Thursday, October 30, 2008

When The Past Comes To Haunt You

Israel Finkelstein, who excavated Tel Shiloh 1980-1984, and used it not only for his doctorate but as part of his rejection of the Biblical narrative, is in trouble.

...archaeologist Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University urged adhering to the strict boundaries of science. Finkelstein, who has not visited the dig but attended a presentation of the findings, warned against what he said was a revival in the belief that what's written in the Bible is accurate like a newspaper.

What dig?

What find?

This one:-

Have Israeli archaeologists found world's oldest Hebrew inscription?

And the main story:-



Hirbet Qeiyafa sits near the city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean


predates the next significant Hebrew inscription by between 100 and 200 years. History's best-known Hebrew texts, the Dead Sea scrolls, were penned on parchment beginning 850 years later...several words have already been tentatively identified, including ones meaning judge, slave and king.



And there's a new Jerusalm find:-

Rare First Temple period seal found in Jerusalem

A rare Hebrew seal from the First Temple period, discovered in archaeological excavations in the Western Wall plaza, west of the Temple Mount, will be presented to the public today with an image of a warrior shooting an arrow is depicted on the seal, which belonged to a Hebrew person by the name of Hagab. The owner of the seal probably held a military position, possibly that of army commander of the Kingdom of Judah.

The seal, was discovered in the excavations that are being conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, at the behest of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, will be presented to the public at a joint study day of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

And following this

First Temple-Era Water Tunnel Revealed in Jerusalem



and this,


it would seem that all these post-Zionist archeologists (see Finkelstein's latest interview here who are attempting to uproot the past are finding that the past can come back to haunt you.


mnuez said...

Awesome stuff. Any news on what the fragment says? I guess I'll have to check the article.

Anyone trying to read the seal by the way should note that for some strange reason we're presented here with a mirror image of it.

Also, I'm no fan of Finkelstein's but the quoted sentence seems pretty fair. Indisputable evidence can surface for the Kingdom of David and one would still be wise to wonder as to whether every detail written of David's relationship with Saul is necessarily accurate to the quoted word.

Then again, modern newspapers aren't infallible sources of undisputed truth either...

Anyhow, thanks for the links. It's exhilarating whenever anything surfaces in ktav ivri and I wasn;t aware of these finds.

kol Tuv,


mnuez said...

Totally cool! Barnea!(I just read the article and I know him but didn't know of his current doings)