Here he discovered evidence of extensive "industrial-scale" copper mining and smelting from the 10 th and 9 th centuries BC. In a paper published Octoin the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Levy reports the results of excavations at an Edomite settlement in Southern Jordan at a site known as Khirbat en-Nahas (ruins of copper in Arabic). Did he not pay attention to the discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription (proving beyond a doubt that King David did in fact live and establish a dynasty in Judah in the 11 th century BC)? Is he not aware of the Silver Scroll (a copy of Numbers 6:24-26 from the 6 th century BC)?īut let us give credit to Thomas Levy, the director of The Levantine Archaeology Lab at UCSD for admitting that he may have been wrong on this one.
#Latest bible discovery professional#
It was thought that any allusions to history before the fifth century must be pure myth." It is hard to fathom how ignorant a statement this is, coming from a professional archaeologist. To quote from an article reporting the recent discoveries to the Southeast of the Dead Sea, "Most scientists presumed the story of Edom was just that-a story rewritten so many times over the centuries that it became mythology." Continuing the quote from the rather blatantly biased archaeologist Thomas Levy of UC San Diego "The Bible was put together in the 5 th century BCE. The biblical books of Joshua, Judges, 1 st and 2 nd Samuel and 1 st Chronicles describe Edom as a powerful rival kingdom to Israelite power all the way from the 13 th century to the 8 th century BC.
They seem to forget that lack of evidence is not evidence of lack with regard to biblical history when one gets the strong impression the same level of skepticism is not applied to histories from other ancient sources.Īrchaeology Supports the Biblical Description of Edom However, one gets the impression that the majority of scholars take a perverse pleasure in finding excuses to publicly question the accuracy of the Bible’s historical accounts.
Add to this the fact that in the past believing archaeologists have made some overconfident claims which later had to be retracted. It is their job to challenge historical theories-even ones gleaned from the Bible. Of course, archaeologists ought to be skeptical of all claims, as this is required of their profession. They have questioned not only the accuracy of the biblical account of Exodus, but even doubted that there was a distinctly Jewish state before the eighth century BC and confidently stated that all or virtually all the Old Testament was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in the early sixth century BC. For reasons that are at times hard to understand, archaeologists have moved increasingly in the direction of skepticism toward biblical history, despite mounting evidence in its favor. Two Recent Archaeological Discoveries Support Biblical HistoryĪdd two to the "we’re not surprised" category of archaeological finds in Palestine. An article by John Oakes about recent archaeological discoveries in Edom and Israel.
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