Long but I think worth it, please be patient...Part I
From early in the twentieth century, critical scholars had a number of problems with the Book of Joshua. Starting with Biblical indications of the time they entered the land, on to how they crossed the Jordan, the fall of Jericho, the conquered cities, the names of the Kings they encountered, etc.! All of these historically defining factors were chalked off as the mere fantasy and legend of a disparaged peoples attempting to attach some inordinate significance to their own reason for being. However, as we now know, the conflict arises out of a confirmed anti-Biblical bias, and in this case out of insistence upon use of what is called the conventional chronology for dating these historical events, which as we have seen over and over can be off by as much as centuries, depending on confirmed history, as well as the geo-physical location on the planet.
The so-called conventional chronology insisted upon by the Higher Critics post-dates the Exodus events ahead of themselves by about two centuries or more! The problem is, their interpretation of the conventional chronology is wanting and has been repeatedly questioned by a number of scholars ever since it was implemented a couple of hundred years ago. Historically, even as far back as Sir Isaac Newton (an avid Bible scholar) people have questioned the popular way in which people classify and judge the timing of these and many other events. So regarding this alleged 200 year discrepancy we cannot simply take their word on this. We must look for ourselves and find out what the general consensus of objective scholarship is and then we can form some viable opinions. Otherwise we are just introjecting and this is never real learning.
If history were always everywhere subject to the so-called conventional chronology of the liberal school, then all of history from the Biblical perspective is incorrect, or else mere stories embellished after the events to take on the appearance of being the actual history. In fact, if their chronology is correct, the devastation of the City of Jericho occurred anywhere from two hundred to a thousand years before he possibly could have arrived. Yet whats odd is, the dating and circumstances uncovered at Hatzor, Bethel, and the other Cities allegedly destroyed by Joshuas Israelites right after, line up perfectly with the Biblical record.
To assume the Children of Israel, borrowed the history of Jerichos destruction later on, and then took credit for it, apparently is not a totally unusual circumstance from the worlds perspective. It is pretty much generally assumed that myth makers, and people trying to build a legend, are apt to make simpler stories bigger than life, by using such devises.
Therefore, if the so-called conventional chronology is reliable, then Joshua did not arrive in the land of Canaan until around 1200 B.C., which means he was about 200 years too late to have been the one responsible for the demise of Jericho proper.
The Bible reports Joshuas entrance into Canaan, following the Exodus, as literally being terrifying to the people of the land, which land actually had already been bequeathed to Abrahams offspring, and more specifically to Isaac, and then to Jacob after him. Thus, Joshua and the Israelite host, were not simply just another group of invading marauders, but actually the ancient landlords, per order of the God of their father Abraham, returning after almost four centuries! Some of the people there could have even possibly been their own long lost relatives (Edomites, Moabites, etc.,). Regardless of this, the Bible as a history, says that about 9 cities there were destroyed. They were utterly burned, one after another, right around the same time period. Unbeknownst to most, Archaeology has actually confirmed this fact. It tells us further, that the people of those cities, and their kings, were all utterly slaughtered. This demonstrates their fear of the God of the Israelites to be totally justified.
Remember I mentioned that all the other cities, save Jericho, date to the actual time implied of Joshua according to the Bibles chronology? Well as a matter of little known fact, none of the 1st three expeditions of Jericho ever derived a different dating, only that of Dame Kathleen Kenyon, who once insisted this one city be judged according to the conventional chronology. An approach that we have already seen as being wanting in its assumptive based conclusions.
Now first off, these were not cities as we would think of them in modern times. All walled and even some unwalled villages at that time were considered thus, and each of them usually had their own Kings. The peoples of these ancient cities were often heathen. They very violent and territorial in and of themselves. They were usually either pagan idol worshippers, followers of demons of old, or else barbarians, some of whom sacrificed their own children when required. Rape, robbery, and deriving pleasure from torturing their enemies was commonplace. Many practiced sodomy, pedophilia, and cult prostitution, as part of their religion.
In most of these cultures such vile practices were considered to be the expected norm for its citizens, in some they were commanded, and in some were therefore considered honorable in their thinking. But to the children of Israel, after the Mt. Horeb events (called Sinai) in the land of Midian, these were viewed as abominable before the LORD their God. By the command of YHVH, His land was to be cleansed of this self exalting, self gratifying, self lordship mentality and behavior, along with their reverence of the alleged gods that represented and insisted upon these practices.
For centuries the historicity of these events stood without doubt, but in the past two or three hundred years, there are forces that be that strive hard to change all that! Beginning in the 19th century and after nearly 100 years of unprecedented campaigns to undermine this history, the Archaeologist's spade began to unearth some startling confirmations.
The city Gezar was one of the first of Joshuas cities to be excavated. It was excavated in 1902, and later in 1934. Ashod in ancient Assyria was discovered soon thereafter, and was later confirmed to be the city of Biblical fame by the discovery of Sargons Palace which all previously appeared to be a myth according to the liberals with there so-called conventional chronology. Hatzor was also found, and apparently later rebuilt by King Solomon for commercial and military purposes just as revealed only in the Bible (1 Kings 9:15)! The records we now have for some of these cities go back as far as 2000 B.C. (see the Mari Archive). With the exception of Ashod, evidence indicates that the destruction of these cities all seems to have happened around the same time period, just as the Bible indicates. Furthermore, all these cities had been utterly destroyed by fire, sometime between 1500 and 1300 B.C., again exactly the period as revealed by the Book of Joshua. This being the time period that the Book of Joshua describes, many of the critical scholars then attempted to devise campaigns to post-date the man Joshua as a historical figure, so as to make it seem like he had not arrived on the scene until nearly two hundred years later. Lets look closer at one of these cities mentioned above shall we?
Hatzor, or Hazor, was excavated by the renowned Archaeologist Yigdal Yadins prime pupil. The results were later confirmed by the respected older scholar himself. The original researcher himself was a very meticulous, scholarly, Archaeologist named Ammon Ben-Tor. In it Ben-Tor found two small palaces within a wall 240 feet long and 12 feet thick, but still the entire city was ransacked. It had been entirely and utterly burned. The pottery, as well as the idols that they worshipped were all thoroughly smashed and burned. Dating showed the event to have taken place in the later Bronze age between 1400 and 1300 B.C.! Almost two hundred years earlier than expected if we follow the conventional chronology. All the evidence from the digs in these Canaanite cities place the actual campaign of destruction around the time of Amenhotep III, i.e., Thutmoses IV!
This Archaeological prodigy saw only four possible groups as being responsible, or capable enough at the time, to have accomplished this. First, there is the group of people who have come to be known as the sea peoples. Just exactly who these people were, we do not really know for sure. Some speculate they were early Greeks or Cretans, others believe them to be related to the people of Tyre, who were known for their seafaring capabilities.
However, Ben-Tor notes that none of the telltale ceramics of the "sea peoples " have been found in Hatzor (or for that matter, in any of the other cities). Secondly, other Canaanites may have been capable, only this does not make any sense, because their common Canaanite gods were smashed to pieces, so this is highly unlikely. In the Third instance, if the Pharaohs armies were not destroyed as the Exodus story says, than the Egyptians could have accomplished such a feat. Only guess what? Who ever did this smashed all of their idols as well. Therefore, ruling them out that leaves only one other peoples capable at that time, and that was the Hapiru who were most likely the Hebrews! Rather apologetically, and left with no other options despite the assumptive conclusionism of the critical schools unfounded bias, Ben-Tor concluded with this statement. He says, I cant help it if this is what is written in the Book of Joshua!
Apparently, these were not the results he expected to find there either, but at least he is a scholar who wouldn't compromise his intellectual integrity. Hw simply let the facts dictate the theory and not the other way around. Ben-Tor, as well as Yadin, are now both believers in the Biblical time frame regarding this portion of Israel's history. The spade does not lie, but men do!
In His love
Paul
