The era from the tenth to the ninth century BCE in the hills of Palestine is known as the 'Golden Age' of an ancient Israelite state with Jerusalem as its capital. This era is associated with what is known as the 'United Monarchy,' which is said to have held political authority over figures known as Saul, David, and Solomon, over a territory extending from the Nile to the Euphrates, and had a temple built by Solomon as a center for the worship of Yahweh. These are ideas that have no place in the real historical past and are known to us only as story. What we know of such stories has nothing to indicate their historicity or validity. There is no evidence for the existence of something known as the 'United Monarchy,' a capital in Jerusalem, or any unified political authority that controlled Western Palestine, let alone an empire of the size imagined in the legends. We have no indication of the existence of kings named Saul, David, or Solomon, nor any evidence of a temple in Jerusalem in that early period. What we know of Israel and Judah in the tenth century does not allow us to interpret the lack of evidence as a 'gap' in our information about the past. There is no place, context, or document to indicate the existence of such historical facts in Palestine in the tenth century. There is no way to speak historically of a state without a people or a capital without a town—stories are not enough.

• Author: Thomas L. Thompson
• Translator: Abdelwahab Alloub
• Publisher: Dar Roaya for Publishing and Distribution – Cairo
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Pages: 574
• Parts: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• Paper Type: Standard Paper
• Printing: Monochrome
• ISBN: 978977499074