Resumo de Ancient Israel - MARC ZVI BRETTLER

Neither a futile attempt to prove that the Old Testament is
accurate history or a pointless demonstration that it fails by the standards of
modern historians, The Creation of History in Ancient Israel is
instead a study of what the biblical authors were trying to do with their
presentations of the past; an understanding of this is a prerequisite to any
attempt to use the biblical accounts to reconstruct the history of Israel.
Brettler gives a brief overview of modern biblical historiography in his
introduction. He goes on, in chapter one, to suggest definitions of history and ideology that are useful for the purpose at
hand, but argues that literature is not a term that can usefully be
applied to biblical texts.

Chapter two uses Chronicles to introduce the complexities of Old Testament
historiography: the Chronicler is one of the few biblical historians who can be
seen In action, because his sources are available. Brettler presents a detailed study of 1 Chr 15:1-26 which highlights the ways in
which the Chronicler''s rewriting and reordering of his source materials
reflects his own purposes and the historical and political situation in which
he wrote. Like modern historians he uses historical probability to evaluate and correct his sources.

Chapters three through six look at more specific aspects of biblical
history, at typology, interpretation, satire, and ideology. Chapter three presents two
examples of this from Genesis. The story of Abram and Sarai is a pre-enactment of the story of Exodus. The Joseph story of Genesis
37-50 contains typological elements: parts of it reflect inter-tribal
relationships and others the conflict between the northern and southern
kingdoms.

Chapter four looks at interpretation by the Deuteronomist, with a close
study of two episodes from Deuteronomy itself: Deut 1:9-18 is based on Exod 18:13-26 and Deut 16:18-20,
influenced by Num 11:11-17; Deut 2:26-3:7 is an elaboration of Num 21:21-5 influenced
by Deut 20:10-18. Analysis of both passages demonstrates the creative role of
the Deuteronomist in refashioning existing material to fit his own beliefs.
Some of this may have been deliberate fabrication, but more likely he was, like
all historians, simply viewing the past from the perspective of the
present.

While he elaborates on his view that labeling the
Bible literature is not constructive, Brettler argues in chapter
five that it can be useful to apply specific genre labels like satire to particular biblical texts. He analyses the Ehud and Eglon
story from Judges 3:12-30, showing that it is full of sexual and scatological innuendo and was
intended as a humorous attack on the Moabites, that it is political
satire ... anchored in the historical period in which it was composed rather
than in the historical period which it pretends to narrate.

Chapter six is a study of ideology in the Book of Samuel, and in particular
in the story of David''s rise to power. Here I was pleased to see Brettler use
Stefan Heym''s The King David Report as a source of insight into the period; he also offers a comparison
with Assyrian royal annals. The basic thesis is that 1 Sam 14:52 through 2 Sam
8:15 was structured as a single unit and that an appropriate title for it would
be David as Proper King. It is essentially a work of propaganda,
the purpose of which was to legitimate David''s succession by praising him at
the expense of Saul. The bias of the unit is obvious when it is compared with
the preceding and following sections of Samuel, but Brettler suggests that it
may have been a response to even more negative views of David, perhaps in the
form of a continuing pro-Saul ideology.

Chapter seven is a study of a more complex passage, 2 Kings 17. This
consists of reflections on the destruction and exile of the northern kingdom, a
turning point in the history of Israel
which evoked a wide variety of r; it is a complex, layered tel
built and rebuilt out of a large number of components over a considerable
period of time by contributors writing with widely differing ideological
motivations. It is not a reliable source for the reconstruction of the history
of the northern kingdom, but it is a valuable source of information on the
periods in which it was written, and particularly on Judaean attitudes to the
north.

The final chapter looks at some of the issues involved in reconstructing the
actual history of ancient Israel,
stressing again the importance of studying historians before studying history.
While the Old Testament is a useful source for the history of ancient Israel (something
that some historians now deny), most biblical texts present serious
problems to the historian interested in objectivity. While on some issues
we can reach a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt, on others we
must settle for one based on the preponderance of the evidence. In
short we must learn to live with
ambiguity.

The
Creation of History in Ancient Israel is
a solidly scholarly volume, with over eighty pages of notes providing the full
apparatus of citation and textual analysis. It is far more accessible than most
such volumes, however. While it does assume a general familiarity with the Old
Testament and with the early history of Israel, no specialized knowledge is
needed to read it. The more technical details are relegated to the endnotes
where they can easily be ignored by the non-specialist. The passages discussed
are included (in original translation), so there is no need to keep consulting
a Bible. Perhaps most importantly, the subject of The Creation of History
in Ancient Israel is broad and the passages treated in detail are
interesting. The result is a volume which should attract readers from outsideacademia: it wouldn''t make a bad introduction to the Old Testament for the
general reader with a primarily historical interest.

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