confusing stories with historical evidence 34 / Confusing naive realism with historical method 34 2 The Bible's many views of the past 44 3 The stories of Yahweh as patron and his messiah 45 4 Forgetting Saul's head on the battlefield 50 5 How the Bible's collectors understood David 52 6 Commenting on II Kings: Isaiah, Jonah and Elijah 55 Chapter 3 How the Bible talks about the past 62 / Stories and their references to an historical world 62 2 Don't go back to Egypt for horses 65 3 A story's access to reality 66 4 Techniques in writing Genesis 73 5 The biblical Israel as fiction 77 Chapter 4 Myths of origins 82 1 The origin stories of humanity 82 2 Of nations and heroes 89 3 Of God's people 92 4 A collapsing paradigm: the Bible as history 98 viii • The Mythic Past PART TWO HOW HISTORIANS CREATE A PAST Introduction to Part Two 10 3 Chapter 5 Beginnings 10 / Genesis: c. 1,400,000-6000 BCE 150 2 An African Eden: c. 7000-6000 BCE 10 5 3 Paradise lost: c. 6500-4500 BCE 118 4 A Mediterranean economy: c. 6000-4000 BCE 112 5 A heartland of villages: c. 3500-2400 BCE 125 6 On towns and trade 12 0 4 Chapter 6 A Mediterranean economy 130 1 Farmers and shepherds: a shifting economy: c. 2400-1750 BCE 130 2 The early West Semites 136 3 Palestine conquers Egypt? c. 1730-1570 BCE 138 4 The Hyksos in Palestine? 143 5 Armageddon and Egypt's adventures in Asia: c. 1468 and 1288 BCE 150 Chapter 7 Palestine's many peoples 155 / The great Mycenaean drought: c. 1300-1050 BCE 155 2 Developing highland settlements 158 3 Judea's independent history: c. 1000-700 BCE 161 4 The states of Israel and judah: c. 1000-600 BCE 164 5 The anatomy of the Gods 168 Chapter 8 Under the shadow of empires 179 / The war for the Jfezreel 179 2 The historical Israel 182 3 Deportation and return 190 4 Palestine under a shifting empire 196 Chapter 9 Historians create history 200 / The historical David and the problem of eternity 200 2 The exiles: historical sources 210 3 The myth of exile Til Contents • ix PART THREE THE BIBLE'S PLACE IN HISTORY Introduction to Part Three 228 Chapter 10 The Bible's social and historical worlds 234 / Israel and Palestine's hidden peoples 234 2 The theology of the way: sectarian reflections on life and society 237 3 New life and resurrection 244 4 Prospects for the Bible and history 252 5 Continuities and discontinuities in Palestine's history 254 6 Many Judaisms 257 7 The 'Jews' according to Josephus 259 Chapter 11 The Bible's literary world 267 / On Literature 267 2 Tradition and story variants 271 3 Copenhagen Lego-blocks 274 4 The Bible and its authors 285 5 The function of commentary 289 Chapter 12 The Bible's theological world I: how God began 293 / What the Bible knows and doesn't know about God 293 2 Yahweh as Cod in Genesis 301 3 Yahweh as godfather 305 4 How Yahweh became God 317 Chapter 13 The Bible's theological world II: the myths of the sons of God 323 / The birth of a son of God as a traditional plot motif 323 2 Humanity and the divine 325 3 Humanity and murdtr 330 4 The birth of the son of God and the sending of a saviour 337 5 Samson as son of God and Nazirite 341 6 The classic forms of the tale type: Moses, Samuel, John and Jesus 345 Chapter 14 The Bible's theological world III: Israel as God's son 353 / Divine Presence and the son of God 353 2 Israel as a son of God 359 3 The role of Immanuet and the son of God 361 4 The prophets and the son of God motif 366 5 The parable of Yahweh and his wives 369 6 Israel as God's beloved 372