It is so refreshing to read a book like this! For too long, biblical romantics have fantasized that archaeology would `verify' the history constructed by the biblical text itself; the narrative account. More recently, "revisionists" have argued that the biblical text is so divorced from history so as to be nothing more than an ideologically grounded fiction! Finkelstein and Silberman show, through a clear and readable account, just how far archaeology has come in demonstrating that the history out of which the Bible arose - in this case, the stories of David & Solomon - is different from the account given in the biblical text, while simultaneously revealing that the actual history behind the text; the stories of the two great heroes and many of the details of the books of Samuel and Kings--were not just "made up" by later writers. As such, archaeology is disproving both the biblical literalists (who think that history must reflect what the Bible says, and who therefore distort archaeology and history to their own ends) and those who dismiss the Bible as having no historical veracity at all.

This book is a must read for anyone - religious or not - who wants to understand the relationship between the biblical text and our growing understanding of what actually happened in the ancient Near East between 1000 BCE and the time of Christ.

The authors show how the two kingdoms - Israel and Judah - developed differently; how the writers of the stories of David & Solomon were responding to contemporary conditions and problems. Yet they also incorporated authentic details, remembered from earlier times, into what became the biblical text. Finkelstein and Silberman allow the reader to follow the development of the stories of David and Solomon, from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE down through the time of Christ and the early church; showing how the roles of David and Solomon have changed over the centuries. They even allude to the way David and Solomon are depicted in mediaeval art and the role their stories have played in modern politics and revolutions.