Shard of pottery supports Bible account of David and Goliath

[emad]

Shard of pottery supports Bible account of David and Goliath <br>By Rachel Hoag in Jerusalem <br>Published: 12 November 2005 <br><br>Archaeologists digging at the biblical home of Goliath have unearthed a shard of pottery bearing an inscription of the Philistine's name, lending historical credence to the Bible's tale of David's battle. <br><br>While the discovery does not prove Goliath's existence, it does support the Bible's depiction of life at the time of the supposed battle, said Dr Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, excavation director.<br><br>"What this means is that at the time there were people there named Goliath," he said. "It shows us that David and Goliath's story reflects the cultural reality of the time."<br><br>Some scholars believe that the story of David slaying the giant Goliath is a myth written down hundreds of years later, but Dr Maeir said finding the scraps gave credence to the biblical story.<br><br>The shard dates to about 950BC, within 70 years of when biblical chronology says David squared off against Goliath, making it the oldest Philistine inscription found. It was at Tel es-Safi in southern Israel, thought to be the site of the Philistine city of Gath.<br><br>Dr Maeir said the shard was exciting because of its depiction of life during the period. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article326574.ece">news.independent.co.uk/wo...326574.ece</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

[banned]

OK, I've suspected this for a long time. The rules of logic were suspended some time back when I was in the shower but no one told me, right?<br><br>So, this discovery has NOTHING to do with the Bible, with the David and Goliath story, all it says is that at the time that SUPPOSEDLY happened (some time in the last 6000 years since God created Adam and Eve, that is) 'Goliath' was a Philistine name.<br><br>Got it.<br><br>Well, I need to call the newspapers because I have found support in the historical record for Big Foot's existence. <br><br>In 1895 in Great Falls Montana in his diary the Reverend Silas Crepuscle wrote that he had embarassed himself at the ice cream social the night before stepping on Miss Lucy Lampeter's calfskin high button shoes with his "big foot."<br><br>This definitely shows that Big Foot might have been around that area because the term 'big foot' was in use.<br><br>Please tell me you got that article from the Onion not the Independent which I actually thought was a real newspaper not a piece of crap good only for wrapping fish in (and you can't even do THAT with the online edition.) <p></p><i></i>

[Homeless Halo]

And the postulation that the name "mary" was common around 1 BCE is evidence that Jesus was born of a virgin. <p></p><i></i>

[michael meiring]

And the dead sea scrolls are real too, honest, just trust us on this, what? you want to radion carbon date them? er no you cannot do that, just trust us on this one, i mean would we lie?<br><br>one born every minute springs to mind on subjects of the 3 great modern religious invention/creations.<br><br>jump aboard, lets play the my god is better and can do more miracles than your god game eh? <p></p><i></i>

[starroute]

A lot of highly plausible research has suggested recently that the history of ancient Israel actually goes back no further than about 850 BC. Before that, it wasn't even a kingdom -- just a bunch of hill chieftains, at best. Moreover, the climate had been going through a cold phase, which kept the culture in a somewhat depressed state as well. The upshot is that all the evidence for a glorious empire under David and Solomon around 1000-950 BC just evaporates as you try to pin it down, or turns out to be based on misdatings.<br><br>The most likely explanation for the Bible stories is that David and Solomon were purely mythological figures who were re-interpreted as historical kings and dynastic founders during the heyday of the actual Kingom of Israel. (This sort of thing was happening at the same time everywhere from Greece to China.) They may have had some slim historical basis during the the Hyksos Period of the 2nd millenium BC -- but that means as much as saying that King Arthur had a historical basis in 5th century England.<br><br>There is naturally a great deal of resistance to these ideas -- both by those contemporary Israelis who want to use Solomon's empire as the justification for their own territorial ambitions and by the Christian fundamentalists who can't handle having any aspect of Biblical literalism challenged. As a result, we are seeking a great deal of forged or misinterpreted evidence which is said to support the Bible's version of events. A few months ago, it was some bit of carving that supposedly was proof of Solomon's temple -- I think that one turned out to be a fraud. Last week, it was a Hebrew alphabet carved on a stone. Now it's this "Goliath" rock.<br><br>As with all these things, just keep your eye on "cui bono" and you won't go too far wrong.<br><br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[emad]

Proofs are mega bucks big biz. Touting fragments of the holy cross, ossuary of St James, fingernails of St Paul......<br><br>The really hard dosh is in Islamic artefacts. Iranian/Israeli antiquarian dealer David Khalili has become extremely rich on the gullibility and spending power of the Maktoums of Dubai, the Al-Sauds in Saudi and al-Nahayyans of Abu Dhabi. <br><br>Meanwhile the Sultan of Oman and the Ruler of Qatar have both been in the news in the last 18 months for being duped into parting $$$$$$$$$sfor fake artworks, antiquities and quasi-religious items that would put the counterfitters thrown out of eBay to shame. <p></p><i></i>

[banned]

...being able to prove there WAS such a person as George W. Bush will 'prove' that God told him to invade Iraq?<br><br>"Sucker born every minute" indeed. If not, would there BE any organized religion?<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[derekgilbert]

A reference to the "house of David" has been found at Tel Dan in the north, dated to 9th Century B.C., and a good case has been made that another is found on the Moabite Stone, also dated to the 9th Century B.C.<br><br>Since David allegedly lived about two hundred years earlier, he must have made <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>some </em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->impact on his neighbors. Both inscriptions were produced by enemies of the Israelites and Judeans. <p></p><i></i>

[ivanbo2003]

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://petragrail.tripod.com/start.html">petragrail.tripod.com/start.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

[emad]

yes! The last secert of Fatima predicts that in a thousand years, Afghani prisoner descendants still living in Guantanamo Bay will find a spooky ceramic artefact embedded in the floor of their jail, showing george w and the buring bush, the tablets (or maybe crystal meth?) and even more dead sea scrolls proving recounting how he received his instructions from the prophet (profit?) Ariel Sharon..... <p></p><i></i>

[banned]

...someone will find a reference to the "International House of Pancakes" and posit that the earth in 2005 was ruled by a benevolent planet wide consortium of flat beige people who vied with one another to wear decorative wreaths of strawberry, blueberry, and whipped cream. <p></p><i></i>

[marykmusic]

...that the Bible is absolutely correct as written, and even through numerous translations through languages that didn't even have WORDS for some of the concepts. "Eve" for example (as I understand it) was rather a literal word for the concept of Woman in ancient Aramaic, and not the name of a particular person. The first translation was to Greek, and someone screwed that word up. ...Or else we're all inbred... But Wait: that could explain the "best and the worst" concept from breeding performance animals. "Inbreeding gets you the best and the worst" is a basic tenet of animal breeding (currently I raise Arabian horses and have also been involved with cutting-bred Quarter Horses, Treeing Walker coonhounds, and game-bred pit bull terriers.) Of course, a responsible breeder won't even keep the worst ones, much less breed them...<br><br>So anyway, Judea was a TINY place during the David/Soloman era, just one valley, really. At the time, there were other much more civilized places going on, with a higher level of Art and Culture, such as the Minoans, the Persians, the very early Egyptians (not to mention India and China.) The Judeans didn't even have HORSES yet! How advanced could they have been! --MaryK <p></p><i></i>

[nomo]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The Judeans didn't even have HORSES yet! How advanced could they have been!<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>They worshipped the one and only true god, so there.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[banned]

Hey, kids, "Brownie's" posting here!<br><br>And doin' a heckuva job! <p></p><i></i>

[marykmusic]

<!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://image42.webshots.com/43/6/61/74/351266174FaQPlK_ph.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br>Paper Muse (Page) age 19, Russian-bred, and TQ Circe (CC) Russian sireline, Egyptian and Early American Foundation on the bottom.<br><br>I'm picking up two more by the end of the month, Fadjur and Spanish-bred. --MaryK <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=marykmusic>marykmusic</A> at: 11/16/05 10:39 pm<br></i>