Authors Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman examine archaeological evidence in an effort to shine further light on the writing and creation of the first five books of the old testament of the Bible or the Pentateuch.
From a historical perspective, this book was fascinating to me.
“Recent developments in archaeology have finally allowed us to bridge the gap between the study of biblical texts and the archaeological finds. We can now see that the Bible is – along with distinctive pottery forms, architectural styles, and Hebrew inscriptions – a characteristic artifact that tells a great deal about the society in which it was produced. pg 22, ebook
This was the first time I had read a non-fiction book about the actual history of events and leaders from the Bible rather than a theological interpretation. This may have been one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much, but, despite my inexperience with books on such topics, I still believe it is very well done.
The Bible Unearthed could be a challenging read for some. For example, it doesn’t hesitate to look at potential political reasons for why the Bible was written and constructed in the manner that it was.
The authors also don’t shy away from discussing when there is a lack of historical evidence for long-held assumptions or ideas.
“As far as we can see on the basis of the archaeological surveys, Judah remained relatively empty of permanent population, quite isolated, and very marginal right up to and past the presumed time of David and Solomon, with no major urban centers and with no pronounced hierarchy of hamlets, villages, and towns.” pg 132
Religion doesn’t seem to be a topic that invites inspection or examination. This book does, in my opinion, a brilliant job of looking at only the evidence.
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The Help Desk Book Blog 
This is an interesting one – I read this book when I took a class called “Archaeology in the Bible” and Finkelstein got a lot of criticism rom Archaeology students in the class as a “Biblical minimalist”. He considers himself a centerist, and I don’t know that I agreed he was a minimalist. I also enjoyed William Dever (who the arch kids called a “maximalists” another title I disagree with) and “Who Were the Ancient Israelites and Where did They Come From?” (if I recall correctly, his reads a little more like a scientific paper – Finkelstein has him beat in terms of writing quality.) I enjoyed that class and came out convinced that there was quite a bit more to the origins of the early Israelites than what is in the Bible – even wrote a paper on it! lol. Do they talk about Josiah in this? Because his part of 2 Kings was the section II most enjoyed talking about in class.
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