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Showing posts with label King David. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King David. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Israeli minister: We should rebuild Jerusalem Temple
Sunday, July 07, 2013 | Israel Today Staff
Related Stories
- Muslim Guide Book Speaks of Jewish Temple
- Did the EU just back Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount?
- Europe: How dare Jews build in Jerusalem!
Topics:
JerusalemAn Israeli cabinet minister last week publicly stated that perhaps the time has come to rebuild the biblical Temple on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.Most Israelis has no aspirations of rebuilding the Temple. Even among those who would like to see the Temple restored, most do not believe Israel can undertake something so controversial absent a direct act of God.
But that didn't stop Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) from stating that "we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount."
Ariel was speaking at a press event in the Samarian community of Shilo, where archaeologists have uncovered remains of the biblical Tabernacle that was located there for hundreds of years before King David's conquest of Jerusalem.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Ancient Royal Seals from
time of King David, Jerusalem
Fit for a King: Find Testifies to David's Royalty
By Erin ZimmermanCBN News
JERUSALEM, Israel -- When Eilat Mazar realized she'd discover an ancient structure near Jerusalem, she turned to the Bible to help explain what she'd found. She learned that this new discovery supports the biblical accounts of King David and his son Solomon.
Second Samuel 5:11 says the Phoenician king Kiram "sent messengers to David and cedar trees, and carpenters and masons, and they built David a house."
"So it's a palace/fortress well built for good reasons, which is probably the palace that Hiram built for king David," Mazar speculated.
"We know its date, which is around 1000. That is around the time of King David. The Phoenician style of construction is quite emphasized. The Phoenicians are great builders as we learn from our excavations in Phoenician sites," she said.
Inside, the team found more evidence of royalty, from ancient seals used by court officials, to a variety of carved ivory utensils -- too expensive for a regular home, but perfect for a palace.
Mazar explained the "major part of the structure is still hidden and needs to be excavated." She believes "what we have in hand is less than a quarter."
A New Discovery
Across the street from the City of David, Mazar is directing another dig. She told CBN News just outside the Temple Mount she found more royal ruins. This time from David's son Solomon.
Dig across street from City of David, Jerusalem
In 2010, excavations revealed a giant wall more than 220 feet long and almost 20 feet high. Mazar said this is the city wall described in 1 Kings 3, which says that Solomon built "the wall all around Jerusalem." It connected David's old city with Solomon's new temple.
"And we can really say that the biblical description of King Solomon building the wall of Jerusalem around suits so well what we see (in the ruins).This is the only place that a fortification line is needed. It's surrounding that area; it connects to the Temple Mount. It's everything that fits the biblical story," Mazar argued.
Critics were quick to dispute Mazar's conclusion, but she had carbon dating on her side. Pottery shards found at the ground floor dated to the 10th century B.C. when Solomon was king.
"Sometime in the late 10th century, early 9th century, the king of Jerusalem built a most highly skilled fortification that indicated it's a strong regime, centralized, with great abilities. But then, we have this biblical story that tells about King Solomon doing the same thing. So, he did, and then like, 50 years later, some other king did the same thing?"
She suggests this is enough evidence for crtics to stop "fighting against the Bible." Mazar claims, "The reality is that a sophisticated fortification was built by King Solomon." And what has been discovered is "only part of it," a very big part.
Inside the wall were more clues pointing to King Solomon. 1 Kings 4:7 says that he had "12 governors who provided food for the king and his household." And inside the gate Mazar's team found evidence of their work: jar handles with seals inscribed "to the king" and large clay jars for storing grain.
Mazar believes they came from the royal bakery.
"On one of the vessels, there is an inscription, an incision in ancient Hebrew saying "lazar ha'o" to the minister that was in charge of the "o." That's probably the ophim, in Hebrew, which is bakery," she said.
But Mazar's hunt for the house or David isn't over yet. Next on her agenda is another royal palace. This time she'll be looking for the house of King Solomon."
"Whatever I'll be able to add and contribute to the excavation of Jerusalem, this is my huge privilege. There is only one Jerusalem in the world. But it's not like I'll start or end anything. We are only at the beginning of it and it's going to be generations to come," Mazar predicted.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Did characters like David and Solomon really exists? Many historians today are divided over this question. But CBN News met with two archaeologists who are digging up parts of David's life, and what they've found supports the biblical accounts down to the smallest details.
David is the most famous king in Israel's history, but some say he wasn't the great ruler described in the Bible. One Israeli archaelogists said, "David and Solomon did not rule over a big territory. It was a small chiefdom, very poor."
"This is a great chief. If you want to call King David a chief or King Solomon a chief, and this is a huge tribe," archeologist Eilat Mazar said.
Others say David never existed at all. Even a professor of biblical studies insisted that he is not the only scholar "who suspects that the figure of Kind David is about as historical as King Arthur."
What Does the Bible Say?
But archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel believes otherwise and has set out to prove the validity of the biblical accounts and its most famous historical figures.
"These guys said, 'We didn't have any archaeological memories, so David and Solomon are mythological figures," Garfinkel said. Yet one by one, those "archaeological memories" are being uncovered and all over Israel excavators are confirming the biblical story of Israel's greatest king.
The Bible records David's story in great detail from his days as a shepherd boy to his death in the royal palace in Jerusalem. Today, you can walk in the same places where David walked and they still have the same names as they did 3,000 years ago.
There's Bethlehem, the place where he was born and where he was anointed the king of Israel at just 15 years old. Then there is Ein Gedi, the desert oasis where David hid from King Saul in caves. And Hebron is where he spent seven years as the King of Judah.
For centuries the Bible was the only written evidence that David even existed. There was no archaeological record of his reign until about 150 years ago.
New Evidence Unearthed
In 1868, a stone tablet was discovered in Jordan. It was written by a Moabite king named Mesha, an enemy of Israel.
The stone dates to around 840 BC, less than 200 years after David and it provides the first known reference to the "House of David" outside the Bible.
"And 'House of David,' it means 'dynasty of David.' So we know that there was a guy called David, and he had a dynasty," Garfinkel said. "Okay, so now this is absolutely clear that David is not a mythological figure. So the mythological paradigm collapsed in one moment."
More than a hundred years later the same phrase, "House of David," turned up on another stone, this time in northern Israel.
It was written about 200 years after David's rule -- again, by one of Israel's enemies, Hazel, the king of Damascus. "He said, I killed 70 kings. I killed a king from Israel and a king from the House of David," Garfinkel explained.
One of David's greatest victories took place in the valley of Elah. This is where the young shepherd boy killed the giant Goliath, and it's one of the few places where you can still catch a glimpse of the Israel that David knew.
Nearby are the ruins of the Philistine city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath and the remains of the brook where David found the stone that killed him.
And high above the valley is a fortress that's thousands of years old to the local Bedouin. This place is still known as "Khirbet Daoud" or "David's Ruin." It's the only iron age city in Israel that's perfectly preserved and almost frozen in time.
"For us as archaeologists, this is one of the richest sites in Israel. This is like a biblical Pompeii," Garfinkel said.
The Hebrew name is "Khirbet Qeiyafa" or "Fortress of Elah." Garfinkel first uncovered the city in 2007. He recovered some burnt olive pits from the site and sent them to Oxford University for carbon-dating. The results surprised even Garfinkel himself. "It turns out that this beautiful city and all the finds is from about 1020 to 980 BC, and this is exactly the time of King David," he said.
In David's day, the Valley of Elah served as a neutral zone between the Israelites and the Philistines. In Qeiyafa, which was right on the frontlines, excavators discovered a large cache of weapons.
"We are shedding some light on the story of David and Goliath. We are in the same location, in the same time the city is heavily fortified. We have all these weapons, so I'm telling you that this indeed was an area of conflict between two political units," Garfinkel said.
In the Bible, this fortress is mentioned with a diferent name, Sha'Araym, "The city of two gates." In 1 Samuel 17, Sha'Araym is the place where the Philistines fled after David killed Goliath.
"Sha'Arayim means in Hebrew "two gates." In KQ, we have two gates. So if you take the biblical tradition, the location, the chronology, the meaning of the name -- all these aspects fit Qeiyafa perfectly," Garfinkel said.
A Philistine or Jewish City?
Just 10 days after Qeiyafa was discovered, critics argued it was a Philistine city, not a Jewish one, so Garfinkel went to work proving them wrong.
"What is the ethnic component of the city? I think that the city is Judean based on four arguments," Garfinkel said.
His first argument is the city's design.
"It has a big casement city wall and houses abutting the city wall," he said. "This is known from four other sites, so now we have five sites. All these five cities are in Judah. None of them is in Philistia. This is really typical Judean urban planning."
His second argument is the animal bones found in the city, all of them strictly kosher.
"We have sheep, goat, cattle, but we have no pigs and no dogs. On the Philistine side, they consume pigs and also dogs. Up to 20 percent of the animal bones at Philistine sites are pigs. But here nothing," Garfinkel said.
And he argues that the pottery shard, also known as a ostracon, is the earliest example of Hebrew writing ever unearthed. On it are written commandments to worship the Lord and to help widows, orphans, and slaves.
"It started with the word al-ta'as, which means "Don't do." And "ta'as," to do, is only in Hebrew. It's not Canaanite and not Philistine," Garfinkel explained.
Garfinkel also argues that the absence of idols, which would have been in abundance, points to a Jewish city. "If you go to Canaanite temples of the Late Bronze, you will find a lot of human and animal figures, but not in KQ. So the people here really obeyed the biblical taboo on graven images," he said.
The esteemed archeaologist points out that in the absence of idols there were religious shrines. And the models predate Solomon's temple by about 40 years. Yet they match the Bible's description of the temple down to the triple framed doors. They're the first phyisical evidence of Jewish worship in the time of King David.
.
Garfinkel humbly admits that "it was not [his] mission to prove the historical authenticity of the biblical tradition." He claims he "had no idea" of what he would find. It is proof beyond his imagination that the Bible is more accurate than many critics would like to admit.
Yet, as he pointed to his collection of evidence he told CBN News, "These are the animal bones, these are the radiocarbon dating, this is the inscription, these are the fortifications, and then you have the biblical tradition. And what do you know -- they just happen to fit nicely with each other."
David is the most famous king in Israel's history, but some say he wasn't the great ruler described in the Bible. One Israeli archaelogists said, "David and Solomon did not rule over a big territory. It was a small chiefdom, very poor."
"This is a great chief. If you want to call King David a chief or King Solomon a chief, and this is a huge tribe," archeologist Eilat Mazar said.
Others say David never existed at all. Even a professor of biblical studies insisted that he is not the only scholar "who suspects that the figure of Kind David is about as historical as King Arthur."
What Does the Bible Say?
But archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel believes otherwise and has set out to prove the validity of the biblical accounts and its most famous historical figures.
"These guys said, 'We didn't have any archaeological memories, so David and Solomon are mythological figures," Garfinkel said. Yet one by one, those "archaeological memories" are being uncovered and all over Israel excavators are confirming the biblical story of Israel's greatest king.
The Bible records David's story in great detail from his days as a shepherd boy to his death in the royal palace in Jerusalem. Today, you can walk in the same places where David walked and they still have the same names as they did 3,000 years ago.
There's Bethlehem, the place where he was born and where he was anointed the king of Israel at just 15 years old. Then there is Ein Gedi, the desert oasis where David hid from King Saul in caves. And Hebron is where he spent seven years as the King of Judah.
For centuries the Bible was the only written evidence that David even existed. There was no archaeological record of his reign until about 150 years ago.
New Evidence Unearthed
In 1868, a stone tablet was discovered in Jordan. It was written by a Moabite king named Mesha, an enemy of Israel.
The stone dates to around 840 BC, less than 200 years after David and it provides the first known reference to the "House of David" outside the Bible.
"And 'House of David,' it means 'dynasty of David.' So we know that there was a guy called David, and he had a dynasty," Garfinkel said. "Okay, so now this is absolutely clear that David is not a mythological figure. So the mythological paradigm collapsed in one moment."
More than a hundred years later the same phrase, "House of David," turned up on another stone, this time in northern Israel.
It was written about 200 years after David's rule -- again, by one of Israel's enemies, Hazel, the king of Damascus. "He said, I killed 70 kings. I killed a king from Israel and a king from the House of David," Garfinkel explained.
One of David's greatest victories took place in the valley of Elah. This is where the young shepherd boy killed the giant Goliath, and it's one of the few places where you can still catch a glimpse of the Israel that David knew.
Nearby are the ruins of the Philistine city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath and the remains of the brook where David found the stone that killed him.
And high above the valley is a fortress that's thousands of years old to the local Bedouin. This place is still known as "Khirbet Daoud" or "David's Ruin." It's the only iron age city in Israel that's perfectly preserved and almost frozen in time.
"For us as archaeologists, this is one of the richest sites in Israel. This is like a biblical Pompeii," Garfinkel said.
The Hebrew name is "Khirbet Qeiyafa" or "Fortress of Elah." Garfinkel first uncovered the city in 2007. He recovered some burnt olive pits from the site and sent them to Oxford University for carbon-dating. The results surprised even Garfinkel himself. "It turns out that this beautiful city and all the finds is from about 1020 to 980 BC, and this is exactly the time of King David," he said.
In David's day, the Valley of Elah served as a neutral zone between the Israelites and the Philistines. In Qeiyafa, which was right on the frontlines, excavators discovered a large cache of weapons.
"We are shedding some light on the story of David and Goliath. We are in the same location, in the same time the city is heavily fortified. We have all these weapons, so I'm telling you that this indeed was an area of conflict between two political units," Garfinkel said.
In the Bible, this fortress is mentioned with a diferent name, Sha'Araym, "The city of two gates." In 1 Samuel 17, Sha'Araym is the place where the Philistines fled after David killed Goliath.
"Sha'Arayim means in Hebrew "two gates." In KQ, we have two gates. So if you take the biblical tradition, the location, the chronology, the meaning of the name -- all these aspects fit Qeiyafa perfectly," Garfinkel said.
A Philistine or Jewish City?
Just 10 days after Qeiyafa was discovered, critics argued it was a Philistine city, not a Jewish one, so Garfinkel went to work proving them wrong.
"What is the ethnic component of the city? I think that the city is Judean based on four arguments," Garfinkel said.
His first argument is the city's design.
"It has a big casement city wall and houses abutting the city wall," he said. "This is known from four other sites, so now we have five sites. All these five cities are in Judah. None of them is in Philistia. This is really typical Judean urban planning."
His second argument is the animal bones found in the city, all of them strictly kosher.
"We have sheep, goat, cattle, but we have no pigs and no dogs. On the Philistine side, they consume pigs and also dogs. Up to 20 percent of the animal bones at Philistine sites are pigs. But here nothing," Garfinkel said.
And he argues that the pottery shard, also known as a ostracon, is the earliest example of Hebrew writing ever unearthed. On it are written commandments to worship the Lord and to help widows, orphans, and slaves.
"It started with the word al-ta'as, which means "Don't do." And "ta'as," to do, is only in Hebrew. It's not Canaanite and not Philistine," Garfinkel explained.
Garfinkel also argues that the absence of idols, which would have been in abundance, points to a Jewish city. "If you go to Canaanite temples of the Late Bronze, you will find a lot of human and animal figures, but not in KQ. So the people here really obeyed the biblical taboo on graven images," he said.
The esteemed archeaologist points out that in the absence of idols there were religious shrines. And the models predate Solomon's temple by about 40 years. Yet they match the Bible's description of the temple down to the triple framed doors. They're the first phyisical evidence of Jewish worship in the time of King David.
.
Garfinkel humbly admits that "it was not [his] mission to prove the historical authenticity of the biblical tradition." He claims he "had no idea" of what he would find. It is proof beyond his imagination that the Bible is more accurate than many critics would like to admit.
Yet, as he pointed to his collection of evidence he told CBN News, "These are the animal bones, these are the radiocarbon dating, this is the inscription, these are the fortifications, and then you have the biblical tradition. And what do you know -- they just happen to fit nicely with each other."
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Uploaded on Jan 12, 2011
Derek Prince Teaching: The Place of Israel in God's Purposes(1)
DP087
English Audio, Chinese Mandarin Subtitles
DP087
English Audio, Chinese Mandarin Subtitles
No other Bible teacher has so clearly taught the Lord's heart for Israel than Derek Prince, in my opinion. Even what he taught over 40 years ago is still relevant. In fact, even more so today.
Listen and learn of that which will impact your life, more than you realize.
It has in mine, very deeply.
Steve Martin
Monday, April 22, 2013
Report: Israel covering up major biblical archeology find
Monday, April 22, 2013 | Israel Today Staff
Israel's Makor Rishon Hebrew daily reported at the weekend that a major biblical archeology find in the Judean hills south of Jerusalem is apparently being covered up by the government.
Last week, a member of the Kfar Etzion Field School in the Eztion Bloc of Jewish communities stumbled across an ancient ornate pillar as he descended into a cave in the Judean hills.
The pillar and its attached capital clearly belonged to a royal structure, and local archaeologists said it certainly dated back to the times of the Judean kings, if not David himself.
The undisturbed nature of the find suggested that a large part of the ancient palace was probably buried intact beneath where the pillar was found.
"We appear to have a complete castle here," Kfar Etzion Field School Director Yaron Rosental told the newspaper. "Those who lived here after it did not know of its existence and thus, instead of using its stones to build a new building as was the usual practice, left it intact."
But, when Rosental contacted Israel's Antiquities Authority, he was harshly rebuffed and told to "keep [his] mouth shut" about the find.
The Antiquities Authority later confirmed to Makor Rishon that the find exists, and had actually been first discovered last year, but that present political sensitivities prevent archaeologist from exploring the site at this time.
It was pointed out that the find is located in territory claimed by the Palestinian Authority. Uncovering a major and even unprecedented archaeological site that solidifies the ancient Jewish presence in and control of these lands could upset the peace process.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23803/Default.aspx?hp=readmore
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23803/Default.aspx?hp=readmore
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