The Historical Dictionary of Ancient Israel covers the history of Palestine to the conquest of Alexander in 331 B. C.E. with an emphasis on the periods reflected by the historiography of the Old Testament. It breaks off at the point when Judaism becomes the major intellectual and political factor of the country; the following history is not the history of ancient Israel but of early Judaism. Although any division made between historical periods is artificial and in a way unsatisfying, this division is a practical one, as the history of early Judaism also covers the history of early Christianity and the world of the New Testament.
The following sections show the complexity of the task of providing a historical dictionary of ancient Israel, as most of the historiography in the Old Testament is not history in the modern meaning of the word but will have to be characterized as narrative, tales from the past and legendary information.
At the same time, the history of Palestine followed its own course. It is as if two histories are present, the one in the Old Testament, and the one in the world outside the Old Testament, sometimes engaged in a dialogue, sometimes separating in two monologues. The dictionary has to cater to both subjects. This may leave the reader in confusion, but it is the hope that the preface will help the reader to understand the types of problems that are involved when dealing with biblical history. This preface discusses the merits of the historiography in the Old Testament and presents an overview of the history of Palestine in ancient times.
Terminology is a major problem. In this dictionary the “Old Testament” has been chosen as the name of the collection of biblical books otherwise known as the “Hebrew Bible.” Although many biblical scholars seem to prefer the Hebrew Bible as the politically correct terminology, it also limits the Old Testament to its Hebrew (and Aramaic) version, thereby disregarding the far larger collection, otherwise known as the Greek Old Testament, or the Septuagint, the Old Testament of the Orthodox Church. Also, the Old Testament of the Roman Church includes more books than the Hebrew Bible.
The dictionary generally refers to Palestine. This will sometimes be seen as politically incorrect. However, most terminology relating to this country will in some way seem politically incorrect. Some may use the term “the Land of Israel,” which is definitely wrong not only in the political sense of the word but also from a historical perspective as the historical State of Israel never ruled all of Palestine in ancient times. Probably a more correct terminology would be “the Holy Land.” Since Palestine is holy to Jews as well as Christians and Muslims, “the Holy Land” would not be totally improper, although rather cumbersome. For this reason this option has been disregarded. Palestine is used in the traditional Christian sense and carries no intended political connotations.
Finally, instead of B. C. (before Christ), the dictionary uses B. C.E. (before the common era), as this is becoming the standard term used by most modern textbooks relating to ancient Israel and the Old Testament.
World History
