A Brief History of Ancient Israel.

• Author: Dion, Paul
• Position: Brief Reviews - Book Review

A Brief History of Ancient Israel. By VICTOR H. MATTHEWS. Louisville: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS, 2002. Pp. xv + 171. $16.95 (paper).

Right from the outset (pp. xi-xiii), Matthews presents his Brief History as "particularly student oriented," its value being found in "various teaching aids (inset boxes, keyword cues, extensive parenthetical documentation and bibliography") (p. xii). The students for whom he writes are indeed thought to be on the very doorstep of post-secondary education; not only are they innocent of any foreign language (judging by the books and articles listed, pp. 140-56), they still have to be told what the professor means by words like "divination," "hegemony," or "oracle" (glossary, pp. 131-35). As every experienced teacher knows, a textbook like this addresses a real need. How well does it fulfill its promise? Unfortunately, not entirely to this reviewer's satisfaction.

Matthews' presentation follows the conventional chronological order, from "The Ancestral Narratives" to "Alexander of Macedon." It exhibits a well-justified skepticism towards the biblical account, not limited to the earliest periods, and a preparedness to consider the greatest diversity of solutions. The author is also careful to initiate his readers to the independent testimonies of archaeology and Near Eastern literature. So far, so good, even though one might find the approach too eclectic and too partial to the latest published opinion; but at the level of detail, the information is often out of focus or...