TH6317 The Interpretation of the History of Israel

The Origin of Israel in Canaan

Writing

Read the Paper Guide through “Topic.”

Plan to have a short-list of potential topics by January 31.

Prepare

• “The Bible’s Buried Secrets” part 1, transcript (LINK) and video (LINK) or (LINK) or (LINK) [0:56]
• Collins, “Joshua” (especially “The Origin of Israel in Canaan”) and “Judges” in Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. [1:06]
• Judges 4-5 carefully; Joshua and Judges as time permits [0:58]

Major sources

• Joshua
• Judges
• Archaeology

Major themes

• Tools for establishing history: archaeology
• Tools for establishing history: scripture
• Other ways of appreciating stories
• How stories and interpretations (ancient and modern) develop over time

Archaeology

• Defined, basic methods, advantages, limitations
• The relationship between the Bible and archaeology, controversy about “biblical archaeology”
• The earliest archaeological confirmation of the biblical story
• Archaeological disconfirmation of the biblical story
• The beginning of the story of Israel from a modern historical perspective
• The pre-history of Israel

Four models of the origin of Israel in Canaan

• Conquest
• Immigration
• Revolt
• Gradual emergence

Why would someone construct a story like Joshua if not simply reporting facts?

The criteria of plausibility and consistency

• Consistency between Joshua and Judges
• The plausibility of Joshua
• The plausibility of Judges
• Redaction criticism
• What would we know about the origin of Israel looking only at Judges, especially if we disregard later editorial additions?

The Song of Deborah (Judges 5)

• Songs and poetry as stable containers of information
  • Parallelism
• The distinction between poetry and prose framing
  • Compare 5:27 and 4:21
• List the tribes
  • Meroz never mentioned elsewhere
  • Machir elsewhere a son of Manasseh
  • Gilead elsewhere a son of Machir
  • No mention of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Joseph, Gad
• Relationship between the tribes (political scientist hat)
• Relationship between the tribes (theologian hat)

God

What do we know about God from Judges? What does God do? What is God known for?

• Judges 5
• Tales of judges, without editorial introduction
• Editorial framing, especially Judges 2:10—3:6

Further reading

Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar, The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel. (ed. Brian B. Schmidt)

Phyllis Trible, “An Unnamed Woman.” From Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. (PDF)

“The Bible’s Buried Secrets,” PBS NOVA Season 35 Episode 16, 2008.