The Background of the Patriarchs: a Reply To William Dever and Malcolm Clark

Abstract

This paper is written in response to the recent articles of Malcolm Clark and William Dever in Westminster Press's new Israelite and Judaean History. Part I attempts to clarify my position giving an Iron Age post quem dating for the origin of the Genesis narratives. Part II discusses the sociologically descriptive term "dimorphic" as used by Dever in his article, and as it has been variously used in the writing of Mesopotamian history. Part III discusses the limitations of the use to which such parallels or analogues can be put in developing a history of Palestine. Part IV uses the EB IV/MB I period as an example of the effect of sociological and anthropological questions on the writing of a history of Palestine. Part V discusses the complexity of settlement patterns in Bronze Age Palestine, and the variety of political structures implied by these patterns, as well as the impact of such observations on the history of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Palestine.

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