ABSTRACT
Interactions between Israelites and Arameans in the early Iron Age are veiled. This is partly due to the difficulties involved with using the Hebrew Bible as a source. However, using an example of early Arameans in northwest Syria, it is shown that those same difficulties are known and overcome in philological and historical studies across the ancient Near East. The primary issue with using the Hebrew Bible is thus finding a reliable method for combining textual and archaeological data. After reviewing problems with the commonly used “convergence” approach, Jan Harding’s model of the “thick present” is put forward as a potential avenue for moving the discussion forward. Data from the Hebrew Bible concerning northern Israel and its neighbors, including Bīt-Reḥov, Ṣobah, Abel Beth Maacah, and Geshur is reviewed and evaluated following a summary of findings of Arameans in northwest Syria. The textual data is then combined with archaeological and geographic data in a brief overview of the early Iron Age in the central and southern Levant.
