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http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/showArchiveArticle.asp?id=60241&wordd=herzog
HAARETZ
Friday, October 29, 1999
By Ze'ev Herzog
Deconstructing the walls of Jericho
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the
Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The
patriarchs' acts are legendary, the Israelites did not
sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not
conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the
empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of
belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been
known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and
nobody wants to hear about it.
This is what archaeologists have learned from their
excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were
never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not
conquer the land in a military campaign and did not
pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even
harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy
of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible
as a regional power, was at most a small tribal
kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to
many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female
consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted
monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy
and not at Mount Sinai.Most of those who are engaged
in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the
Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish
people - and who once went into the field looking for
proof to corroborate the Bible story - now agree that
the historic events relating to the stages of the
Jewish people's emergence are radically different from
what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history
of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and
the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The
critical question of this archaeological revolution
has not yet trickled down into public consciousness,
but it cannot be ignored.
Inventing the Bible stories
The archaeology of Palestine developed as a science at
a relatively late date, in the late 19th and early
20th century, in tandem with the archaeology of the
imperial cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and
Rome. Those resource-intensive powers were the first
target of the researchers, who were looking for
impressive evidence from the past, usually in the
service of the big museums in London, Paris and
Berlin. That stage effectively passed over Palestine,
with its fragmented geographical diversity. The
conditions in ancient Palestine were inhospitable for
the development of an extensive kingdom, and certainly
no showcase projects such as the Egyptian shrines or
the Mesopotamian palaces could have been established
there. In fact, the archaeology of Palestine was not
engendered at the initiative of museums but sprang
from religious motives.
The main push behind archaeological research in
Palestine was the country's relationship with the Holy
Scriptures. The first excavators in Jericho and
Shechem (Nablus) were biblical researchers who were
looking for the remains of the cities cited in the
Bible. Archaeology assumed momentum with the activity
of William Foxwell Albright, who mastered the
archeology, history and linguistics of the Land of
Israel and the ancient Near East. Albright, an
American whose father was a priest of Chilean descent,
began excavating in Palestine in the 1920s. His
declared approach was that archaeology was the
principal scientific means to refute the critical
claims against the historical veracity of the Bible
stories, particularly those of the Wellhausen school
in Germany.
The school of biblical criticism that developed in
Germany beginning in the second half of the 19th
century, of which Julian Wellhausen was a leading
figure, challenged the historicity of the Bible
stories and claimed that biblical historiography was
formulated, and in large measure actually 'invented,'
during the Babylonian exile. Bible scholars, the
Germans in particular, claimed that the history of the
Hebrews, as a consecutive series of events beginning
with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and proceeding through
the move to Egypt, the enslavement and the exodus, and
ending with the conquest of the land and the
settlement of the tribes of Israel, was no more than a
later reconstruction of events with a theological
purpose.
Albright believed that the Bible is a historical
document, which, although it had gone through several
editing stages, nevertheless basically reflected the
ancient reality. He was convinced that if the ancient
remains of Palestine were uncovered, they would
furnish unequivocal proof of the historical truth of
the events relating to the Jewish people in its land.
The biblical archaeology that developed from Albright
and his pupils brought about a series of extensive
digs at the important biblical tells: Megiddo,
Lachish, Gezer, Shechem (Nablus), Jericho, Jerusalem,
Ai, Giveon, Beit She'an, Beit Shemesh, Hazor, Ta'anach
and others. The way was straight and clear: every
finding that was uncovered would contribute to the
building of a harmonious picture of the past. The
archaeologists, who enthusiastically adopted the
biblical approach, set out on a quest to unearth the
'biblical period': the period of the patriarchs, the
Canaanite cities that were destroyed by the Israelites
as they conquered the land, the boundaries of the 12
tribes, the sites of the settlement period,
characterized by 'settlement pottery,' the 'gates of
Solomon' at Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer, 'Solomon's
stables' (or Ahab's), 'King Solomon's mines' at Timna
- and there are some who are still hard at work and
have found Mount Sinai (at Mount Karkoum in the Negev)
or Joshua's altar at Mount Ebal.
The crisis
Slowly, cracks began to appear in the picture.
Paradoxically, a situation was created in which the
glut of findings began to undermine the historical
credibility of the biblical descriptions instead of
reinforcing them. A crisis stage is reached when the
theories within the framework of the general thesis
are unable to solve an increasingly large number of
anomalies. The explanations become ponderous and
inelegant, and the pieces do not lock together
smoothly. Here are a few examples of how the
harmonious picture collapsed.
Patriarchal Age:
The researchers found it difficult to reach agreement
on which archaeological period matched the Patriarchal
Age. When did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob live? When was
the Cave of Machpelah (Tomb of the Patriarchs in
Hebron) bought in order to serve as the burial place
for the patriarchs and the matriarchs? According to
the biblical chronology, Solomon built the Temple 480
years after the exodus from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). To
that we have to add 430 years of the stay in Egypt
(Exodus 12:40) and the vast lifetimes of the
patriarchs, producing a date in the 21th century BCE
for Abraham's move to Canaan.
However, no evidence has been unearthed that can
sustain this chronology. Albright argued in the early
1960s in favor of assigning the wanderings of Abraham
to the Middle Bronze Age (22nd-20th centuries BCE).
However, Benjamin Mazar, the father of the Israeli
branch of biblical archaeology, proposed identifying
the historic background of the Patriarchal Age a
thousand years later, in the 11th century BCE - which
would place it in the 'settlement period.' Others
rejected the historicity of the stories and viewed
them as ancestral legends that were told in the period
of the Kingdom of Judea. In any event, the consensus
began to break down.
The exodus from Egypt, the wanderings in the desert
and Mount Sinai: The many Egyptian documents that we
have make no mention of the Israelites' presence in
Egypt and are also silent about the events of the
exodus. Many documents do mention the custom of
nomadic shepherds to enter Egypt during periods of
drought and hunger and to camp at the edges of the
Nile Delta. However, this was not a solitary
phenomenon: such events occurred frequently across
thousands of years and were hardly exceptional.
Generations of researchers tried to locate Mount Sinai
and the stations of the tribes in the desert. Despite
these intensive efforts, not even one site has been
found that can match the biblical account.
The potency of tradition has now led some researchers
to 'discover' Mount Sinai in the northern Hijaz or, as
already mentioned, at Mount Karkoum in the Negev.
These central events in the history of the Israelites
are not corroborated in documents external to the
Bible or in archaeological findings. Most historians
today agree that at best, the stay in Egypt and the
exodous occurred in a few families and that their
private story was expanded and 'nationalized' to fit
the needs of theological ideology.
The conquest:
One of the shaping events of the people of Israel in
biblical historiography is the story of how the land
was conquered from the Canaanites. Yet extremely
serious difficulties have cropped up precisely in the
attempts to locate the archaeological evidence for
this story.
Repeated excavations by various expeditions at Jericho
and Ai, the two cities whose conquest is described in
the greatest detail in the Book of Joshua, have proved
very disappointing. Despite the excavators' efforts,
it emerged that in the late part of the 13th century
BCE, at the end of the Late Bronze Age, which is the
agreed period for the conquest, there were no cities
in either tell, and of course no walls that could have
been toppled. Naturally, explanations were offered for
these anomalies. Some claimed that the walls around
Jericho were washed away by rain, while others
suggested that earlier walls had been used; and, as
for Ai, it was claimed that the original story
actually referred to the conquest of nearby Beit El
and was transferred to Ai by later redactors.
Biblical scholars suggested a quarter of a century ago
that the conquest stories be viewed as etiological
legends and no more. But as more and more sites were
uncovered and it emerged that the places in question
died out or were simply abandoned at different times,
the conclusion was bolstered that there is no factual
basis for the biblical story about the conquest by
Israelite tribes in a military campaign led by Joshua.
The Canaanite cities:
The Bible magnifies the strength and the
fortifications of the Canaanite cities that were
conquered by the Israelites: 'great cities with walls
sky-high' (Deuteronomy 9:1). In practice, all the
sites that have been uncovered turned up remains of
unfortified settlements, which in most cases consisted
of a few structures or the ruler's palace rather than
a genuine city. The urban culture of Palestine in the
Late Bronze Age disintegrated in a process that lasted
hundreds of years and did not stem from military
conquest. Moreover, the biblical description is
inconsistent with the geopolitical reality in
Palestine. Palestine was under Egyptian rule until the
middle of the 12th century BCE. The Egyptians'
administrative centers were located in Gaza, Yaffo and
Beit She'an. Egyptian findings have also been
discovered in many locations on both sides of the
Jordan River. This striking presence is not mentioned
in the biblical account, and it is clear that it was
unknown to the author and his editors.
The archaeological findings blatantly contradict the
biblical picture: the Canaanite cities were not
'great,' were not fortified and did not have 'sky-high
walls.' The heroism of the conquerors, the few versus
the many and the assistance of the God who fought for
his people are a theological reconstruction lacking
any factual basis.
Origin of the Israelites:
The fusion of the conclusions drawn from the episodes
relating to the stages in which the people of Israel
emerged gave rise to a discussion of the bedrock
question: the identity of the Israelites. If there is
no evidence for the exodus from Egypt and the desert
journey, and if the story of the military conquest of
fortified cities has been refuted by archaeology, who,
then, were these Israelites? The archaeological
findings did corroborate one important fact: in the
early Iron Age (beginning some time after 1200 BCE),
the stage that is identified with the 'settlement
period,' hundreds of small settlements were
established in the area of the central hill region of
the Land of Israel, inhabited by farmers who worked
the land or raised sheep. If they did not come from
Egypt, what is the origin of these settlers? Israel
Finkelstein, professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv
University, has proposed that these settlers were the
pastoral shepherds who wandered in this hill area
throughout the Late Bronze Age (graves of these people
have been found, without settlements). According to
his reconstruction, in the Late Bronze Age (which
preceded the Iron Age) the shepherds maintained a
barter economy of meat in exchange for grains with the
inhabitants of the valleys. With the disintegration of
the urban and agricultural system in the lowland, the
nomads were forced to produce their own grains, and
hence the incentive for fixed settlements arose.
The name 'Israel' is mentioned in a single Egyptian
document from the period of Merneptah, king of Egypt,
dating from 1208 BCE: 'Plundered is Canaan with every
evil, Ascalon is taken, Gezer is seized, Yenoam has
become as though it never was, Israel is desolated,
its seed is not.' Merneptah refers to the country by
its Canaanite name and mentions several cities of the
kingdom, along with a non-urban ethnic group.
According to this evidence, the term 'Israel' was
given to one of the population groups that resided in
Canaan toward the end of the Late Bronze Age,
apparently in the central hill region, in the area
where the Kingdom of Israel would later be
established.
A kingdom with no name
The united monarchy: Archaeology was also the source
that brought about the shift regarding the
reconstruction of the reality in the period known as
the 'united monarchy' of David and Solomon. The Bible
describes this period as the zenith of the political,
military and economic power of the people of Israel in
ancient times. In the wake of David's conquests, the
empire of David and Solomon stretched from the
Euprates River to Gaza ('For he controlled the whole
region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza,
all the kings west of the Euphrates,' 1 Kings 5:4).
The archaeological findings at many sites show that
the construction projects attributed to this period
were meager in scope and power.
The three cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer, which
are mentioned among Solomon's construction
enterprises, have been excavated extensively at the
appropriate layers. Only about half of Hazor's upper
section was fortified, covering an area of only 30
dunams (7.5 acres), out of a total area of 700 dunams
which was settled in the Bronze Age. At Gezer there
was apparently only a citadel surrounded by a
casematewall covering a small area, while Megiddo was
not fortified with a wall.
The picture becomes even more complicated in the light
of the excavations conducted in Jerusalem, the capital
of the united monarchy. Large sections of the city
have been excavated over the past 150 years. The digs
have turned up impressive remnants of the cities from
the Middle Bronze Age and from Iron Age II (the period
of the Kingdom of Judea). No remains of buildings have
been found from the period of the united monarchy
(even according to the agreed chronology), only a few
pottery shards. Given the preservation of the remains
from earlier and later periods, it is clear that
Jerusalem in the time of David and Solomon was a small
city, perhaps with a small citadel for the king, but
in any event it was not the capital of an empire as
described in the Bible. This small chiefdom is the
source of the 'Beth David' title mentioned in later
Aramean and Moabite inscriptions. The authors of the
biblical account knew Jerusalem in the 8th century
BCE, with its wall and the rich culture of which
remains have been found in various parts of the city,
and projected this picture back to the age of the
united monarchy. Presumably Jerusalem acquired its
central status after the destruction of Samaria, its
northern rival, in 722 BCE.
The archaeological findings dovetail well with the
conclusions of the critical school of biblical
scholarship. David and Solomon were the rulers of
tribal kingdoms that controlled small areas: the
former in Hebron and the latter in Jerusalem.
Concurrently, a separate kingdom began to form in the
Samaria hills, which finds expression in the stories
about Saul's kingdom. Israel and Judea were from the
outset two separate, independent kingdoms, and at
times were in an adversarial relationship. Thus, the
great united monarchy is an imaginary historiosophic
creation, which was composed during the period of the
Kingdom of Judea at the earliest. Perhaps the most
decisive proof of this is the fact that we do not know
the name of this kingdom.
Jehovah and his consort:
How many gods, exactly, did Israel have? Together with
the historical and political aspects, there are also
doubts as to the credibility of the information about
belief and worship. The question about the date at
which monotheism was adopted by the kingdoms of Israel
and Judea arose with the discovery of inscriptions in
ancient Hebrew that mention a pair of gods: Jehovah
and his Asherah. At two sites, Kuntiliet Ajrud in the
southwestern part of the Negev hill region, and at
Khirbet el-Kom in the Judea piedmont, Hebrew
inscriptions have been found that mention 'Jehovah and
his Asherah,' 'Jehovah Shomron and his Asherah,
'Jehovah Teman and his Asherah.' The authors were
familiar with a pair of gods, Jehovah and his consort
Asherah, and send blessings in the couple's name.
These inscriptions, from the 8th century BCE, raise
the possibility that monotheism, as a state religion,
is actually an innovation of the period of the Kingdom
of Judea, following the destruction of the Kingdom of
Israel.
The archaeology of the Land of Israel is completing a
process that amounts to a scientific revolution in its
field. It is ready to confront the findings of
biblical scholarship and of ancient history. But at
the same time, we are witnessing a fascinating
phenomenon in which all this is simply ignored by the
Israeli public. Many of the findings mentioned here
have been known for decades. The professional
literature in the spheres of archaeology, Bible and
the history of the Jewish people has addressed them in
dozens of books and hundreds of articles. Even if not
all the scholars accept the individual arguments that
inform the examples I cited, the majority have adopted
their main points.
Nevertheless, these revolutionary views are not
penetrating the public consciousness. About a year
ago, my colleague, the historian Prof. Nadav Ne'eman,
published an article in the Culture and Literature
section of Ha'aretz entitled 'To Remove the Bible from
the Jewish Bookshelf,' but there was no public outcry.
Any attempt to question the reliability of the
biblical descriptions is perceived as an attempt to
undermine 'our historic right to the land' and as
shattering the myth of the nation that is renewing the
ancient Kingdom of Israel. These symbolic elements
constitute such a critical component of the
construction of the Israeli identity that any attempt
to call their veracity into question encounters
hostility or silence. It is of some interest that such
tendencies within the Israeli secular society go
hand-in-hand with the outlook among educated Christian
groups. I have found a similar hostility in reaction
to lectures I have delivered abroad to groups of
Christian bible lovers, though what upset them was the
challenge to the foundations of their fundamentalist
religious belief.
It turns out that part of Israeli society is ready to
recognize the injustice that was done to the Arab
inhabitants of the country and is willing to accept
the principle of equal rights for women - but is not
up to adopting the archaeological facts that shatter
the biblical myth. The blow to the mythical
foundations of the Israeli identity is apparently too
threatening, and it is more convenient to turn a blind
eye.
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INCREDIBLE FACTS FOR THOSE, WHO HAVE SHORT MEMORY:
The books presented below do explain what is going on in the U.S. if the 'chosen' Jews and their false god Yahve are concerned:
1/ A Program For The Jews by Rabbi Harry Waton, New York, 1939 of which the purpose was to convince Hitler that in his best interest is to cooperate with Jews for the common good of mankind. The Rabbi said:
'When the Jews declared war against Germany (1934) I saw that that was a suicidal policy.'
2/ Israel In War With Jews (Adolf Hitler Founder of Israel) by Hennecke Kardel, 1974, 2nd edition 1997, available at , , New Century Press tel.: (800)5192465, with every books store on order, or at Modjeskis' Society Dedicated to Preservation of Cultures, P.O.Box 193, San Diego, CA 92038. The price for this book with the Society is 17 bucks S&H included.
3/ Explaining Hitler by Ron Rosenbaum, 1998, where in on p.313 posthumously Hitler said: 'Who created Israel? There wouldn't have been Israel without the Shoah (Holocaust)'.
4/ Barbarians (Jews) Inside The Gates (of the U.S.) by Donn de Grand Pre, 2000, at GSG & Associates, P.O.Box 590, San Pedro, CA 90733.
5/ Jews as tools of tyrants of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and post-war Poland in the book by John Sack 'An Eye For An Eye', New York,1995.
(check out: )
6/ They Dare To Speak Out by Congressman R. Findley. About facts regarding U.S.- Israel relationship read also in his Deliberate Deceptions, New York,1995.
And now, please excuse for pointing out two most intriguing books, compatible with the previous six: The Bible-The Devil's Book by Jos Rogiers, Cymophane Publishing, Stockholm, Sweden and Jesus Lived In India (& died there) by Holger Kersten, Element Books Ltd, Longmead, England, claiming that Moses' grave is located and preserved in a small mausoleum in Booth at the foot of the Mount Nebo, Kashmir, the Promised Land in India!!
But they are less intriguing if one considers archeological discoveries of Italians and Israelis (1975-1995) that the tyrant Moses' Bible is a compilation of myths; that the Exodus never occured; and that short existence of pastoral Israel (1000-750 BC) was preceded by mighty Imperiums of Egypt and Ebla (Syria) with their vassal kingdoms of Canaan and Palestine, and Ebla's Sun God Is-Ra-El (see notes 04 & 42 to the Israel In War With Jews).
The Black Book of Communism (destructing private ownerships) by Stephanie Courtois, 1999, explicitly explains why the half Jew Adolf Hitler started the WWII. It also in a subtle manner deconspires the Jewish invention - Communism. And the Hitler's Jew: The Secret History of David Ben-Gurion, as the greatest enemy of Jewish people during the WWII, reveals that he prompted events that helped the Final Solution for the Zionists could use Nazis as the Nazis could Zionists. Few examples are Jew Baron von Mildenstein, head of the Jewish Department of the SS, as well as Jew Reinhardt Heydrich, the right hand, a mascot of Hitler, who divided Jews into two categories - Zionists and no-Zionists, the formers proclaimed by Hitler as having rights to the Palestine. (see The Defamation of Pius XII by Ralph McInerny, 2001).
Admittedly on February 8,1930 and on May 15,1931 Pius XI condemned Communism but on November 17, 1933 the U.S. recognized U.S.R.R.!! In 1936 Spain had to fell into Bolshevik hands with the American Legion on their side.
'Communism teaches and seeks two objectives: Unrelenting class warfare and absolute extermination of private ownership. Not secretly or by hidden methods does it do this, but publicly, openly, and by employing every and all means, even the most violent. To achieve these objectives there is nothing which it does not dare, nothing for which it has respect or reverence; and when it has come to power, it is incredible and portentlike in its cruelty and inhumanity. The horrible slaughter and destruction through which it has laid waste vast regions of eastern Europe and Asia are the evidence; how much an enemy and how openly hostile it is to Holy Church and to God Himself is, alas, too well proved by facts and fully known to all. Although We, therefore, deem it superfluous to warn upright and faithful children of the Church regarding the impious and iniquitous character of Communism, yet We cannot without deep sorrow contemplate the heedlessness of those who apparently make light of these impending dangers, and with sluggish inertia allow the widespread propagation of doctrine which seeks by violence and slaughter to destroy society altogether. All the more gravely to be condemned is the folly of those who neglect to remove or change the conditions that inflame the minds of peoples, and pave the way for the overthrow and destruction of society.' (QUADRAGESIMO ANNO,
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI ON RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOCIAL ORDER, May 15,1931)
7/ And this is a must reading too:
The Bible (Exodus 23:24 & Daniel 3:29 or 96); The Koran (Jinn 72:17); The Gospels (John 8:44) because for Muslims not Yahve is a god, but Allah. Allah has had no son and Jesus is a Prophet as Muhammad was. For Israelis not Allah is a god, but Yahve is. Yahve has had no son. Jesus was a son of a Roman soldier and Jews are waiting for a Messiah because Christ was not. Talmuds (Palestinian and Babylonian) would explain that goyims are beasts, and the much more. If you add to this The Beasts of the Apocalypse by Olivia Marie O'Grady, First Amended Press, 2001, USA, how the 'chosen people' ever since the Moses are implementing a consistent program geared toward world domination with manifold disastrous results, you will get the whole picture clear.
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