The well-established Egyptian chronology gives the date as 1208 B.C. Merneptah’s Stele is powerful evidence that a people called the Israelites were living in Canaan in what today includes Israel and Palestine over three thousand years ago. ibid.
Scholars search for intersections between science and scripture. The earliest is the Victory Stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah from 1208 B.C. Both the Stele and the Bible place a people called the Israelites in the hill country of Canaan which includes modern-day Israel and Palestine. ibid.
Many similar discrepancies throughout its pages suggest that the Bible had more than one writer. In fact within the first five books of the Bible scholars have identified the hand of at least four different groups of scribes writing over several hundred years. This theory is called the Documentary Hypothesis. But when did the process of writing the Bible begin? ibid.
In the Bible no single event is mentioned more times than the Exodus ... It could not have happened before Ramesses became king around 1275 B.C. and it could not have happened after 1208 B.C. when the Stele of Pharaoh Merneptah – Ramesses II’s son – specifically locates the Israelites in Canaan ... In a hundred years of searching, archaeologists have not yet found evidence of migration that can be linked to the Exodus. ibid.
When archaeologists date the destruction of these buildings [Ai] they discover it occurred about 2,200 B.C. They date the destruction of Jericho to 1,500 B.C. And Hazor’s to about 1,250 B.C. Clearly these city-states were not destroyed at the same time. In fact of the 31 sites the Bible says that Joshua conquered, few showed any signs of war. ibid.
By dating the pottery Finkelstein discovered that before 1,200 B.C. there were approximately twenty-five settlements. He estimated the total population of those settlements to be between three and five thousand inhabitants. But just two hundred years later there’s a very sharp increase in settlements and people. ibid.
Archaeology reveals that the Israelites were themselves originally Canaanites. So why does the Bible consistently cast the Israelites as outsiders in Canaan? ... The answer may lie in their desire to forge a distinctly new identity ... If the Israelites wanted to distinguish themselves from their Canaanite past, what better way than to create a story about destroying them. ibid.
But Yahweh only appears in the Hebrew Bible. His name is nowhere to be found in Canaanite texts or stories. So where do the Israelites find their God? ibid.
At about 1,000 B.C. one larger-than-life figure emerges to unite the twelve tribes of Israel against a powerful new enemy: ‘David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead and he fell down on the ground.’ [I Samuel 17:49]. Nova: The Bible’s Buried Secrets 2/2
Of all the names in the Hebrew Bible none appears more than David. Scriptures say David creates a kingdom that stretches from Egypt to Mesopotamia. He makes Jerusalem his royal capital, and in a new covenant, God – known as Yahweh – promises that he and his descendants will rule for ever. ibid.
But then in 1993 an amazing discovery shed new light on what the Bible calls ancient Israel’s greatest king. Gila Cook was finishing up some survey work with an assistant at Tel Dan, a Biblical site in the far north of Israel today ... But something caught her eye: a stone with what appeared to be random scratches but was actually an ancient inscription ... Cook had found a fragment of a Victory Stele ... It celebrates the conquest of Israel. It boasts: ‘I slew mighty kings who harnessed thousands of chariots and thousands of horsemen. I killed the king of the House of David’. ibid.
The two different writers became known as E for Elohim & J for Jahweh. ibid.
So has Eilat Mazar discovered the Palace of David? She adds up the evidence: the building is huge; it is located in a prominent place in the oldest part of Jerusalem; and the pottery according to Albright’s chronology dates to the 10th century B.C. – the time of David. Mazar believes she has indeed found the palace of David. But the strength of her case rests on the outcome of dating shards of pottery. ibid.
Three monumental gates all based on the same plan would seem to be powerful evidence not only of prosperity but also of a central authority ... This stunning convergence between the Bible and Egyptian history gives a firm date for the death of Solomon ... 930 B.C. This is further evidence that David and Solomon lived in the 10th century ... Although a minority of archaeologists continue to disagree, this convergence of the Bible, Egyptian chronology and Solomon’s Gates is powerful evidence that a great kingdom existed at the time of David and Solomon spanning all of Israel, north and south, with its capital in Jerusalem. ibid.
Inspires another group of scribes in the 7th century B.C. – who scholars call the D writers. ibid.
Despite Josiah’s reforms the ancient Israelites continue to worship other gods. Their acceptance of one god and the triumph of monotheism begins with a series of events vividly attested through archaeology, ancient texts and the Bible. It starts with the destruction of Yahweh’s earthly dwelling, The Jerusalem Temple. In 586 B.C. after defeating the Assyrians a new Mesopotamian empire invades Israel. The Babylonians ransack the Temple and systematically burn the sacred city. Before his eyes the Babylonian victors slay the sons of Zedechiah, the last Davidic king, then blind him. The Covenant, the promise made by Yahweh to his chosen people and to David that his dynasty would rule eternally in Jerusalem, is broken. After four-hundred years Israel is wiped out. The Babylonians round up the Israelite priests, prophets and scribes and drag them in chains to Babylon. Babylonian records confirm the presence of Israelites including the king in exile. ibid.
P creates what we know today as the first five books of the Bible. ibid.
The Silver Scrolls with the priestly benediction pre-date the earliest Dead Sea Scrolls by four-hundred years. It’s an amazing find, proving that at least some verses of the Bible were written in ancient times during the reign of King David’s descendants. By giving us texts from before the Babylonian exile, the silver scrolls confirm that the Hebrew Bible is created from poetry, oral traditions and prayers that go back to the time of Josiah’s D-writer, and probably beyond to writers E and J. ibid.
The character of Moses is the most horrid tale that can be imagined. Moses was a wretch that committed the most horrible atrocities that can be found in the literature of any nation. ‘For Moses said unto them (according to the Bible), kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with him, but all the women that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves’. Thomas Jefferson
The Hebrew Yam Suf literally means Sea of Reeds. When the Greek translators took the Hebrew – Yam Suff – and translated it into Greek they translated it as Red Sea. James K Hoffmeier, archaeologist Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
In the Old Testament the slaves identified very much strongly with Moses. Moses is like the quintessential hero. Dr Francois Clemmons
The view that Moses had personally written down the first five books of the Bible was virtually unchallenged until the seventeenth century. Michael Coogan, Stonehill College
Wandering for forty years there would be something. Professor Eric Cline
We do not have a single shred of evidence to date – there is nothing archaeologically to attest to anything from the Biblical story. No plagues. No parting of the Red Sea. No manna from Heaven. No wandering for forty years. Professor Eric Cline
It was the beginning of an epic story. The flight of the Hebrews from Egypt. God’s intervention was a turning point in the Bible. One man – Moses – was chosen to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Who Was Moses?
No such evidence has emerged of a mass wandering of Hebrews. ibid.
The plagues ... could have been natural phenomena. ibid.
In the original Hebrew Bible they crossed the Yam Suf, or Sea of Reeds. ibid.
A 2000-year-old rock carving found on the plateau. ibid.
The conclusion is no Israelites ever dwelt in Egypt. Dr Rolf Krauss
For centuries Jews have lamented the destruction of their home city of Jerusalem ... Exile is not only a religious Jewish belief, for millions of Jews and non-Jews alike it is an historical fact. But what has been considered as fact for centuries is now being challenged by archaeological evidence. Ilan Ziv, Searching for Exile: Truth or Myth? BBC 2013
Nowhere in his writings does Josephus mention the forced expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem or the rest of the Roman province. ibid.
This was a huge rebellion I think was overstated. Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Searching for Exile: The Debate, BBC 2013
Closer examination could turn this legendary figure and his many achievements to dust. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 1/3: Did King David’s Empire Exist?
The story goes that David brought together two tribal regions: Israel in the north, and Judah in the South. ibid.
[Yigael] Yadin’s neat conclusions – in fact his whole approach to Biblical archaeological – was challenged, and some would say overturned, in the modern era. ibid.
In 2007 something did turn up, and it threatened to overturn many of Finkelstein’s ideas ... A dramatic discovery was made at the little-known site Khirbet Qeiyafa. Here was a fortified walled town west of Jerusalem, in what was ancient Judah ... The first fortified city from that period. And the thing is, it’s in pristine condition. ibid.
What stands out is this discovery: large city gates. A good indicator, some would say, of empire. ibid.
Despite the best efforts of some archaeologists conclusive evidence for David’s glorious capital has simply failed to materialise. ibid.
There’s no evidence of a Davidic empire in the tenth century in the cities the Bible says Solomon rebuilt. ibid.