Once upon a time a small boy slew a giant and saved his people. The Bible says he went on to conquer Jerusalem and give the wandering Israelites a home. His son Solomon the Wise built them a Temple, put the Ark of the Covenant in it and filled their coffers with wealth. David and Solomon made Israel a nation. Were they historical figures or mere legends? After three thousand years can any trace of these Biblical giants survive? Riddles of the Bible s2e9: Lost Kings of Israel
The Book of Kings is replete with details of this Temple: dressed masonry with interlaced cedar beams, quarry-dressed stones, elaborate columns, rooms with carved olive-wood cherubs and an inner sanctum made of pure gold. ibid.
So the argument was that Solomon’s Temple was merely too magnificent to have been built and decorated in the 10th century. But in 1980 archaeologists were astounded when they found a temple from Solomon’s time in Ain Dara, Syria. It proved to be a stunning parallel to Solomon’s Temple. ibid.
Not a single artefact from the Temple has been found to date. ibid.
Infinite resignation is the last stage before faith, so anyone who has not made this movement does not have faith, for only in infinite resignation does an individual become conscious of his eternal validity, and only then can one speak of grasping existence by virtue of faith. Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling p46
If I was told to sacrifice them to prove my devotion to God, if I was told to do what all monotheists are told to do and admire the man who said, Yes I’ll gun my kid to show my love of God, I’d say, No – fuck you. Christopher Hitchens
No, if we had believed that perjury, murder and theft were all right we would never have got to the feet of Mount Sinai. Christopher Hitchens v Alister McGrath, Georgetown University Washington, 2007
Dump the Old Testament. Start afresh. Christopher Hichens, cited The Bible: A History: Moses & The Law
However, one mutters a few sympathetic words for the forgotten and obliterated Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites, also presumably part of the Lord’s original creation, who are to be pitilessly driven out of their homes to make room for the ungrateful and mutinous children of Israel. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p101
The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals. ibid. p102
There was no flight from Egypt, no wandering in the desert ... and no dramatic conquest of the Promised Land. It was all, quite simply and very ineptly, made up at a much later date. ibid. p102
Where are the lost ten tribes of Israel? Does the fabled Ark of the Covenant still exist? And are the ten commandments still inside? What will historical investigation tell us about Jesus Christ? Will we ever know who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and why? These are a but a few of the mysteries of the Bible. Mysteries of the Bible: pilot I II, A&E 1994
A Biblical text that was influenced by the ideas an prejudices of the Middle Ages. ibid.
One of the 800 documents found at Qumran was made entirely of copper. After painstakingly separating 2,000 year old copper sheets rolled together, scholars and adventurers were amazed and excited; for what the copper scrolls seemed to contain was a treasure map which showed where the riches of the holy temple were hidden away from the invading Romans. ibid.
One man, Moses, is said to have come face to face with an all-powerful supreme being. But the historical evidence of this incident seems to have been blown away by the sands of time. Mysteries of the Bible s1e1: Moses and Mount Sinai
Who was Moses? What happened on Mount Sinai? ibid.
Scholars have long puzzled over the mystery of the burning bush. ibid.
Could there have been a rational explanation for the plagues? ibid.
There remains not a single trace of their passing. Not a footprint, not a shard of pottery, not a scrap of evidence. ibid.
Jericho and Ai ... hundreds of years before Joshua would have gotten there. Mysteries of the Bible s1e3: Joshua at the Walls of Jericho
Did these evil cities actually exist? And if so, were they destroyed by fire and brimstone? Mysteries of the Bible s1e4: Cities of Evil: Sodom & Gomorrah
Abraham actually negotiates with God in an effort to save any people in Sodom & Gomorrah who may not be wicked. ibid.
Possible sites: Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira ... Two cities which Science tells us came to a sudden catastrophic end. ibid.
New satellite technology is uncovering evidence of possible city sites at the bottom of the Dead Sea. ibid.
Why did God warn the family not to look back? What did the command have to do with God’s anger? ibid.
In 1999 archaeologists uncovered textile remnants dating from 3150 B.C. at Bab edh-Dhra, a possible site of Sodom & Gomorrah. The discovery marks the site area as the earliest centre of mass textile production in the Near East. ibid.
Yet in all of its spirituality and all of its great humane teachings how can the Bible also contain such messages of violence and anger. Just what is the Bible trying to tell us? Mysteries of the Bible s1e7: Violent God
But if humans are kin, why then would God so soon appear to take sides and why would God resort to so much violence in the process? ibid.
Women have often been portrayed in a negative light. Mysteries of the Bible s1e9: Scarlet Women
A stone larger than any used in the Great Pyramids is discovered under the holy temple complex. Mysteries of the Bible s1e10: Jerusalem: Holy Deadly City
Little is known of Jerusalem’s earliest history. ibid.
The temple would stand for nearly four hundred years ... No remnants of Jerusalem’s holy temple itself have been discovered. ibid.
No historical mention of David is made outside of the Bible. Mysteries of the Bible s2e1: King David: Poet Warrior
For the first time in history a reference to an actual historical David is found outside the pages of the Bible. ibid.
It is possible that David actually had a hand in Saul’s murder? ibid.
Trouble looms for King David in the form of a beautiful woman. Trouble because she is married to another man. ibid.
Of the 1426 names in the Hebrew Bible only 111 are those of women. The New Testament offers but a few more. ibid.
Was Eve the world’s first sinner or was she the bringer of knowledge? ibid.
Abraham was perhaps the first human being to believe in the concept of one God. Yet how could Abraham consent to sacrifice his own son? Mysteries of the Bible s2e2: Abraham, One Man, One God
In Biblical times the warrior-like Philistines are an implacable enemy. Their champion, Goliath, wrecks terror upon the people of Israel. And even mighty Samson falls victim to their brutality. They capture the sacred Ark of the Covenant ... Where did the Philistines come from? Mysteries of the Bible s2e4: Arch Enemy: The Philistines
One woman’s fight to save her people from the first threat of genocide in recorded history. Mysteries of the Bible s2e5: Queen Esther: Far Away and Long Ago
As a Jew living in exile Esther must have felt like an outsider in the majestic foreign culture of the Persian capital at the apex of its power. ibid.
One of the most controversial books in the Bible. ibid.
How much of the Esther story is true? How much merely a legend? ibid.
Many scholars however disagree: they believe ancient Rabbis deliberately excluded the Book of Esther from the Dead Sea Scrolls. ibid.
Who were they? And what created the unique phenomenon of prophecy in the ancient land of Israel? Mysteries of the Bible s2e6: Prophets: Soul Catchers
Why do these enlightened men and women behave so strangely? ibid.
All subsequent prophets stand in the shadow of Moses. ibid.
At first they merely served as private, personal advisers, but the time soon came when they would make public pronouncements and address the people directly. ibid.
In one of the most bizarre acts in the Bible Isaiah walks naked through the streets of Jerusalem. ibid.
Fact or fiction? And how could Joseph, an unknown outsider, rise to the heights of power in one of the world’s mightiest kingdoms? Mysteries of the Bible s3e1: Joseph: Master of Dreams
Did the children of Israel leave behind tangible clues as they followed Abraham and joined with a covenant with God? Mysteries of the Bible s3e3: Bible’s Greatest Secrets
In 1947 a young Bedouin stumbled upon a nearly inaccessible cave ... He found the Dead Sea Scrolls ... 800 scrolls. ibid.