On the Reliability of the Old Testament

On the Reliability of the Old Testament (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids and Cambridge,2003: ISBN 0-8028-4960-1) is a book by Biblical scholar and Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen.

Kitchen's intention, according to his preface, was to write a counterpart to F.F. Bruce's Are the New Testament Documents Reliable? (1943), and in doing so to provide a counter to the arguments of biblical minimalism, who, in his opinion, has increasingly and without sufficient knowledge of the facts cast doubt upon the historical value of the Old Testament.^[1] Reviewers have noted this book's primary thrust, which is Kitchen's taking on and standing up against the views of several biblical minimalists.^[2][3]

Summary

The book opens with an introductory chapter surveying the history with which it intends to deal, the continuous narrative in the Hebrew bible from the Genesis creation narrative to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile in the early days of the Persian empire in the 5th century BC. The author states his belief that this history was written at the same time as the events it describes in its various sections, and that this can be confirmed by comparing the Old Testament with non-biblical sources, both written and archaeological.

The core of the book is eight chapters (chapters 2 to 9) surveying the biblical history and comparing it to the ages which with it deals, from the 3rd millennium (the period to which Kitchen traces the origins of the biblical stories of Noah's flood and other incidents from the opening chapters of Genesis) to the Babylonian exile and the return of the Jews to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. The author presents his conclusions in chapter 10

Reception and reviews

In the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research scholar James H. Pace concludes that "Kenneth Kitchen makes his point that much has been neglected in the maximalist-minimalist debate.", while asking "Is it appropriate to call those on the other side of the issue 'philosophical cranks' and appraise their views with terminology like 'absolute trash,' 'utter poppycock,' '(anti)academic lunacy,' 'absolute bunkum,' in a serious publication, even if that is what one thinks?"^[2] In the Journal of the American Oriental Society biblical minimalist Niels Peter Lemche states that Kitchen's "contempt for critical biblical scholarship will undoubtedly provoke biblical scholars simply to ignore his book."^[3] Lemche, however, had received his own equivalent scourging at the hands of professor Kitchen in the work Lemche was reviewing for the very same thing(!): "...who is the fantasizer? Biblical (and other) scholarship of the last two hundred years, or Dr. Lemche?" ^[4] Old Testament scholar Dr. Richard S. Hess wrote: "Kitchen's book provides the reader with the most thoroughly researched and comprehensive collection of relevant ancient Near Eastern material available for the establishment of Old Testament history within its original and authentic world. Although not intended as a history of Israel in the traditional sense of that term, it serves the reader better and more completely than anything previously available. Those who have read the author's Ancient Orient and Old Testament will find here the same detailed discussion and dense collection of facts that the earlier volume presented. Whereas that book, written in the 1960's, covered material up to its time, Kitchen has now moved on to bring together and argue the issues of the last three and a half decades, as well as earlier. The result is an amazing collection of materials, focused primarily on the textual and secondarily on the artifacts. Few scholars of any persuasion are as conversant with the primary sources as this author. Few have read as widely or done their research as thoroughly. Here is a work that will repay the hours invested in its study with a balanced and source-based understanding of the world behind the Old Testament and how much that world contributes to a full appreciation of the Bible and history." ^[5]

See also

• The Making of the Pentateuch

Notes

1. ^ Kenneth Kitchen, "On the Reliability of the Old Testament", 2003, pp.xii-xiv
2. ^ ^{a b} James H. Pace. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. No. 339 (Aug., 2005). pp. 117-118.
3. ^ ^{a b} Niels Peter Lemche. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 124, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2004). pp. 375-377.
4. ^ Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, p. 458.
5. ^ Richard S. Hess, "The Old Testament in Light of the Archaeological Evidence," Denver Journal (Volume 7, May 2004) http://www.denverseminary.edu/article/the-old-testament-in-light-of-the-archaeological-evidence/