La lettre du Collège de France 

8 | mars 2014
Collège de France Newsletter n°8

Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel Two Examples:

David and the Exile
Bob Becking

Electronic version
URL: https://journals.openedition.org/lettre-cdf/2035
DOI: 10.4000/lettre-cdf.2035
ISSN: 2109-9219

Publisher
Collège de France

Printed version
Date of publication: 1 March 2014
Number of pages: 54
ISSN: 1628-2329
 

Electronic reference
Bob Becking, “Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel Two Examples: David and the Exile”, La lettre du
Collège de France [Online], 8 | mars 2014, Online since 12 August 2015, connection on 17 August 2022.
URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lettre-cdf/2035 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lettre-cdf.2035

This text was automatically generated on 17 August 2022.

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 Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel Two Examples: David and the Exile 1

Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel

Two Examples: David and the Exile
Bob Becking

1 History is (wo)man-made. There are, however, some constraints to human

actions. Climate, for instance, constitutes a clear boundary of what can be done.
2 In my presentation, I have discussed the interaction between topics like demography,
technology, landscape, politics and climate in Iron Age Israel/Palestine (± 1200 – 331
BCE).
3 Climate in the Holocene – from the last ice age until the present – has not been
constant but subject to change, after a general global warming around 10,000 BCE.
Warmer and colder, dryer and wetter periods, however, have left their traces, which
are now visible thanks to the GISP II-project in Greenland. My question was: how have
these oscillations influenced human behaviour and the flow of history.
4 In the Hebrew Bible, King David is portrayed as an intriguing and paradoxical figure.
The depiction of this king is colourful and multi-dimensional. In Samuel and 1 Kings’
narratives, the reader meets a character in flesh and blood. Recently Steven McKenzie,
Baruch Halpern, John van Seters and Joe Blenkinsopp have published “lives of David”.
While I appreciate much of this work, I have, however, first and foremost concentrated
on the existing evidence. Not every narratio on David would be adequate. Not every
appropriation of this king – be it verbal or pictorial – can be deemed to be successful.
5 Landscape: Ancient Israel/Palestine was a hilly area, that contained various and
differing zones. The mountainous core of Judah was blessed with soil which was, as
such, fertile.
6 Climate: the first half of the tenth century BCE was a period of global cooling at an even
greater magnitude than we experience today. The lowering of the average temperature
in a sub-tropical climate implied an increase in rainfall. This can also be deduced from
the fact that the sea water level in the Dead Sea was rising during that period. By
implication, an increase of rainwater combined with the improved technology in the

La lettre du Collège de France, 8 | mars 2014

 Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel Two Examples: David and the Exile 2

construction of terraces led to the presence of more water for agriculture and allowed
for a better harvest.
7 Demographic Developments in Iron IIA: Paula, based on a variety of excavations and
their interpretation, indicates that there was a population increase in the area of Judah
in Iron IIA. The climate change mentioned above could have been instrumental in this
development: improvement of terrace building apiculture at Tēl Reḥōv, fish bones in
Jerusalem.
8 Epigraphic evidence: The Tel Dan-inscription excavated 20 years ago, gives evidence of
the historicity of David as a ruler, but not of all the details in the stories. The epigraphic
evidence from the tenth century BCE can be related to a period of demographic growth.
Population growth, upcoming trade and the beginning of literacy were signs of the
time. They were not orchestrated by a central state. They can be seen as elements of a
histoire conjoncturelle: These developments required a stronger administration to defend
the economic interests that came out of them. Therefore, the “Kingdom of David” could
be better construed as an “ethnic entity that would become a nation” or be seen as a
patrimonial society.
9 The period of the Babylonian Exile coincides with a period of global warming of an even
greater magnitude than the one we experience today, which was followed by a drastic
decline of temperature in the early Persian Period. That is, the ‘forced migration’ to
Babylon and the ‘exilic period’ coincided with a process of rapid warming, while the
period of ‘return from exile’ up to the time of the mission of Ezra in 398 BCE was
characterized by a likewise rapid decrease in temperature.
10 To understand the impact of climate change on the history of the Exile, it should be
noted that the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia heavily depended on agriculture. In
Climatic Change, Agriculture, and Settlement (1978), Martin Parry has convincingly shown
the interconnections between climate change and agriculture. There were large urban
areas where trade was of great importance. During the Iron Age, agriculture in
Mesopotamia was made possible thanks to the yearly flooding of the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers. The floods came in late spring or early summer when the ice in the
northern and north-western mountains was melting. The age-old system of irrigation
distributed the water over the fields. These evidences tally with the available
demographic data. After a minor decline just before 500 BCE, the population of
Mesopotamia increased steadily and heavily from 480 BCE onward.
11 The course of human history is by no means solely dependent on climate-related
events. In any culture, technological developments too are of great importance to cope
with reality. Cornelia Wunsch hinted at the importance of the improvement of the
cedar plough that turned out to be instrumental in improving agriculture in
Mesopotamia from the Neo-Babylonian period onward. This feature only underscores
my assumptions.

• The Faculty invited Mr Bob Becking upon Prof. Thomas Römer’s proposal.

• The videos of the lectures are available on www.college-de-france.fr, on Prof.

Thomas Römer’s page.

La lettre du Collège de France, 8 | mars 2014

 Paleoclimatology and Ancient Israel Two Examples: David and the Exile 3

AUTHOR
BOB BECKING
Professor for Old Testament Study, Faculty of Theology, Utrecht University (Netherlands)

La lettre du Collège de France, 8 | mars 2014