Biblical Archaeology

The Bible Unearthed: The Making of a Religion, is a four-part documentary series based on Israel Finkelstein’s The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, coauthored with Neil Asher Silberman. The documentary attempts to differentiate between the history and legend contained within the Old Testament, engaging with the historiography of recent decades to highlight changing attitudes towards biblical archaeology, particularly the move away from literalism within scholarly research.

The first portion of the series focuses on the Patriarchs and Genesis, consistently emphasising the controversial nature of the stories contained within the Old Testament. Archaeological sites in the biblical city of Megiddo are explored at great length to question the origin of the Patriarchs and whether Abraham can be linked to 1800BC as he has been traditionally ascribed. The central argument behind the investigation is that no firm evidence can be ascertained which confirms Abraham’s association with the middle bronze age. Instead, the series suggests that Genesis was composed during the seventh century, when Judah was widely believed to have been ‘the centre of the Universe.’ Neither adopting the biblical minimalism of such academics as Philip Davies and Thomas Thomson, nor the fundamentalism of Finkelstein’s ‘Zionist’ contemporaries, the documentary strives to find a ‘middle ground’ between the two schools of thought.

The series continues by illuminating the possible geographical evidence which may be used to date the Exodus. In doing so, the documentary suggests that such an event could not have taken place by 1207BC, as no archeological record of Israelites in the Sinai region has been found which dates from the thirteenth century BC. Instead, the seventh century is again put forward as the probable date for the Exodus, as Israel and Judah were seemingly entangled in the rivalry between Egypt and Assyria during this time.

The emphasis in the third episode of the series shifts towards analysing the emergence of the Israelite nation in the context of great upheavals within Near Eastern society. A critical approach is maintained when the historical accuracy of the conquest of Canaan is considered, and the city of Hazor is investigated extensively to attempt to uncover the truth. The documentary’s earlier argument is maintained, by steering clear of an evangelical interpretation of the bible to show that the book of Joshua should not be treated as an authoritative source. Various excavated sites in Jerusalem are then used to demonstrate that traditional historians must reconsider the chronology of ‘Solomon’s Empire’ which did not, according to recent archaeological research, exist in the tenth century BC. Moreover, Judah’s influence over the Book of Kings is used to provide an explanation for the way in which it presents its dynasty as being more prosperous than Israel’s.

The final episode in the series concentrates on a discussion of the origins of Deuteronomy. A considerable amount of narrative is used to describe Israelite society during the Babylonian invasion of Judah (597BC), and the background to the writing of the fifth Book of the Bible. Ideas of seventh century composition re-emerge as the documentary emphasises that this would coincide with the spread of writing across the class spectrum during this period. The series concludes by reiterating that there were political motives behind the writing of the great sagas contained within the Bible, and that a literal interpretation of the text is neither historically accurate nor archaeologically sound.

In summary, although The Bible Unearthed is logical and accessible, its basic and methodical approach to famous biblical stories means it is of little interest to the academic historian. Yet despite the fairly slow pace of the documentary, the series is a worthwhile contribution to facilitating a new approach to biblical studies among a wider audience, an approach which is based on a critical analysis of the archeological evidence as opposed to an unmitigated acceptance of the entire text.