Don Doehla's List: Biblical Studies

Books and Videos with Lee Strobel

Biblical faith is not a blind leap into the unknown. Rather, as the author suggests, trust is a more precise term. Biblical faith is the rightful response to Christ, and expression of firm conviction, belief founded upon the revelation received from God in Christ.

"In 1861 archeologists discovered a 7.2’ stele recording the first six years of the reign of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC).[1] The stele is dated to dated 853 BC, and describes Shalmaneser’s campaigns in western Mesopotamia and Syria. At the end of the stele, however, it gives an account of the Battle of Qarqar."

"The Kurkh Monolith is an Assyrian monument that contains a description of the Battle of Qarqar at the end. Today it is located at the British Museum."

"Khirbet Qeiyafa (Elah Fortress) is the site of an ancient city overlooking the Elah Valley.[1] The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007,[2] near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 20 miles (32 km) from Jerusalem.[3] It covers nearly 6 acres (2.4 ha) and is encircled by a 700 metres (2,300 ft) long city wall constructed of stones weighing up to eight tons[clarification needed] each.[4] Archaeologists suggest that it may have been the biblical city of Sha'arayim or Neta'im."

"The Ophel in Jerusalem sits at the heart of Biblical archaeology. The site’s rich research history stretches back to Charles Warren in the 1860s, and the Ophel continues to yield incredible discoveries to this day. The most recent Ophel excavation season, directed by Dr. Eilat Mazar, wrapped up on December 31, 2012, and archaeologists with the Herbert W. Armstrong College produced the following video on their informative website, The Key to David’s City. Watch the excavation in action! Examine a three thousand year old fire pit with supervisor Amir Kohen Klonymus, hear from the excavators, sponsors and their families, and find out about the hard work and exciting discoveries made in 2012 directly from Dr. Eilat Mazar"

"A 3,000-year-old inscribed piece of an earthenware jug dating back to the time of King David has archaeologists stumped.

The ancient inscription is the earliest alphabetical written text ever found in Jerusalem, according to researchers from Hebrew University who discovered the artifact.

Working near the Temple Mount, head archaeologist Eilat Mazar uncovered the 10th century B.C.E inscription, engraved on a large pithos, a necklace ceramic jar, along with six others at the Ophel excavation site.

The inscription is written in the Canaanite language, a Biblical people who lived in the present-day Israel, and is the only of its kind to be found in Israel. The artifact predates the previously oldest inscription found in the area by 250 years and predates the Biblical Israelites' rule.

Reading from left to right, the text is composed of a combination of letters that translate to m, q, p, h, n, (possibly) l, and n and have no known meaning in west-Semitic languages.

The meaning of the text remains a mystery but Mazar suspects it relates to the jar's contents or the name of its owner."

De nombreux parallèles sont perceptibles entre la culture mésopotamienne et la Bible, soulignant leur appartenance à une tradition commune L’influence mésopotamienne s’exerça particulièrement lors de l’exil des Hébreux à Babylone, quand, menacés de disparition, ceux-ci entreprirent la rédaction des textes majeurs de la Bible.

"David (Hebrew: דָּוִד, דָּוִיד, Modern David Tiberian Dāwîḏ; ISO 259-3 Dawid; Arabic: داود‎ Dāwūd; Strong's: Daveed) according to the Hebrew Bible, was the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel, and according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus. His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c. 1010–1002 BCE, and his reign over the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1002–970 BCE."

"David was an extraordinary charismatic leader who rose from obscurity to become the first king of the twelve tribes of Israelites. He reigned from circa 1004 - 965BC. Despite his great fame, there are no archaeological remains that can be linked directly to him. But we know his story, and we know the two main cities he lived in: Jerusalem and Hebron. "

"Jerusalem was, of course, the sacred city of the Bible and focus of the Jewish people for thousands of years: it was religious center, goal of pilgrims, capital city of the ruler, and seat of administration and law. The city itself lies on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds - one of the oldest continuing cities in the world, occupied for at least six thousand years.
Ground plan of Jebus, the original fortress captured by David, and the rock area on which the Temple would later be built

Jebus, the walled area in the lower right of the diagram,
marks the original fortress taken by David

Though there were people living on the site as early as the 4th millennium BC, the fortress/city only became prominent in history after David captured it and made it his capital. "

"The city of Jerusalem was originally built around the Gihon Spring, on the southeastern hill to the south (left) of the Temple Mount, which is today crowned with the gold-domed Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem has been continuously inhabited since at least 3000 BC, but it was only in the time of Solomon that the city limits expanded beyond the southeastern spur, known today as the "City of David.""

"In early 2005, Eilat Mazar from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University began to dig in an area that was previously excavated by Macalister and Duncan in the 1920’s, on the ground where the City of David Visitor’s Center stood. She supposed that the remnants that were discovered were the foundations of a large palace from the 10th century BCE, the period of King David. A great debate broke out between researchers about these remnants and we still do not know for certainty the date of the structure and what it is. During the excavation, a number of bullae (clay seal impressions) were found, bearing Hebrew names. As work continued at the site, she excavated a tower which was part of the city walls from the days of Nehemiah, during the Second Temple period."

"An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered in East Jerusalem what may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by a conservative Israeli research institute and financed by an American Jewish investment banker who would like to prove that Jerusalem was indeed the capital of the Jewish kingdom described in the Bible"

"The Large Stone Structure is the name given to the remains of a large public building in the City of David neighborhood of central Jerusalem, south of the Old City, tentatively dated to 10th to 9th century BCE. The name was given to the structure, as a result of its proximity with another site known as the Stepped Stone Structure, by the discoverer of the site, Eilat Mazar. Mazar, an Israeli archaeologist, announced the discovery on 4 August 2005, and stated that she believed it may be the remains of King David's palace as recorded in the Books of Samuel. The archaeological dig was funded privately by Roger Hertog, an American banker."

"King David is one of the most celebrated figures of the Hebrew Bible, his name mentioned more often than even that of Moses. According to the Bible, David united the 12 tribes of ancient Israel into a great kingdom stretching from Egypt to Mesopotamia, with Jerusalem as its capital. Yet some scholars today question whether this kingdom—and even David himself—ever existed. In the mid-1990s, Israeli archeologist Eilat Mazar proposed searching for the remains of David's palace at a site in the oldest area of Jerusalem. A decade later, with the support of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, she realized this dream. In this interview, hear about her remarkable finds."

"JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar announced to the world in 2005 she had uncovered the ruins of King David's palace in Jerusalem.

Since then, she has excavated various sites in Jerusalem, relying on the Bible to understand what she's found."

"Jerusalem’s Earliest Alphabetic Text
Mazar’s excavations reveal another piece of the Jerusalem puzzle

Megan Sauter • 07/10/2013

Dating to the tenth century B.C., this alphabetical text is the earliest ever found in Jerusalem. Read from left to right, the letters on it—m, q, p, h, n, possibly l, and n—likely identify the contents of the vessel or the name of its owner. Photo courtesy Eilat Mazar; photograph by Ouria Tadmor.

Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has uncovered an inscribed jar fragment from her excavations near the Temple Mount. Dating to the tenth century B.C., the inscription is the earliest alphabetic text ever found in Jerusalem. The inscribed fragment is part of the shoulder of a pithos, a large neckless ceramic jar. Written in the proto-Canaanite script and reading from left to right, the text consists of a series of letters—m, q, p, h, n, possibly l, and n. "

"Tel Hazor is the largest and most important biblical archeological site in Israel, and has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Israelite Hazor is a key site for testing the reliability of the biblical historiography, and the city was preceded by Canaanite Hazor which has called the book of Joshua, “the head of all those kingdoms.”"