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Message decoded: 3,000-year-old text sheds light on biblical history
FoxNews.com ^ | July 31, 2013/ | Sasha Bogursky/

Posted on 08/05/2013 7:36:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin

First discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem last year, the 10th century B.C. fragment has been labeled the Ophel Inscription. It likely bears the name of the jug's owners and its contents.

If Petrovich's analysis proves true, it would be evidence of the accuracy of Old Testament tales. If Hebrew as a written language existed in the 10th century, as he says, the ancient Israelites were recording their history in real time as opposed to writing it down several hundred years later.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: alphabet; ancienthebrew; epigraphyandlanguage; factsintheground; factsontheground; godsgravesglyphs; hebrew; israel; jerusalem; kingdavid; letshavejerusalem; ophelinscription
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1 posted on 08/05/2013 7:36:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

im gonna go with ‘well duh’


2 posted on 08/05/2013 7:46:52 AM PDT by raygunfan
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To: BenLurkin

My college theology instructor (many, many years ago!) said that the existence of the written Code of Hammurabi proved that writing existed, and that the Bible was historically accurate.


3 posted on 08/05/2013 7:53:47 AM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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To: knittnmom

Have the Muslims demanded that it be turned over to them to be properly destroyed, I mean “studied”?


4 posted on 08/05/2013 8:07:47 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: BenLurkin

Thank you! Passed it on.


5 posted on 08/05/2013 8:18:01 AM PDT by wizr (We are "one Nation, under God " or "one nation, trod under ". Keep the Faith.)
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To: Revolting cat!

“Eat your Ovaltine.”


6 posted on 08/05/2013 8:26:02 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: BenLurkin

Kudos to the article for using BC.


7 posted on 08/05/2013 8:26:06 AM PDT by agere_contra (I once saw a movie where only the police and military had guns. It was called 'Schindler's List'.)
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To: knittnmom

My college theology instructor (many, many years ago!) said that the existence of the written Code of Hammurabi proved that writing existed, and that the Bible was historically accurate.

<><><><

Are those 2 separate thoughts or did the prof suggest that the existence of written code demonstrate that the Bible is historically accurate?


8 posted on 08/05/2013 8:33:04 AM PDT by dmz
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To: dmz

Sorry, yes, she said the existence of written code demonstrates that the Bible is historically accurate. That is, writing existed, ergo, God’s people had a written language and could write down their history.


9 posted on 08/05/2013 8:35:06 AM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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To: knittnmom
There are surviving written texts both from Mesopotamia and Egypt which are much earlier than the time of Hammurabi (18th century BC).

That a society has writing (usually confined to a small class of scribes before the invention of easy-to-learn scripts like the alphabet) doesn't necessarily mean that anyone is composing historical narratives. The Greek alphabet dates to at least the 8th century BC but the first Greek historians wrote in the 5th century. That said, there may have been various earlier written texts for an Israelite historian to have used--in fact in the Bible there are references to now-lost earlier books.

10 posted on 08/05/2013 8:39:31 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: BenLurkin
Old Testament "tales."

They just can't hide their contempt. And too many believers let this way of thinking seep into their conversations, also. Among too many we hear "back in Bible times," etc.

We know more about the historicity of the scriptures now than was accepted among scholars 100 years ago. The dates are the only dispute, and the miracles. The circular logic employed by Sciencism (as opposed to a method based upon a deterministic cosmology rooted in the Christian worldview, where experimentation is worth the bother) is at an impasse. "Miracles can't happen, therefore they didn't happen," etc.

I can fellowship with those who are true scientists, who at least allow for the possibility of God and even miracles, but those who can't allow for the possibility are engaged in a religion, a belief system.

11 posted on 08/05/2013 8:43:05 AM PDT by Prospero (Si Deus trucido mihi, ego etiam fides Deus.)
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To: Verginius Rufus

“the ancient Israelites were recording their history in real time as opposed to writing it down several hundred years later.”

Is anyone making the argument that the Old Testament is inaccurate because we had no evidence of Hebrew writing going back this far?

Even if we have evidence of it, it’s not evidence that the bible was written in this period. Nor, is it evidence that the bible wasn’t written in this period either. We simply don’t know the exact period of composition of all the books in the Old Testament. And, not all of them were written at the same time. Genesis was old even in the time of Moses.


12 posted on 08/05/2013 8:59:14 AM PDT by JCBreckenridge ("we are pilgrims in an unholy land")
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To: knittnmom

That writing existed is not evidence that the Bible existed in this period. That we lacked evidence of writing in this period is also not proof that the bible did not exist. Absence of evidence does not equal evidence of absence.


13 posted on 08/05/2013 9:01:12 AM PDT by JCBreckenridge ("we are pilgrims in an unholy land")
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To: BenLurkin

“3,000-year-old text sheds light on biblical history”

I didn’t even know they could text back then. Was it on an iPhone IV?


14 posted on 08/05/2013 9:13:46 AM PDT by AndrewB (FUBO)
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To: AndrewB
I didn’t even know they could text back then. Was it on an iPhone IV?

No. They used an Android with the Hammurabi operating system...

15 posted on 08/05/2013 9:23:57 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: BenLurkin
"It's just the climate among scholars that they want to attribute as little as possible to the ancient Israelites," he said.

Do doubt, to appease those who would go on the warpath, rape, pillage and murder over something as simple as the Truth.

16 posted on 08/05/2013 9:24:42 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (So Obama "inherited" a mess? Firemen "inherit" messes too. Ever see one put gasoline on it?)
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To: knittnmom
Sorry, yes, she said the existence of written code demonstrates that the Bible is historically accurate. That is, writing existed, ergo, God’s people had a written language and could write down their history.

For some reason, I'm reminded of a story where civilization is recovering from a apocalyptic event, and some future archeologists come across a copy of the Star Fleet technical Manual...


17 posted on 08/05/2013 9:36:30 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: JCBreckenridge

Moses was the author of the book of Genesis, as well as the following 3 books of the Bible (The 4 books are known as the Torah.)


18 posted on 08/05/2013 9:44:32 AM PDT by erkelly (Never underestimate the stupidity of the stupid party!)
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To: erkelly

What about the first 11 chapters of Genesis? I can see the argument for Moses being the first to write the rest of Genesis (after the tower of Babel), but I believe the first 11 chapters were already recorded before Moses, and Moses included them into Genesis. Or perhaps Moses rewrote the account and then put it into Genesis.

And actually, it’s the first five books in the Pentateuch.

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy.


19 posted on 08/05/2013 9:49:47 AM PDT by JCBreckenridge ("we are pilgrims in an unholy land")
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To: JCBreckenridge

I did not enjoy theology - I felt it was an attempt to explain away miracles with the commonplace. I feel that, to those who believe, no proof is necessary. To those who do not believe, no proof is sufficient.


20 posted on 08/05/2013 10:15:14 AM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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