Posted on 08/05/2005 11:51:57 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered in East Jerusalem what may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by a conservative Israeli research institute and financed by an American Jewish investment banker who would like to prove that Jerusalem was indeed the capital of the Jewish kingdom described in the Bible.
Other scholars are skeptical that the foundation walls discovered by the archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important: a major public building from around the 10th century B.C., with pottery shards that date to the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.
The discovery is likely to be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology: whether the kingdom of David was of some historical magnitude, or whether the kings were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop.
The find will also be used in the broad political battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their origins here and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians have said, including the late Yasir Arafat, the idea of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a myth used to justify conquest and occupation.
Hani Nur el-Din, a Palestinian professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, said he and his colleagues considered biblical archaeology an effort by Israelis "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context." He added: "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing. There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
arafat told slick willy at camp david that the Temple was probably in Nablus.
Yes, the fabled newspaper of record has been unearthed to be nothing but a dusty old liberal rag.
Yes, our PCA Church says Inspired and Inerrant in the Autographa. And thanks to great archaeological finds like the dead sea scrolls, we know how accurate it is.
Yes, the world wants the scriptures to be inaccurate and yet archeology keeps proving them wrong.
Ping
Hey, with Jones having a Geraldo style TV special on 8/13 or 14, who knows what he will find, although I doubt he will find the Arc.
We never know what God plans, but it sure is great!
I always wanted to play the palace!
This is it, baby. Get the Manishewitz flowing because Bath Sheba is back in town...
The question I have is why is establishing David's presence in Israel so important when Solomon's presence is documented....the Temple.
Again, do we want a debate on rights to be centered on who lived there 3000 years ago. The stronger argument should be who lives there now and who has a right to live there. By discussing the past we are just getting sucked into a debated with Islam-a-racists about events in forgotten history and, as much as people here believe the Biblical version, there is no way to know for sure. I too believe the Biblical version, but the attitude should be 'yea we were here 3000 years ago, but more importantly we're here now and we have a right to be here free from your ----.'
"including the late Yasir Arafat, the idea of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a myth"
Someone would have to consume huge amounts of crack to even remotely believe this.
The fact that they quoted Yasir Arafat as a meaningful authority is just ... bizarre.
Of course, a wall from the 10th C B.C. is not necessarily the palace of King David - there were other buildings in Jerusalem at the time. Still, it's an amazing find!
This is fantastic news if true.
Now, I seem to recall passages which indicate the relative location to Solomon's temple...
I agree. I support Israel not because I'm a Christian, but because I'm an American; not because of the Bible, but because of the Declaration of Independence.
Ping
(((This is it, baby. Get the Manishewitz flowing because Bath Sheba is back in town...)))
LOL! I tell you I have really been enjoying this story all day long.
Sometimes Israel is a Jewish state, sometimes it's a liberal democracy. Depends on what works best at any given time.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Thanks for the ping...the ancient history of the world is much more ancient, and much greater, than the NYT knows about!
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