ABSTRACT
In theory, pinpointing the origins of ancient Israel ought to be straightforward: one could simply seek information from the Hebrew Bible (or Christian Old Testament), since this purports to be the true history of Israel from its beginnings. The people of Israel originated as a band of slaves who miraculously escaped from Egypt. They then wandered across the Sinai desert, where under Moses’ leadership they met their god-to-be, Yahweh, and received his law. And finally, under Joshua, they conquered the land of Canaan, dispossessing its inhabitants and settling there themselves according to God’s promise. In practice, however, the quest for Israel’s origins is not that simple, because the Hebrew Bible is not really a ‘history book’ in the modern sense, and to its credit it never claims to be. The Bible is thus not ‘history’, but ‘His’ story – the dramatic account of God’s miraculous dealings with a particular people designated to become his chosen. The Bible is almost exclusively a sacred history, or ‘salvation-history’, written as it were from a divine perspective, since its authors claim to be inspired by God. Thus the Bible is scarcely interested in human, that is, historical explanations. It intends to tell us not so much how or when ancient Israel originated, but why.
