It's Forty Two!

The Bible Unearhed is a book written by the archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. It covers the historical parts of the old testament of the Bible and how it fits into the picture archaeology in the Middle East paints of its ancient history. Not surprisingly it turns out that most of the early writings are largely mythical and little is verified by actual findings. I am not talking about the supernatural claims, but the actual people and claimed events. There is absolutely nothing to back up the Genesis version of early history, nor the conquest of Canaan or the magnificent first kingdom of Solomon and David. Actually facts contradict and outright disprove these stories in many of their details.

Still, the authors are not hostile towards the biblical texts. They are not attepting to have a go at the Bible, they are instead investigating the archaeological facts rather objectively, and tieing it into the biblical account where it fits. The book also attempts to give us some insight as to why the biblical texts were written and what the motives may have been. The political situation at the time the old testament was compiled was such that history needed to be adapted to current theology both for political and religious reasons. Which is not surprising. It is after all how religions develop, and why should this one be any different just because our western civilisation is so influenced by it?

The book is structured into three parts. The first part investigate the early history of the Bible and how the patriarchs fit into the archaeological reality. The second and third part covers the two kingdoms, Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Juda (Judea), and gives us the real story of how the rose and fell and how they fit into the history of the region. Much religious propaganda needs to be filtered out in the biblical account.

For those interested in the history behind Christianity and Judaism, this book is a must read. The book was a bit tricky to get hold of though.