Whats a Bible Scholar to Do?
…When Archaeologists Can’t Agree One question hovered over two recent meetings of archaeologists and bible scholars—ASOR and SBL—last November: Which archaeological strata should be associated with the tenth century BCE, and which strata should be associated with the ninth century BCE? This question commonly gets translated into the language of the non-specialist as a debate about which strata correspond with David and Solomon (tenth century kings of the united monarchy of Israel) and which strata should associate with Omri and Ahab (ninth century kings of the northern kingdom of Israel). The common translation of the debate is helpful because it transforms a debate about an absolute chronology of an archaeological tel into a discussion of about biblical figures and something of theological value. On the other hand, the move to label the debate as an either/or battle between Solomon and Ahab leads to misunderstandings by some biblical scholars and many of the larger public who have a
