ZION’S LATEST WAR WITH THE WORLD
Mike Rivero (comment)
https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/zions-latest-war-with-the-world/
There is already ample evidence to suggest that the Old Testament is not an historical document but a religious one. Zahi Hawas, the famed archaeologist, has come to the conclusion that the flight from Egypt actually happened to the Hyksos, not the Hebrews, and Pharaoh gave chase simply because the Hyksos were killing and looting everywhere they went.
But just as the ancient Hebrews copied the story of the great flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh, they appear to have lifted the exodus from the Hyksos. The Bible is not science, it is the collected stories of a primitive tribal people telling each other how important they are. And like fishermen talking about the one that got away, or Ramses with his temple carvings of the did-not-really-happen victory over the Hittites at Kadesh, the writers of the ancient testaments assumed that the people they were telling stories to had no way to verify the claims for themselves. So "embellishment" was a low-risk activity. The writers of the ancient texts were probably not thinking much further into the future than the guys who pen the "Celebrity dates space alien" stories you see at supermarket checkout lines. The fact that the celebrity is a real person does not prove the space alien exists. It's just a story.
The fact is that Egypt (along with Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.) have vast archaeological treasures from which their ancient histories are confirmed. For the stories told the situation is quite different. The story of ancient Israel has no archaeological support for it, and indeed the available archaeology suggests the stories are just that; stories. Israel, while rich in antiquities, is almost totally devoid of artifacts from this supposedly glorious time in her history. The existence of the fabled First Temple was supported with just two artifacts, a carved staff ornament in the shape of a pomegranate and the Jehoash tablet. Both of these artifacts have been exposed as frauds. We are told that once there was a magnificent temple on that hill, but it "all went away."
But even Israeli archaeologists are now admitting that the available evidence indicates that the first Temple was a very small shrine roughly 1/3 mile south southwest of the Dome of the Rock, and not actually part of the current platform, which is actually the remains of a Roman Fort dating from Herod's time.
Mike Rivero