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Artifacts from King David's Time Confirm Bible
CBN News ^ | Friday, May 11, 2012 | Julie Stahl

Posted on 05/11/2012 8:54:41 AM PDT by robowombat

Artifacts from King David's Time Confirm Bible

By Julie Stahl CBN News Mideast Correspondent Friday, May 11, 2012

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Was the Bible's King David man or myth? That's the question Israeli archeologists are answering with new archeological finds. Their discoveries also shed light on how the first Jewish temple was built.

Khirbet Qeiyafa is in the Elah Valley. Not far from here the Bible says David killed the giant, Goliath.

"We don't know much about the history, the politics really and about urbanization in the time of David," archaeologist Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told CBN News. "From the Bible we don't know it. And here in Khirbet Qeiyafa for the first time, we have a fortified city from the time of King David."

About 20 miles outside Jerusalem, Khirbet Qeiyafa was a border city in the Kingdom of Judah -- not too far from Goliath's hometown of Gath. Carbon dating shows it existed from 1020 to 980 BC, around the time of King David.

Garfinkel, who worked together with the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and co-director at the site Saar Ganor, said they excavated dozens of rooms. He believes three of them were used for religious purposes.

"The infrastructure is different, you have (an) isolated room in (the) building while in Canaanite and pagan (structures), you have real temples," Garfinkel said.

But that's not all. Garfinkel presented religious artifacts at a press conference in Jerusalem.

"We have two boxes -- one made from pottery and the other made from stone and they were used for keeping symbols of God," he told journalists.

The portable shrines were shaped like temples and confirm the biblical description found in the Old Testament book of First Kings. That describes the architectural style in Solomon's Temple and shows that style existed even before Solomon.

The site contained no statues or pig bones. That means the people who lived here followed the biblical commandment not to eat pork or keep graven images -- unlike their Canaanite or Philistine neighbors.

Earlier archaeologists also found the oldest Hebrew inscription at the site.

"OK, so the ethnicity of the city is like Judah," he said.

So why are these discoveries important? Garfinkel says it disproves the argument of some scholars who say the Bible was written 800 years after King David, with no connection to real history.

"This is, I think, the strength of our argument -- that we have historical memories imbedded in the Hebrew Bible, and people cannot say David and Solomon are mythological figures. They were actually human beings," he said.

Garfinkel says the Bible and archaeology have to work together.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Israel; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; hirbetqeiyafa; khirbetqeiyafa; letshavejerusalem; robinsonsarch
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This story is important due to the efforts in Israel of leftist academicians to try and deligitimitize Zionism by denying the Hebrew National Epic found in the OT by 'scientific' means. Archaeology has become a significant battle ground in the effort inside Israel to de-Zionize Israel and make it 'just another country' of all citizens (i.e. Muslims, not Southern Baptists).
1 posted on 05/11/2012 8:54:43 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: robowombat

“Was the Bible’s King David man or myth?”

I had no idea this was ever a question.

He was a real person in history.


2 posted on 05/11/2012 8:58:26 AM PDT by edcoil (It is not over until I win.)
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To: robowombat

Bible archology proves once and for all that the Bible is not only IS hisoric but also TRUE.


3 posted on 05/11/2012 9:01:04 AM PDT by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: robowombat
I received the following in an email from BiblesforIsrel.com Sorry, but I was not able to post a picture of the seal from the email.

A 2700-year-old Hebrew seal from the First Temple period bearing the name ‘Matanyahu’ was recently uncovered near the Temple Mount.

The name is similar to Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and actually shares the same meaning—“Giving to God.” Archaeologist Eli Shukron said both names were “typical of the names in the Kingdom of Judah in the latter part of the First Temple period—from the end of the eighth century BCE until the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE.” Indeed, the names are also mentioned several times in the Jewish Scriptures.
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah [Matanyahu], a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.” (2 Chronicles 20: 14)
“With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah [Netanyahu], Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram.” (2 Chronicles 17:8)

This seal, which was just uncovered in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden near the Temple Mount, is believed to be from the First Temples period and therefore, about 2700 years old.

The seal, which measures two centimeters in diameter and is made of semi- precious stone, is engraved with the name of its owner: “Lematanyah Ben Ho...”, which means “[belonging] to Matanyahu son of Ho...”.

Only the first syllable of the name of Matanyahu’s father has survived. Such personal seals would have been set in a ring and used to sign documents, in a way that is similar to their use today.

“To find a seal from the First Temple period at the foot of the Temple Mount walls is rare and very exciting,” Shukron said. “This is a tangible greeting of sorts from a man named Matanyahu who lived here more than 2,700 years ago.”

With its Herodian, Byzantine, and early Arab structures, the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden next to the Temple Mount has been a veritable gold mine for archaeologists. This site has been the source of dramatic and even monumental finds that include the most recent First Temple-era seal.

The artifact was found in the rubble on the floor of the remains of a building dating to First Temple period. The building is an amazing find in itself because it’s the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations. It’s located below the base of a Roman-era drainage ditch, which is beneath Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This ancient channel is currently being exposed in Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological excavations.

4 posted on 05/11/2012 9:09:55 AM PDT by Former Fetus (Saved by grace through faith)
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To: edcoil
The ‘deconstruction of the Israeli national myth’ as the ant-Zionist academics call it requires relentless negative analysis of every aspect of the OT narrative. One of the tricks is to demand ‘proof’ that a given person or event occurred. Proof means identification in some document or inscription that is non-biblical. Unfortunately for the Izzy libtards David's name has appeared in some recently translated inscriptions. The whole operation is to try an minimize and denigrate the Bible narrative to deligitimitize the ‘right’ of Jews to reside in ‘Palestine’. I am not a religious person at all in any conventional sense but it is clear that the historical parts of the Bible narrative are firmly grounded in a factual documentary basis. Read closely the historical and even prophetic books contain numerous historical details no set of priestly scribes would think to include. A fascinating one for example, are the allusions to the ‘Carians’ who are some sort of mercenary body guard force at the court of the Hebrew kings. Archaeological evidence from non Israeli sites and philological analysis links these people to Caria in Turkey on the Mediterranean. They are apparently part Greek part native peoples who developed may of the tactics, techniques and equipment that later became hoplite warfare. Hiring out as mercenaries was the national occupation of the Carians for several centuries as their homeland was rocky and poor and mountainous. There are hundreds of tidbits such as this scattered through the OT making it , in secular terms, one of the most fascinating collections of historical interest in existence.
5 posted on 05/11/2012 9:15:52 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: Former Fetus
Israel is one vast archaeological site. Fascinating as to what the Jews have done with this little piece of territory compared to say Afghanistan. Astan also is a veritable archaeological treasure trove as it is known as ‘the graveyard of empires’ as it has hosted a number of rich and powerful states from the time of the Bactrian-Greek state after Alexander. What does one have in Astan today versus Israel? Does the presence of a particularly fanatical and xenophobic brand of Islam have something to do with the difference?

In passing one wonder what was Matanyahu’s fate. Was he one of many who perished in the destruction of the First Temple and the fall of Jerusalem to the neo-Babylonians?

6 posted on 05/11/2012 9:25:05 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: edcoil

I think there is not archeology finding supporting a King David. But this finding seems to support that there was at least a first step to prove there was a king david.


7 posted on 05/11/2012 9:27:22 AM PDT by scbison
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To: scbison

Have you contacted the Freemasons? Part of their history predates King David and they educate that masons built the temple. I would think they have a good history.


8 posted on 05/11/2012 9:30:11 AM PDT by edcoil (It is not over until I win.)
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To: robowombat

Bookmark


9 posted on 05/11/2012 9:30:42 AM PDT by DocRock (All they that TAKE the sword shall perish with the sword. Matthew 26:52 Gun grabbers beware.)
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To: scbison

Since King David is also a major Prophet in Islamic traditions who is actually questioning it.


10 posted on 05/11/2012 9:32:03 AM PDT by edcoil (It is not over until I win.)
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To: robowombat; Alamo-Girl; Alouette; Alter Kaker; Alexander Rubin; ariamne; annalex; ...

Excellent post. Thank you, robowombat.

Ping!


11 posted on 05/11/2012 9:40:16 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("Real men are not threatened by strong women." -- Sarah Palin)
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To: robowombat

What were the muzzies doing back then? Oh that’s right, they didn’t exist. Yet today the muzzies take up 99.98% of all the land in the middle east. Oh those greedy Jews!


12 posted on 05/11/2012 9:40:20 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Some day our schools will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")
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To: edcoil

There is no evidence that Freemasons existed before the 16th century. Contrary to Mason doctrine.


13 posted on 05/11/2012 9:50:41 AM PDT by Paperpusher
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To: robowombat
This news has been around for several days now.

See: 3,000-year-old artifacts fuel Biblical archaeology debate from May 8.

ML/NJ

14 posted on 05/11/2012 9:52:14 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: robowombat
Israel is one vast archaeological site. Fascinating as to what the Jews have done with this little piece of territory compared to say Afghanistan.

It is amazing, no doubt about it, a jewel in a desolate desert. But to be fair Israel has gotten a LOT of money from the US to make that happen. Not every nation gets tons and tons of cash from someone else to build infrastructure and defense and the like.

15 posted on 05/11/2012 10:12:14 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Who is John Galt?)
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To: Albion Wilde

Thanks for the PING!


16 posted on 05/11/2012 10:13:10 AM PDT by Prov1322 (Enjoy my wife's incredible artwork at www.watercolorARTwork.com! (This space no longer for rent))
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To: edcoil

“...Part of their history predates King David and they educate that masons built the temple...”

Liars.


17 posted on 05/11/2012 10:19:05 AM PDT by 444Flyer (~Leaning on the everlasting arms~ (Deuteronomy 33:27) (John 3) /// Thailand? Rev. 20:1-3)
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To: edcoil

The Masons go back to medieval times.....Biblical history goes back 3300 years, give or take a few hundred years.


18 posted on 05/11/2012 10:41:35 AM PDT by Duffboy
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To: robowombat

Well Said !


19 posted on 05/11/2012 10:44:42 AM PDT by jonatron (This is the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave.)
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To: robowombat

The Bible has a historically-credible pedigree that is second to none. The remainder of the authentication is by faith.

That said, the credibility and authenticity of the Bible has a special heyday in our present generation: not just the EXISTENCE of Israel as a modern-day nation state, but its existence in spite of all the laws of probability against it. That is staring the world right in the face, and the world resents it. It is an incontrovertible fact. Dozens of prophecies, very specific ones, are fulfilled in Israel’s present, sustained existence. Only God can do that. It cannot just happen by itself.


20 posted on 05/11/2012 10:59:29 AM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great; until it happens to YOU.)
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