If you're like me, you get a real kick out of confronting critics with "biblical arcana" (as one of our critics puts it!) confirming Biblical reliability that they have no answer for. This book offers us another "arcane" addition to the arsenal.

Herzog and Gichon do not accept all of the OT as reliable history, but what they do accept is significant enough: "The tactical description of the battles of the Bible in their intricate topographical setting and the subsequent detailed and logical interactions between movement, maneuvers, and ground features, shaping the course of the battles, cannot be explained by mere inventiveness." [22] In short, the military details are so precise and show such evidence of military genius that one would either have to conclude that the Bible battle accounts were written late by military geniuses, or that they represent genuine traditions. Herzog and Gichon do suggest that maybe leadership was attributed to the wrong persons by mistake or intent, bit the point remains intact that the detail leads to the conclusion of a genuine historical core. Herzog and Gichon look at Biblical battles from Genesis to the time of the Maccabbees.

Overall, then, this book is packed with good and useful info, and details about ancient methods of warfare will be fascinating to many readers. But as the book progresses, it does tend to meander. We therefore recommend this book only for serious students.