It is literally impossible to discuss the history of ancient Israel without referring to the Old Testament. The Jewish scriptures provide the main, and in some cases the only, source for certain aspects of that history. But this single source also creates problems, because the Bible is full of passages referring to events that many people find hard to believe. Did God really appear to Moses in the Burning Bush?
Did a donkey really speak, as Numbers 22 reports? And did the Israelites really defeat Jericho (JARE-ih-koe) by blowing trumpets?
The answers to these questions are as much a matter of religious faith as they are of history. In the case of the Israelites it is not as important to distinguish fact from legend as it is when studying the histories of other ancient peoples. No one worships the gods of those other nations and therefore no
One believes in the tales concerning them. Also, regardless of whether one believes something in the Bible actually happened, it is important to understand what the Israelites believed. One of the main themes in the Bible, after all—both in the Old Testament and the New—is faith. Therefore it is easiest, when studying the Israelites, to accept their account at face value, or if one finds it hard to do that, to treat certain events as symbolic.
Indeed the religion established by the Israelites relies heavily on symbols, a fact that is clear at the very beginning of the Old Testament. The Book of Genesis opens with an account of how God created the world and all living things; placed the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden; and later drove them out of Eden when they disobeyed him. Most likely Adam and Eve were symbols for all of humanity, as the Garden was a symbol for the world. Symbolic or not, the story established certain themes, or basic ideas, essential to the Israelites' religion.
World History
