aspects of Egyptian history, with extensive use of archaeological data.
CHAPTER ONE
Before Israel
Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age
WAYNE T. PITARD
By the time the nation of Israel emerged as a political entity in the late thirteenth century BCE , Near Eastern urban civilization had already grown ancient—more than two millennia old. In Mesopotamia, the Sumerian and Old and Middle Babylonian cultures had long since risen and fallen. For Egypt, the final days of imperial glory were at hand.
The Israelites felt their late-coming keenly, even emphasizing it in the narrative traditions that told of their beginnings. In this they differed from other Near Eastern peoples, whose stories of national origins tended to merge with their accounts of the creation of the cosmos. For example, in the Babylonian creation epic,
Enuma Elish,
Babylon’s foundation culminates the creation of the world, thereby obscuring the city’s relatively late surge into political prominence in Mesopotamia. But Israelite tradition set the nation’s birth within a historical rather than a mythic framework. Biblical stories of the Israelites’ origins deal with their slavery in Egypt, their subsequent escape, and their eventual conquest of the land of Canaan, which would become their homeland. Biblical accounts of the creation of the world remained distinct from those that related Israel’s own origins. Indeed, between its accounts of creation and its record of the rise of Israel, biblical tradition placed a series of tales about several generations of ancestors; according to the tradition’s own chronology, these progenitors lived centuries before Israel came to be. Now preserved for the most part in the book of Genesis, these narratives told the story of a pastoralist named Abraham—the nation’s ultimate father—and his descendants. In the form in which we know them, these tales tell the stories of four generations of Abraham’s family, explaining how they migrated through the land of Canaan and eventually settled in theNile Delta in northern Egypt. There, the tradition goes on to narrate, Abraham’s descendants lived for four hundred years, eventually growing into the nation of Israel.
In this chapter we look at the ancestral narratives in Genesis 12–50 and consider their relationship to the history of Israel. We then examine the wider history of Syria-Palestine from the late third millennium to 1200 BCE , exploring the historical and cultural milieu in which Israel was born. We conclude by examining aspects of second-millennium culture that illuminate some of the ancestral traditions that Genesis preserves.
The Narratives of Genesis 12–50
The ancestral tales of Genesis 12–50 depict four generations of pastoralists whose primary grazing lands lay in the land of Canaan. The story begins in Genesis 11.27–29 by introducing Abraham and his wife Sarah (who are called Abram and Sarai in the early chapters). Genesis 11.29 introduces a serious problem for the couple, whose solution forms a major theme of the Abraham/Sarah cycle: Sarah is infertile. The first action of the cycle, Genesis 12.1–7, presents the overarching theme, not only of the Abraham cycle, but also of the entire narrative that stretches from Genesis through the book of Joshua. In this passage, God calls Abraham to migrate to Canaan and makes two critical promises to him: that Abraham’s descendants will become a great nation, and that God will give them the land of Canaan as their own. The fulfillment of these promises is the primary strand unifying the entire epic of Israel’s origins.
Most of the narratives about Abraham and Sarah’s adventures in Canaan (Gen. 12–25) are related to one or the other of God’s promises. In several cases the characters’ own actions place the fulfillment of the promises in jeopardy. For example, in one story (Gen. 12.10–20) Sarah, who is destined to be the mother of the child through whom Israel will
CHAPTER ONE
Before Israel
Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age
WAYNE T. PITARD
By the time the nation of Israel emerged as a political entity in the late thirteenth century BCE , Near Eastern urban civilization had already grown ancient—more than two millennia old. In Mesopotamia, the Sumerian and Old and Middle Babylonian cultures had long since risen and fallen. For Egypt, the final days of imperial glory were at hand.
The Israelites felt their late-coming keenly, even emphasizing it in the narrative traditions that told of their beginnings. In this they differed from other Near Eastern peoples, whose stories of national origins tended to merge with their accounts of the creation of the cosmos. For example, in the Babylonian creation epic,
Enuma Elish,
Babylon’s foundation culminates the creation of the world, thereby obscuring the city’s relatively late surge into political prominence in Mesopotamia. But Israelite tradition set the nation’s birth within a historical rather than a mythic framework. Biblical stories of the Israelites’ origins deal with their slavery in Egypt, their subsequent escape, and their eventual conquest of the land of Canaan, which would become their homeland. Biblical accounts of the creation of the world remained distinct from those that related Israel’s own origins. Indeed, between its accounts of creation and its record of the rise of Israel, biblical tradition placed a series of tales about several generations of ancestors; according to the tradition’s own chronology, these progenitors lived centuries before Israel came to be. Now preserved for the most part in the book of Genesis, these narratives told the story of a pastoralist named Abraham—the nation’s ultimate father—and his descendants. In the form in which we know them, these tales tell the stories of four generations of Abraham’s family, explaining how they migrated through the land of Canaan and eventually settled in theNile Delta in northern Egypt. There, the tradition goes on to narrate, Abraham’s descendants lived for four hundred years, eventually growing into the nation of Israel.
In this chapter we look at the ancestral narratives in Genesis 12–50 and consider their relationship to the history of Israel. We then examine the wider history of Syria-Palestine from the late third millennium to 1200 BCE , exploring the historical and cultural milieu in which Israel was born. We conclude by examining aspects of second-millennium culture that illuminate some of the ancestral traditions that Genesis preserves.
The Narratives of Genesis 12–50
The ancestral tales of Genesis 12–50 depict four generations of pastoralists whose primary grazing lands lay in the land of Canaan. The story begins in Genesis 11.27–29 by introducing Abraham and his wife Sarah (who are called Abram and Sarai in the early chapters). Genesis 11.29 introduces a serious problem for the couple, whose solution forms a major theme of the Abraham/Sarah cycle: Sarah is infertile. The first action of the cycle, Genesis 12.1–7, presents the overarching theme, not only of the Abraham cycle, but also of the entire narrative that stretches from Genesis through the book of Joshua. In this passage, God calls Abraham to migrate to Canaan and makes two critical promises to him: that Abraham’s descendants will become a great nation, and that God will give them the land of Canaan as their own. The fulfillment of these promises is the primary strand unifying the entire epic of Israel’s origins.
Most of the narratives about Abraham and Sarah’s adventures in Canaan (Gen. 12–25) are related to one or the other of God’s promises. In several cases the characters’ own actions place the fulfillment of the promises in jeopardy. For example, in one story (Gen. 12.10–20) Sarah, who is destined to be the mother of the child through whom Israel will
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