Nadav Na’aman, «The Israelite-Judahite Struggle for the Patrimony of Ancient Israel», Vol. 91 (2010) 1-23
The article addresses the controversial issue of the formation of "biblical Israel" in biblical historiography. It begins by presenting the political-cultural struggle between Assyria and Babylonia in the second and first millennia BCE, in part over
the question of ownership of the cultural patrimony of ancient Mesopotamia. It goes on to examine relations between Judah and Israel and compares them to those between Assyria and Babylonia. It then suggests that the adoption of the Israelite
identity by Judah, which took place during the reign of Josiah as part in his cultic reform, was motivated by the desire to take possession of the highly prestigious heritage of Israel, which had remained vacant since that kingdom’s annexation by
Assyria in 720 BCE.
16 NADAV NA’AMAN
continuously inhabited for thousands of years, and where each new
settlement damaged the remains of its predecessors. Excavations
carried out in the territory of Judah have uncovered several fortified
cities from the 9th century (Beth-shemesh, Lachish, Tel Beersheba,
Arad and Tell en-Nasbeh), indicating the existence of a central
Ë™
government and possibly an administrative apparatus in the
kingdom at that time. It also indicates that the Judahite economy
and trade were slowly and gradually developing in the second half
of the 9th century, both at the primary centre of Jerusalem and at the
secondary centres of the kingdom’s frontiers 39. The kingdom —
under the name “Beth David†— earned a minor mention in the
Aramaic inscription of Tel Dan, in contrast to numerous references
to Israel in 9th century royal inscriptions.
Only in the 8th century did a “mature†system of settlements
evolve in the Kingdom of Judah, with habitations of various sizes,
pointing to the emergence of a political, administrative and
economical hierarchy. It was during this period that large
fortifications, public edifices and items of luxury first appeared in
Judah. This was also the time of the first mass production of pottery
vessels in Judah, manufactured in central workshops and distributed
to the periphery. The production of oil and wine similarly
developed, progressing from the household level to larger, perhaps
even national, scales 40.
Israel Finkelstein summed up the differences in the environmental
and cultural background, and in the growth and development, of the
two neighbouring kingdoms as follows 41:
“ Israel and Judah were two distinct territorial, socio-political and
cultural phenomena. This dichotomy stemmed from their different
S. BUNIMOVITZ – Z. LEDERMAN, “The Iron Age Fortifications of Tel
39
B e t h - S h e m e s h : A 1990-2000 Perspective †, IEJ 51 ( 2 0 01) 144-147 ;
I. FINKELSTEIN, “The Rise of Jerusalem and Judah: The Missing Linkâ€,
Levant 33 (2001) 108-111; D. USSISHKIN, “Jerusalem as a Royal and Cultic
Center in the 10th-8th Centuries B.C.E.â€, Symbiosis, Symbolism (eds.
W.G. DEVER – S. GITIN) 534; R. REICH – E. SHUKRON – O. LERNAU,
“ Recent Discoveries in the City of David, Jerusalemâ€, IEJ 47 (2007)
153-160.
D.W. JAMIESON-DRAKE, Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah. A
40
Socio-Archaeological Approach (Sheffield 1991); FINKELSTEIN, “State
Formation â€, 39-48, with earlier literature; idem, “Rise of Jerusalemâ€, 105-115.
FINKELSTEIN, “State Formationâ€, 48.
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