What can /his/ tell me about the ancient Israelites, from sources OTHER than the Bible?
Also, can anyone recommend any non-biblical books on the subject?
>>1187637
Why don't you just make up whatever you want?
>ancient Israelites
>from sources OTHER than the Bible
lol
Israel Finkelstein: Bible unearthed
You'd find out that Judea was a backwater and Jerusalem was an irrelevant craphole and not a holy city and everything of importance was concentrated in the northern kingdom. The reason we think otherwise is because Judeans got to write the post-Torah books and flat out make shit up.
>Also, can anyone recommend any non-biblical books on the subject?
Josephus.
>>1187659
Seconded this book. If you aren't going to pick up the book, even the wiki is worth reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_Unearthed
David was King of a few farms, they just upjumped him in holyness and greatness cuz the actual "David" (the Omrides) were not Yahweh worshippers.
>>1187672
Samuel and Kings are literally WE WUZ KANGS: the scripture.
>>1187679
Agreed. I think a central theme in Bible Unearthed was that the religion was formed as a tenet of nationalism. How does one create a state in the midst of empires that will stand the test of time? Well the people have to see themselves as one and set apart from the rest. You need a creation myth, a genealogy showing that everyone is related and a war-deity who has granted you land to thrive on and protect.
Why do they say they escaped slavery in Egypt when the archaeological record shows that in fact they were the rulers of Upper Egypt for several dynasties? Because it sounds like shit to say we got BTFO by Egyptians and won't get that fertile land, we have to settle with shitty Canaan. Instead you 'escape their servitude' and 'god saved us'.
>>1187697
>rulers of upper Egypt
Do you mean the Hyksos? They lived in Lower Egypt. And I've heard this theory but there's a critical lack of evidence, although I do agree that Osarseph could be linked to Moses.
>>1187716
FUG you are absolutely right, won't be making that mistake again.
There is a lack of critical evidence for any other explanation. The Hyksos were Semitic with names like 'Yaqub' and were eventually expelled from Egypt. It seems at least reasonable to have it as a theory. Josephus was also a lot closer to the source.
There is a pretty obvious reason that this theory would not get any serious backing...
Max Dimont, Jews, God, and History, covers the entire history of Judaism.
It seems to have some pro-Jewish bias. The author is Jewish. That said, a lot of ancient Hebrew history has a strong fedora bias, with shit that would easily be accepted as plausible in other fields of history being hit with "total proof isn't available, it must all be lies even if I can't support a competing theory. Xtians BTFO!!!!!"
Probably the most biased area of history, on both sides.
>>1187670
Except the part where christians scribes inserted a whole bunch blatantly madeup bullshit about jesus.
Also, the problems of made up histories is endemic, not just a problem with the Bible. The same "evil mother or mother in law killing everyone" trope is in all the major Roman histories over and over.
Herodotus has conversations that obviously could never have happened. As Georgetown professor Daniel N. Robinson has pointed out, he probably wasn't trying to trick people with these. They really contribute to the Histories over all philosophical vision of human events. There is some normative ethical theory going on there.
Same with the Bible. Some falsifications might be intentional, or accidents, but some are certainly meant to be allegory.
Samuel and Kings is obviously much more recent. Explaining how the story of Exodus was created is much harder. There isn't good support for the story, but there also isn't any reason it should have been made.
The stories from Genesis are super old and predate the Jews by thousands of years. They found a version of the Ark story in Iraq that dated back 8,000 years.
>>1187637
The history of the Jews by Simon Schama.
>>1187799
Memes transcend all.
>>1187659
OP here. Thanks for the recommendation.
I just ordered the book online.
>>1187733
Well the Hyksos were most likely Canaanites, but we don't know if they Israelites. Israelites were only one tribe in the Canaanite spectrum.
They were canaanites/west semites with mesopatamian origins, their earliest ancestors would be caucasians from anatolia or the armenian highlands. Hence the hawked noses which other west semites dont have
>>1187786
Didn't happen
>>1187659
Came here to suggest this. I've read it and it's a bit dry, but very informative.
