Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times

by Donald B. Redford

Book Overview

Covering the time span from the Paleolithic period to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the eminent Egyptologist Donald Redford explores three thousand years of uninterrupted contact between Egypt and Western Asia across the Sinai land-bridge. In the vivid and lucid style that we expect from the author of the popular Akhenaten , Redford presents a sweeping narrative of the love-hate relationship between the peoples of ancient Israel/Palestine...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691036063
• ISBN13: 9780691036069
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 518 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An outstanding work

I will make this review as short as possible without being being useless, I hope. This is one of the finest books on ancient Israel and Egypt that I have read for a long time for two reasons (1) the author, escapes the trap of being caught up in the mire/maze that can be biblical studies studies and/or Christian origins; (2) with success, challenges many of the prevailing orthodoxies of this area which are nothing more than myth surrounded by very little fact. It is very scholarly, and has to be so, because it is addressing a very complex and difficult field. But it is well worth reading. His other works repay the effort also.

An Impartial and Honest Recount of Egyptian influence on Canaan & Israel

"As well as being scholarly, Redford's work meets my criteria for impartiality and honesty: he provides evidence against his own position and references to dissenting scholars; he uses the same standards for evaluating his own theories and alternatives;... " Danny Yee Canaan & the Levant: The land known as Canaan was situated in the territory of the southern Levant which today encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan and the southern portions of Syria and Lebanon. Many names have been given to this area, throughout ancient times, called by the Egyptians Rhetenu or Kharu, and Canaan by the Syrians of the second millenium BC. The Levant is an imprecise geographical term, historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. Ancient Egypt, Canaan & Israel: In a study of Ancient Egypt, and Near Eastern history and archaeology, Donald Redford, an eminent Egyptologist, and a leading Canadian scholar of Near Eastern studies, highlights Egypt's dominant influence on the cultural, political, and religious traditions of the peoples of Assyria, Canaan, and the Israelite during three millennia, to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. This study is a lucid sociopolitical history of the relationship between Egypt and its Northern neighbors taking into account the related biblical studies. Rather than stressing Egyptian origins of clusters of Israelite culture, frequently advanced by most Egyptologists, he points out the long-lasting distinctions and differences between the cultures which prevailed to the SW and the NE of Sinai. Study Highlights: Exploring three thousand years of social anthropology, from prehistoric times to the Hyksos, and the continuing influential contacts across Sinai, between Egypt and its northern neighbors, with resulting resentment of the ancient superpower cultural influence and military superiority by the peoples of Canaan & the Levant. Starting with the prehistory of Egypt and drawing on archaeological evidence from the Levant, compared to Biblical history, the study then explores the Egyptian New Kingdom and its Empire in Asia. Redford begins by considering some of the differing theories about the origins of the Hebrews, and the relationship between Egypt and the monarchy in Israel. At the end of the study, the biblical 'four great origin traditions' : the Creation accounts, the Table of Nations, the Sojourn and Exodus narratives, and the story of Joseph are discussed, within the historical context in which they were written. Papyrus Ipuwer & Exodus: The theme of this work has previously been taken either as a lament inspired by the supposed chaos, or as historical fiction depicting the fall of the Old Kingdom (pp. 63/67) several centuries earlier, or possibly a combination of both. This ancient Egyptian poem is preserved in Leiden Papyrus I 344.

Truly Profound in its Scope ...

This book is excellent in its usage of facts that no other author had thought of using ... Intellectually elite -- it is used on my own website often for excerpts ...

Cycles of civilization

The relationship of Greece and Israel to (one of) their common ancestors, Egypt, is one of the mysteries of world history in the way they both appear in parallel time. The branch leading to Israel is presented in fascinating fashion in this work and puts the history of the Old Testament in its right context as an account of the transition from an old to new world, in the New Age of classical antiquity.

for everyone interested in Egypt and Ancient Near East

This is a general history of the developing and changing relationships between Egypt, Canaan, Israel and Palestine. A solid academic work, it is divided into three sections and is backed by extensive references. the first part deals with the comparative prehistory and history of Egypt and the Levant down to the time of the Hyksos. The second part deals with the New Kingdom and its Asian Empire. In the third part, the discussion moves to four of the origin stories from the Bible : Creation, Table of Nations, Sojourn and Exodus, and Story of Joseph. Anyone interested in the early history of Egypt and the Ancient Near East should enjoy this book.