6.1 Israelites

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6.1 Israelites

• BOT612 Old Testament Backgrounds

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Introduction

• "Politically speaking Israel played a minor role
  in the history of the ancient Near East. Its
  diminutive territory, no more than one hundred
  miles from north to south, and fifty miles form
  east to west, allowed it no great political
  ambition. But in the history of religion its
  contribution was unique. The Old Testament stands
  as a monument to the religious genius of this
  people, and remains the major source of
  information concerning the rise and fall of the
  Israelite nation." Schwantes, 156

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Patriarchs

• The 480 years of 1 Kgs 6.1 has its lower end
  fixed at the fourth year of the reign of Solomon,
  for which a date of 967 B.C. seems probable. This
  figure, and the 430 years of Ex 12.40, together
  places the descent into Egypt at about 1877 B.C.
  This date should not be considered exact, since
  some small leeway must be allowed for the dating
  of Solomons reign, and the figures of 430 and
  480 may themselves be round estimates. Bimson,
  J. J. "Archaelogical Data and the Dating of the
  Patriarchs," Essays on the Patriarchal
  Narratives, eds. D. J. Wiseman A.R.Millard, pp.
  85-6

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Patriarchs

• This dating scheme places Abraham's life almost
  entirely before 200 B.C., and therefore in MB I
  part of Isaac's life, before his move form
  Beer-lahai-roi to Gerear (cf. 25.11 and 26.1), is
  also allowed to fall within MB I, before the
  depopulation of the Negeb. It is tempting to
  speculate that the famine which drove Isaac from
  the southern Negeb to Gerar was part of the
  change in conditions which led to the
  depopulation of the Negeb as a whole at the end
  of MB I. Jacob's life after his return from the
  household of Laban falls satisfactorily within MB
  II. Bimson, 86

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 1. The practice of granting a birthright, that
  is, additional privileges to an eldest son, is
  mentioned several times in the patriarchal
  narratives (Gen 25.5-6 25.32-34 43.33 49.3-4
  cf. 48.13-20) and was widespread in the ANE . . .
  . The double portion, well known in texts from
  the Old Babylonian to the Neo-Babylonian period,
  is clearly found in the OT only in Deut
  21.15-17. Selman, M. J. "Comparative Customs
  and the Patriarchal Age," Essays on the
  Patriarchal Narratives, eds. Millard Wiseman,
  pp. 135

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 2. In Gen 25.23, the Hebrew term for the eldest
  son is not the usual rekor but rab, which is
  used here only in this sense. The cognate
  Akkadian word, rabu, is also used by itself of
  the eldest son, but so far has turned up only in
  tablets of the mid-second millennium, from Nuzi,
  Alalah, Ugarit, and Middle Assyria. Since the
  texts from Babylonia and those of the
  Neo-Assyrian period use different terminology,
  such as aplu(m) rabu(m) (eldest heir) or
  maru(m) rabu(m) (eldest son), it appears that
  this biblical datum has some chronological
  significance. Selman, 135

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 3. The alteration of a mans inheritance
  prospects was never subject to a father's
  arbitrary decision, whether it involved the loss
  of the birthright privilege or total
  disinheritance, but was brought about in every
  case by serious offences against ones own
  family. Thus Reubens sexual offences against his
  fathers concubine (Gen 35.22 49.3-4) can be
  linked with behaviour of similar gravity
  elsewhere, such as taking legal action against
  ones parents, the usurping of a fathers
  authority, or the despising of ones parents.
  Selman, 135-136

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 4. A mans ability to sell inherited property is
  documented at different periods in the ANE,
  though at the present time no clear case is known
  of an eldest son who, like Esau, sold either his
  inheritance or his rights to an inheritance.
  Selman, 136
• 5. While the inheritance relationship between
  Abraham and Eliezer may find its explanation in
  Prv 17.2, the examples of adoption of slaves, and
  the specific case of the OB letter from Larsa
  (where it is suggested that a man without sons
  could adopt his own slave), are also very
  apposite to this situation. it is precisely the
  custom of the adoption of ones slave that is
  found only in the Larsa letter and in Gen 15.
  Selman, 136

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 6. The adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh by their
  grandfather (Gen 48.5) may be compared with a
  similar adoption of a grandson at Ugarit.
  Furthermore, the phrase, they are mine (Gen
  48.5) is almost identical to the usual ANE term
  adoption formulae, as found for instance in the
  Laws of Hammurapi para. 170. Selman, 136
• 7. The custom of bearing upon the knees has
  frequently been interpreted as an adoption
  rite.... The practice is mentioned five times in
  the OT, of which three references occur in the
  patriarchal narratives Gen 30.3 48.12 50.23
  Job 3.11-12 Isa 66.12 A study of all these
  reveals no clear connection with adoption,
  however, an impression which is confirmed

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• by similar references in two Hurrian myths and
  several Neo-Assyrian blessings. Rather, both the
  biblical and extrabiblical passages have
  associations with birth, name-giving,
  breast-feeding, and fondling of a child, and seem
  to indicate some kind of recognized welcome or
  acceptance of a newborn child into the family
  which could be carried out by parents,
  grandparents, or great-grandparents. Selman,
  136-7
• 8. The gift of a female slave as part of a
  dowry, a practice mentioned three times in the
  patriarchal narratives, is well known in the ANE
  at various periods. If the marriage proved to be
  infertile, the husband normally took matters into
  his own hands,

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• but on certain occasions, the wife was able to
  present one of her slavegirls, sometimes
  specially purchased, to her husband to produce
  children for their own marriage. The parallels to
  the biblical references (Gen 16.1-4 30.1-13) for
  this rare custom are found so far in the
  Hammurapi Laws, and in single instances from Nuzi
  and Nimrud. In each case, the authority over the
  children resulting from this union belonged not
  to the slavegirl who bore them but to the chief
  wife. Selman, 137

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 9. A fathers prohibition forbidding his
  prospective son-in-law to take a second wife in
  place of his daughter is found regularly in
  marriage contracts, as well as in Labans
  covenant with his son-in-law Jacob (Gen 31.50).
  Selman, 138
• 10. Since the function of Bethuel in the
  arrangement of his daughters marriage is rather
  ambiguous (Gen 24), one should not the several
  instances in the Old and Neo-Babylonian periods
  where a marriage was arranged by the brides
  brother, either by himself or together with their
  mother. Selman, 138

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 11. The description of adultery as a great sin
  by the Philistine king Abimelek (Gen 20.9 cf.
  26.10) is known also at Ugarit and in Egyptian
  marriage contracts of the first millennium B.C.
  Selman, 138
• 12. Certain oral statements were accompanied by
  recognized rituals and ceremonials which
  functioned as legal safeguards. These included
  the grasping or correct placing of the right
  hand, and actions of this kind may be seen as the
  legal background of Jacobs adoption and blessing
  of his grandson (Gen 48). Selman, 138

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Customs and the Patriarchal Age

• 13. The use of the phrase (a4kal kesep in the
  complaint of Labans daughters may be compared
  with the Akkadian equivalent (kaspa aka4lu),
  which is used five times in marriage contracts at
  Nuzi for the withholding of a dowry which was
  normally taken from the husband's marriage
  payment. Selman, 138

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Patriarchal Age Critical Scholarship

• 1. ...while the stories may reflect a rural and
  pastoral setting, they do not suggest a
  pre-settlement form of nomadic life. Van
  Seters, Patriarchs, IDBSup, 646
• 2. The presence in the patriarchal stories of
  such features as camels and Philistines has been
  regarded in the past as an anachronism which
  updated the original stories. But these
  features would appear to be far more numerous
  than could be covered by such an explanation.
  They call into question the whole scholarly
  search for parallels with the second millennium
  and suggest instead that the traditions were
  largely molded by and for the social and
  religious community of a later date, including the

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Patriarchal Age Critical Scholarship

• period of the Exile. Van Seters, Patriarchs,
  IDBSup, 647

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 1. First half of 13th Century
• 1.1 "Among Biblical scholars and archaeologist
  it is almost axiomatic that the Israelites
  entered Canaan about 1230-1220 B.C. In terms of
  archaeological periods, this would be towards the
  end of the Late Bronze Age, for which the GAD is
  1550-1200 B.C." Bimson Livingston, "Redating
  the Exodus," BAR, (Sept/Oct, 1987), 40
• 1.2 "But while the exact dates can be set for
  neither events exodus/conquest, we may be
  fairly certain that the exodus took place no
  earlier than the thirteenth century....If

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Dating the Exodus Period

• Hebrews labored at Avaris, then they must have
  been in Egypt at least in the reign of Sethos I
  (ca. 1305-1290), and probably of Ramesses II (ca
  1290-1224), under whom the rebuilding of that
  city was accomplished. On the other hand, if the
  destruction of various Palestinian cities late in
  the thirteenth century is to be connected with
  the Israelites conquest, as many have believed,
  the exodus from Egypt must have taken place
  perhaps a generation before that." Bright, A
  History of Israel, 3rd ed., 123

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 2. Arguments for 13th Century
• 2.1 The Israel stele of Merneptah indicates that
  Merneptah encountered Israel in Palestine in his
  fifth year, ca. 1220. La Sor Hubbard Bush,
  Old Testament Survey, 125-126
• 2.2 Ex 1.11s store cities of Pithom and Raamses
  fit into Rameses IIs building program, therefore
  ca. 1300.
  
• 2.3 Edom and Moab (Num 3-2014-21) did not exist
  until ca. 1300. Also the sites of Lachish,
  Bethel, Hazor, Tell Beit Mirsim and Tell
  el-Hesis destruction seems to call for a 1300
  date.

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 2.4 Egyptian documents of Merneptah and Rameses
  II period provide historical parallels, like
  Apiru as slave.
  
• 2.5 Joseph setting then becomes the Hyksos
  period.

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 2.5 According to Gen 1513, the time spent in
  Egypt, viewed in prospect, would be 400 years, or
  according to Exod 12.40, in retrospect, 430
  years. Thus, if the Exodus occurred in the first
  half of the thirteenth century, the descent into
  Egypt would have taken place during the first
  half of the seventeenth century - in the Hyksos
  period. The principal objection on biblical
  grounds is that this date does not fit the 480
  years that 1 Kgs 6.1 gives between the Exodus and
  the foundation of Solomons temple ca. 970. This
  calculation would place the Exodus in the
  mid-fifteenth century. However, the OT, as an
  ancient Near Eastern book, does not necessarily

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Dating the Exodus Period

• use numbers in the same way as modern
  chronology. Thus, the 480 years can be understood
  as an aggregate or round number, probably
  based on the total of twelve generations of 40
  years each. La Sor Hubbard Bush, Old
  Testament Survey, 127

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 3. Chronology from within the Book of Exodus
• 3.1 The latest event mentioned in the book is
  Exod 40.1, 7 where the tabernacle is erected in
  the wilderness. This was on "the new moon of the
  first month of the second year following the
  departure.
• 3.2 "The other end of the chronological spectrum
  remains unclear. This is due to the book's
  silence about the interval between the death of
  Joseph and the accession of the tyrannical
  pharaoh, and about the duration of the slavery.
  On these points there are divergent traditions.

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Dating the Exodus Period

• A comprehensive figure of 430 years is given in
  MT Exod 12.40-41, but LXX and Sam. Pent. include
  in this number also the length of stay in Canaan.
  According to Gen 15.13, the predetermined period
  of slavery was to be 400 years, which is said to
  cover four generations (Gen 15.16). This last
  tradition coordinates with the genealogy of
  Moses, who was the great-grandson of Levi, son of
  Jacob (Exod 6.1, 16, 18, 20) and more or less
  agrees with the notice that Joseph's
  great-grandson Jair, together with his sons,
  participated in Joshua's wars of conquest and the
  settlement of Canaan (Gen 50.23 Num 32.39-41
  Deut 3.14 Josh 13.1

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 17.1). The genealogies, therefore, leave room
  for no more than about a century or so for the
  entire Egyptian episode." Sarna, "Exodus, Book
  of," ABD, II, 690
• 3.3 "Moses himself must have been born, of
  course, after the onset of Egyptian oppression,
  and he was eighty years of age at the time of the
  Exodus (Exod 2.1 7.7 Deut 34.7). This means
  that the enslavement of Israel lasted that long
  at least. On the other hand, it would have
  required many more generations than two or three
  for a mere seventy souls and their families to
  have proliferated security of Egypt (Exod 1.5, 7,
  9-10). At any rate, 19.1 and 40.17

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Dating the Exodus Period

• show that the bulk of the book encompasses a
  period of just about one year." Sarna, "Exodus,
  Book of," ABD, II, 690-691
  
• 4. The Bimson/Livingston Redating
• 4.1 "Move the date of the conquest back about 200
  years, to shortly before 1400 B.C. Although this
  conflicts with the GAD for Israel's emergence in
  Canaan, it is in fact the date implied by the
  Bible itself. In 1 Kgs 6.1, we are told that
  Solomon began building the Temple in the fourth
  year of his reign and that this was 480 years
  after the Exodus. Solomon's reign can be dated
  with considerable confidence to

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Dating the Exodus Period

• about 971-931 B.C., so the fourth year of his
  reign would be 967 B.C. According to the Biblical
  chronology, this would place the Exodus 480 years
  earlier - about 1447 B.C., or say 1450 B.C. for
  convenience. If we allow 40 years for the desert
  wanderings before the Israelite conquest of
  Canaan, we arrive at a date of about 1410-1400
  B.C. for the Israelite entry into Canaan. This is
  almost 200 years earlier than the GAD of
  1230-1220 B.C." Bimson Livingston, "Redating
  the Exodus," BAR, (Sept/Oct, 1987), 42

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 4.2 "...the reference to "Pithom and Raamses" in
  Ex 1.11 cannot be used to date the Exodus to the
  13th century B.C. Rather, the archaeological
  evidence makes best sense if Exodus 1.11 refers
  to the beginning of the Israelites' enslavement
  (in about the 18th century B.C.), and not to the
  time of the Exodus." Bimson Livingston, 34
• 4.3 "We would suggest a change in the date for
  the end of the period archaeologists designate
  Middle Bronze II (MBII). We would move the end of
  MBII down by over a century from 1550 B.C. to
  around 1420 B.C." Bimson Livingston, 45

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Dating the Exodus Period

• 5. K. A. Kitchen's Objection to Bimson
  Livingston's Redating
  
• 5.1 However, this too simple solution is ruled
  out by the combined weight of all the other
  biblical data plus additional information from
  external data. So the interval from Exodus comes
  out not at 480 years but as over 553 years (by
  three unknown amounts), if we trouble to go
  carefully through all the known biblical figures
  for this period. It is evident that the 480 years
  cannot cover fully the 553 X years. At best, it
  could be a selection from them, or else it is a
  schematic figure (12 X 40 years, or

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Dating the Exodus Period

• similar). But again, on other evidence to be
  considered, a date of ca. 1519 BC (966553) and
  earlier is even less realistic for the Exodus.
  Kitchen, Exodus, The, ABD, II, 702
• 5.2 From Egyptian data, a bottom date for the
  Exodus can also be set. In his 5th year, 1209 BC,
  Merneptah (Rameses IIs successor) mentions four
  entities recently subdued in Canaan Ascalon,
  Gexer, Yenoam, and Israel by the hieroglyphic
  determinatives, clearly three territorial
  city-states and a people, respectively. The
  disposition of related reliefs at Karnak would
  confirm (in conjunction with the Israel Stela)
  the location of earliest Israel in that

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Dating the Exodus Period

• area later known as Ephraim and (W) Manasseh,
  Hence, the Exodus, the sojourn in the wilderness,
  and the entry into Canaan can reasonably be
  limited to within ca. 1279-1209 BC, a maximum of
  70 years or if within about 1260-1220 BC, very
  nearly 300 years before the 4th years of Solomon
  (966 BC). Kitchen, Exodus, The, ABD, II, 702
  

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• Sarna, "Exodus, Book of," ABD, II, 697-8
• 1. "The descent of the Israelite shepherds into
  Egypt in the days of Joseph in order to escape
  famine finds an analogy in Papyrus Anastasi VI,
  in which a frontier official reports on the
  passage of Edomite Bedouin tribes from Asia into
  the delta of Egypt 'to keep them and their cattle
  alive.'(ANET, 259)"
• 2. "The title 'pharaoh,' uniformly used for the
  king of Egypt, points to the development that
  took place during the late 18th Dynasty when the
  term, meaning 'The Great House' and originally
  applied to the royal palace, came to be employed
  as a metonymy for the reigning monarch."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 3. "The conscription of Israelites for work on
  state projects (Ex 1.1-10 correlates with the
  tradition preserved by Diodorus Siculus (1.56)
  that Rameses II preferred to conscript foreigners
  rather than Egyptians for his vast building
  program."
• 4. "The Israelites are said to have built the
  cities of Pithom and Raamses (Ex 1.11). The first
  is the Egyptian P(r)'ltm, 'House of (the god)
  Atum,' and the second is P(r)R'mss, 'House of
  Rameses, built Rameses II in the eastern delta of
  the Nile. Egyptian texts extol the beauty and
  glory of this city (ANET, 470-471 cf. Gen
  47.5-6, 11)."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 5. "The Israelites were also subjected to hard
  work in the fields (Ex 1.14). The Egyptian texts
  known as the 'Satire on the Trades' emphasizes
  the harsh conditions under which agricultural
  laborers worked (ANET, 433 AEL 1187-88
  2170)."
• 6. "The making of bricks proved to be an
  especially onerous imposition on the Israelites
  (Ex 1.14 5.7-8, 13-14). Alluvial mud supplied by
  the river Nile and shaped into bricks was the
  common building material in Egypt, other than for
  monumental architecture. Ordinary private
  dwellings as well as administrative building were
  mainly constructed of bricks and often reached a
  height of about 60 feet. it is estimated that the
  pyramids

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• of Sesostris III at Dahshur required about 24.5
  million bricks. The massive building program of
  Rameses II would have necessitated the
  manufacture of enormous quantities of bricks
  (Spencer 1979). Surviving records from the time
  of this pharaoh describe how a quota of 2000
  bricks was assigned to each of a gang of forty
  men and how that target was rarely reached
  (Kitchen 1976). The aforementioned 'Satire on the
  Trade' describes the hardship endured by the
  brickmakers (ANET, 433)."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• "The small building contractor carries mud... He
  is dirtier than vines or pigs, from treading
  under his mud. His clothes are stiff with clay
  his leather belt is going to ruin. Entering into
  the wind, he is miserable. His lamp goes out,
  though (still) in good condition. He pounds with
  his feet he crushes with his own self, muddying
  the court of every house, when the water of the
  streets has flooded." ANET, 433

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Brick Making
40
Brick Making
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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 7. "The midwives play a prominent role in the
  early phase of the oppression (Ex 1.15-21). The
  craft was evidently held in high esteem in Egypt,
  for in one Egyptian tale it was practiced by
  three goddesses (AEL 1220). The name Shiphrah
  held by one of the Hebrew midwives has turned up
  as belonging to an Asiatic woman in a list of
  slaves attached to an Egyptian household
  (Albright 195229, no. 233)."
• 8. "Mention of the birth stool (Ex 1.16) appears
  to be connected with the Egyptian custom of women
  experiencing parturition in a crouching or
  sitting position. The Egyptian hieroglyph for
  birth is a kneeling woman, and one text
  explicitly refers to 'sitting on bricks like a
  woman in labor' (ANET, 381)."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 9. "The story of the birth of Moses and his
  exposure in the Nile (Ex 2.1-10) reflects the
  widespread motif of the abandoned hero, known
  from the ANE and the classical world. A local
  Egyptian analogy exists in the story of the
  concealment of Horus from Seth."
• 10. "The name of Moses (Ex 2.10) is of Egyptian
  origin and appears as a frequent element in
  proper name, usually with the addition of a
  divine element (cf. Ahmose, Ramose, Ptahmose,
  Thutmose), and sometimes without it (EHI, 329)."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 11. "Although not explicitly stated, it may be
  inferred from Ex 2.10 that Moses grew up and was
  educated in Egyptian court circles. Evidence
  exists for the presence of foreign students,
  especially Semites, in the royal schools in the
  Ramesside period."
• 12. "The promised land is described for the first
  time as 'a land flowing with milk and honey' (Ex
  3.8). This matches the description of the land
  found in the Egyptian tale of Sinuhe (ANET,
  18-23, and the Annals of Thutmoses III (ANET,
  237-38 Fensham 1966)

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 13. "The request of Moses to allow the Israelites
  a three-day release from their corvee labors in
  order to celebrate a religious festival (Ex 3.18
  5.1-3 8.22-25) follows established precedent as
  attested by extant records kept by the
  supervisors of labor gangs (Erman 1971124
  Kitchen 1975156-57)."
• 14. "The exceptional role of wonder-working in
  the early Exodus narrative (Ex 4.2-5, 6-9
  7.8-12, 22 8.3, 14-15) must be viewed in the
  light of the extraordinary place of magic as an
  essential part of daily life at all levels of
  Egyptian society. The feat of turning rod into a
  snake finds analogy in the popular tale 'King
  Cheops (Khufu) and the

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• Magicians' (Erman 196636-38). As a matter of
  fact, the snake as stiff as a rod is still
  practiced in Egypt and has been well documented
  in modern times (Mannix 196032). The specific
  selection of this trick in order to impress both
  the Israelites and the pharaoh and his court may
  have been conditioned by the ceremonial insignia
  of Egyptian monarchs. The rod, or scepter, was
  emblematic of royalty, power, and authority, and
  the uraeus, or stylized representation of the
  sacred cobra, was worn on the forehead by the
  pharaohs as a symbol of imperial authority."

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• 15. "The turning of water into blood (Ex 4.9
  7.17-22) is mentioned in Egyptian compositions.
  'The admonitions of an Egyptian Sage' (ANET,
  441), and the story of 'Setne Khamwas and
  Si-osire' (AEL 3148) both refer to it."
• 16. "The ninth plague, darkness (Ex 10.21-23),
  may be compared with mention of a similar
  phenomenon in the 'Prophecies of Neferti' (ANET,
  445)
• 17. "Finally, the ten plagues are described as
  'judgments on the gods of Egypt' (Ex 12.12 cf.
  Num 33.4 Jer 46.25), a verdict early interpreted
  to mean that they were a mockery of Egyptian

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• paganism (12.23-27 16.1-14 cf. Ex 10.2 Jud.
  48.5). Some of the plagues can be so explained if
  taken in a context of Egyptian religious beliefs.
  The Nile, the vital artery of the land, was
  personified as the god Hapi, and its annual
  inundation was regarded as a manifestation of
  Osiris. The first two plagues centered on the
  river and could certainly have been understood by
  the Egyptians as nullifying the powers of these
  two deities. The plague of frogs could well have
  been taken as mocking the frog goddess Heqt, who
  was fancied as assisting women in labor and who
  was the consort of Khnum, the one who fashioned
  human beings out of clay. The plague of darkness

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Egyptian Coloration of Exodus

• represented the defeat of the sun god Re, symbol
  of cosmic order. To the Egyptian mind, it would
  have evoked the powerful cosmogonic myth in which
  the monster Apophis, symbolic of darkness and the
  embodiment of all that is terrible, daily vied
  for victory over Re."

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Conquest

• Three Models
• Nomadic Infiltration
• Military Conquest
• Peasant Revolt

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Nomadic Infiltration

• 1. This model was first developed by scholars
  such as Alt and Noth, and later modified by
  Weippert. It posits that the early Israelites
  were nomads or semi-nomads in a process of
  gradual sedentarization in the sparsely inhabited
  hill country. The settlement was a two-stage
  process.
• They first entered the land in the process of
  changing pastures. Slowly they began to settle
  permanently in the sparsely populated parts of
  the country and extended their territory as
  occasion offered. The whole process began by
  peaceful means without the use of force.

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Nomadic Infiltration

• As the settlers increased in numbers, they
  gradually moved into the lowlands and came into
  conflict with the Canaanite urban centers.
  
• This model views Joshua 1-12 as etiologically
  generated traditions with little historical
  value. Some cities such as Hazor and Bethel were
  destroyed by the Israelites as they moved into
  the lowlands, but the bulk of Joshua 1-12 is
  fictional.
• 2. "This model emphasizes the uncoordinated
  movements of Israelites into Canaan from
  different directions and at different times. If
  there was such an exodus event, only a fraction
  of later Israel was involved."

52
Nomadic Infiltration

• An early wave into the central western highlands
  by Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Gad. These tribes
  were later displaced and declined in importance.
  
• The penetration of the tribes of Ephraim,
  Manasseh, and Benjamin. This became the nucleus
  of the conquest story of Joshua 1-12. Those who
  had experienced an exodus from Egypt would have
  been among these groups.
• Another group entering from the south through the
  Negev, probably from Kadesh. These group of
  tribes eventually consolidated in the form of
  Judah.

53
Nomadic Infiltration

• 3. This model is based on an evolutionary
  assumption that nomads frequently penetrate into
  settled areas. First, it is in conjunction with
  seasonal movements, but gradually they take up
  more permanent settlement in unoccupied areas or
  seize land by force.
• This model has been used to suggest a continuity
  between the Israelites and the Apiru who appear
  to be social outcasts and outlaws throughout the
  ANE.

54
Nomadic Infiltration

• 4. Weippert further identifies the early
  Israelites with the Shasu known from Egyptian
  texts and reliefs dating from 1500-1150.
  
• They were nomads who lived in tents and raised
  small cattle. The heart of their land was
  originally in southern Edom, but ranged as far as
  southern Lebanon and Syria.
• He claims that internal and external population
  pressures of the thirteenth century led to such
  stress that the traditional nomadic economies
  were insufficient to feed the Shasu population.
• They migrated to the Transjordan and also
  colonized the interior of Palestine. Moreover, the

55
Nomadic Infiltration

• overpopulation forced them to convert from a
  pastoral economy to systematic agriculture.
  

56
Criticism Nomadic Infiltration

• 1. First, the model's inability to demonstrate
  that Israel originated from outside the land. All
  evidence indicates that the early Israelites
  resembled their Canaanite neighbors in appearance
  and material culture.
• If the Israelites are depicted on the reliefs of
  Merneptah's battle scenes, then the Israelites
  are portrayed the same as the Canaanites in
  appearance.
• The Egyptian reliefs indicate the Shasu were
  distinct from the Canaanites in appearance.

57
Criticism Nomadic Infiltration

• 2. Second, the model presents an inadequate
  understanding of nomadism.
  
• Pastoral nomadism can no longer viewed as an
  evolutionary interval between hunting and
  gathering and plant cultivation societies. It is
  rather a marginal specialization of animal
  husbandry. No evidence of overpopulation, and
  "land hunger" is more characteristic of peasants
  than nomads.
• The relationship between agriculturist and
  pastoralist was symbiotic. During the summer the
  pastoralist needs the stubble of the harvested
  fields for their flock, and the agriculturist in
  turn

58
Criticism Nomadic Infiltration

• received manure to fertilize the fields for the
  next planting.
  
• Early Israel appears to have practiced both
  pastoralism and agriculture.
  
• 3. Third, the biblical traditions view the desert
  as hostile and alien where Israel needed God's
  assistance, not an idealized past.
  
• 4. Fourth, this model was formulated before much
  archaeological work had been done in the hill
  country. The model does not adequately reflect
  the archaeology that has been done since.

59
Military Conquest

• 1. This model was created in response to the
  nomadic infiltration model. Its main proponents
  are Albright, Wright, Bright, and Lapp. For them
  archaeology has vindicated the essential
  historicity of the narratives in Joshua 1-12 by
  demonstrating that numerous cities stated in the
  text to have been destroyed do in fact provide
  evidence of massive destruction.
• Although Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, Arad pose problems
  because they provide no evidence of occupation at
  the time, the overwhelming evidence for the many
  other cities is decisive.

60
Military Conquest

• Moreover, the destruction levels are followed by
  poor unfortified occupations.
  
• There is also a large number of sites with new
  occupation or occupation that followed centuries
  of abandonment.
  
• All this indicates a large group of uncultured
  foreigners-in other words, our nomad
  pastoralists-rapidly moving into Palestine in
  which the conflict with the Canaanites was
  primarily political.

61
Criticism Military Conquest

• 1. This model has been challenged on its very
  assumption that archaeology could be used to
  verify the biblical texts, for archaeological
  data is inherently ambiguous. A destroyed city
  does not indicate the agents of destruction. Why
  must it have been the Israelites? Why not the
  Egyptians or the Sea Peoples, or even an
  accidental fire?
• Massive destruction occurred in areas where
  Canaanites subsequently remained dominant and
  Israelites showed little interest in settling.
  
• There application of archaeology to Joshua 1-12
  is selective. The evidence is mute for most of
  the text,

62
Criticism Military Conquest

• and it is embarrassing with regard to Jericho,
  Ai, Gibeon, and Arad. Also added to list could be
  Kadesh-barnea, Hormah, Heshbon, Dibon, and
  Hebron.
• Archaeology presents chronological problems in
  that not all the cities were destroyed during the
  same time period.
  
• 2. This model insists that the material culture
  of early Israel would be intrusive into the
  Canaanite culture. But antecedents to the
  Israelite culture cannot be found outside
  Palestine. Instead, their culture is identical to
  the Canaanite culture four room house,

63
Criticism Military Conquest

• collared rim jars, hewed cisterns-all of these
  have Late Bronze Age antecedents in Palestine.
  
• 3. This model has been inconsistent and imprecise
  in conceptualizing Canaan, Israel and their
  mutual antagonism
  
• Israel is usually viewed as a nation-state in
  contrast to the city-states of Canaan.
  
• Prior to the settlement of the hill country
  Israel had no territorial definition.
  
• Prior to central administration of the kingdom of
  David, Israel's poor,unfortified towns and
  villages attest to neither centralized political
  control nor

64
Criticism Military Conquest

• extraction and redistribution of a significant
  economic surplus.
  
• The nation-state is not a viable category for
  examining the history of Israel during this
  period.

65
Peasant Revolt

• 1. This model was first put forward by
  Mendenhall. The Amarna letters-which refer to the
  internal struggles in Palestine caused by the
  Apiru and the biblical events represent the same
  political process namely, the withdrawal of
  large population groups from an obligation to
  existing political regimes, and therefore, the
  renunciation of any protection from these
  sources.
• There was no statistically important invasion of
  Palestine no displacement of population no
  genocide no large scale driving out of the
  population, Canaanite city-states.

66
Peasant Revolt

• This model suggests internal turmoil reminiscent
  of the Apiru during the period of Akhenaton. But
  in thirteenth century Palestine the catalyst for
  this movement was the exodus group A group of
  slave-labor captives who escaped from Egypt and
  made a covenant with Yahweh at Sinai. This exodus
  group espoused an ideology attractive to those
  who were oppressed in Canaan and who immediately
  joined them.
• 2. This model has been subsequently amended by
  numerous scholars, but most influentially by
  Norman Gottwald.

67
Peasant Revolt

• Mendenhall's "withdrawal of large population
  groups" was not physically nor geographically,
  but politically and subjectively. However, the
  geographical aspect should not be downplayed.
• Many of the biblical texts suggest that the
  people of Israel were notable to conquer the
  cities of the plains until David's time.
  Therefore, early Israel had geographically
  removed itself from the Canaanite city-states by
  retreating into the wooded hill country.
• The early Israelite settlements were in fact
  opening this previously uninhabited frontier.
  Credit should be given to several technological
  improvements-iron, rock terraces, lined
  cisterns-which made this

68
Peasant Revolt

• achievement possible. Moreover, it should be
  recognized that such frontiers attract the
  socially disenfranchised.
  

69
Criticism Peasant Revolt

• 1. This model has failed to demonstrate the
  existence of a true peasant's revolt in ancient
  Israel. In their development of this model, they
  have imposed modern idiosyncratic, especially
  Marxist, ideologies on ancient Israel.
• 2. This model has been accused of applying a poor
  understanding of anthropological and sociological
  theory, particularly doctrinaire and outdated
  theories of cultural evolution.
• 3. This model also lacks an awareness of
  Israelite geography, the status of current
  archaeological research, and a clear
  understanding of the Apiru.

70
Criticism Peasant Revolt

• This model overemphasizes the uniqueness of the
  Israelite phenomenon. The early highland villages
  of Israel are identical to other highland
  villages outside of the land.
• They are not connected to Israel's religious
  experience.
  
• They do not represent an "egalitarian" society.
• Technological innovations are given undue credit
  for the settlement process.
  

71
Monarchy

• 1. Early Attempts at Kingship
• 1.1 "The Israelite tribes prized their autonomy.
  When faced with military threats from Canaanite
  city-states such as Hazor (Judges 4-5) or from
  bedouin raiders such as the Midianites (Judges
  6-8), the Israelite tribes depended on military
  leaders who emerged in response to specific
  crises. It was in the aftermath of such a crisis
  (1 Samuel 8-10) that the first attempts at
  establishing a permanent form of leadership took
  place."
• 1.2 Gideon (Jdg 8.22-23) Abimelech (Jdg 9)
  Ammonite threat (1 Sam 11) Saul (1 Sam 13-14
  31).

72
Monarchy

• 2. David (1000-961)
• 2.1 Abner Ishbaal (2 Sam 2.8), while David at
  Hebron (2 Sam 2.1-4, 11).
  
• 2.2 Abner (2 Sam 326-27) Ishbaal (2 Sam 41-7)
  killed.
  
• 2.3 David becomes King of a dual kingdom (2 Sam
  51-5).
  
• 2.4 Establishing a capitol at Jerusalem (2 Sam
  56-12) bring in the Ark (2 Sam 6)
  
• 2.5 Battles Philistines (2 Sam 517-25)
  Transjordanian kingdoms Arameans and extended
  Israel's frontier to the Euphrates (2 Sam
  1015-19) Edom (2 Sam 812).

73
Monarchy

• 3. Solomon (961-922)
• 3.1 Succession Narratives 2 Sam 9-20 1 Kgs 1-2
  (Adonijah 1 Kgs 1.5-8)
  
• 3.2 "He protected the borders of his kingdom by
  peaceful relations with neighboring kings (1 Kgs
  31 51-6 111-3)."
  
• 3.3 Building Projects Temple Palaces Megiddo,
  Gezer, and Hazor (1 Kgs 915-19).
  
• 3.4 Taxation Forced labor ceded twenty cities
  in Galilee to Tyre to ease his financial problems
  (1 Kgs 910-13).

74
Monarchy

• 4. Collapse of the David-Solomon Empire
• 4.1 Rehoboam rejected at Shechem (1 Kgs 1216),
  while Jeroboam is chosen and established his
  capitol in Shechem (1 Kgs 1225).
  
• 4.2 The Nature of the two kingdoms
• South - stable dynasty, but poor economically
  with only about 200,000 people.
  
• North Politically unstable, with 9 coups d'etas
  out of 19 kings in 200 years. A population of
  800,000 with much natural resources.
  
• 4.3 Social stratification develops in both
  kingdoms.

75
Monarchy

• 5. Period of Conflict (922-876)
• 5.1 Jeroboam I (922-901) Dan Bethel, Levites
  (1 Kgs 1226-32).
  
• 5.2 Egypt invaded the territories of the two
  kingdoms (1 Kgs 1425-28). Rehoboam builds
  frontier fortifications (2 Chr 115-12).
  
• 5.3 South Abijah (915-913) Asa (913-873)
  Aramean support against North.
  
• 5.4 Nadab (901-900), coup Baasha (900-887)
  Elah, assassinated (877-876) Zimri (876) Omri
  (876-89)

76
Monarchy

• 6. Period of Cooperation (876-842)
• 6.1 Omride Dynasty
• 6.1.1 Omri Propserity "He sealed the alliance
  with the marriage of his son Ahab with Jezebel,
  the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon. Omri
  ended 50 years of fruitless conflict with Judah
  by giving his daughter Athaliah in marriage to
  Jehoram, the heir to the throne of the S
  kingdom."
• 6.1.2 Ahab (869-850) Battle of Qarqar Baalism
• 6.1.3 Ahaziah (850-849) Jehoram (849-842)

77
Monarchy

• 6. Period of Cooperation (876-842)
• 6.2 Jehoshaphat (873-849) - Prosperous
• 6.3 Jehoram (849-842) executed members of his
  family and court (2 Chr 214). Edom rebelled
  causing Judah to lose its control of the King's
  Highway.
• 6.4 Ahaziah (842)

78
Monarchy

• 7. Revolution Its Aftermath (842-786)
• 7.1 Jehu (842-814)
• Lost treaty with Tyre Judah
• To avoid Arameans, he rushed into a treaty
  relationship with the neo-Assyrian empire under
  Shalmaneser III.
  
• Problems with Hazael, king of Aram
• 7.2 Jehoahaz (815-801)
• 7.3 Joash (801-786)
• 7.4 Judah Athaliah (842-837) Jehoash (837-800)
  Amaziah (800-783)

79
Monarchy

• 8. Period of Prosperity (786-746)
• 8.1 Jeroboam II (786-721) "The rejuvenation of
  the N kingdom that began with Joash reached its
  apex during the forty-year reign of Jeroboam II.
  Both Joash and Jeroboam were able rulers and
  their combined 56 years on the throne were a time
  of territorial expansion and economic success."
• 8.2 Judah Azariah/Uzziah (783-742)
• 8.3 Jotham (742-735)

80
Monarchy

• 9. The Fall of Israel (746-721)
• 9.1 Ahaz (735-715)
• 9.2 Israel Zechariah (746-745), assassinated
  after 6 months.
  
• 9.3 Shallum (745) deposed after 1 month
• 9.4 Menahem (745-738) became a vassal of the
  Assyrians who required that he pay a heavy
  tribute to keep his throne (2 Kgs 1519-20).
  
• 9.5 Pekahiah (738-737) continued the policy of
  submitting to the Assyrians, but is therefore
  assassinated by Pekah.

81
Monarchy

• 9.6 Pekah (737-732) "Pekah put aside old
  animosities and joined Aram in an anti-Assyrian
  coalition. They tried to enlist Judah but failed.
  The coalition collapsed before Assyrian military
  power." He is then assassinated by Hoshea.
• 9.7 Hoshea (732-722) "Hoshea did not remain a
  compliant vassal to Assyria . . . . Upon hearing
  of Tiglath-Pileser's death in 724, Hoshea began
  negotiations with Egypt to secure its support for
  a revolt against Assyria. When Hoshea made his
  move, Shalmaneser V, the new Assyrian monarch,
  easily swept Israel's army aside. After a three
  year siege, the Assyrians destroyed Samaria,

82
Monarchy

• incorporated what remained of the N kingdom into
  the Assyrian provincial system, and exiled many
  of Israel's leading citizens. By 721, the Kingdom
  of Israel ceased to exist as an independent
  nation."