As warrior and as mythmaker, Yigael Yadin has been depicted as one of the most heroic figures in the rise of modern Israel. In A Prophet from Amongst You, Neil Asher Silberman has written the first full-scale biography of this man whose career was a larger-than-life adventure of war, politics, and discovery. Known throughout the world for his spectacular archaeological discoveries at Masada and his decipherment of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, Yigael Yadin lived a life that parallels the history of the modern Jewish state. As soldier and protege of Ben-Gurion in the 1940s, he rose through the ranks to become a commander of the Jewish forces in Palestine, playing a key role in the winning of Israel's War of Independence. He left the military to study archaeology, but went on to use his sensational discoveries for the same purposes he had fought wars - as a way to legitimize and defend the existence of modern Israel. As director of the massive excavations at Masada - one of the most famous archaeological expeditions of the twentieth century - he transformed the ruins of a remote ancient fortress in the Judean desert into a vivid national myth of refusal to surrender. In "proving" that thousands of years ago a small group of Jewish rebels withstood more powerful Roman forces, he reinforced the struggles of the modern Jewish state. For Yadin, all his discoveries "proved" the physical daring, tactical ingenuity, and selfless patriotism of the People of Israel and their claims to the Promised Land. Yet there were many critics who doubted Yadin's proof. As Silberman shows, even the most important archaeological discoveries can be interpreted according to one's ideological outlook. The events of Yadin's life offer an extraordinary series of political, military, and archaeological exploits that are closely intertwined - at every stage - with the historic triumphs and tragedies of the Jewish state. Through the use of never-before-published sources, Neil Asher Silberman has crafted a compelling story of Yadin's rise and fall, and of the powerful national ideology he helped create.

A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin : Soldier, Scholar, and Mythmaker of Modern Israel

History

Silberman, Neil Asher

Africa

Addison-Wesley

A radical new theory about the origins of the Old Testament challenges traditional notions about ancient Israel, such as the power of David and Solomon and the historicity of the Exodus story. 50,000 first printing. First serial, Talk magazine.

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

Finkelstein, Israël

Ancient Civilizations

Free Press

In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.

Touchstone

Is the Bible true? For the last hundred and fifty years a war has been waged over the historical reliability of the Hebrew scriptures. Recent dramatic discoveries of biblical archaeology have cast serious doubt on the familiar account of ancient Israel and the origins of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Though the Bible credits Abraham as the first human to realize there is only one God, we now know that there is no evidence for monotheism for many centuries after the reported time of Abraham. Nor is there any archaeological evidence for the Exodus, for Joshua's conquest of Canaan, or for the vast "united monarchy" of David and Solomon.In The Bible Unearthed two leading scholars, an archaeologist and a historian, combine an exhilarating tour of the field of biblical archaeology with a fascinating explanation of how and why the Bible's historical saga differs so dramatically from the archaeological finds. They explain what the Bible says about ancient Israel and show how it diverges sharply from archaeological reality. They then offer a dramatic new version of the history of ancient Israel, bringing archaeological evidence to bear on the question of when, where, and why the Bible was first written.What do we know about the time of the ancient patriarchs? When did monotheism first arise? When and where did the first Israelites appear? How did the people of Israel first come to occupy the Promised Land? How extensive was David and Solomon's kingdom? When and why did Jerusalem become the capital of ancient Israel? All of these questions have new answers.As to why the answers are so new, Finkelstein and Silberman draw on evidence from decades of archaeological work and dozens of digs in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, to explain that the key early books of the Bible were first codified in the seventh century BCE, hundreds of years after the core events of the lives of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, and the conquest of Canaan were said to have taken place.Yet the ultimate message of The Bible Unearthed is not just a correction of the record. Instead, it is a unique and fascinating explanation of the origins of the Bible. The Bible's newly identified authors, threatened with political crisis and the intimidation of nearby empires, crafted a brilliant document, a set of stories and teachings that would eventually appeal to the faithful beyond the boundaries of any particular kingdom. The Bible Unearthed will forever change how you think about the world's greatest book.

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Isreal and the Origin of Sacred Texts

Draws on recent archaeological findings to illuminate the origins of modern civilization as reflected by the reigns of two ancient biblical kings, identifying mythical and factual elements attributed to their characters.

David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition

Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision Of Ancient Israel And The Origin Of Its Sacred Texts

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Diane Pub Co.

The ancient Jewish spiritual tradition of Kabbalah is shown to be far more than an otherworldly, occult way of knowledge -- it is a direct, often revolutionary response to the tyranny of earthly potentates and kings.

Heavenly Powers: Unraveling the Secret History of the Kabbalah

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Book Sales

Set against the backdrop of Roman imperial history, The Message and the Kingdom demonstrates how the quest for the kingdom of God by Jesus, Paul, and the earliest churches should be understood as both a spiritual journey and a political response to the "mindless acts of violence, inequality, and injustice that characterized the kings of men." Horsley and Silberman reveal how the message of Jesus and Paul was profoundly shaped by the history of their time as well as the social conditions of the congregations to whom they preached.

The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus & Paul Ignited a Revolution & Transformed the Ancient World

Horsley, Richard A.

Fortress Press

Do the latest archaeological discoveries in the Middle East have hidden political significance?. . .On this tour, we discover that the politics of this turbulent region often influence--an in turn are sometimes influenced by--the discoveries of archaeologists. We see how past and present are linked as modern nation-states use archaeological finds to reinforce their international prestige.

Between past and present: Archaeology, ideology, and nationalism in the modern Middle East

Archaeology

H. Holt

A biography of Yigael Yadin, the Israeli general and archaeologist whose excavations included Masada and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin: Soldier, Scholar, and Mythmaker of Modern Israel

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

ACLS Humanities E-Book

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Silberman, Neil Asher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Silberman, Neil Asher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Silberman, Neil Asher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin : Soldier, Scholar, and Mythmaker of Modern Israel

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Isreal and the Origin of Sacred Texts

David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition

Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision Of Ancient Israel And The Origin Of Its Sacred Texts

Heavenly Powers: Unraveling the Secret History of the Kabbalah

The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus & Paul Ignited a Revolution & Transformed the Ancient World

Between past and present: Archaeology, ideology, and nationalism in the modern Middle East

A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin: Soldier, Scholar, and Mythmaker of Modern Israel