Battles of the Bible

Rating:
Summary: A must-have
Review: For any serious scholar of the Bible, Middle East, or military history, this book is a must-have! It hits the trifecta of excellent research, modern relevence, and an exciting read. While the authors tend to be a bit skeptical of divine influence, they still illustrate how the Bible remains a truthful historical account.

The authors take the reader on a detailed look of the history of the ancient Israelites from the days following the Exodus to the gripping accounts of the war of the Maccabees. They regularly use not only the Bible, but extra historical accounts to make their case in detail. It becomes all the more interesting when they demonstrate how other armies used similar tactics in the same area, be they Israelites, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, or the British.

Again, I highly recommend this book for wishing to learn a more complete picture of the wonderful book, the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Left God Out
Review: I was disapointed greatly in this book. If you want to read about war tactics than it's a book you'll like. But I am a Christian who firmly believes the Bible word for word. This book leaves God out of many of the miraculous battles in the Bible. For instance, the bible tells us that in the battle of Jericho, God won the battle. That God was the one who caused the walls to fall. This book says that an earthquake caused the wall to fall, as well as the wall being dammaged from poor upkeep. This book also leaves God out of the equation when Israel crossed the Jordan River. They credit this too, to an earthquake damming up the river, instead of God's intervention.
Another example is David's fight with Goliath. This book says that Goliath was a freak, that's why he was a giant. And that He was partially blind from this disorder so he couldn't see the rock from David's sling shot. What this book leaves out is that Goliath had four brothers (also giants) and that during David's riegn as king, he hunted down and killed all the giants. This doesn't sound like a freak, the bible says "there were giants in the land." I don't care to read any book that gives credit to man instead of God. Especially if it refers to the bible.

Rating:
Summary: battles of the bible
Review: my interest in this book was as a military historian. it satisfied that interest very well. details of battles and campaigns is readily understandable and extremely professional. the authors amplify discussions of tactics and strategy with authoratative discussions of social, economic, and political factors affecting the military events. herein is the enormous bonus of this book: as a practising but not particularly academic christian i was provided with a profound grasp of the historical time-line of the bible; fleshed out anthropologicly as never before. a rabbi friend borrowed my first copy and won't give it back!