“I Don’t Look at the Bible as a History Book”

Efrat Shapira Rosenberg’s kids are already getting annoyed with her for “ruining” the Bible stories and history they learn in school. After two successful seasons of BAC’s Hebrew-language video series on archaeology that she is the host of, “Israel Unearthed” (Eretz Hefer, as it is called in Hebrew), which exposed the layers of historical and archaeological narrative of the Land of Israel, Shapira Rosenberg went out to film the third season. This really reshaped her identity and spatial perception. So, I met with her to discuss temples outside Jerusalem, the way archaeology undermines the biblical narrative, and the Passover Seder where we commemorate the Exodus from Egypt – even if it didn’t really happen as told.

“While filming the third season, I understood that many of the identity issues we’re always grappling with were always here,” she shares.

Like what?

“Like the story of particularism versus the desire to integrate into the region, with other peoples. This is the story of Israel and Judah: one kingdom that was more outward-facing, and another kingdom, much more isolationist, much more nationalist, that was inward-facing. In the Bible, everything is described through the prism of those who followed God and those who didn’t, and suddenly you look at it differently and ask yourself: Were those who according to the Bible followed God simply much more particularistic and much more nationalist and didn’t want to create alliances? Suddenly you also look at kings described as wicked and understand they made logical political choices.

“Manasseh, for example, was one of the best kings there were. He brought Jerusalem to new heights and created important political alliances, and he’s considered one of the worst and most wicked kings in the Book of Kings. The House of Omri is another example: in the Bible it’s the great nemesis of the House of David, but in archaeology the House of Omri is an impressive kingdom. Omri and Ahab greatly expanded the kingdom and integrated well into the region. Suddenly you understand that this struggle between particularism and globalism – between isolation and being part of what’s happening here – always existed.

“This is also true regarding Jerusalem’s status. Did you know there were Jewish temples to the God of Israel outside Jerusalem, where they offered sacrifices and whose priests received guidance from the priests in Jerusalem? The temple in Alexandria and the temple on Elephantine Island (on the Nile) operated while the Temple in Jerusalem existed. We know of at least two temples that operated during the Second Temple period. One of them is the Temple of Onias in Egypt. Onias, who was a high priest, headed it. Letters were discovered in which priests of Onias’ temple correspond with priests in Jerusalem, asking them questions and receiving answers.”

This means that even the priests in the Jerusalem Temple don’t think theirs should be the only temple?

“Correct, they understand that these people are now in exile. They won’t reach Jerusalem, and they need to be allowed to offer sacrifices in their place of residence. And there was also the temple in Samaria: it had priests from Judah who came to Samaria because they were looking for work. At the beginning of the period of returning from Babylon, the Temple in Jerusalem was very modest, and Samaria was a flourishing garden with an amazing temple. So this story of Jerusalem’s exclusivity as the eternal capital of the people of Israel, and in general, the issue of centralizing worship in the city, begins to be undermined. And thus, the status of the biblical narrative as history versus its status as ethos is undermined.”

My story, my myth

“In the first season we did an episode about the Exodus from Egypt. Today no researcher says the Exodus from Egypt happened the way it’s described in the Torah. I asked Israel Finkelstein, one of the most respected archaeologists, if he observes the Passover Seder. He told me: ‘One night a year I sit at the table, and I tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. One night I believe it happened and that it’s my story; it’s my myth. The next morning I get up and continue being a scientist and archaeologist, and everything’s fine. Every people has its myths and stories that want to establish ethos, morality, and self-perception, and that’s okay.’ I always try to get these people’s take on how it all works together.”

How does it work for you? Do these archaeologic findings challenge your faith or religion?

“Not anymore. It lives in peace within me. I don’t look at the Bible as a history book. You have to close your eyes and deny science to think it’s a history book. On the other hand, this doesn’t diminish its value; it increases its value. This is what Israel Finkelstein told me: ‘I know there were biblical editors, and this doesn’t make me appreciate the Bible less, but appreciate it more. They were geniuses.’ The Bible’s editors succeeded in producing a coherent story – supposedly historical – from an eclectic collection of traditions that existed in the region and turning this book into the biggest bestseller of all times, a moral book full of values. If that’s not divinity, then I don't know what is. This, for me, makes it a divine book.”

In many ways archaeology is the ability to tell a story. And the same goes for the Bible’s writers.

“Totally. Their agenda was to include the stories of all the different tribes and create a coherent story. That’s admirable. In a period of polarization and narrative wars, it’s fascinating to see how they succeeded in creating a unified narrative from all the different ones that were here. They succeeded in containing all the refugees from the northern kingdom who came to Judah without taking revenge on them and imposing the local narrative on them, but rather saying ‘They came to us with their narrative, with their traditions, and we’ll create a frame story that allows them to live in peace with their stories too.’ That’s amazing.”

And how does this perception affect your relationship to the Bible?

“It didn’t make me distance myself, but actually drew me closer. On the other hand, I have a lot of anger about the way they teach us the Bible. I’m trying now with my children to do it differently, and they get annoyed with me. Usually the children are the heretics and the parents try to keep them on the ‘straight path.’ With us it’s the opposite. They tell me: ‘Mom, enough, stop poisoning us with your progressive ideas.’”

After all the seasons and excavations – what do you want others to know about Israeli archaeology?

“I think it’s a fascinating field and it’s the core of our existence here. Only in the Land of Israel are history and archaeology and biblical studies so closely related to each other. Here every discovery proves significant and relevant things, but no one has yet literally pulled the ‘joker card’ from the ground. Everyone’s waiting for someone to pull it out. I believe it’s providence that causes no one to succeed in pulling out the joker, that no one comes with the proof: ‘Here, I found Solomon’s Temple.’ It won’t happen, and it’s better that way; it’s better that the Bible remains something that’s studied, that can be interpreted in many directions, that each side finds its source of inspiration in it.

“Another thing is that there are amazing archaeological sites in the country that no one knows about. Everyone goes to the Western Wall and a few other popular places, and there are crazy archaeological sites we reached that didn't have a living soul in them. It’s not prioritized and budgeted enough. I really hope people will manage to sit for ten minutes in front of the screens to watch the series and will then say to themselves, ‘Wow, we live in a place that has amazing history, and everything already happened. Everything already happened before our times.’ On the one hand, it’s tragic, and on the other hand, it also evokes humility and modesty; not everything depends on us.”

For more, see “Israel Unearthed” (Eretz Hefer), in Hebrew.

This article was originally published in Hebrew.
Main Photo: Moses with the Tables of the Law\ Wikipedia