Those historical 'tidbits' are very useful for dating some portions of the story though. For that reason I highly recommend Israel Finkelstein's The Bible Unearthed.
For example. The town of Ai (which means "ruin" ) is one of the towns that "Joshua" supposedly destroyed. Yet archaeology has shown that Ai was demolished at the end of the Early Bronze Age (c 2200 BC) and not rebuilt until the Iron Age. Obviously, people made up stories to account for the ruined city in their midst...much as they did with Sodom and Gomorrah.
Second example, the Philistines. The bible writers were aware of these people living on their coast and sort of portray them as the Klingons of the time. But that awareness translates into no understanding that the Philistines were relatively recent arrivals to the area. The Philistines ( Peleset to the Egyptians) were part of the Sea People confederation and only settled in Canaan in the mid-12th century ( c 1155BC) after being defeated by the Egyptians. To the biblical writers (writing centuries later) the Philistines had ALWAYS been there....just as Ai had always been there! Hence when they invent the Exodus tale 'god' warns them not to take the northern route through the land of the Philistines because...I guess... while god had just kicked the Egyptians' asses the Philistines were just too tough for him?
Another excellent archaeological book for the layman is Bill Dever's, Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? In it, he gives a virtual travelogue of "Joshua's conquest" of cities which were not there or not occupied at the time!
For example. The town of Ai (which means "ruin" ) is one of the towns that "Joshua" supposedly destroyed. Yet archaeology has shown that Ai was demolished at the end of the Early Bronze Age (c 2200 BC) and not rebuilt until the Iron Age. Obviously, people made up stories to account for the ruined city in their midst...much as they did with Sodom and Gomorrah.
Second example, the Philistines. The bible writers were aware of these people living on their coast and sort of portray them as the Klingons of the time. But that awareness translates into no understanding that the Philistines were relatively recent arrivals to the area. The Philistines ( Peleset to the Egyptians) were part of the Sea People confederation and only settled in Canaan in the mid-12th century ( c 1155BC) after being defeated by the Egyptians. To the biblical writers (writing centuries later) the Philistines had ALWAYS been there....just as Ai had always been there! Hence when they invent the Exodus tale 'god' warns them not to take the northern route through the land of the Philistines because...I guess... while god had just kicked the Egyptians' asses the Philistines were just too tough for him?
Another excellent archaeological book for the layman is Bill Dever's, Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? In it, he gives a virtual travelogue of "Joshua's conquest" of cities which were not there or not occupied at the time!
