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.

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!

Dr. Werner Keller ended his Introduction to the 2nd revised edition of his landmark "The Bible as History" by concluding, "The Bible is right after all!" What "The Bible as History" did for the historicity of the Bible, this book does for the Bible's narrative of military history. It is outstanding in every way and the only work which puts it all together so accessibly and logically. The authors draw on all available sources and the work is therefore copiously footnoted and illustrated. It is a "must have" for any person interested in Biblical history. The other customers reviews posted below describe the book in deserving detail.

Until this book, the value of the Bible as a handbook of military tactics has not been remotely plumbed in appropriate depth. It is a great loss both to any soldier and to the general public because the Old Testament's accounts of battles contain a treasure trove of military strategies. In several places in the Bible, God explicitly tells the Israelites how to negotiate the terrain He created to defeat an enemy. When the Israelites follow God's instructions, they always win. This is remarkable given the Israelites' lack of heavy weapons, armor and equipment in the face of enemies with superior numbers and armament. This book explains the great geographical significance of the terrain, roads and cities of Palestine that are so vital to the land but mean so little to us. Place names of little towns is Israel that we skim over in the narrative from Joshua to II Chronicles suddenly become real and alive.

A little known fact: In 1917, during the First World War, the British Army in Palestine under General Allenby found themselves arrayed against the Turks in an obscure little place called Micmash in the Judean highlands. The name "Micmash" sounded vaguely familiar to a major in the British Army. By candlelight that night, he searched through the Bible he brought with him until he found the reference in I Samuel 14. It turned out that the Israelites had found themselves similarly disposed against the Philistines at the same location at Micmash almost three thousand years earlier. By copying the successful tactics of Jonathan and his armor-bearer, the British achieved the same results against the Turks the next morning.

There would be more stories like this one if the Biblical narratives were taken to heart today. Chariots, siegecraft, wadis, ambushes, night marches, trumpets blasts which crumble ancient walls, the day when the sun stood still, Assyrian brutality . . . at its worst, this book is an entertaining read. At its best, it deserves a place alongside Werner Keller's "The Bible as History" echoing the same thesis--"The Bible is right after all!"