Information Related to "God, Science and the Bible (1/06)"
| Audio/Video |
Jerusalem 's Pool of Siloam yields more secrets
In John 9:7 Jesus told a blind man to "wash in the pool of Siloam" to be healed. The March-April 2005 Good News described archaeologists' discovery of this very pool ("Archaeologists discover biblical Pool of Siloam," p. 16). Subsequent excavations in the area have begun to yield more secrets, possibly including the discovery of another, much older pool mentioned in the Bible.
At one end of the steps descending to the Pool of Siloam archaeologists dug a shaft to learn what lay beneath it. According to reports from the Israel Antiquities Authority, there they found remains of a much earlier pool tentatively identified as the one mentioned in Nehemiah 3:15.
Describing the repairs to the city wall initiated by Nehemiah in the fifth century B.C., this passage states: "Shallun . . . repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David ."
The newly discovered pool fits this geographic description very well. The area of "the King's Garden," also mentioned in connection with King Zedekiah's attempted escape from the Babylonians recorded in Jeremiah 39:4-5 and 2 Kings 25:4-5, is thought to be the unexcavated orchard and garden, owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, part of which currently overlays most of the Pool of Siloam.
At the other end of the Pool of Siloam excavators have uncovered what they believe is a colonnaded plaza that joined the pool to a previously discovered first-century street that led up the Tyropoean Valley to the magnificent temple complex constructed by Herod the Great. If so, they will be bringing to light more of the first-century streets on which Jesus and the disciples walked.
Archaeologists also uncovered a portion of an aqueduct, covered with stone slabs, which passed through yet another small pool exposed in the upper steps of the Pool of Siloam.
In the immediate area is the southern end of Hezekiah's Tunnel, a 581-yard passageway carved by workmen under the command of Judah 's King Hezekiah in the eighth century B.C. to provide a secure water source for Jerusalem in the face of an Assyrian invasion. This ancient engineering feat is described in 2 Chronicles 32:30, which records that "Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon [spring], and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David ."
Also in the area are drainage channels, leading from the nearby Gihon Spring, which are thought to date from the time of King Solomon in the 10th century B.C.
Excavations are continuing in the area under the direction of Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa.
Inscription discovery shoots down anti-Bible claims
Scholars who support the biblical "minimalist" view—that the Old Testament is myth because the Hebrews were wandering tribesmen who never learned how to write until sometime after the Babylonian captivity began in 586 B.C.—received a rude awakening last summer.
At an excavation in Tel Zayit, an ancient site about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem, archaeologists noticed an inscribed stone imbedded in a wall. Examining it more closely, they realized they had found an ancient example of an abecedary—a listing of the letters of the alphabet written out in sequence from beginning to end.
Even more remarkable, an analysis of pottery and the position of the wall in the ruins showed that the inscription dated to the 10th century B.C.—well before minimalist Bible critics say any Israelites could write.
Inscriptions from the Old Testament period are extremely rare. Only a few have been found, and many critics dismiss them as forgeries. Only stone, clay and metal objects from this period have survived. Other writing media, such as papyrus and parchment (which the Bible clearly says were in use at the time, as recorded in Jeremiah 36), have long since decayed into dust.
Critics use such "absence of evidence" as "evidence of absence," as some archaeologists put it. They have contended that the lack of actual hard evidence of writing from this period means that people of that period didn't know how to read and write. Therefore, they have argued, the Bible couldn't have been written when it claims to have been written, but was fabricated long after the supposed events and history recorded in it. Consequently, they have asserted, the biblical picture of the 10th century—the time when King David and his son and successor Solomon ruled a powerful Israelite empire—is simply a fabrication.
This latest find, like others reported in this section of The Good News, demonstrates again the shallowness and inaccuracy of such arguments, not to mention the willful denial of hard evidence. It shows that even in an outlying border town like this one, far from the national capital at Jerusalem, the Hebrew alphabet was in use.
Further, an analysis of ancient structures at the site indicates that it likely was a significant border town established by a growing Jerusalem-centered Israelite kingdom just as the Bible describes, says Ron Tappy, the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary archaeologist directing the excavations. GN
| © 1995-2022 United
Church of God, an International Association Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. All correspondence and questions should be sent to info@gnmagazine.org. Send inquiries regarding the operation of this Web site to webmaster@gnmagazine.org. |
|
Related Information:
Table of Contents that includes "God, Science and the Bible (1/06)"
Other Articles by Mario Seiglie
Other Articles by Tom Robinson
Other Articles by Scott Ashley
Origin of article "God, Science and the Bible (1/06)"
Keywords: Siloam abecedary archaeology
Bible historicity: