Thanks SeekAndFind.
Posted on 10/09/2014 8:31:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The eight-day Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, which begins on Wednesday evening, commemorates the Israelites’ 40-year trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. As God commands (Lev. 23:42-43):
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days….
That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt….
Today, many generations later, sukkot—makeshift, decorated huts—sprout all over Israel for the holiday, recalling the ancient Israelites’ rude, temporary dwellings in the desert.
But Sukkot is also an autumn harvest festival, and very much tied to the Land of Israel itself. It occurs in early fall, a wonderfully warm-cool time of year with clear nights, perfect for gazing up at the stars through the thatched roof of a sukkah.
Sukkot is, then, a good occasion to look back at some of the archaeological finds from the Land of Israel over the past year (on the Jewish calendar, running from September to September). I’ve only chosen some of the most striking, since in any given year there is intensive archaeological activity throughout the land and numerous finds. These discoveries link the ancient past to the present and reinforce Israelis’ rootedness in an archetypal landscape.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mR2W43t6tI
Last May Israeli archaeologist Eli Shukrun made waves in the archaeological world when he said he had found the Citadel of David in the Old City of Jerusalem. That is, the citadel that the Bible says King David wrested from the Jebusites three thousand years ago (2 Samuel 5:7):
…David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.
It was this conquest that enabled David to start turning Jerusalem into what it became: the focal point of the Jewish nation for all time.
What Shukrun actually found is a giant fortification dating back 3800 years. He says it’s the only structure that could possibly have served the Jebusites as their citadel. He also points to some specific evidence: the Bible (2 Samuel 5:8) speaks of a “gutter” or “shaft” through which the Israelite warriors had to enter the Jebusite city, and Shukrun’s excavation uncovered a water shaft that fits the account.
The AP report from last May notes that Shukrun’s colleague, the archaeologist Ronny Reich, thinks Shukrun doesn’t have enough evidence to identify the structure definitively with David’s Citadel.
Shukrun, for his part, says:
The whole site we can compare to the Bible perfectly…. I know every little thing in the City of David. I didn’t see in any other place such a huge fortification as this.
The Canaanites, an ancient pagan people, get a lot of mention in the Bible. The Bible sometimes uses “Land of Canaan” as an alternate term for “Land of Israel.” A classic Israeli song dating back to the 1920s is called “How Beautiful Are the Nights in Canaan.”
Last November it was reported that a team of two American archaeologists and an Israeli archaeologist had found a 3700-year-old Canaanite wine cellar in western Galilee. The wine cellar was part of a palace, and it held 40 ceramic jars with a capacity of about 13 gallons each.
The Israeli archaeologist on the case, Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa, called it a
most unusual find…. You do not usually find palaces, not to mention palaces that are as early as that, [with] rooms that are filled with very, very large ceramic storage jars.
The region of western Galilee where the palace is located was known in ancient times for its vineyards. The same holds true today; nearby Kibbutz Gesher Haziv is known for its vineyard and boutique winery.
To make the past come even more vividly to life, Yasur-Landau says the archaeologists are now looking for a winery to help them reconstruct the almost four-millennia-old Canaanite wine—based on scientific analysis of traces found in the jars.
The Second Temple of the Jews, which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Since then what has remained of the Temple compound is the Western Wall, part of the wall that surrounded it. It’s an imposing structure with immense stones, clumps of vegetation growing from their fissures, and fervent worshippers thronging it.
Last April, not long before announcing the discovery of the Citadel of David, archaeologist Eli Shukrun announced having found something much smaller but also of great historical resonance: a chisel used to build the Western Wall.
The chisel is about six inches long, and Shukrun—who with his colleagues has also found a Roman sword, cooking vessels, and other remnants from the era—believes that a construction worker, high on a scaffold at the upper level of the Wall, dropped it into the dust far below. Either because the worker couldn’t find it or didn’t bother to try, the chisel then lay there in the dust for two thousand years.
As Shukrun told Haaretz:
People pray and kiss these holy stones every day, but somebody carved them, somebody chiseled them, somebody positioned them. They were workers, human beings, who had tools. Today for the first time we can touch a chisel that belonged to one of them.
Perhaps the most dramatic Israeli archaeological site of all is Masada, the ruins of a two-thousand-year-old fortress that towers above the Dead Sea. During the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE) a group of hard-line Jewish guerrillas called the Sicarii took refuge at Masada with their families, numbering 960 people altogether. In 73, as a Roman legion surrounded Masada and built a siege ramp, the Jews up on the plateau committed mass suicide.
Understandably, then, the dramatic death of the Sicarii and their families has commanded the greatest interest. In 1969 the state of Israel gave a full military funeral to twenty-eight skeletons excavated at Masada.
Last November, though, the Jewish Daily Forward reported on Israeli archaeologist Dr. Guy Stiebel of Tel Aviv University, who has been excavating and researching Masada for almost 20 years. Stiebel’s focus is not on how the rebels died, but on how they lived during their years up on the plateau.
His latest find: a two-thousand-year-old lice comb that looks like an ordinary one but is made of wood rather than metal.
Another recent find is a shard of a clay pitcher with its owner’s name, Shimon Bar-Yoezer, inscribed on it in Hebrew.
As Stiebel told the Forward:
Seeing these Hebrew words pop out of the earth, words that my own children can read, that’s the most exciting thing in all of this for me….
For me it’s the little things, like the child’s toy we found, the Roman soldier’s wage slip, the seal used by the baker to mark his loaves—these are the things that make this place so alive for me.
There is nothing else like it: a people reconstituting a state after so much time and reconnecting not only with legends about their ancestors but also with the fine specificities of how they lived.
At Sukkot, meant to be a joyous holiday, it’s something to inspire a good mood.
****
image illustration via shutterstock / kavram
How many muslim artifacts have they found?
There are all these archaeological sites proving the history contained in the Bible, the Mormons cannot point to even one in support of the Book of Mormon.
...the sound of a hammer was not heard...
Obviously; you've not taken a Mormon trip to Central America...
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Mormon+trip+to+Central+America...&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=
Millions of the Jaredites are slain in battle—Shiz and Coriantumr assemble all the people to mortal combat—The Spirit of the Lord ceases to strive with them—The Jaredite nation is utterly destroyed—Only Coriantumr remains.
1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the awords which Ether had spoken unto him.
2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly atwo millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.
3 He began to repent of the evil which he had done; he began to remember the words which had been spoken by the mouth of all the prophets, and he saw them that they were fulfilled thus far, every whit; and his soul amourned and refused to be bcomforted.
4 And it came to pass that he wrote an epistle unto Shiz, desiring him that he would spare the people, and he would give up the kingdom for the sake of the lives of the people.
5 And it came to pass that when Shiz had received his epistle he wrote an epistle unto Coriantumr, that if he would give himself up, that he might slay him with his own sword, that he would spare the lives of the people.
6 And it came to pass that the people repented not of their iniquity; and the people of Coriantumr were stirred up to anger against the people of Shiz; and the people of Shiz were stirred up to anger against the people of Coriantumr; wherefore, the people of Shiz did give battle unto the people of Coriantumr.
7 And when Coriantumr saw that he was about to fall he fled again before the people of Shiz.
8 And it came to pass that he came to the waters of Ripliancum, which, by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all; wherefore, when they came to these waters they pitched their tents; and Shiz also pitched his tents near unto them; and therefore on the morrow they did come to battle.
9 And it came to pass that they fought an exceedingly sore battle, in which Coriantumr was wounded again, and he fainted with the loss of blood.
10 And it came to pass that the armies of Coriantumr did press upon the armies of Shiz that they beat them, that they caused them to flee before them; and they did flee southward, and did pitch their tents in a place which was called Ogath.
11 And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did ahide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred.
12 And it came to pass that they did gather together all the people upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was Ether.
13 And it came to pass that Ether did abehold all the doings of the people; and he beheld that the people who were for Coriantumr were gathered together to the army of Coriantumr; and the people who were for Shiz were gathered together to the army of Shiz.
14 Wherefore, they were for the space of four years gathering together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive.
15 And it came to pass that when they were all gathered together, every one to the army which he would, with their wives and their children—both men, women and children being armed with aweapons of war, having shields, and bbreastplates, and head-plates, and being clothed after the manner of war—they did march forth one against another to battle; and they fought all that day, and conquered not.
16 And it came to pass that when it was night they were weary, and retired to their camps; and after they had retired to their camps they took up a howling and a alamentation for the loss of the slain of their people; and so great were their cries, their howlings and lamentations, that they did rend the air exceedingly.
17 And it came to pass that on the morrow they did go again to battle, and great and terrible was that day; nevertheless, they conquered not, and when the night came again they did rend the air with their cries, and their howlings, and their mournings, for the loss of the slain of their people.
18 And it came to pass that Coriantumr wrote again an epistle unto Shiz, desiring that he would not come again to battle, but that he would take the kingdom, and spare the lives of the people.
19 But behold, the aSpirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and bSatan had full power over the chearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.
20 And it came to pass that they fought all that day, and when the night came they slept upon their swords.
21 And on the morrow they fought even until the night came.
22 And when the night came they were adrunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.
23 And on the morrow they fought again; and when the night came they had all fallen by the sword save it were fifty and two of the people of Coriantumr, and sixty and nine of the people of Shiz.
24 And it came to pass that they slept upon their swords that night, and on the morrow they fought again, and they contended in their might with their swords and with their shields, all that day.
25 And when the night came there were thirty and two of the people of Shiz, and twenty and seven of the people of Coriantumr.
26 And it came to pass that they ate and slept, and prepared for death on the morrow. And they were large and mighty men as to the strength of men.
27 And it came to pass that they fought for the space of three hours, and they fainted with the loss of blood.
28 And it came to pass that when the men of Coriantumr had received sufficient strength that they could walk, they were about to flee for their lives; but behold, Shiz arose, and also his men, and he swore in his wrath that he would slay Coriantumr or he would perish by the sword.
29 Wherefore, he did pursue them, and on the morrow he did overtake them; and they fought again with the sword. And it came to pass that when they had aall fallen by the sword, save it were Coriantumr and Shiz, behold Shiz had fainted with the loss of blood.
30 And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz.
31 And it came to pass that after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and afell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died.
32 And it came to pass that aCoriantumr fell to the earth, and became as if he had no life.
33 And the Lord spake unto Ether, and said unto him: Go forth. And he went forth, and beheld that the words of the Lord had all been fulfilled; and he afinished his brecord; (and the chundredth part I have not written) and he hid them in a manner that the people of Limhi did find them.
34 Now the last words which are written by aEther are these: Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am bsaved in the kingdom of God. Amen.
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/15
And yet the BOOK says...
Ether 14:22
And so swift and speedy was the war that there was none left to bury the dead, but they did march forth from the shedding of blood to the shedding of blood, leaving the bodies of both men, women, and children strewed upon the face of the land, to become a prey to the worms of the flesh.
Thanks SeekAndFind.
Thanks SeekAndFind. One of *those* topics.
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