The Tel Dan inscription ... It mentions David ... The House of David ... It was a crucial discovery, but like so many finds, its authenticity was contested. Most people now accept the Tel Dan inscription is genuine ... The Tel Dan inscription was written about a century and a half after the period of David. Enough time perhaps for a story about a legendary founding figure to develop. Other scholars disagree. ibid.
Omri really did leave his mark in the archaeological record. ibid.
It’s not a convincing picture. The historical David may or may not have existed, the jury is still out on that, but the lack of evidence on his great united kingdom, in contrast to the wealth of information about Omri, makes the very existence of his empire questionable. ibid.
Omri is in the Bible – but blink and you’ll miss it. ibid.
I don’t think Judah and Israel were united under a Davidic king at all. ibid.
In the seventh century it was the southern kingdom – Judah – that was in the ascendancy ... It was a story filtered through the experiences of Judah. ibid.
The ancestors of Judaism and Christianity believed in many gods. And God had a wife. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 2/3: Did God Have A Wife?
Monotheism is at the heart of Christianity too. ibid.
According to the Bible, the roots of Monotheism can be traced back three and a half thousand years to Abraham and the pact he made with God. ibid.
I think the evidence now shows that the people of the Bible believed in many gods. And the scribes who composed the Bible did their best to conceal this, but not altogether successfully. ibid.
Another god whose name appears in the Bible over a hundred and thirty times - the god Baal ... So what was the appeal of the god Baal? ibid.
A god who is even more powerful than Baal – the god El ... A religious reality disguised in the Bible: for el is also the god of the ancient Israelites – El is God. And the evidence is there for anyone to see. ibid.
In the Bible God reveals his proper name – his name is Yahweh ... But the reality is he wasn’t always known as Yahweh. God used to be known by another name. A name still embedded in this part of the world today. A name that contradicts the Biblical claim that its god of monotheism is unique and distinct. ibid.
Is El of the Israelites the same as El of the Canaanites? El can be used as a generic term for God. Much like we use the word God today ... But there are also lot of cases where it is being used as an actual name. ibid.
I think He was a Canaanite god. ibid.
The Bible makes yet another false claim – the claim that apart from a few lapses the ancient Israelites were essentially true to one God. Evidence now casts serious doubt on this claim. ibid.
Each god was responsible for his or her patch of earthly affairs. Amongst these gods was of course the weather-god Baal. ibid.
A female counterpart, a goddess ... It’s the word Asherah. The word is found forty times ... But why is the Bible so unsettled by this apparent object? ... Archaeology now shows us that Asherah wasn’t always an object. ibid.
Asherah’s role is of a life-giving goddess. ibid.
The Tree of Life was frequently used to represent the goddess. ibid.
All across Israel, in almost every excavation of ancient domestic buildings, archaeologists are unearthing female figurines. ibid.
The Israelites were polytheists. And God had a wife. ibid.
A systematic purge of polytheism: traces of this purge can be detected in polemical stories in the Bible itself. Stories in which Yahweh takes on the other gods in a celestial war. ibid.
Judaism and Christianity are proud of their monotheistic pedigree ... This history has been skilfully manufactured by the scribes who composed these ancient texts. The claims that Abraham and his descendants worshipped a unique and distinctive God just don’t stand up. The truth about the Bible is that for most of its time its people were polytheists. And their chief God had a wife. ibid.
In toppling the goddess from Heaven monotheism disempowered women. ibid.
Paradise lost: it’s a story central to Christianity justifying the need for a saviour. For centuries Adam and Eve have been viewed as the archetypal man and woman. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 3/3: The Real Garden of Eden
I think the real story of Eden is too important to ignore. ibid.
It’s not just Christians who have read into the story details which are just not there. ibid.
It’s had a very negative impact in the way women are viewed. ibid.
I think it was a particular place in history. And there are clues to the real Eden in the Bible itself ... A garden constructed by human hands much later in history. ibid.
I think Eden was a garden built by humans for their God. ibid.
I think Adam was originally a king too. ibid.
There’s another version of the Eden story [Ezekiel 28] rich in detail and which many scholars believe is older than the Genesis version. In it there is no Eve and no serpent. ibid.
I think Eden was in the city of Jerusalem ... Everything points to the Jerusalem Temple being the real Eden. But how can a temple, bricks and mortar, be a garden? ibid.
The Biblical portrayal of the Jerusalem Temple is almost identical to the remains of this ancient temple in Syria – Ain Dara. ibid.
The Garden of Eden was found inside the Temple. ibid.
There’s no reference in Genesis to the snake being Satan the Devil. So what exactly is it doing in the story? ibid.
And it’s not just Eve who is ultimately condemned. It’s all of womankind. A damning indictment, but we now know that this was never the original intention of the Eden story. ibid.
One tiny nation conquered again and again – it was the Israelites. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites: By The Rivers of Babylon PBS 2003
They were the people of the Book, the people of Abraham. ibid.
The Israelites would change human history as much as any empire that ever existed. ibid.
The Judaeans decided to fight for their survival as a people. They chose to fight not with spears and swords but by writing a book. ibid.
A guide to how the Judaean exiles should live. ibid.
The Judaean scribes began to re-write and edit together stories about their past ... the Hebrew Bible. ibid.
God gave Moses his laws ... The Ten Commandments were the heart of a binding covenant between God and the Israelites. ibid.
The story of King David ... The Israelites already had a king called Saul ... David was like a son to Saul. ibid.
The last remaining tribe of Israel: Judah. ibid.
The Book of Deuteronomy banned the worship of Asherah and other pagan gods. ibid.
After Josiah’s death the kings that followed him re-established the worship of Ashara and other gods. ibid.
God decided to send the Judeans into exile and start over. ibid.
In the 6th century B.C. Judaean captives in Babylon wrote the first edition of the Hebrew Bible. After they returned to Jerusalem this new book would define the Judaean people. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Book and the Sword
In 63 B.C. the Roman general Pompeii led his legions into the land of Judea. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites: The End of Days
The triumph of the Romans produced a crisis of faith amongst the Jews. ibid.
The zealots made a public declaration of war against Rome. ibid.
In 70 A.D. after a siege marked by starvation and terror of crucifixions the Roman army broke through the walls of Jerusalem. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites: The Gifts of the Jews
There would also be a monumental challenge from within: a breakaway form of Judaism called Christianity. ibid.
Masada: one rebel group was still holding out against Rome. ibid.
The rebellion began among a band of outlaws living in the countryside. Their leader was called Simon bar Kokhba. ibid.
The Roman now set themselves the goal of wiping the Jews from Judea. ibid.
The Romans changed the name of the region from Judea to Palestine. Then they banned all Jews from Jerusalem. ibid.
In the centuries ahead, this new prejudice of Christians towards Jews would lead to anti-Jewish laws, violent attacks and mass evictions. ibid.
Is it really God’s word? Who wrote the Bible? Dr Robert Beckford, Who Wrote the Bible? Channel 4 2004
If the Bible is less literal, what is there to hold on to? ibid.
It’s a big of a muddle – the Creation story. ibid.
The Bible is a big edited job ... Who re-wrote the Bible? ibid.