WHO WERE THE EARLY ISRAELITES AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

Written by William G. Dever Reviewed By Pekka Pitkänen

This book presents a synthesis on the origins of early Israel based on the most recent archaeological data. After some comments on the current crisis in understanding the origins of early Israel, Dever starts by examining archaeological evidence about the exodus and the wilderness journeys. Dever then moves on to the conquest of Transjordan. After this, Dever gets down to the main contents of the book, the consideration of the settlement of the land west of Jordan. For that, Dever first looks at previous theories held about the settlement, critiquing them, first based on an examination of individual sites and then based on settlement patterns in this process, and also critiquing previous attempts at synthesis, Dever moves towards his own new synthesis and explicitly presents it at the end of the book. He then concludes by suggestion contemporary implication for his views. Dever’s own reconstruction stresses indigenous origins of the Israelites, and broadly speaking, is a refinement of the peasant revolt model initiated by Mendenhall and Gottwald. According to Dever, the early Israelites sprang up from various groups of people who went to the frontier of new settlement in the highlands in search of new life from their Late Bronze surroundings. Dever does acknowledge the possibility that some of these people may have originated from Egypt, even though he does not believe in nomadic origins of the Israelites or in a major incursion of the Israelites from Egypt as portrayed in the biblical sources.

The book is very lucidly written in a fairly popular style. Dever writes impassionately and at times slightly polemically. It contains an excellent basic presentation of the main relevant archaeological evidence. Dever also often argues very well for his own position (e.g. against Finkelstein, 155–66). Dever’s review and critique of past scholarly models and reconstructions is very valuable and his own reconstruction is a stimulating one. Undoubtedly, there is a lot to listen to and to learn from here.

On the other hand, the book also has some weaknesses. While Dever states in a number of places (e.g. p. x) that he has sought to take both biblical and archaeological evidence equally into account, in other places he clearly states that the archaeological evidence must have precedence. In addition, when handling biblical textual material, Dever relies on mainstream interpretations. While this is completely understandable in view of his background and emphasis on archaeology, there is debate about the dating of the biblical document. Of course Dever also knows this, but in his handling of the biblical texts he often seems to ignore this.

There is also room to challenge Dever’s archaeological conclusions. One case in point is Dever’s denial of the possibility of an influx of immigrants from outside Palestine based on patterns of pottery distribution (121–25). According to Dever, it would be inconceivable if the intruders brought no pottery traditions with them and then immediately adopted local pottery repertoire (121). However, on page 126 Dever notes how the settlers did not bring artistic traditions with them to the highlands, apparently in logical contradiction to the argument from pottery. In addition, Dever stresses the functional aspect of pottery (124). Therefore, it would be conceivable that any ‘intruders’ could adapt to the local pottery traditions, especially as the biblical tradition stresses that the Israelites would inherit the material culture of the land (Deut. 6:10–11). Also, while Dever clearly has a point in many cases, the debate between him and Finkelstein clearly shows how archaeological evidence can be interpreted in different ways.

In summary, Dever’s book provides a comprehensive survey of the main relevant evidence and interpretations and an interesting reconstruction which is well worth reading for all interested in the subject. However, the debate on the subject is surely to continue.


Pekka Pitkänen

Cheltenham