Ancient Israel and Other Ancestors

The authors begin in two places: with Israelite history before the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE, covered here, and with the Hebrew Bible's emergence, covered in Chapter 2. In their view, Jewishness and the Bible developed inseparably.1

Over recent centuries scholars have come to question the traditional account and proposed many alternative reconstructions, some openly at odds with the Bible. The authors admit that nobody has reached agreement on how the Jews arose.2

The word 'Jew' derives from the name Judah (Yehuda), which in the Bible itself refers to an Israelite tribe, a territory in southern Canaan and the kingdom of David and his descendants. After the biblical era the terms for 'Jew' came to signal a way of life or beliefs, and today can mean a religion, a cultural or ethnic identity, or a national identity.4

Jewish culture did not appear suddenly: it evolved from an earlier Israelite culture, from which it inherited beliefs, practices, languages, texts and patterns of social organization. Questions such as the origins of circumcision, the Sabbath and dietary rules can be answered only by looking at this pre-Jewish culture, and biblical literature is the richest source on it.6

Even if the Bible had no value as a historical source, knowing what it says is essential, because for at least two thousand years Jews have turned to it to learn who they are. Many trace their lineage to Abraham and Jacob, retell the Exodus at Passover as if they were in Egypt and expect a messiah from David's line; even secular Jews draw on it for poetry and art.7

Because the Bible's testimony alone is open to question, the chapter presents Israelite history as reconstructed by biblical scholars, who set it within the context of other ancient Near Eastern sources and archaeological excavation.8

The abbreviations BCE and CE used in this book rest on a Christian reckoning of time: dating from Jesus's birth was devised in the sixth century by a monk, Dionysius Exiguus, and many scholars think Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BCE. 'Before the Common Era' and 'Common Era' were adopted to mark dates common to all humanity.9

Counting 'before Christ' was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, running backward from 1 BC; there is no year zero.10

Jews have long followed a distinct calendar that begins with the traditional date assigned to the world's creation. Its origins are obscure, but communities seem to have adopted creation as the epoch in the tenth or eleventh century, perhaps responding to the Christian calendar's growing influence; 2018 corresponded to 5778.11

Applying BCE and CE to Jewish history has value, since it places the Jews within humanity's broader history, but it also reminds us that the way we think about the past was shaped by the Christian European context in which the discipline of history arose.12

For modern scholarship, what the Bible says about the past becomes more credible when independent sources back it up: texts written outside the Bible (inscriptions from Israel and texts from other Near Eastern cultures) and archaeology. Confirmation sometimes occurs, but more often the evidence challenges what was believed or speaks to aspects the Bible does not record.14

The two kinds of evidence complement each other: texts reveal what people thought and how they expressed themselves; archaeology (pottery, ruins, tools, weapons, jewelry) shows what they did, what they ate, how they worked, fought and buried their dead.15

The Tower of Babel seems to echo a large temple tower built in Babylon, much later than the time Abraham would have lived; this suggests the story was composed relatively late.17

A relief in the Egyptian temple at Karnak, from the fourteenth century BCE, shows the Shasu after their defeat by the Egyptians; some scholars identify them as the early Israelites or as the people from whom the Israelites descended. The book also notes that if it is an image of the early Israelites, they would be indistinguishable from other Canaanites.19

The Bible itself is inconsistent: according to Judges 1:8, the tribe of Judah attacked Jerusalem, killed its inhabitants and set it on fire; a few verses later (1:21), the tribe of Benjamin did not capture it and the Jebusites still live there with them. Two traditions about taking Jerusalem, with different tribes and outcomes, and no way to know which to believe.20

Doubting the Bible does not make it useless as a source: an Egyptian inscription proves a people called Israel in Canaan by the thirteenth century BCE; the existence of peoples it names (Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, Moabites, Edomites) can be confirmed; and its description of terrain, weather and economy matches Iron Age Canaan (from about 1200 to the sixth century BCE).22

Dating the events of the Bible is hard because its chronology is implausible (Methuselah is said to have lived 969 years) or too vague. A partial chronology can be built by correlating the biblical one with outside sources. Left out are Abraham's journey, the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan, not because they can be proved not to have happened, but because they cannot be securely placed in known history.23

A people named 'Israel' already lived in Canaan during the thirteenth century BCE. A precisely datable stele preserves their name in a victory song commissioned during the Egyptian ruler Merneptah's reign, about 1213 to 1203 BCE. The book's timeline therefore places Israel in Canaan by 1207 BCE.24

Egypt's King Shishak invaded Canaan around 925 BCE. First Kings 14:26 assigns the campaign to Rehoboam's fifth year, and an Egyptian account makes this the earliest particular biblical event corroborated externally. If biblical chronology is correct, Solomon died in 930 BCE, five years before the invasion, placing Israel's monarchy's rise around 1000 BCE.26

Some scholars propose that Philistine domination prompted the first Israelite state. Beth Shemesh, on the boundary between Philistine and Israelite territory and excavated since the 1990s, has yielded elaborate fortifications. Building them would have required centralized authority, perhaps an Israelite government protecting its frontier.28

Also in the timeline: Merneptah rules in Egypt (1213 to 1203 BCE); the people of Israel appear to live in Canaan by 1207 BCE; the death of the Egyptian king Ramesses III and the end of Egyptian control of Canaan (1156 or 1155 BCE); the alleged period of the Judges (1200 to 1000 BCE).30

Modern historians call Israel a nation, but that label misses the Israelites' kinship-centered self-understanding reflected in Genesis. An Israelite traced his family back at least five generations, while people outside that genealogy counted as foreigners. Nearby Edomites, considered Esau's descendants, nevertheless stood closer to Israel in the family tree than Egyptians did.32

The ancient Near East accepted slavery, including Israel. Although the remembered escape from bondage inspired modern abolitionists, Exodus does not reject the institution itself: it portrays Egypt's treatment as wrong because Israelites did not deserve it. That memory encourages sympathy and limits servitude among Israelites, but slavery remained embedded in society and the biblical writers never proposed abolishing it.36

Family ties came under great strain in the Babylonian Exile and later under Greek and Roman rule, when alternatives to family life arose, such as voluntary communities (the early Christian and the rabbinic), which drew some men away from family responsibilities. Still, vestiges of the old family structure persisted, such as tribal identification: survivors of the Exile still identified as members of tribes (most from Judah, some from Levi and Benjamin), and this continued into the first century.37

Today the word 'Jewish', derived from Judah, has no practical tribal meaning, yet traces persist. Some Jews identify as Levite descendants, belonging to the family assigned worship duties by the Bible. This paternal identity often appears in surnames such as Levi or Levine.38

Mesopotamia, the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates, is where the first civilization arose; the earliest known there was Sumerian. Advanced irrigation produced larger settlements, and towns such as Uruk became city-states with dynastic rulers. One of them, Sargon, founded the first empire in history and, according to legend, like Moses, was set in a basket on the river, raised by a royal gardener or water-drawer, and became king.39

The Nile's floods came on a regular, predictable cycle unlike those of the Tigris and Euphrates. With fewer invasions and migrations, Egypt attained greater political stability. Historians divide its past into Old, Middle and New Kingdoms separated by three 'intermediate periods'. Israel emerged as the New Kingdom, which peaked under Ramesses II from 1279 to 1212 BCE, yielded to the Third Intermediate Period.40

The Philistines apparently belonged to the Sea Peoples, Aegean seaborne raiders who swept across the eastern Mediterranean late in the second millennium BCE and threatened Egypt during the era of Ramesses II and Merneptah. In the twelfth century BCE they settled southern coastal Canaan and founded Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. Greeks and Romans derived the name Palestine from them.41

Phoenicians occupied the Canaanite coast across modern northern Israel and Lebanon. In contrast with Philistine immigrants, they were Canaanites whose culture resembled Israelite culture. From cities including Byblos and Tyre, their merchants and sailors established Mediterranean colonies, among them Carthage in modern Tunisia.42

Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites lived east of the Jordan and had cultures resembling Israel's. Genesis makes them kin, connecting Ammon and Moab to Abraham's nephew Lot and Edom to Jacob's brother Esau, while also portraying them as enemies. Each developed a kingdom as Israel's monarchy formed. Edom endured into the first century BCE, when its descendants were known as Idumeans.44

Jeroboam founded the northern Kingdom of Israel. Israel and Judah then coexisted for two centuries before Assyria destroyed the northern state and deported its inhabitants, remembered as the ten 'lost tribes'. Because the southern kingdom was closely associated with Judah's territory, it was also called the Kingdom of Judah.46

Prophets including Samuel, Nathan and Elijah chiefly addressed kings, mediating between ruler and God or condemning royal abuses. Following Assyrian conquest, prophecy assumed new tasks: consoling people, imagining life after defeat and expressing demands for revenge as political autonomy and confidence in divine protection faltered.47

Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah in 598 BCE, deported King Jehoiachin and installed Jehoiachin's uncle under the new name Zedekiah. Judah might have remained a vassal, but Zedekiah joined an anti-Babylonian revolt. Nebuchadnezzar returned and ended the kingdom. In 587 or 586 BCE he burned and plundered Jerusalem's Temple, killed Zedekiah and his sons, and deported much of the population to Babylonia. The timeline dates the First Temple's destruction to that year.48

Sex and the sacred seem incompatible in the Hebrew Bible: before the revelation at Sinai, Israel had to abstain from sexual activity (Exodus 19:15), and priests had more restrictions. God never acts in a sexual way, and his worship, so far as we know, involved no sex. This does not mean condemnation of sexual expression in other contexts: the Song of Songs, attributed to Solomon but probably written by someone else, celebrates erotic desire, which is never condemned.49

The Hebrew Bible does not treat sex as sinful in itself: Genesis 1 presents it as fulfillment of the first commandment, 'be fruitful and multiply'. But it recognizes it as a potentially destructive act for the community: according to Leviticus 18, the land expelled the Canaanites largely because of their sexual conduct. At the same time, the Bible allows polygamy (for men) and relations with concubines, and tolerates rape in a way that would be unacceptable today.50

In Israelite culture, fathers and husbands controlled women's sexual activity, and female sexuality outside that control was seen as shameful and threatening. Biblical law regulates the sexual lives of both men and women but imposes more restrictions on women: a man could have multiple partners and divorce to marry another, but a woman could not have several husbands, sex before marriage or the right to initiate divorce. The law never explicitly prohibits lesbianism, probably because what women did among themselves was of little interest to its lawmakers.51

Scientists have recently introduced a third source beyond texts and archaeology: DNA. By comparing genetic samples of Jews with those of non-Jews in the same place or of Jews elsewhere, analysis shows that Jewish populations often have a genetic history of their own: they often married non-Jews but also register the effect of endogamy. The profiles of many Jews indicate ancestors from the Near East.52

Thus far genetic research has not dramatically altered accounts of ancient Jewish history and has, if anything, supported a fairly traditional picture. It may nevertheless broaden knowledge of Jewish reproductive history. Its ability to illuminate female ancestors is especially promising because ancient Jewish women are otherwise difficult to recover. The authors advise both skepticism and openness.54

Ugaritic literature shows that pre-Israelite Canaanite religion personified death as Mot, a ravenous deity capable of consuming multitudes and defeating gods, including Baal in one myth. Biblical texts may echo this story but do not make death divine: the Hebrew Bible contains neither battles between God and death nor rites intended to repel it.55

Compared with other Near Eastern writings, the Hebrew Bible gives surprisingly little attention to death. Much of the Gilgamesh Epic pursues immortality, while Egyptian culture appears preoccupied with death and an afterlife. Biblical dead enter silent, gloomy Sheol; Enoch, Elijah and Elisha's resurrection miracle are unusual exceptions. Israelites believed in ghosts, as 1 Samuel 28 shows, but scripture prohibits consulting or offering to the dead.56

Compared with Canaan's other gods, Yahweh appears new. He is absent from Ugaritic literature and other Canaanite evidence, although a few comparable place and personal names exist. Israel's name, already attested in the thirteenth century BCE, contains 'El' rather than Yahweh. His first securely dated appearance comes only during Israel's monarchy, leaving his origins a matter of informed conjecture.58

Continuities nevertheless connect Yahweh with older Canaanite religion. Although modern Judaism is monotheistic, biblical passages reveal an earlier Israelite faith closer to Canaanite polytheism, associating Yahweh with El or Baal and admitting lesser divine beings. Psalm 89 offers one example through its 'council of the holy ones' and 'sons of els', a phrase that may mean 'gods'.59

The meaning of YHWH is unknown, and it is not even clear how to pronounce it, since its vowels were forgotten: after the biblical era Jews began to avoid pronouncing the name, and the vowels now written come from Adonay, 'My Lord'. The Bible suggests a link to the verb 'to be' (Exodus 3:14, 'I am who I am'), but some scholars think the name comes from the causative form, 'the one who causes to be', that is, the Creator. Other etymologies have been proposed.60

Babylonian rule ended David's dynasty, destroyed the Temple and exiled Judahites, decisively advancing the transition from Judahite to Jewish culture. Those disruptions alone do not explain it, because the Hebrew Bible was itself a catalyst. Reading texts that became scripture to recover a lost way of life, Judahites began creating a new culture organized around interpreting sacred writings. Understanding Jewish culture's rise therefore requires studying the Bible.61