Helen K. Bond, The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark’s Gospel

Abstract

Questions of the early monarchy come to the fore in chapter 5, where Dever says the archeological record fits well with patterns of rural life and family structure behind the stories of Saul. While the stories are largely fictitious, “Saul’s brief reign can be seen as possibly historical in general, but not corroborated in any detail” (p. 77). Evidence for David is more substantial, Dever notes, citing the Tel Dan Stele which speaks of the “House of David,” the appeal of Jerusalem as a capital city, and excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa that provide evidence of royal power and state planning during the time when David would have lived. Large-scale construction projects in cities beyond Jerusalem echo the type of building activities attributed to Solomon. Dismissing the “low chronology” promoted by Israel Finkelstein (pp. 90–91), Dever contends that the kingdoms of Saul, David, and Solomon belong to the late eleventh and tenth centuries. The kingdom was small, with a population that ranged from 75,000 to 100,000. Most people lived in rural areas, but clear signs exist of a centralized administration, ethnic identity, and a national language. Chapter 6 moves to the period of the divided kingdom and the demise of both. While “the archaeological evidence contradicts the biblical stories in some significant ways,” he finds that “more often than not, it tends to undergird the biblical account, sometimes in striking detail” (pp. 103–104). Despite the biblical focus on temple, covenant, and renewal, Dever argues from the material culture that “in fact, Yahwism was largely a literary construct. What the masses of ordinary folks were actually doing instead was the real religion, if numbers count” (p. 117). Chapter 7 turns to a discursus on “Religion and Cult: How Many Gods?” Although the biblical narratives from Joshua through Kings present a theocratic and ideal history about what Israel should have been, Dever says, “The real religion(s) of the ancients consisted of almost everything that the biblical writers condemned” (p. 126), including a major role for Asherah. “Put simply,” Dever writes,