A wall mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says, even though most scientists…unsuprisingly…believed the wall didn’t really exist.
How many times do we see this story every year? There’s a thing mentioned in the Bible. Scholars, scientists, and all sorts of snooty people say it doesn’t really exist. They even scoff a little that the Bible could have any historical truth in it whatsoever.
And then a team of archaeologists discovered the thing. And the snooty people say, “Who would’ve thought that?” And then repeat cycle.
Anyway, this wall in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David was discovered during a rescue attempt on a tower that was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.
Artifacts including pottery shards and arrowheads found under the tower suggested that both the tower and the nearby wall are from the 5th century B.C., the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said this week. Scholars previously thought the wall dated to the Hasmonean period from about 142 B.C. to 37 B.C.
The findings suggest that the structure was actually part of the same city wall the Bible says Nehemiah rebuilt, Mazar said. The Book of Nehemiah gives a detailed description of construction of the walls, destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.
“We were amazed,” she said, noting that the discovery was made at a time when many scholars argued that the wall did not exist.
Like I said. Repeat Cycle.
Remember this one reporter here a few months back.
The siege of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. was reportedly a myth. But good old Nebo-Sarsekim had something to say about it. Although he has a name like something out of Star Wars, good old Nebo was a minor supporting player in the Bible. He was chief eunuch (ouch) to King Nebuchadnezzar II.
But a professor of something or other was combing through a collection of 130,000 cuneiform tablets, some dating back 5,000 years, when he made a remarkable discovery. Among the tablets discovered was a tablet that read:
(Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
It was for all intents and purposes a prehistoric receipt.
Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, says “This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find. If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.”
Wow. Who would’ve thought it?
It was once claimed there was no Assyrian king named Sargon as recorded in Isaiah 20:1, because his name was not known in any other record other than the Bible. So scholars said he didn’t exist. Then, Sargon’s palace was discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. And just to avoid confusion Sargon was kind enough to record the very event mentioned in Isaiah 20, his capture of Ashdod, on the palace walls.
This will continue on and on into the future. But they will continue to disregard the Bible as myth. Repeat cycle.
December 2, 2007 at 2:54 am
For those reading a Catholic Bible, the Book of Nehemiah (Nehemias) is known as II Esdras.
December 2, 2007 at 9:47 am
Isn’t that interesting! It is known as Nehemiah in MY Catholic Bible. I had no idea that so many of the books had different names in the Dhouay-Rheims.
December 3, 2007 at 12:10 am
The Douay-Rheims is the Catholic Bible used for the Extraordinary Rite and has been for hundreds of years. I may be wrong but I think there were two editions in English published prior to the Protestant King James Bible.
There are others such as the RSV Catholic Edition and the New American Bible. The protestantized versions are not always very true to the original latin text. I only use the RSV CE 2nd edition(the 1st edition published in 1966 has inclusive langauge)for engaging Protestants on matters of Sacred Scripture. They generally will not accept the Douay-Rheims for the very reason that it is an exclusively Catholic Bible.
Do yourself a favor and get a copy of the Douay-Rheims and read it if you haven’t already. You can trust that the publishers or any another groups, including Catholics, with their own agendas have not revised parts of it to satisfy their own point of view.
Anytime a Bible says it is ‘New’, identifies with a nationality, or targets only one gender, I would be suspect of it’s veracity. If the text itself has not been changed then the footnotes often offer explanations that are borderline heretical.
Sancta Maria, spes nostra, ancilla Domini, ora pro nobis!