J's Pages

I recently listened to an interview with Dr. Rohl on the Humble Skeptic podcast, and wanted to read his book, Exodus: Myth or History? to dig a bit deeper. Unfortunately, that book was not in the local library systems and the asking price for the paper copy was way out of my price range. However, SPL did have a copy of this earlier book by Dr. Rohl, which covers a lot of the stuff he talked about. 

In Pharaohs and Kings: A Biblical Quest, Dr. Rohl challenges the standard chronology of ancient Egypt and ancient Israel that had been established by scholars. He describes how that chronology is based on four key anchor points, then explains why he thinks three of those four are erroneous. Next Dr. Rohl establishes the basis for revising that chronology, based on linguistic and archaeological evidence. Finally, he presents archaeological discoveries that, now dated with the new chronology, fit in with historical accounts from the Bible of Solomon, Saul, David, Moses, and Joseph. (This is the part that grabbed my interest when I listened to the podcast.) 

Not being that much into history, many details presented in the book went over my head. But the gist of his logic and arguments were fairly well presented. In the discussion, Dr. Rohl pointed out a number of assumptions that went into establishing the old chronology. Then, as he presented his new chronology and the physical evidence of the Biblical narrative, I noticed that he was making his own educated guesses. Having played historian with researching my family tree, I recognize that those guesses are a legitimate tool in trying to piece together history. 

All in all, I enjoyed reading the book. I recognize I'm very willing to accept Dr. Rohl's conclusions, as they would corroborate my own beliefs. But the book also offered a picture of how people were living "back in Bible times". Go check it out.

LibraryThing link

Labels: CheckItOut

// posted by John @ 10:42 AM 0 Comments