Critical Précis: How Reliable Are Biblical Reports? - Ancient Israel Course

Critical precis. The first critical precis is due on Tuesday Jan. 21st Late night Eastern time zone. It is a critical reading response to a 2002 article by Long. The article is uploaded and referred as Long How Reliable are Biblical Reports. The instructions for the assignment are; The assignment is not very hard. All you have to do is read Long (2002) - it's a very short article - and write a short response. The critical precis is 500 words (2 pages double spaced). The first two or three paragraphs should: 1. Sum up Long's (2002) argument. 2. Present the debate Long (2002) is responding to. 3. Discuss the methods Long (2002) uses to conduct his study and prove his arguments. 4. Discuss the evidence Long uses to formulate his thesis. The last paragraph should be your response to the article. You should include: 1. Do you agree with the methodology and types of evidence Long (2002) used? 2. Do you agree with Long's (2002) overall argument? Did it connivence you? 3. If you did not like the methodology and line of arguments, what should Long (2002) have changed? Remember, You MUST cite where (i.e. what page number) in Long's (2002) article you are referring to. The easiest way to do this is with in text citations. For example, (Long 2002: 371). Please follow the steps well and for citation just refer to what i wrote. Read the whole article please and make it very concise and understanding don't be confuse the teacher and answer the questions in step by step please. i will upload LONG article.

NMC370H

Start on page 20 ( reading last week)

Middle of the page: today many people believe bible exist message of divine being, people believe this because bible is…

• IS the bible about divine being? He says: it contains exists divine being calls them misleading
• Confusing texts
• Bible collection of texts came together from along of other books and texts.
• Definition is contemporary, Poetry as religious

Anthology – pieces put together by anthologist

Page 78 answers the discussion page 95

Defining history:

Construction of the past, selection of details, place in different order, provide info from the past, definition fits those well. Meaningful interpretation of the past.

• Bible does not contempt to collect the past ( disagree with that, challenge for ancient history book) books like chronological and Samuel, whole thing put together is mint to construct the past and enthused to ethnic and history.
• History is the only ancient history capital literature, anything else doesn’t matches the story.
• Challenge is to classify the bible.
• Doesn’t construct the past, bible construct the past

Challenge to construct our own history, goal is to figure out what happens:

Reconstruction of these:

Today Israel’s prehistory: written before records, don’t have written records until late 9^th century: don’t have big inscriptions , have nothing. Text out of ancient Israel on broken pieces of pottery,, small letter and its not many centuries later give narrative texts.

History division o written texts and not written texts; Israel’s pre history runs from beginning patriarchs through the exceeds ( mosses) through entrance of Joshua and period of judges.

Problems with literature

• Monarchy today ( patriarchs conquest what happened?)
• Records contextual picture, plausibly fit

Can we do the history of ancient Israel without the Bible?

• Have to read the literature in order to know how to deal with the history of the modern history in order to be able to understand the history

Historian, as investigative layer, attempts to…

1) deconstruct the text (i.e., for evidences of editing, revising, compositeness) and analyze the parts.

2) determine whether and which of the parts preserve authentic historical memories.

• Slave cost so much, make sense at that time probably

3) identify the characteristics of the individuals parts and different editorial stages and hypnotize the best historical setting for their origin

4) reconstruct the history of the literature and use the results to construct a history of (a) the time spoken about in the literature and (b) the time when the literature was created this is done especially by making correlations with other written as well as artifact evidence.

Using Ancient writing

• Approach should be based on a 3 presuppositions

1)Triumphalist/ ideological: reminds us that all interpretation is ideological to some degree ( i.e., Interpreted through our frame of reference grounded in specific structures);

2)  positivist/verification;: reminds us that historical events consist of objective events outside and beyond the interpreter

3) Nihilist/relativist:  reminds us that all historical understanding is tentative and open to revision or refutation

Note on supernatural events:  ruled out methodologically ( methodological “ humanism”)  secularism  Versus Methodological atheism

 Israelite “ pre history”

what’s the nature of these stories, few points on introduction of bible:

few words

The Primeval history ( genesis 1-11)

Ordering of the world ( many parallels in ANE)

- “golden age” ( Eden) – common Topes

Long lifespans; intermarry with divine beings

-flood common as punishment for sin

Abraham/Abram

• From Mesopotamia ( Ur, Haran)
• Must move to the Levant ( Canaan)
• Will be great nation; will “own” Canaan

Patriarchs are complex characters, righteous and faithful ( gen 12,15)

Deceitful and cowardly ( gen 12, 16, 20)

Courageous and giving (Gen 13, 15 , 22)

Isaac:

Quite patriarchs : gives wife away to Canaan king

• Repeats Abrahams wife give-away ( gen 26)
• Primarily serves to introduce Jacob

Jacob/ Israel

• Eponymous ancestor of nation of Israel Gen32
• Decietful
• Brave
• Patient

Is Jacob going to rise above for his and rises up again?

He gets the long section of literature and book of genesis

Joseph

Interesting character

• Arrogant  (gen 37)
• Gifted (gen 37,39,40,41,47)
• Deceitful
• Faithful
•  

Moses

• Exposed Infant> Hero ( exod2) [Sargon of Akkad]

Legend of Sargon of Akkad

Akki as the drawer of the water took me as his son and reared me.

Similarity between character drawer of water and Moses-> features argue for the use of known folk structure.

Literary motifs is used to set expectation for readers, and tilted.

• Reluctant leader
• Miraculous deliverer
• Law giver
• Disobedient and unrewarded

Joshua

• Follows him and co-law giver
• Loyal servant
• Victorious successor
• Antitype to Moses?
• Fully faithful and obeyed

Ancient challenges:

0Ancient historical perspective

• Golden age
• Schematic chronology
• Lineal genealogical descent
• Common storytellers motifs
• People without home
• Dreamer
• Divine and human interactions sons of gods and producing hero’s of Wolds , Hercules
• Interaction with Greek methodology
•  
• Divine directions of human affairs
• Gods are intervening

Refer to NMC104 Challenges

Bronze age and the Origins of Israel

The period before monarchy leads us quickly to bronze age

Have setting of historical gotten be from bronze age or later in iron age

Chalcolithic ( copper-stone) age: 4200-3200 BCE

Bronze age: ca 3200-1200 BCE

• Early bronze age 3200-2000
• Middle bronze age2000-1550
• Northern coast and city fortifications
• Gezer city – edge between fertile northern of coastland – mud brick wall lower courses of brick and collapsed was twelfth mud brick was destroyed archeologist could find out
• City gates developed up until Dan
• Major advances – place and public buildings
• Ramparts and glaciers
• Chamber gates
• Hazor major city-  extends north with golden heights, 200 acres north to karkamish ebla andothers
• Tell Hazor Egyptian text, mary letters Mesopotamian and Syrian, Egyptian documents, and fine development in pottery
• Some people spend lot of time looking at pottery, pottery dramatically improved, stare at pottery all day. Decide what was before or after
• City of Mari

ú  Semitic language, tablets

ú  Hebrew comes from west Semitic, for instance, similar word in mari text, tribal unit is similar to Hebrew text

ú  Believed they are Amorites- background of Hebrews , large in complex Semitic group, northern Syrian into Mesopotamia and northern Syria. We can tell that by kings name west Semitic name.

ú  Study mari call this dimorphic structure of society, urban

ú  Abraham fits this text and some plausibility’s

• Evidence of Semites (beny Hassan picture) from the tomb of homhotep, 37 asiatics
• Execration texts- place names from the middle bronze period- functioning cities-> 20 towns, Jerusalem, Byblos, hazor etc.
• Text include city names and rulers, 2^nd would represent west Semitic
• Mari texts represent tin trading through mari and hazor

ú  Hurrian people not Semitic , enter from north and expanding to Syria Palestine  with new techniques

ú  Model for pheble society…

• Summary
• Strong Egyptian influence, controlled canaan, 2000-1550 BCE Egypt and Levant and after this period Egyptian control by number of 18 and 19^th dynasty rulers.
• Cultural break from MB1 to Mb 2 -> Amorites?
• pottery resembles that of Syria à Amorites?
•  
• Late bronze age 1550-1200
• Transition from MB to LB
• Widespread destruction
• Egyptians and new kings coming into line, Egyptians taking control of canaan, hurrians coming down, Hyksos coming through or hurrian empire ( metani) very active 38% of personal names are hurrians, probably case of both hand, one being responsible or something or one hurian ruler, this is happened through whole generation eventually were sacked because of long term policy from both entities and wanted to control the whole canaan
• Development in this period, architecture, houses large and pottery and writing evidence , shows growing and Politian nature in the nature very strong Egyptian influence, in terms of writing about this period, later bronze age period development of alphabet, thank the Semites for that, inspiration from Egyptian writing to alphabet
• Text- amarna letter

ú  The finds consistue the only ancient archive ever found in Egypt

ú  Between Egypt and major king Hittites kings, king its, in canaan, a lot of them are asking for help and regional politics, city states and region around it and Canaan walk each other through Egyptians kings and  come up to take care of this guys and in fact they are places on here cities are mentioning Amarana tablets

• Ugarit city state

ú  Very international and trade routes all over

ú  Alphabetic texts and readable ( west semitic language, not far from Hebrew from 1200) no evidence from Hebrew almost 400 years, some of the mythological texts are important in the Canaanite pantheon mentions Ashera, El( god) Baal, Anat, Mot, Yamm

ú  Dani’ilu ( the king)  legendary king associated with wisdom ( book of isicule ) along side joba noa, Danii’lu mentioned as one of three legendary wise man. Connection might be possible?>

• Gradual renascence of many towns sites
• Reoccupation of virtallyevery MB2 site
• Nominal Egyptian court rule, local Egyptian adminstartors, and petty local princes
• Ast gasp of MB-LB Canaanite culture
• Ends with destruction layers, break in cultureà “ sea people” genral name for groups of people, some of them are from Anatolia from all over, significant population not just bringing families and children and significant technological evidence, disspercment of population movements

Ironage: ca. 1200-332 BCE ( alexander comes Persian age)

Early bronze age

EB 1 ca

EB2

EB3

Eb4 ( middle bronze 1, MB1, CA 2400-2000 * urban culture* reburst, number of these periods, sometimes there radica. The urbanization in the last part 3^rd millennium

Volcanic irruption people simply go back to subsistence.

 The ancient near east in the 3^rd millennium BCe

8 meters high big wall, wall towns, Megiddo, Jericho on Levant

ARAD city:   walls ( stone walls extend 2/3 of mile, bedrock, entirely of stone, increasingly complex developments

EBLA: tablets and texts, horic writing system lasted for 3000 years ( humans are masochist

The stories of Genesis and history

Potential historical information in Genesis

Amorites migration?

Semites in Egypt from ca 2000 BCE on famines common, Egypt stable,

Is he thepart of amorites? ( Abraham?)