After decades of excavation, scientists have concluded that “the great events described in Scripture never happened,” writes Vannuccini in an article in La Repubblica.
Who destroyed the walls of Jericho? Today many in Israel would say that this was the work of archaeologists - at least the walls were "pulled down." The data obtained as a result of many years of work by Israeli archaeologists at the sites of events described in the Scriptures are radically different from what the Bible tells about.
So, for example, it was not the Israeli priests who walked around the walls for seven days and destroyed the walls of Jericho with the sounds of their trumpets. There were simply no walls, the author of the article writes. The settlements of Canaan, the Promised Land of the Israelites, were not “big,” as the Bible says, and were not surrounded by walls that rose to heaven.
“Therefore, the heroism of the conquerors, who allegedly fought against the superior forces of the Canaanites, is nothing more than a theological reconstruction devoid of any factual basis,” says archaeologist Zeev Herzog, one of the most famous professors in the Department of Archeology at Tel Aviv University. “Thus, based on all the results we have obtained, most scholars in the field of archeology, biblical studies, and Jewish history agree that the events described in the Bible were not historical facts. These are legends, just like your legend of Romulus and Rem. This is a real scientific revolution."
“Archeology became a national hobby in the 50s and 60s,” says Herzog. - New nations are looking for support in archeology in order to strengthen national unity and restore the country. And the children of the immigrants needed to establish a connection with the land of their ancestors. It became a collective hobby, which is why I became an archaeologist."
“So we dug and dug. The first contradictions gradually began to appear. Ultimately, all these excavations led to the fact that it became clear: the Israelites had never been to Egypt, never wandered in the desert, never conquered the land in order to later transfer it to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. None of the central events in Jewish history was confirmed by what we found, - says the scientist. "The exodus, for example, could concern only a few families, whose history was then expanded and 'nationalized' for theological reasons."
This loud revolution is struggling to coexist in the collective consciousness, says the professor. The most difficult moment to comprehend for those who have always believed in the Bible was the historical document that the great Kingdom of David and Solomon, which, according to Scripture, became the highest point of the political, military and economic power of the people of Israel, a kingdom that, according to the Book of Kings, stretching from the shores of the Euphrates to Gaza, is, according to Herzog, "a historiographic construction that does not correspond to reality."
“The greatness of the Kingdom of David and Solomon is epic, not historical. Perhaps the last proof of this is that we never knew what it was called, says Herzog. - Jerusalem is all dug up. The excavations have yielded an impressive amount of material dating back to the periods leading up to and after the unified Kingdom of David and Solomon. Nothing confirms the existence of the Kingdom, not a single piece of clay.
Promotional video:
And this does not mean that archaeologists were looking in the wrong place. They received numerous testimonies that during the time of David and Solomon, Jerusalem was a large settlement with no central temple or royal palace. David and Solomon were the heads of the tribal principalities that controlled small areas, David in Hebron, Solomon in Jerusalem. At the same time, a separate state arose on the hills of Samaria. Israel and Samaria were originally two separate, sometimes warring kingdoms."