Hasmonean Realities behind Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives.

• Author: Fried, Lisbeth S.

Hasmonean Realities behind Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. By ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN. Ancient Israel and Its Literature, vol. 34. Atlanta: SBL PRESS, 2018. Pp. xi + 208. $32.95 (paper).

This book is a collection of essays by Israel Finkelstein that were published between 2008 and 2015 on the historical reality behind Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Finkelstein has updated each in response to criticisms received upon their initial publication. A comprehensive bibliography plus very helpful indices of place names, biblical citations, and authors conclude the book.

Finkelstein begins with his 2008 article, "Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah," in which he argues that the southwestern hill was not inhabited in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, but only the southeastern ridge--the ridge between the Kidron and Tyrolean Valleys, which includes the City of David. Finkelstein estimates the population of Persianperiod Jerusalem as 400-500 people, about 100 adult men. For Yehud as a whole, he estimates a population of about 15,000 people, too few to support such a large construction effort.

Finkelstein argues that there is no Persian-period archaeological evidence for it. He states that walls dated to the Middle Bronze Age and the late Iron II period, as well as the late Hellenistic walls, have all been easy to trace and relatively well preserved, but that no other city wall has been found (p. 16). Ussishkin posits that the late Iron II wall is only visible because Nehemiah had repaired it (p. 16). The verb 'to build' is not used in reference to Nehemiah's wall, but rather only pnnn, 'strengthened', 'repaired', or 'reinforced', suggesting that a new wall was not created, but that the old wall was rebuilt. All the places named in Nehemiah 3 were inhabited in the Persian period.

In my opinion, that Ben Sira knows Nehemiah and his wall necessarily dates the source for Nehemiah that he used and the wall to which he refers to at least before 196 BCE, Ben Sira's accepted date, and so before the Hasmonean period. The fact that the area within the walls was not inhabited has no relevance to the existence of the wall itself.

In his second article, Finkelstein examines the list of returnees in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the light of the archaeology. Of the seventeen sites listed in Ezra 2 = Nehemiah 7, six (including

Jerusalem) evince weak presence of...