Posted on 02/22/2010 5:58:22 PM PST by Pharmboy
An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.
If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C.
That's a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible's account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time.
While some Holy Land archaeologists support that version of history — including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar — others posit that David's monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era.
Speaking to reporters at the site Monday, Mazar, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, called her find "the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel."
"It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Thanks for the ping!
2SA 24:9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
That's talking about an army of eight hundred thousand men in a part of the world which, without modern technologies today, could not support but a very tiny fraction of the number of people needed for such an army. By way of contrast, no European nation ever put anything close to that number of people on a battle field prior to the two world wars; Chengis Khan's army in his lifetime likely never numbered any more than about 150,000 tops, and there's basically just no modern precedent for such a thing.
In particular, the ancient near East would have to have been some sort of a lush paradise to support such numbers, which is totally at odds with what we find now.
Interesting but we knew it already.
The archaeological history of Jerusalem extends back 4000 years. A miracle would be more a matter of not finding walls around it at this stage of its development.
Jerusalem has been the site of struggles since its founding.
Israel is located in a critical, key geographical area. It controls access to Egypt and or the “fertile crescent”/
Control of the city has been a hot spot for millenia.
This is exciting thanks for the post!
the abomination causing desolation standing where it does not belong
Arc of the Covenant. LOL - that would be a rainbow.
True.
But by "we" I didn't mean quite that sweeping a category. ( ^: }
Nice point.
Arc of the Covenant vs Ark of the Covenant
“GEEZ”
Did you mean Giza????
mountains, walls...cool article.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.