It's a big question between the Centrists (Finkelstein, Mazar, Dever to a degree) and the Minimalists like Thompson, et al. The bible-thumpers, of course, think the whole fucking thing is real and can be safely dismissed for the crackpots they are!
Finkelstein notes that there are serious anachronisms in the whole David story which he contends move it down to the 7th century BC. I'll give one example:
Goliath's armor.
1 Samuel 17
This is a fairly reasonable description of a Greek hoplite.
![[Image: Ancient%20Generals.Hoplites.5m.10th%20Oc...02004..png]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.4hoplites.com%2FAncient%2520Generals.Hoplites.5m.10th%2520October%25202004..png)
Hoplites arose in Greece in the 8th century BC and by the 7th were in service throughout the Med either as locally-raised troops or as mercenaries. The thing is, by the 7th century BC both Judah and Philistia were part of the Assyrian Empire. The Philistines as a conquered state and the Judahites as a vassal. It is exceedingly unlikely that the Assyrians would have tolerated their subject peoples fighting with each other. It wasn't good for business. However, by the late 7th century the Egyptians had freed themselves from Assyrian rule and under a king named Psammetichus were employing hoplites in their army as kind of the panzer division of their day. Egypt and Assyria allied themselves against Babylon (and eventually lost). Finkelstein's view on the politics of the time has Judah watching as the Assyrians were forced to evacuate the area to deal with the growing success of the Babylonian revolt and casting a covetous eye on some of the richer areas to the north (like Galilee.) But Egypt also had an eye to re-gaining these areas which they had lost in the 12th century BC. Hence, all of sudden we start to see these tales of "poor little Israel" overcoming mighty Egypt with the help of 'god.' It was a nice tale to rally the people behind an impossible war effort. Psammetichus' son, Necho, moved into Canaan in support of his Assyrian allies and summoned the king of Judah (named Josiah in the OT but there is no archaeological attestation for any such person) to Megiddo where he had him killed and replaced him on the throne with someone more to his liking. The much later author of Chronicles gives "Josiah" a heroic battle to die in but the earlier tale seems more likely and in it he is simply whacked...mafia style.
Finkelstein notes that there are serious anachronisms in the whole David story which he contends move it down to the 7th century BC. I'll give one example:
Goliath's armor.
1 Samuel 17
Quote:4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet [a] tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels [b] ; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.
This is a fairly reasonable description of a Greek hoplite.
Hoplites arose in Greece in the 8th century BC and by the 7th were in service throughout the Med either as locally-raised troops or as mercenaries. The thing is, by the 7th century BC both Judah and Philistia were part of the Assyrian Empire. The Philistines as a conquered state and the Judahites as a vassal. It is exceedingly unlikely that the Assyrians would have tolerated their subject peoples fighting with each other. It wasn't good for business. However, by the late 7th century the Egyptians had freed themselves from Assyrian rule and under a king named Psammetichus were employing hoplites in their army as kind of the panzer division of their day. Egypt and Assyria allied themselves against Babylon (and eventually lost). Finkelstein's view on the politics of the time has Judah watching as the Assyrians were forced to evacuate the area to deal with the growing success of the Babylonian revolt and casting a covetous eye on some of the richer areas to the north (like Galilee.) But Egypt also had an eye to re-gaining these areas which they had lost in the 12th century BC. Hence, all of sudden we start to see these tales of "poor little Israel" overcoming mighty Egypt with the help of 'god.' It was a nice tale to rally the people behind an impossible war effort. Psammetichus' son, Necho, moved into Canaan in support of his Assyrian allies and summoned the king of Judah (named Josiah in the OT but there is no archaeological attestation for any such person) to Megiddo where he had him killed and replaced him on the throne with someone more to his liking. The much later author of Chronicles gives "Josiah" a heroic battle to die in but the earlier tale seems more likely and in it he is simply whacked...mafia style.
