Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel by William G. Dever

Author:William G. Dever [Dever, William G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-07-16T01:52:00+00:00

Plan of Temples i, 2 at Shechem; 12th and 8th cents. B.C.

Stager 2003, p. 30

Wright's views were met with suspicion in most circles, and with derision among European biblicists: here was "biblical archaeology" at its worst. Nevertheless, as one who has vigorously opposed old-fashioned "prove the Bible archaeology" for 30 years, and as an archaeologist who is familiar with Shechem firsthand, I have few objections. The Shechem "Migdal Temple" certainly could have served as an early Israelite public sanctuary - especially in the light of all that we have learned since the i96os about continuities with Canaanite religion (Chapter VIII). There is such a thing as being too skeptical, dispensing with common sense too quickly. The biblical writers remembered this temple as genuinely "Israelite," and they tolerated its existence because it was pre-Solomonic and therefore not expected to conform to the Deuteronomistic ideal.

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