The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as ...

THE BOOK OF SAMUEL
These excavations (and surveys) yielded eleventh and tenth centuries
finds, the accumulation of which indicates that there was indeed
the infrastructure and conditions for the existence of a polity
like the united monarchy described in the books of Samuel and
Kings.
The debate between “maximalists” and “minimalists” brought
to public attention the fact that archaeological research is still unable
to provide an accurate and secure synchronization between
archaeological strata, sub-strata, and the finds of Iron Age 1 – 2, on
the one hand, and the historical chronology of the united and divided
monarchy, on the other. To be sure, the typology of the finds
may indeed help us to identify more or less the possible historical
period. But one should always bear in mind that the process of
replacement of one type of ware by a new one may have taken
place at different times among various settlements and towns and
even within the same town itself, between one clan (or family) and
another. Replacement of ware might be faster or slower due to
ethnic and political tensions or good relations 80 or even differences
of faith and ideology. A tendency to conservatism or an urge for
renovation may affect the decision to purchase new ware. Such a
decision may also be a function of standard of living or depend on
different potters or merchants. In terms of using material culture, it
is not easy to find strict and rigorous rules of human behavior that
applied to the various ancient societies of the southern Levant. 81
Carbon-14 analysis may help in dating ancient organic items,
but it cannot provide the exact duration of a stratum. 82 Under these
circumstances it is no wonder that a wide range of disagreement
exists between the most prominent archaeologists when they face
the issue of identifying the exact stratum of the united monarchy.
Next, the issue of literacy in ancient Israel will be addressed
and, in particular, the following question: Could the book of Samuel
have been composed in the middle of the tenth century BCE,
during King Solomon’s reign? Long and intensive archaeological
research has yielded very little in the way of written finds dating to
the tenth century BCE. Can this negative evidence be relied on to
determine that the book of Samuel and other books could not have
been composed in ancient Israel before the end of the seventh
century BCE or even much later? Before examining the written
finds, it is necessary to determine what writing materials and tech-
79 See R.A. Freund, Digging through the Bible: Understanding Biblical People,
Places, and Controversies through Archaeology (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield,
2009); 108–110; R. Arav, “Bethsaida,” NEAEHL, vol.5, 1612–1614.
80 See Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 142.
81 Cf. Dever, What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did they Know
it? 69–72.
82 For opposing views and different interpretations of the carbon tests,
cf. the seminar papers in T.E. Levy and T. Higham (eds), The Bible and
Radiocarbon Dating.
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