ABSTRACT
A few recent histories of “Israel” have accepted a considerable gap between biblical Israel and the ancient Palestinian society of the Iron Age. Even fewer have drawn the consequence of such clarification and continue as if nothing substantial has happened in recent research. This chapter will put what the speaker considers to be “honest historical analysis” into perspective. It asks what and why the importance of a systemic difference lies between what was written and what actually happened; that is, it addresses the question of why such a narrative was written.
