Notes

Lemche, Israelites 22 ff. 5 Thompson, History 81, 152. Even though the criticism against traditional writing of Israelite

history by Thompson and Lemche is relevant, it is difficult to accept the latter’s more or less outspoken allegation that the Old Testament writings are without any value at all for writing the history of Palestine before the Babylonian exile, cf. Lemche, Israelites 35-85. This at least before he or someone else can show by detailed and convincing analysis that the whole Old Testament is a fiction based on the theology of the post-exilic community, a difficult and perhaps impossible task since we have no datable contemporary documentation at all from that community. But these scholars are right in that one should be much more cautious in using the Biblical texts as a basis for reconstruction of history than has been the case until now.