Talk:History of ancient Israel and Judah

"Ancient Israel" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Israel&redirect=no Ancient Israel] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Iskandar323 (talk) 09:24, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Scope of this article
In academic literature, the term "Ancient Israel" generally refers to the pre-exilic period of Israelite and Jewish history, from the earliest emergence of the Israelites around the 12th century BCE through the fall of Judah and the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587/6 BCE. Two other terms common in literature are the Iron Age in archaeological context and also the "First Temple period", but the latter does not apply to earlier pre-10th century Israelite history.

This page also covers parts of the Second Temple period, which lasted from the late 6th century through 70 CE. In order to follow the periodization used in the research and avoid content duplication, I suggest that we cut the scope of this article just before the Edict of Cyrus and the subsequent Return to Zion, and relocate all later history and related periodical aspects (religion, society, literature, etc.) to the Second Temple period article. Thoughts? Tombah (talk) 08:04, 28 May 2023 (UTC)


 * That broadly speaking makes sense, though it is a little more natural to keep the Babylonian period with the Persian one. The title should probably also move back to just Ancient Israel and Judah, as it was once in the past, as pointed out at the redirect discussion. That would make more sense. The "History of X" format here is meaningless, since there is no "X" article for it to be the history of. Subjects that are fully encapsulated by the historical, e.g. Achaemenid Empire, do not need to clarify that they are about history. Iskandar323 (talk) 17:53, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree, we should drop the "History of". However, it would be better to keep the Babylonian period in this article, since the Second Temple period begins with the Persian period and the Edict of Cyrus; events of the Babylonian period would be out of place there. Tombah (talk) 19:05, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Although I notice that not many editors have expressed an interest in this topic, given the common periodization in Jewish historiography, I suppose that this is not a very contentious re-scoping to make. I've just deleted the sections that relate to the Second Temple period and are covered in the relevant article. Since it already contains all of the material we have here about this time period, I haven't copied anything much there. Only the sections that shortly summarize later but related processes remain, such as the brief section touching on the transition to Second Temple Judaism. I have also added a new "About" section to make it easier for readers to grasp where one era begins and where it finishes. Any other suggestion are, of course, welcome. Tombah (talk) 18:43, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

Frevel’s new SBL textbook “History of Ancient Israel”
Would be worth updating and refining things with material from Frevel’s new SBL Press textbook:

https://cart.sbl-site.org/books/061737C 2600:100C:B037:E65A:91AE:73D2:ED60:173E (talk) 11:34, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Somewhat confusing title
Should be kept for brevity, but it should be quickly clarified in the lead that the article deals with the TERRITORIES of J & I, NOT THE KINGDOMS. The kingdoms appear in Iron Age II (when exactly it's still debated, especially re. Judah), whereas the Israelites in their clusters of hill country villages appear in Iron Age I, two essential centuries earlier. Proposals? Arminden (talk) 10:42, 17 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I support Tombah's "[History of] ancient Israel" as the well-established term from academia. What we have now is misleading (suggests just kingdoms). This "History of ancient Israel and Judah" concoction was either intended to specify the 2 separate realms, N and S, or to push against confusion between modern (Zionist) term and ancient realities. Neither strong enough reasons to go against well-established terminology. Keep & create redirects, define very clearly scope of article, but don't try to reinvent the wheel - not for reasons of perceived accuracy, and even less so out of anti-Zionist activism. Israel as a historical term is fundamentally understood as relating to the Israelites, via biblical etymology: Jacob/Israel - 12 tribes - Israelites. NB: etymology is not a propaganda weapon, but a linguistic fact reflecting long-gone historical perception (apart from phonetic shifts etc.). Arminden (talk) 12:06, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Define the period
I removed the Late Bronze Age from the definition in the lead, as it contradicts the article text, based on McNutt. The Israelites of the Mernephtah Stele are not directly relevant, as they might have been a) unrelated or at least not identical w the eventual settled Israelites, or b) a group of nomadic tribes somewhere outside the eventual (main) settlement area of the Israelites, for instance in S Transjordan. The article deals with a certain POPULATION, within the specific PERIOD when it lived in a certain TERRITORY, so only for the timespan when population and territory are overlapping, or the intersection of those two sets in set theory terms. This with the additional condition of autonomy or own sovereignty, so ending in 720 in Israel and 586 in Judah.
 * 1) Why only on him though?
 * 2) What do others, like I. Finkelstein say?
 * 3) Is there a consensus for date of emergence of the almost 300 new Israelite villages in the hill country?

We need a CLEAR DEFINITION for this article: whose history, and when (from-till). Background section for precursor, aftermath section for time after 586, but not the mishmash we had until now. Arminden (talk) 11:31, 17 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I see Tombah and have started the discussion last year. Shame that Tombah has been blocked, he offered good arguments (the legalistic issues don't impress me, the quality of an editor's contribution does). I don't agree though with his suggestion to keep here the Babylonian period. It makes no sense for Wikipedia to introduce new categories beyond what's common practice in archaeological and historical periodisation, and Iron Age I and II with emergence of Israelites and lifespan of the 2 kingdoms are a clearly defined period. Besides, we would again leave adide the short but not irrelevant Assyrian period between the fall of Israel and Babylon taking over Mesopotamia. Arminden (talk) 11:51, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Late Bronze and Iron I: years
The definition evolves. We should for instance clarify why we use 1150 and not 1200 BCE as transitional year between Late Bronze and Iron Age. 586 is also a bit shaky, but only by 1 or 2 years. A "circa" is always advisable for such remote times, see how interpretations and even absolute dates have been shifting. Arminden (talk) 11:40, 17 March 2024 (UTC)