Why Another History of Israel? The Early Years of the Divided Kingdom

A common criticism of conservative histories of ancient Israel is that they merely retell the biblical account. I think there are some books that are guilty as charged. But the book that I co-wrote with Michael Grisanti is much more than a retelling of the biblical narrative. We draw upon a broad range of ancient sources, both literary and archaeological, and bring them together to illuminate the historical record in ways that would not otherwise be possible. To illustrate the value of our approach, I am writing a series of posts highlighting insights gained from each era of Israel’s history. Today our focus is on the early years of the Divided Monarchy. Beginning with the division of Solomon’s kingdom, one point I’m eager to make is that we should not reduce the causes of this division to a single factor: Rehoboam played the fool, to be sure, in spurning the counsel of the elder advisers. Yet the fault lines had begun to form earlier in the reign of Solomon, and even earlier in the reign of his father David. Few observers at the time would have recognized the decisive factor: divine judgment for Solomon’s idolatry. Chronological reckoning is as difficult as it is important. I want...