Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Thomas L. Thompson" <tlt AT teol.ku.dk>]

        On the issue of the united monarchy, and especially the vexing
problem of the synthesis of northern and southern traditions, there is a
very fine conservative discussion of this by J. Maxwell Miller in his and
John Hayes' A History of Ancient Israel and Judah (1986). For the even more
vexing question of the "united monarchy", one might well look once more at
Miller's article in the Hayes-Miller Israelite and Judean History of 1977.
For an approach somewhat less dependent on tradition history, one could take
a look at Coote and Whitelam, The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical
Perspective of 1987. The present discussion does not go beyond these issues
at all. For a more current and comprehensive review of these discussions see
N.P. Lemche's The Israelites in History and Tradition of 1998.
        On the question of evidence or lack of it and its relationship to
the historicity of biblical narratives, it might be a good idea to be very
specific about which stories you are talking about. For example, when David
deposits Goliath's head in Jerusalem, the story is assuming an Israelite
occupation of the city. Does it assume a United Monarchy? If one insists on
using the Bible for history, one is required to read it.
        Thomas