Archeological Finds in Israel Proving Bible History

Nadene Goldfoot                                            

                                                        The Exodus

In 2011, archaeologists Uncovered  the  ruins of  the biblical city  of Shechem, or as we know it today as Nablus,  in war-torn Israel.  The biblical ruin lies inside a Palestinian city in Judea-Samaria; the (West Bank,) where modern researchers are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval.  Excavation on Shechem was started in 1913 to  1934 by German archaeologists.   From 1948 to 1967 this land was in Jordanian territory illegally and since the 1967 War is under Israel's control.  It's earliest walls date back to 2000 BCE.  It was under Egyptian control as early as the 12th dynasty BCE.  Our biblical patriarchs camped under its walls and it was pillaged by Simeon and Levi as told in Gen.34.   Later, it was in the territory of Ephraim, and was a Levitical city and a city of refuge as well as the center of the House of Joseph.  Joseph is buried there.  

Before naysayers say that the Old Testament is just a bunch of myths, they should check out what archaeologists have already proven.  

Nelson Glueck took a Transjordan survey which is thought by some scholars to show that the Israelite entry (Exodus into Canaan) did not happen earlier than the 13th century BCE.  My encyclopedia has Moses dying by 1271 BCE  and our history is that he was not able to enter the land as he was already 120 years old by then, so had chosen Joshua to lead the Israelites in.  So they are in agreement with this.  It would not have happened, say, in the 14th century.  

The Merneptah stele which is dated c. 1231 BCE sets a terminus ad quem   (to which there) for the Exodus.   Others thought the same and this resulted from the researches at Jericho, Bethel, Lachish, Tel Bet Mirsim, Hazor, etc.  
                                                                     

                        King  Solomon's Temple, from Description

Pottery study has identified the Philistines, and work at Gibeah (Tel el Ful and Jerusalem which we also call Zion has cast light on King Saul's and King David's reign, just as digs at Tel el-Hesi and  other places may have revealed King Solomon's chariot stables, and Tel el-Khalife, which is also called Ezion Geber, his trade and mining center.      

Bible study is illuminated by archaeology both in and outside what was then, Palestine, now mostly Israel.    The Mesopotamian discoveries of Ur of where Abraham was born do indicate a period of great floods which are reflected in the biblical Flood Story found in Genesis.  

Both the Egyptian Execration of the 20th and 19th century BCE and the Mari along the Euphrates of the 19th and 18th century texts show the patriarchal period.  Transjordan researches show contemporary Middle Bronze Age life as semi-nomadic.   

There are the well known Tel el Amarna tablets from the 14th century BCE which illumine the Israelite advent.  The Hammurabi  and similar legal codes of the 18th century give us the background of Mosaic legislation  and the legal habits of the patriarchal period.   

Edward  Robinson in 1838-1852 was an archaeologist who tried re-identification of biblical sites.  "Robinson traveled to Palestine in 1838 in the company of Rev. Eli Smith, leading to the publication of Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Countries for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1842 He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1847. Robinson, together with Smith, made scores of identifications of ancient places including the tunnel dug by King Hezekiah shortly before the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701/02 BCE, though the inscription at the southern end of the tunnel was to be found later.  The Robinson's Arch in the Old City of Jerusalem is named after him."  Edward was a farm boy from Southington, Connecticut born 4/10/1794.  He is a direct descendant of the Reverend John Robinson who sent the Pilgrims over from Holland to America on the Mayflower in 1620.  Most likely his Christian religion was the motivation for his digs in Palestine.  

He was followed by a lot of travelers in the 19th century.  F. de Suley carried out the first excavation of the Tombs of the Kings in Jerusalem in 1850.  The English Palestine Exploration Fund in 1865 started C. Warren's Jerusalem excavations in 1867 and a survey of Western Palestine was done in 1872 to 1878 by Conder and Kitchener.  His digs coincided with important work by C. Clermont-Ganneau, G. Schumacher and others.

By 1890, W. Flinders Petrie was at Tel el-Hesi and devised the system of pottery dating by looking at the stratification and cross dating it with Egyptian finds.  This started the methods used afterwards at Gezer, Samaria and other places.  They were able to go back to the Old Stone Age, or the Middle Paleolithic Age found in the Carmel and Nazareth skeletons, intermediate between Neanderthal man and Homo Sapiens. The Mesolithic's Middle Stone age culture is represented by the Natufian cave-dwellers, the first cultivators who lived around 8,000 BCE, and Neolithic, most strikingly by the Yarmukian settlement of Shaar ha-Golan.   

By 5,000 BCE, walled village settlement had evolved as in Jericho.  The use of copper began c 4,500 which started the Chalcolithic age in Jericho, Telulat Ghassul, and in the Beersheba district.  In 3,200-2,100 BCE we find the Early Bronze Age.  The Middle Bronze Age was from 2100 to 1500 BCE.  The Late Bronze Age was from 1500 to 1100 BCE which had walled towns that were spread out as revealed by excavations at Bet Yerah.  Megiddo, Jericho, Bet Shean, Tel Bet Mirsim, and so on are examples of that period.  

Research has even revealed the famous Hyksos of the 18th century BCE with fortresses at Hazor, Shechem and Horite or Hurrian migrations from the 17th century and growing Mediterranean contacts under Egyptian rule such as in Bet Shean from the 1500 to 1100 BCE period.  

Discoveries of the Ugarit (Ras Shamra) include  old Canaanite texts from 1880 to 1200 BCE. They shed light on the earliest poetical parts of the Bible.  Epigraphical finds at Sinai, Gezer Calendar, Siloam, the Moabite Stone, Lachish letters and the Arad Ostraca show the development of the Hebrew alphabet.  

Archaeology in Samaria has uncovered the palaces of Kings Omri, Ahab, and Jeroboam II and show the Phoenician affinities of their culture.  Many sites such as Megiddo and Lachish have  given us dates and show the extent of the destruction that came before the Babylonian exile.  

Excavations at Samaria, Beth Zur, Marisa, Beth Shean and Transjordan Tobiad Palace of the 2nd century BCE date form the Hellenistic period of the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE.  

The later Second Temple Period has brought researches into the tombs and ossuaries of the Jerusalem area and into the Herodian structures of the southern and western walls of the Temple area, the Jerusalem Citadel, Mamre and Masada with its remains of Herod's palace, the Zealot living-quarters and the Roman siege-lines.  
                                                                                 

Finally, in the 1st century belong the DEAD SEA SCROLLS with their affect on Bible study and knowledge of Jewish sectarianism.  Another important find in caves of the Judean desert was the correspondence of the Bar Kokhba period.  He was the leader who fought against the Romans from 132-135 CE but was finally killed.  

The catacombs at Bet Shearim gave us information about Jewish art, language, and religion of the 2nd to 5th centuries CE.  The Israel Government Department of Antiquities has from  1949 carried out the supervision and protection of antiquities, investigation of chance finds and systematic excavations.  The Israel Exploration Society has worked at Bet Shearim and Masada.  

PS 3/5/14:  Besides all this, check out Simcha Jacobovici and his TV programs where he shows what he has discovered and worked on.  Entertaining as well as factual, he's a delight.  Simcha Jacobovici was born on April 4, 1953 in Petah Tikva, Israel. He is a producer and director, known for The Naked Archaeologist (2005), The Lost Tomb of Jesus (2007) andCharging the Rhino (2007).

50 people from bible confirmed archaeologically from the reference-mosaic magazine cites below.  

A web-exclusive supplement to Lawrence Mykytiuk's “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible” feature in the March/April 2014 issue of BAR.  Purdue University scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk lists 50 figures from the Hebrew Bible that have been confirmed archaeologically. The 50-person chart in BAR includes Israelite kings and Mesopotamian monarchs as well as lesser-known figures.

http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/03/right-out-of-the-bible/?utm_source=Mosaic+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=e9a97c3ced-2014_3_5&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b0517b2ab-e9a97c3ced-41144429
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/22/in-palestinian-city-diggers-uncover-biblical-ruin/

Who Were the Samaritans of the "West Bank?"

Nablus, 2007 in the shuk and its candy display

Whatever Happened to Israel=Kingdom of Samaria?

Nadene Goldfoot
We know that the West Bank is really the ancient site of Judea and Samaria.  What were they?
Israel was the first and only state created by King Saul in the 11th century BCE, and after him governed by King David and then his son, King Solomon.

The empire of Judah split off from the empire of Israel and was the southerly of the two kingdoms in 933 BCE. after the death of King Solomon.  It was made up of the tribe of Judah, most of Benjamin and it is thought to also had absorbed the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south.  Judah was the poor state as they had no access to the sea which was the trade route.  It never got involved with international problems and people there led a more tranquil life.  It included the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, so preserved Mosaic monotheism in a purer form.

Israel, the northern state,  was sometimes called the kingdom of Samaria after the city which became its capital in about 890 BCE.  The tribes left there were from Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asser, Dan, and living in what is now known as Transjordan were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh.  Israel was much larger than Judah.  In its 210 years it had 19 kings of 9 dynasties.  10 died in violence and 7 ruled for less than 2 years.

When Israel and Judah separated, the ancient city of Shechem, today renamed Nablus,  which was connected to Israel, became the religious center of the Northern Kingdom.  The political capital was transferred by King Omri to his newly built city of Samaria about 883 BCE.  The Israelite kingdom continued to exist until it fell before Assyria.

Samaria, the former Israel and also the city,  was attacked by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.  The King of Assyria, Shalmaneser besieged it and at the end of 3 years they were able to take it. He died one year before it was taken in 723 BCE, so the city actually fell to Sargon who carried away 27,290 people.  The people taken away were the more prominent and dangerous, the rich, the priests, and the ruling class.   The people were deported to various parts of Assyria and to the cities of the Medes.  Colonists, which were Cutheans (a member of a group of people of ancient Babylonia who were sent as colonists to Samaria),  were sent to take their place.  The colonists were soon troubled by lions in the district which they thought were divine visitations due to their ignorance of the manner of the god of the land.  They sent for an Israelite priest and settled at Beth-el, with the result that a mixed form of religion was established, partly Israeli (Jewish) and partly idolatrous brought in by the colonists.  In 720 Syria again united against the common enemy and a fresh campaign began.  The political existence of Samaria came to an end.  Only Hosea and Amos, biblical prophets, worked in the Northern kingdom of Samaria.  Elijah and Elisha tried to check idolatry and social injustice when they saw it.

Today, the name only refers to a small group of people living in Nablus (Shechem) and they called themselves “Bene Ysirael” or “Shomreem.”  The people of Samaria were thought of as the remnant of Israel.

A man named Josiah kept the people away from high places and collected money to repair the Temple from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim and of the remnant of Israel.  Later, their claim to participate in the building of the Temple was rejected by Zerubbabel because of their mixed origin.

Sargon sent colonists to Samaria from many cities of Babylonia as a precautionary measure.  There happened to be 3 importations of foreigners by Sargon, Esar-haddon, and by Assurbanipal.  They occupied the site of the defunet kingdom of Israel, then called Samaritan, consisting of the poorer Israelites and other aliens ruled over by an Assyrian governor.  It was deprived of its priestly caste so had to ask for the services of a priest.

Samaria later found itself governed by a Persian strap.  It became the natural refuge for all who were dissatisfied with the reforms taking place in Jerusalem.  The priest, Manasseh, was a malcontent.  the governor of Samaria under Darius was Sanballat.  His daughter was married to Manasseh, the son of the high priest at Jerusalem.  Because he had married a foreigner, Manasseh was expelled by Nehemiah and so settled in Samaria in about 430 BCE.  It must have been Manasseh who fixed the Israelite character of the Samaritan's religion.

A century later in 332 BCE, Alexander the Great gave permission to build a Temple on the holy hill of Gerizim, near Shechem.  This became the center of Samaritan worship.  The Temple was in existence for about 200 years when it was destroyed.  Samaria was then occupied by John Hyrcanus.  Mt. Gerizim was sacred to the Samaritans because the idols of Laban were buried there.  The Samaritans used to light beacon-fires to deceive the Jews as to the appearance of the new moon.  Usually they sided against the Jews and with their enemies.  The country passed into the hands of the Romans around 135 BCE and Samaria was rebuilt and embellished by Herod.  His wife, Mariamne was a Samaritan.  The city of Shechem was occupied by the Romans, who called it Flavia Neapolis, where the name of Nablus comes from.

Judea of the south, the newer state, and Samaria , the older state, in reality, Israel of the north, were the Jewish homeland.  This is where Jacob's 12 sons, who created the 12 tribes of Israel had lived.  This is where Moses had led the 600,000  Jews on the exodus.  This is what the Arabs are depriving us of, our own homeland in their zeal to create their  Palestine that they have talked about for the past 65 years. Israel or Samaria had Shechem/Nablus and Judea had Jerusalem as their religious centers.  The Samaritans were not considered true Jews as they had created such a mixed religion.

Http:///.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=110&letter=S     From 2009
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia