A History of Ancient Israel: From the Patriarchs to the Romans

I recently completed George Washington University Professor Eric H. Cline’s course, A History ofAncient Israel, part of The Modern Scholar Series. Professor Cline is the chair of the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literature at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Professor Cline holds a joint appointment serving both as an

associate professor in the Classics/Semitics Department in addition to the Anthropology Department. As a prolific researcher, Dr. Cline has authored or edited seven books and more than seventy articles and book reviews. I found his presentation style to be adequate. His voice is not unpleasant and he speaks smoothly with focus and clarity.

Israel has been and continues to be one of the most important nations of people in history. Any conflict in the volatile region of the Middle East is typically interpreted in the United States in terms of the effects on the security of Israel. This may be due to the significance of Israel to three of the most prominent monotheistic religions around the globe: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. As Professor Cline indicated in the introduction to the course, “Israel is steeped in history and conflict, much of which is known through the tales of biblical figures such as Moses, David, Solomon, and, of course, Jesus Christ.”

I admit some trepidation when I began the course. How, I wondered, can such a complex history and geopolitical situation be encapsulated in a 14-lecture course? One of the ways in which Professor Cline accomplished this is through a streamlined organization that didn’t spend a lot of time fixating on favorite topics but instead ushered the learner onto the next important topic and how it relates to the larger picture for which the course constantly strives.

The basic organization of the material is chronological. The professor began with the quasi-mythological beginnings of the Hebrew people: Abraham and the patriarchs—the familiar “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph” lineage from scripture. He asserted that, while the Hebrew scripture sometimes seems to be a history, it is inappropriate to understand it in this way, but rather, a mythological origin story with possible roots in real historical events.

After spending some time discussing the importance and the difficulty of Abraham as a literary and/or historical figure and following his lineage for a few generations, Professor Cline discussed the controversial topic of the Exodus. The Exodus, described in Scripture by the book of the same name, indicates that the people of Israel were held in some form of slavery by the Egyptians—having initially been well-treated due to the prominence of Joseph among Egyptians. However, a new pharaoh took over rule of the Egyptian empire and did not hold the Israelites in the same regard. At this point the controversial figure of Moses emerges in scripture. The legend is that Moses was given up by his mother, a Hebrew woman, and floated down the Nile in a basket where he was taken in by a princess of Egypt.

Moses had some stature among Egyptians—many contemporary believers hold that he was considered a “Prince of Egypt.” However, this is unlikely as there is no historical record of Moses and the Egyptians of this period were very good record keepers. The familiar tale is that Moses sided with the Hebrews against their Egyptian oppressors, performing miracles, delivering warnings and plagues to pharaoh who eventually let the Hebrews leave. Their destination was a land called Canaan, a land already inhabited and that must therefore be taken by force. Professor Cline discussed the possible circuitous route taken by the Hebrews as well as the probable exaggeration of their numbers. The legend holds that the Hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years and Moses died before ever seeing Canaan, the Promised Land.

Even among the Hebrews there was some degree of strife. For example, Jacob, who was renamed Israel in scripture, was born twelve sons. Each of these sons was the progenitor of a “tribe of Israel.” Thus, there were 12 tribes of Israel, each named after one of the sons. This would later become important as some tribes consolidated or were lost to the mythology. By the time of the first monarch, Saul, the tribes had split into 2 kingdoms: Judah and Israel. 

Thus, the Hebrews did eventually reach and conquer Canaan where they set up a civilization that eventually became a monarchy. The most prominent of their monarchs was David who created a strong unified kingdom of both Judah and Israel. He was introduced with the familiar story of “David versus Goliath” in which he killed a taunting Philistine warrior who stood around 9 feet tall when he was just a teenager. David was anointed future king of Israel by the prophets, which did not make the sitting king, Saul, very happy. Saul sought to kill David but to no avail and David did become king. David was considered a great king but there were obvious failings of character, temptations, and overall he was demonstrated in scripture to be a flawed but sincere leader. Professor Cline indicated that there have been some indications in archaeological findings that David was a real person.

David’s son Solomon was considered a wise man in scripture. His great accomplishment was the building of a great temple where the Hebrews could worship God. This was built where the modern day holy site of Islam called “The Dome of the Rock” currently stands in Israel. Solomon was also shown to be a man that was prone to human frailty—following after the false gods of many of his numerous wives and concubines. However, Solomon did also keep a strong unified kingdom among the Israelites and increasing the wealth of the kingdom.

Professor Cline also devoted an entire lecture to the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark has fascinated believer and non-believer, adventurer and scientist for centuries. Does it still exist? Did it ever really exist? What was it? What was the source of its power? None of these questions have answers—only hypotheses. However, it is reasonable to assume that the quest for knowledge about the Ark will continue for the foreseeable future.

After Solomon’s death, his kingdom split into Israel in the north above Jerusalem and Judah in the south, including Jerusalem. They existed like this for approximately 200 years but both kingdoms felt continued threats from the rise of powerful empires such as the neo-Assyrians. Around the 7^th Century BCE, the kingdom of Israel fell to the Neo-Assyrians and Jerusalem was attacked but Judah stood and prospered for a while longer. It was the Neo-Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar to whom Judah would eventually fall. This led to what is commonly referred to as the Babylonian exile. Later the Persians and Greeks would threaten the area, until finally the Romans extended their empire to encompass the area.

This is necessarily a brief survey of a survey course. However, I think any student who has a Judeo-Christian background would find the material very interesting. There is a focus on historicity but not to the exclusion of the importance of religion and myth—just the way I like a study of a culture to be undertaken. How else could we hope to learn anything about a people without knowing what was important to them? What did they live for? What did they die for? These are rather dramatic notions but I think that Professor Cline answers them quite cleverly. I felt as though the course provided twice as much material as any other series of 14 comparable lectures—but not in such a way that my brain felt overloaded!

Of course, I love to learn, so I am easily pleased. Give me a lecture on a distant people from a distant land. Give me enough detail and they start to come to life in my mind. This is the joy of learning. This is why I love lectures, books, TED talks, documentaries. Hopefully, you do as well. If you get a chance, check this course out. And, as always, happy learning!!!