Secrets of the Bible People

Rating:
Summary: History rewritten
Review: As you read this book, you might think that Kamal Salibi is a police detective rather than a historian. Employing his sharp analytical skills and his perfection of semitic languages, Salibi provides an interpretation of parts of the Old Testament that is by far, different from most of the versions that we've read or heard.
This is the second book based on Salibi's hypothesis which has it that the events of the Old Testament did not happen in Palestine but rather took place in the slopes of Hijaz and Assir (in today's Saudi Arabia).
His first book in which he unveiled his new theory is the Bible Came from Arabia, which appeared in the early 80s.
Unlike what a reader might expect, the style of the book is attractive and contains a lot of Salibi's wit, which draws the non-historian reader away from boredom.
The book is a classic. If you plan to buy it and read it, it would certainly be a good choice.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary and Unique Interpretation of Biblical Events
Review: Dr. Salibi delivers, once more, a literary gem. He combines his vast historical and linguistic knowledge, his travel experiences, his knowledge of the traditions of peoples of Arabia and their cultures, his wit and his superior research and analytical capabilities to weave stories of what "might have been". He challenges the accepted interpretations of the events in the Old Testament (Torah) and presents what could easily be a more authentic shade of the truth. Knowing both Arabic and old Hebrew, he combines that knowledge to re-read the events, analyze them in this book (and two or three other books), and comes up with stories that could be what people believed before the hands of later-day censorship re-wrote and dictated what we believe today. The persons of the bible are now real people doing day-to-day things, or mythical Gods fighting and winning or losing (A la Greek and Roman mythological traditions). Some of the individuals stories are shown to be probably made up of several stories combined into one. Adam, Noah, and others, are now more realistically possible. Whether this is what happened or not is impossible to know. But this "Second enlightened Opinion" is absolutely welcome to those who value the Truth, as revealed or deduced through intense and thorough analysis and original deduction. This book, together with the other related titles by Dr. Salibi, would create a revolution in how we think about our holy books, were we to live in a less censored World. This is a must read for anyone interested in the monotheistic religions and who is open minded.

Rating:
Summary: Not really scholarship
Review: Salibi's problem is that he's trying to explain Biblical stories that look bogus to start with. That is, he tries to explain Biblical stories such as those of Adam, the Flood, the tower of Babel, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. Well, first, he has to convince us that these stories merit any explanation at all.

Do Biblical scholars really feel that archaeological evidence supports the story of Adam at some specific place? No. How about the Flood? That's a well-known tale in many traditions. But all we need is evidence that there was some really bad weather a long time ago to explain it. As for the Tower of Babel, there is no reason to take the story seriously in the first place.

When we get to Abraham, I think it is reasonable for Salibi to point out that the stories about him look like they refer to multiple people. But past that, there is little to say.

Salibi is aware that the story of Moses is a central part of Jewish tradition. And that whether Moses or Abraham actually existed, the so-called Mosiac and Abrahamic traditions are different. He's also aware that there's no archaeological evidence of an Exodus into the Sinai. But that is hardly a justification to invent an Exodus on the Arabian peninsula!

To explain the existence of the Israelites in ancient Israel, starting somewhere around the 13th century BC, no Exodus is required. The only thing left to explain is where the story of the Exodus comes from. And that could be from just about anywhere, as long as the people involved in coming up with the story wound up in ancient Israel eventually. Whether or not there was a historical Moses, Salibi is going way overboard to hypothesize that a large and successful slave revolt had to take place, with people wandering all over the map.

There's plenty of reason to start taking Biblical history as evidence starting with the book of Judges. But Biblical history prior to that is almost totally suspect, something some readers may not be aware of. Salibi is taking these stories too seriously.

Not surprisingly, Salibi's book has been demolished by just about every scholar who has reviewed it.