Information Related to "God, Science and the Bible (1/07)"
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Archaeology supports story of Samson and Philistine temple
Archaeology has been found to support yet another biblical story—the account of mighty Samson and his death in a Philistine temple.
Samson, you may recall, was the Israelite hero whose strength was legendary among the Israelites and their enemies, the Philistines. Tricked, captured and blinded by the Philistines, he was put to work grinding grain as a beast of burden. The story of Samson concludes in Judges 16:23-30:
"Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice . . . So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, 'Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.' So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars . . .
"And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life."
Critics, of course, have doubted the story and called it a myth. They have argued that a Philistine temple would not have had two central pillars supporting the roof since this wasn't a typical architectural design of Middle Eastern temples.
But after the remains of two Philistine temples have been excavated, what do they reveal? Both had two main pillars supporting the roof.
One of the Philistine temples is at Tell Qasile, now part of the modern city of Tel Aviv. Archaeologist Amihai Mazar found the remains of a small Philistine temple in the 1970s, and sure enough, he discovered two column bases for a pair of central pillars supporting the roof. They were close enough together that a large man could reach both of them at once.
Some 20 miles away, at the Philistine site of ancient Ekron, archaeologist Trude Dothan discovered another temple in the 1990s with the same characteristics—two central pillars supporting a roof.
The city of Gath, where Samson's account takes place, has not been excavated, as a modern city has been built on top of the remains. Yet, being one of the main Philistine cities, it is reasonable to imagine that it would have had a much larger temple, holding many more people.
Archaeologist Bryant Wood explains the significance of the discoveries: "Two Philistine temples have been uncovered by archaeologists. . . Both temples share a unique design—the roof was supported by two central pillars!
"The pillars were made of wood and rested on stone support bases. With the pillars being about six feet apart, a strong man could dislodge them from their stone bases and bring the entire roof crashing down. The archaeological findings match the Biblical story perfectly and attest to the plausibility of the account . . .
"The Bible writer knew his facts. He knew that Philistine temples were supported by two pillars and that this was how Samson pulled the temple down. The report is that of an eye-witness, again demonstrating that indeed the Bible is the world's most accurate textbook" ("Samson and the Temple of Dagon," Bible and Spade, 1974, pp. 53-54).
Another fraudulent attack on the Bible doesn't hold water
Perhaps you've heard of the lawsuit filed against The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, claiming he plagiarized much of his material from an earlier book titled Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent and two others. Baigent lost the case, but that hasn't stopped him from again trying to cash in on the massive publicity generated by The Da Vinci Code.
Both books propose that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that she bore His child, and that Jesus' bloodline continued in Europe . These facts, they argue, were scrupulously covered up lest Christianity be exposed as a fraud.
Baigent is back again with a new book and a new twist on history. The Jesus Papers claims that papyrus documents exist—in Jesus' own handwriting, no less—proving that He didn't die when crucified, but was still alive in the flesh as late as A.D. 45. Further, Jesus supposedly said in these papers that He never claimed to be divine and that it was all essentially a misunderstanding.
Baigent makes a number of claims that are ludicrous for someone who claims to be a student of history. For example, he claims that the documents from which his book gets its title were excavated from under a house in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1961 by an Israeli man looking for artifacts.
But as anyone familiar with Middle Eastern archaeology knows, papyrus cannot be preserved longer than a few years in a climate like that of Jerusalem—it's simply too moist. Papyrus is preserved only in extremely dry desert climates. No ancient perishable documents have ever been found in or around Jerusalem—they've long since disintegrated.
Baigent is also quite sure of what the documents say—even though he cannot read Aramaic, the language in which he says they were written. Where are the documents today, and who has possession of them? Sorry, he can't share that information.
He makes other claims that are demonstrably false. For example, he says there is no extrabiblical evidence for Jesus' crucifixion. Yet several notable historians and Roman officials, including Flavius Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Caius Suetonius Tranquillus and Pliny the Younger, all mention Jesus. Some give details of His crucifixion; others note that His followers considered Him divine.
Baigent also tries to have it both ways when it comes to the Gospels. On the one hand he dismisses them as fabrication when they contradict his ideas, but then he quotes them when he thinks they support his points.
The Jesus Papers is filled with other problems—rampant speculation masquerading as fact, no verifiable evidence to support his theory, and denial or misrepresentation of facts that contradict his theory.
Like other books that supposedly disprove the origins of Christianity, The Jesus Papers is more fiction than fact, proving once again the lengths to which some will go to deny any claim the Bible might have on their lives. If you would like to learn the real truth of Jesus Christ's life and why the biblical Gospels are an accurate historical record, request our free booklet .
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Keywords: Jesus Papers Samson archaeology
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