The Bible's First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David, and Solomon - Hardcover

Faust, Avraham; Farber, Zev I.

 
9781009526333: The Bible's First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David, and Solomon
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1009526332 ISBN 13: 9781009526333
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2025

Synopsis

Saul, David, and Solomon are dominant figures in the Hebrew Bible, rulers of an expanding Israelite polity before it dissolved into two separate kingdoms. Saul's paranoid jealousy, David's killing the Philistine champion Goliath with a slingshot, and Solomon's meeting the Queen of Sheba are familiar stories to many people, but what is the truth behind the texts? While scholars long believed these three monarchs to have been historical personalities, over the past three decades many have questioned the historicity of this United Monarchy, some doubting even the existence of its founding fathers. Building on a vast amount of archaeological evidence, this book robustly argues that the Israelite kingdom of the Bible was a real mini-empire, and that Saul, David, and Solomon were kings of consequence – even if the biblical stories reimagine their lives to glorify and vilify them. Combining fresh archaeological evidence with astute readings of key texts, the authors offer a compelling reconstruction of this fascinating ancient polity which, though it lasted less than a hundred years, has bequeathed a remarkable religious and cultural legacy to the western world. Written in a clear and engaging style, this book will be of interest to scholars and general audiences alike.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Authors

Avraham Faust is Professor of Archaeology at Bar Ilan University. He directs the excavations at Tel 'Eton, and 'The National Knowledge Center on the History and Heritage of Jerusalem'. His 250 publications include Israel's Ethnogenesis, which won three book awards, The Archaeology of Israelite Society, Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period, and The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest.

Zev Farber is Research Fellow at the Kogod Center, Shalom Hartman Institute. He is senior editor at TheTorah.com and the author of Images of Joshua in the Bible and their Reception.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication date
2025
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1009526332
ISBN 13 
9781009526333
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
464