The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts

This is a great 2nd level book for those interested in the Bible's origin. If you are just beginning to explore this subject, I highly recommend beginning first with Friedman's "Who Wrote The Bible". Then follow with this excellent Finkelstein book, "The Bible Unearth". It details facts found from Archaeologic digs. Thirdly, if you want even more detail, follow with Grabbe's book, "Ancient Israel: What We Know and How We Know It". It details various agreements/disagreements among Archaeologists as to what can be read from ancient Israel/Judah artifacts uncovered to date.I have now read all three. As a beginner, I mistakenly started with this more detailed book, "The Bible Unearthed". I learned from it, but it was more difficult, for example, going back to maps/graphs interspersed within chapters in order to relate where the text I was reading was in the Levant at that time. "Who Wrote the Bible" put maps/graphs up front in one place, "Ancient Israel" has no maps at all."Who Wrote the Bible" explains the origins. "Bible Unearthed" gives archeological evidence. "Ancient Israel" gives detailed evidence on artifacts found and the arguments between archeologists as to what they mean.

"The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finklestein and Neil Asher Silberman was exactly what I wanted.I initially wanted to read a book about the ancient history of the people of the Bible. I specifically wanted a book goes over everything regarding the origins of its sacred texts with relation to political, social, economic, and religious developments throughout history. I was also interested in the historicity of their stories, and (most importantly) in learning why the Bible says the things it does from a nonreligious point of view. At first, I bought "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong, but her book did not answer most of my questions. Specifically, it did provide some but insufficient archaeological basis for its claims, and while it did go into metaphorical meanings of some of the biblical stories, it did not sufficiently explain why these stories existed beyond the basic statement, "people were simply just trying to find meaning to their lives". I wanted to know how the development of the Bible ties into secular history, and how the beliefs of the people of Israel evolved throughout time in relation to real world events.That's when I found this book, "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finklestein and Neil Asher Silberman. This was everything that I was looking for. It demonstrated using lots of archaeological evidence that many stories in the Bible do not tell events how history suggested they occurred, while other stories proved to fit perfectly in archaeology. It explained that some stories, such as the wandering of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, the Conquest of Canaan, and the United Monarchy under David and Solomon may not have happened and rather may be based on stories indigenous to the people of Israel. It explains how the original Israelites were actually Canaanites themselves, only becoming strict monotheists when a new "Yahweh Alone" movement arose after the invasion of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire. This movement became significantly intertwined with the territorial ambitions of King Josiah after the decline of the Assyrian domination of northern Israel. This is the environment that produced the Bible, a book meant to unify the histories of the northern people of Israel with that of the histories of the southern Kingdom of Judah. When the goals and predictions that were made were not achieved, priests, prophets, and religious scholars sought to redefine the theological meaning of past events creating the Bible in its final form. This book supports all of these conclusions with textual analysis, archaeological finds and physical evidence. Though not all scholars might not agree with ALL the conclusions the book makes, the authors definitely qualified their statements with compelling evidence.As a nonreligious person myself, with a very religious upbringing, this was the book I have been searching for. It answered so many questions and was engaging at the same time. To a religious person, this book should still be very fascinating, because the authors by no means diminish the literary meaning and rather amplify the Bible's historical beauty. However, if someone is dogmatic in their religious beliefs and is searching for evidence supporting a literal interpretation of Biblical history, this is not the book for them. It will not set well with Biblical Literalists and Fundamentalists, though I still encourage people, even with these beliefs, to read this book to expose themselves to other interpretations that are out there..

The Bible Unearthed was published in 2001. The co-authors are archaeologists: Israel Finkelstein (Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University) and Neil Silberman (“F&S”). It focuses on the Old Testament ("OT"), which scholars call the Hebrew Bible. The OT tells the story of the Jews from the beginning of time to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the opinion of most modern scholars, the OT is not a reliable historical document. This book provides an accessible summary of the latest archaeological findings. For those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, this book may come as a shock.The book examines the historical and archaeological evidence for the Bible. F&S believe that most of the OT was written in the seventh century BCE. We now know that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and it was not created in 4004 BCE in six days. Scholars tend to believe that Genesis is a typical creation myth common to many ancient cultures. F&S argue that outside of biblical scripture, there is next to no evidence in the archaeological and historical record that many early Biblical characters ever existed. That includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah and Moses.F&S’s approach is to summarize the key books of the Bible. They then explain why the events described did not happen, based on the lack of historical and archaeological evidence. They believe that the stories in the Torah were mostly folktales that were handed down from generation to generation. They became the basis for the creation of the biblical narrative. The authors suggest that there is little evidence for the Exodus. The Egyptians did not mention it, neither did their neighbors. Most civilizations traded and were in regular contact with each other and there was diplomatic correspondence. Ramses II is believed to be the pharaoh at the time of the Exodus. His battle with the Hittites in 1274 BCE is well documented. In the Sinai, there is also no evidence that two million Israelites camped there during their 40 years wandering in the wilderness. F&S believe that there should be some archeological record. The population of Egypt in the 13th century BCE has been estimated at three million. Losing two million people would have had a major impact on the Egyptian economy.In 1993 an inscription was discovered at Tel Dan which came from the ninth century BCE. It mentions the southern kingdom by the name of `the house of David.' It seems likely that a ruler called David existed, but there is little other corroborating evidence outside the Bible. For F&S the question is whether he ruled a large empire. F&S believe that David himself was a tribal chief akin to Pancho Villa, and his legion of followers was more like 500 men with sticks. It was not the stuff of great armies of chariots described in the text. The OT talks about the great and magnificent united monarchy of David and Solomon in the 10th century BCE. This split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, because of the demand by Solomon's son, Rehoboam, for excessive tax payments from the tribes of the northern hills and Galilee, which thereupon angrily seceded from the united monarchy.The authors show that even the united kingdom of David and Solomon is missing from the archaeological record. In the Scriptures, Judah is considered a great and just kingdom whose capital is Jerusalem, and where King Solomon established a splendid temple during the glorious era of the united monarchy. The evidence suggests that prior to the seventh century BCE, Judah was a relative backwater, and Jerusalem a rather small town. They argue that no archaeological evidence has been found that even remotely supports the grandeur described in the biblical accounts of David and Solomon. They suspect, that if anything, Jerusalem was little more than a village located on the Temple Mount.F&S believe that Judah was a small isolated kingdom until the Assyrians conquered Israel in 720 BC. Many Israelite refugees flooded into Judah. After the Assyrian empire collapsed King Josiah wanted to seize control of the territories of the kingdom of Israel. He needed a justification for their annexation. The conquest was explained as the restoration of past glories. They claimed that David had ruled from Jerusalem centuries earlier. They believe that the idea that all Israelites worshiped one God in one temple, and lived under the rule of one king, sprang up in the seventh century BCE. F&S suggest that the people of the north were polytheists. The idea of a united political and religious history was created for political purposes.F&S believe that scribes in the period of Josiah collected folktales and legends and forged them into a coherent story. They didn't really care whether such a person as Joshua existed. F&S argue that Joshua’s conquest as it is presented in the Bible. never happened. Many of the sites that are cited in the story of the conquest were not inhabited in the relevant period, so there was nothing to conquer, there were only hills and rocks. Jericho was not fortified and had no walls, and it's doubtful that there was a settlement there at the time. The text describes something that happened in the 13th century and was written in the seventh century - that is, 600 years later - by people who did not have access to libraries and newspaper archives.The authors praise the OT as a literary masterpiece. Its collection of legends, law, poetry, prophecy, philosophy, and history has had an immense impact on Western civilization. F&S argue that even if Abraham never existed, he is still an important “spiritual” and “metaphorical” figure, “more powerful and timeless than the fleeting adventures of a few historical individuals herding sheep” ever could have been.If the OT is not a historical work, but a work of fiction, that creates a problem for Christians. The popular evangelical pastor Tim Keller has argued that because Jesus mentions the patriarchs the OT must be true. He believes that if you believe in Jesus you have to accept that the OT is historically accurate.

Here is the thing about this book. It has it's supporters and detractors. The detractors are clearly religious and take offense when anyone doubts the veracity of the bible. Those that are interested in scientific findings and have trouble taking the bible at face value will find it thought provoking. If you are interested in a thought provoking book based on archeological evidence then I would gives this a read. If you are religious I would look elsewhere. Look at the comments and you will see the one star reviewers are uber religious and lash out at everything the authors postulate.

Ignore the embarrassing typos in the Amazon blurb and the title on Kindle: the book itself is disciplined, well-argued and spells Israel correctly. A few minor issues: * The author says that in his Bible quotes, he replaces Lord with JHWH, and Almighty with El, but then fails to do so. * Less clarity than I'd like about which biblical passages are J, E, D or P * The author confuses El with JHWH, effectively taking a J-centric view of everythingHowever, the book is about archaeology not textual criticism, so I can forgive these issues. It is also very clearly written and a joy to read.The book is aimed at readers who have a reasonable knowledge of the Old Testament, but with the help of this book, the books of Joshua, Judges and Kings really start to make sense.

When biblical texts are compared to Egyptian records & Archeological discoveries many disparities between the former and the latter two are revealed. This is especially true when the exodus and the history of Canaan are investigated. No powerful Kings with strong armies. No heavily fortified city walls in which the population resided. No Exodus or any evidence of anyone (let alone up to 600,000 people wandering the desert for 40yrs with all the practical problems that would imply) other than occasional Nomads crossing the Sinai desert. Extremely enlightening description of the history of the region that produced the Jewish and Christian religions and cultural identities.

This book place the biblical narrative in its historical context according to archaeological discovery. The book debunks the historicity of much of the biblical narrative, especially where it does not align with physical evidence, and places the writing of the core of the bible towards the end of the 7th century BCE. Others however postulate that the monotheism that runs through the biblical text is a more recent origin and was developed between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE by those returning from Babylonia.

Drawing on archaeological discoveries & analysis the authors persuasively show that the stories of the Old Testament ( Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon etc.) were in all likelihood redacted much later at the time of King Josiah in the 7th century b.C. in a not uncommon process if myth-making in order to justify the current ruler as well as provide the Jewish people of that era (both Israelites and Judaeans) a common foundational myth with a new emphasis on the role of Jerusalem as the historical center of national and religious life.

Very good, covering archaeological theories and explanations for the traditions found in the Hebrew Bible. Did the Patriarchs exist, or were their stories written much later for a specific purpose? Did the Exodus happen as stated in the Bible?The book also gives other scholars' theories on the historical origins of Israel. It's a very interesting book and gives lots of food for thought.

I find most of this sort of book, either a dull academic text or a lightweight story quoting 'facts' without any referenced evidence. This book provides a nice balance between the two, easy to follow and well written linking archaeological evidence to bible references pointing out the matches and mis-matches between the two.

This is a most fascinating book. It describes in a lively style how the bible evolved over the centuries and explains why it remains a most extraordinary book even taking into account that historically it is not quite accurate.

Not being a theist myself, it came as not surprise that the experts failed to find any substantive proof of ANY of the so-called miracles contained in the Christian, Jewish or Islamic bibles. This book is a good companion read to Montifiori's book Jerusalem.

Excellent. Convincing. Torpedoes any sense that 'the old testament' is historically accurate any time before the second captivity.

This book totally destroys most of the old testament, using archaeology and historical digs. There are some youtube videos based on it but for the full story, you need to read this book to find out why the old testament stories, often written many centuries after events portrayed, has nothing to do with history. An absorbing read.

Sound common sense and logic debunking the old testament hyperbole without spite. The fervid criticism from the religous myth pedlars is a great complement to this book. It does not claim omniscience or groundless certanties just unemotionally invites you to think a dirty word to the "holy men" with their blind mindless cant.

Great book well researched. As a Christian I have always been troubled by the text of the Old Testament as it seems to be at odds with all the scientific data and increasing archaeology from the area. This in no mean undermines my belief. If anything it has made the understanding clearer when viewed with the archaeology and science.

The product and delivery as described.

Great book, and great discovery about Bible.

Good informative book .