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Scholarly Insights Uncovering the Myster

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R E V I E W S
Friedman has succeeded in making his
way through the morass of previous publications and presenting his take on how
the Exodus happened and why it matters.
For those so inclined, the detailed
endnotes contain additional asides and
discussions, although the book can also
be read without ever consulting these.
Even the appendices are interesting.
Friedman has succeeded in writing
one of the most enjoyable books that
I have read in a long time. I won’t be
alone in this opinion, for this is a book
that will be a pleasure to read for anyone
who picks it up, from beginner to the
undergraduate student to the most erudite scholar.
Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics and
Anthropology and Director of the Capitol
Archaeological Institute at The George
Washington University. Dr. Cline is also
the Co-director of the Kabri Archaeological
Project at Tel Kabri, Israel. His many books
include Three Stones Make a Wall: The
Story of Archaeology (Princeton, 2017).
Near East. Their influence and presence
Scholarly Insights:
spanned the Fertile Crescent. Yet some
readers of the Bible in English and in
Uncovering the
other modern languages may not be familMysteries of Aramean iartions,withgoingthemallattheall,waysincebacksometo thetranslaGreek
Septuagint,
actually
call
them
“Syrians.”
Origins and Diversity In recent years, however, the ancient
A Political History of the
Arameans: From Their Origins
to the End of Their Polities
By K. Lawson Younger, Jr.
(Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016), 857 pp.,
100+ maps, illustrations, and tables,
$117.95 (hardcover), $97.95 (softcover)
Reviewed by Yigal Levin
The people called “Arameans”
are familiar to many readers of the Bible
as ancient Israel’s northern neighbors and
enemies, living in Haran in Genesis and
mostly connected to Damascus in Samuel,
Kings, and Chronicles. The Arameans
were a large group of linguistically related
entities that played a significant role in
the history and culture of the ancient
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to those of us who are
being saved it is the Power of God.” I Corinthians 1:18
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Arameans have been the focus of quite a
lot of historical, archaeological, and linguistic research, with conferences, publications, and even university research
centers being dedicated to the study
of this ancient people. The events of
recent years in Syria and northern Iraq
(the Arameans’ ancient homeland) have
helped bring their history into the public
mind. Consequently, the present volume,
which focuses on the ancient Arameans’
“political history,” is a welcome summary
of much of that research.
Author K. Lawson Younger, Jr., is a
professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and an expert on the relevant
languages. With a long list of Arameanrelated publications under his belt, he
is certainly one of the most qualified
people to write such a book.
This volume focuses on what its title
calls “political history” of the Arameans,
from their earliest origins to the demise
of their independent entities. But it is not
limited to describing such events as wars
and dynastic conflicts. It describes in
detail the diverse and complex Aramean
socially constructed entities throughout history across large swathes of the
ancient Near East.
The complexity of Aramean social
structures was due, in part, to the fluidity of their tribal structures, as well as
the various migrations of Aramean units
across the Middle East. The other peoples with whom the Arameans interacted
also had an impact on Aramean units,
causing variations in their culture. The
author thoroughly integrates the relations and interactions of the Arameans
with other groups in the Near East, such
as the Luwians, the Assyrians, and the
Israelites. He utilizes the new archaeological and textual data that have come
to light in the past decade.
This book, however, does not deal
at length with economic, religious, and
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S T R ATA A N S W E R S
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How Many? (from p. 15)
Answer: 14
During his incredibly busy career as editor of multiple magazines, Hershel Shanks
has also authored or co-authored more than a dozen books. Thick or slim, they
include:
• The City of David: A Guide to Biblical
Jerusalem (1973)
• Judaism in Stone: The Archaeology of
Ancient Synagogues (1979)
• The Dead Sea Scrolls After Forty
Years (with James C. VanderKam,
P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., and James A.
Sanders; 1991)
• The Rise of Ancient Israel (with
William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern,
and P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.; 1992)
• In the Temple of Solomon and the
Tomb of Caiaphas (1993)
• Jerusalem: An Archaeological
Biography (1995)
• The Mystery and Meaning of the
Dead Sea Scrolls (1999)
• 101 Best Jewish Jokes (1999)
• The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic
Story & Meaning of the First
Archaeological Link to Jesus & His
Family (with Ben Witherington III;
2003)
• The Copper Scroll and the Search for
the Temple Treasure (2007)
• The Dead Sea Scrolls: What They
Really Say (2007)
• Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: From
Solomon to the Golden Dome (2007)
• The World’s Oldest Tallit? (2008)
• Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls and
Other Adventures of an Archaeology
Outsider (autobiography; 2010)
This impressive list does not include the numerous supplemental issues to BAR
and edited volumes, some of which appeared in multiple printings, re-editions, and
translations. To set the record straight, here are the 15 books that Hershel Shanks
has edited:
• The Art and Craft of Judging: The
Decisions of Judge Learned Hand
(1968)
• Recent Archaeology in the Land of
Israel (with Benjamin Mazar; 1984)
• Ancient Israel: A Short History from
Abraham to the Roman Destruction
of the Temple (1988, etc.)
• Archaeology and the Bible: The Best
of BAR, 2 vols. (with Dan P. Cole;
1990)
• Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A
Parallel History of Their Origins and
Early Development (1992, etc.)
• Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls
(1992)
• The Search for Jesus (with Stephen
J. Patterson, Marcus J. Borg, and
John Dominic Crossan; 1994)
• Frank Moore Cross: Conversations
with a Bible Scholar (1994)
• Feminist Approaches to the Bible
(with Phyllis Trible, Tikva FrymerKensky, Pamela J. Milne, and Jane
Schaberg; 1995)
• Archaeology’s Publication Problem,
2 vols. (1996; 1999)
• Abraham & Family: New Insights into
the Patriarchal Narratives (2000)
• The City of David: Revisiting Early
Excavations (2004)
• Scholars on the Record: Insightful
Interviews on Bible and Archaeology
(2009)
• Partings: How Judaism and
Christianity Became Two (2013)
• 40 by 40: Forty Groundbreaking
Articles from Forty Years of Biblical
Archaeology Review (2015)
Finally, we should not fail to mention these two laborious compilations that are a
category of their own:
• Who’s Who in Biblical Studies and
Archaeology, 1986–1987 (1986)
84
• Who’s Who in Biblical Studies and
Archaeology, 1993 (1993)
other cultural aspects of the ancient
Arameans. In a conversation that we had
some time ago, Younger revealed to me
that he is now working on a book about
the religion of the Arameans, which will
certainly be a welcome companion to the
present volume.
Using a regional approach to investigate the wide-ranging Aramean polities,
the author divides his study into four
regions: the Jezirah, where Assyrian
power and influence were a particular
challenge; the Anatolian north Syria,
where in the Iron I and II periods one
encounters the Luwian-Aramean cultural symbiosis; the northern Levant
(central and southern Syria)—which is
still obscure in many ways; and southern
Mesopotamia, where indigenous Babylonians, Chaldean groups, and the geography combined to create a very different
environment for the Aramean entities.
Younger presents an impressive array
of written sources and archaeological
data. He also makes extended use of the
Biblical materials, especially concerning
the kingdom of Aram-Damascus, wading
through a wide range of issues that have
been at the center of debate for years:
the accuracy of books such as Samuel,
Kings, and Chronicles when describing
the history of the kingdoms of Israel
and Judah, and, inter alia, their various
references to Aram-Damascus and the
other Aramean states. While he does not
avoid the issues, his attitude is basically
positivist: He tends to accept carefully
the Biblical record, unless it is disproven
by other data.
So who, or what, were the Arameans? Tribes, kingdoms, or “socially constructed units”? Did they all share a common origin? As this book shows, using
a vast array of sources, the Arameans
were spread over a vast area, experienced
different lifestyles, and were known by
different names. As Younger states in his
concluding words, no other people in the
ancient Near East was as impacted by the
Assyrians at all stages of their development as were the Arameans.
However, as he also points out, the
one thing that they did all have in common, as far as we know, is the Aramaic
language. And as the Assyrian Empire
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swallowed up all of the Aramean polities,
it also ingested masses of Aramaic speakers, along with their scribes and their
literary traditions.
Aramaic eventually replaced Akkadian
as the lingua franca of the entire Middle
East. The Aramaic language was the language of administration and commerce
of the Persian Empire, the language commonly spoken in the Hellenistic Levant,
the language of the earliest Christians,
of the Jewish Targum, of the Talmud
and the Kaddish, and of the Syriac and
“Assyrian” churches. Aramaic is spoken
by small communities to this day and
has turned out to be the Arameans’ most
lasting legacy.
K. Lawson Younger, Jr., is to be commended for bringing early Aramean history together in what is truly an excellent work of scholarship.
Yigal Levin is Associate Professor in
the Department of Jewish History at
86
Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He also heads
Bar-Ilan’s multidisciplinary program for
Judaic Studies and teaches at Jerusalem
University College. He has worked on staff
at several excavations in Israel. His latest book is The Chronicles of the Kings
of Judah: 2 Chronicles 10–36: A New
Translation and Commentary (London:
Bloomsbury, T & T Clark, 2017).
History of BAS
continued from page 23
(January/February 2018). We feel very
fortunate to have him along with our
marvelous staff to take us bravely into
the future. Hershel, now as Editor Emeritus, will have a column in the magazine
when he wants and will continue to
make many contributions to the society.
As I conclude this short history, I
can’t help but feel exceedingly proud of
everyone, past and present, associated
with our flagship publication, Biblical
Archaeology Review, and of the Biblical
Archaeology Society that produces this
magazine. There have been many highs
and some lows. Foremost, I appreciate
the network of people who have lent
their expertise, energy, and ingenuity
over the years to making Hershel’s vision
a reality. Thank you for your contributions. It has been a lot of fun to build a
high-quality and sustainable organization
with you. I know Hershel’s legacy and
entrepreneurial spirit will keep pushing
us into new frontiers.
Working with Hershel all these years
has been particularly meaningful for
me. I have had the opportunity to learn
much about our subject matter and
about the business of running an organization. What is especially precious to
me is what Hershel has helped me learn
about myself and, yes, how to deal with
difficult people. a
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