SYRO-PALESTINIAN/BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Transcription

1 YRO-PALETINIAN/BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY D N Pienaar (UOF) ABTRACT To a large extent Biblical Archaeology i ignored in the curricula of the theological facultie of the Afrikaan-peaking unieritie of outh Africa. It i, howeer, clear that it can be of great aitance to promote an undertanding of the trangene of the biblical text and the world in which it waj written. Unfortunately, the preailing negatie attitude deprie theologian of an important reeroir of infonnation becaue the aailable report on archaeological actiitie are not acceible to them. Thi attitude toward Biblical Archaeology hould be changed. Recent deelopment and dicoerie are of paramount importance to exegete and biblical hitorian becaue they make a major contribution toward undertanding the context in which the eent decribed in the Bible took place and they alo proide many non-biblical text and information on obcure and enigmatic element in the biblical text. מ-י a, u r 1 V In outh Africa we hae the unfortunate ituation that ery little attention i gien to archaeology in the curricula of the theological facultie. Thi ituation i detrimental to theological training, becaue a much better undertanding of the hitory of the Bible and the culture reflected in the text could be generated if more attention were gien to thi dicipline. I would like to point out ome of the preailing problem and the potential of thi ubject 132 I 00 u o

2 Old Tetament Eay 7(4) 1994 (pecial Edition) 133 A THE PROBLEM In hi inaugural addre H C an Zyl, profeor in New Tetament tudie at the Unierity of the Orange Free tate in Bloemfontein, made the following tatement: It i impoible to realie a true-to-life and detailed picture of the world to which the text (of the Bible) refer. There i no direct relationhip between the text and reality, but thi doe not mean that exegei i exempt from the tak of recontructing the reality to which the text refer to the bet of it ability. The text ha a certain hitorical ituation that hould be dicoered (Van Zyl 1991:7). Thi mean that the biblical text i a trange document. The people referred to in the text are trange, they peak, dre and behae in a trange way (Van Zyl 1991:5) [my tranlation]. To me it i clear that archaeology can be of great aitance in promoting an undertanding of the trangene of the text and the world in which it wa written. Becaue of the preailing ituation in outh Africa concerning archaeology in the curricula of the theological facultie, the report on archaeological excaation in our librarie are 'cloed book' to theological tudent and, for that matter, to mot of their profeor. The reaon for thi i that they are not trained to ue them, which mean that they are depried of thi ery ueful ource of information. An inetigation of calendar of the theological facultie at the different reidential Afrikaan unieritie dicloed a nearly total abence of archaeology from the curricula: 1 The Potcheftroom Unierity for Chritian Higher Education (Reformed Church) Two module on archaeology of the Old Tetament. One module on the cultural background of the Old Tetament. One module on the cultural background of the New Tetament. 2 The Unierity of Pretoria Diiion A (Herormde Church} One module on archaeology of the Old Tetament. Diiion B (Dutch Refonned Church)

3 134 yro-paletinian/biblical Archaeology No archaeology but omething on the background of the New Tetament. 3 The Unierity of the Orange Free tate (Dutch Reformed Church) No archaeology, but like Pretoria there i omething on the background of the New Tetament. Although archaeology i not mentioned, the Department of Old Tetament ha a module on the intitution of Old Irael. 4 The Unierity of tellenboch (Dutch Reformed Church) No archaeology i mentioned, except for the cultural background of the New Tetament. Although there i no reference to archaeology, ome archaeology i included in the curriculum. Perhap the problem identified here tem from a certain attitude toward archaeology that it wa not recognied a a dicipline in it own right, but a a cience upporting preconceied idea on certain matter pertaining to the Bible. A ery good example i the book on thi ubject by Werner Keller (1955). The Afrikaan tranlation wa ery popular becaue it proided ome kind of tangible 'proof of the reliability of the Bible'. B TERMINOLOGY AND IMPORTANCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY 1 Definition (X, Many anwer to thi quetion hae been gien, but the following will uffice. Archaeology i the ytematic recoery, analyi, and interpretation of the uriing eidence of human actiity (choille 1978:16) A. Archaeology i a dicipline directed toward object which promie im- Thi information i acquired by utiliing method A that will produce the maximum amount of information. 2 What i meant by yro-paletinian/biblical Archaeology?

4 Old T etament Eay 7(4) 1994 (pecial Edition) 135 portant new undertanding from a purely archaeological point of iew. It main interet i increaed inight into the cultural deelopment and the hitory of yro-paletine. 3 Why i the tudy of Paletinian/Biblical Archaeology important? The following anwer will uffice. Today archaeologit are filling in detail of commerce, daily life, religion, and political affair in our total hitorical undertanding that may hae urpriingly important implication for undertanding the immediate world of the New Tetament... [A] grap of the world and audience of the early Chritian moement will urely eentuate in new undertanding of the text of the New Tetament itelf (Meyer & trange 1981 Reult of archaeological reearch are a rich ource of information for hitorical reearch which cannot be ignored, becaue it ha become an important auxiliary to the tudy of the total hitory of Paletine (Noth 1966:107). C NEW DEVELOPMENT צי 4 r * a The traditional American-tyle 'biblical archaeology' that dominated the archaeological cene, from it inception under the influence of W F Albright and hi follower, a well a the Iraeli erion of archaeology, i no longer iable. The o called 'new archaeology,' with it commitment to interdiciplinary method and ocio-anthropological model became fahionable. Unfortunately, culture and cultural change, not quetion of biblical hitory, became the focu of fieldwork and reearch. By the mid-1980, howeer, trend in general archaeology had moed beyond 'new archaeology,' to what i known a 'contextual' archaeology. In a certain ene it wa a moement back to hitorical archaeology. It alo emphaied the role of ideology and indiidual choice, more than that of technology and economy, in ociocultural change (Deer 1990a: ). Thi reial of the more traditional archaeology paed the way for a new ariety of 'biblical archaeology' which combine the bet of the old and new in archaeology. Hopefully thi will enable the dicipline to

5 136 yro-paletinian/biblical Archaeology make more ubtantial contribution to our comprehenion of the hitory and religion of ancient Irael in both the Old and New Tetament. The noel way of relating artifactual to textual data will alo encourage a progreie reconideration of hitoriography and of our conception of how biblical text are ued, both by archaeologit and biblical cholar. It i to hoped that cholar will realie the ignificance, and recognize the potential of Biblical Archaeology for theological training (cfdeer 1990a: ). D THE MIION OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Archaeology hould not try to confirm or defend the Bible. It main aim hould be to elucidate and contribute to a better undertanding of it, by proiding the neceary information regarding the people we encounter in the Bible. To illutrate thi tatement, the following quetion are aked: צי 4 What did the people of the Bible look like? How did they dre? What did they eat? What did their houe and furniture look like? How and where did they build their town and citie? How did they conduct agriculture and commerce? (Cf Pienaar 1990:6; Hahn 1954:187; choille 1978:168; Wright 1957:18; Deer 1990a:6 & 7; Deer 1990b:6). CONTRIBUTION TO A BETTER UNDERTANDING OF THE BIBLE The firt remark concern the retoration of the Bible to it original etting. Thi i accomplihed by recoering the forgotten people, place, and culture of the ancient Near Eat, becaue thi i the world that pro-.... מ- duced the Iraelite and gae form and meaning to their life and literature. Archaeology ha uncoered the context in which the eent de- cribed in the Bible took place. ^... Archaeology proided many non-biblical text that hae clarified countle enigmatic biblical paage. r 1 V Archaeology proide information on obcure element in the biblical text (uclr a the reign of Omri and the detruction of Lachih). I 00 u o O

6 Old Tetament Eay 7(4) 1994 (pecial Edition) 137 Archaeology reeal the material culture of the people we meet in the Bible (Deer 1990b:32-35). F CONCLUION Let me conclude with the following remark: In the outh African context we need better training in yro- Paletinian/Biblical archaeology. The reaon for thi i to make the archaeological dicoerie more acceible to theologian. Archaeology need more recognition a a hitorical dicipline. The reaon for thi tatement i that archaeology proide information neceary for thoe who are eriouly preoccupied with exegei. Archaeology hould therefore be left not only to teacher engaged in teaching Biblical tudie and emitic language, but alo to thoe teaching related dicipline uch a Theology, Hitory, and Greek. Thi will enable cholar and preacher to utilie the reult of archaeological reearch correctly. ENDNOTE צי 4 Moyer and Matthew conducted an informatie inetigation into the ue and abue of archaeology in current Bible Handbook. Thi include all human actiity for example, the way they worhipped, how and what they built, their art, trade, and trael, their dwelling and fortification, their tool and weapon, the remain of their food, their bone and tomb. All of thi i important becaue it help to create a picture of how ancient people lied and thought (Kenyon 1971:10). ome of the mot recent method and technique include, for intance, uburface Interface Radar (ground-penetrating radar technology) to gain information about the uburface tratigraphie profile (eger et al 1990:31) and the tudy of micro-artefact a a ource of information on ancient ocietie (Roen 1991:104). Thi tatement i alo applicable to the Old Tetament. BIBLIOGRAPHY V Deer, W G 1990a. Biblical Archaeology: death and rebirth? Ahtnict of the 11 International Congre on Biblical Archaeology. Jerualem;

7 138 yro-paletinian/biblical Archaeology The Irael Academy of cience and Humanitie and Irael Exploration ociety. Deer, W G 1990b. Recent archaeological dicoerie and biblical reearch. eattle and London: Unierity of Wahington Pre. Hahn, H F Old Tetament in modem reearch. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Pre. Keller, W Und die Bibel hat doch recht. Dueldorf: Econ Verlag. Kenyon, M K Beginning in Archaeology. London: Dent. Meyer, E M and trange, J F Archaeology, the rabbi and early Chritianity. London: CM. Meyer, J C and Matthew, V H The ue and abue of Archaeology in current Bible handbook. Biblical Archaeologit, 48(3), Moyer, J C and Matthew, V H The ue and abue of Archaeology in current one-olume Bible dictionarie. Biblical Archaeologit, 48(4), Noth, M ne Old Tetament world. London: Black. Pienaar, D N Critical ealuation of certain leading concept in Bib- Ucal Archaeology, JAWL 16, choille, K N Biblical Archaeology in focu. Grand Rapid: Baker Book Houe. eger, J D The bronze age ettlement at Tell Halif: Phae II excaation, BAOR upplement 26. Baltimore: The John Hopkin Unierity Pre. Van Zyl, H C Die erreemding- en toe-eieningtaak an die Ekegee. Bloemfontein: Department of New Tetament, Unierity of the Orange Free tate. Wright, G E Biblical Archaeology. Philadelphia: The Wetminter Pre. D N Pienaar, Department of Biblical tudie, Unierity of the Orange Free tate, P O Box 339, Bloemfontein, Republic of outh Africa.