Persuading Skeptics of Gods Truth

1
Persuading Skeptics of Gods Truth
2
How Can we Defend the Faith Against These Views?
How Can we Teach the Faith Against These Views?

• Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv
  University's Department of Archaeology, began
  championing a theory several years ago that the
  biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a
  powerful, unified monarchy under the rule of
  David and Solomon are essentially false.
• his book, The Bible Unearthed, wound up on the
  New York Times' best-seller list and he became
  the darling of a sympathetic media. He concluded
  that David and Solomon, if they existed at all,
  were merely "hill-country chieftains" and
  Jerusalem a poor, small tribal village. He claims
  that the myth of King David was the creation of a
  cult of priests trying to create for themselves a
  glorious history.

3

• This can help us defend, and even advocate the
  Faith to those who may be skeptical.

4
2 Samuel 57 11

• David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is
  the city of David So David lived in the
  stronghold and called Jerusalem the city of
  David.
• And David built all around from the Millo and
  inward. David became greater and greater, for the
  Lord God of hosts was with him.
• Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David
  with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons
  and they built a house for David.

• David built all around the newly captured city.
• The Phoenicians built Davids palace.

5
Archaeologist Eilat Mazar believes she has
discovered the Palace of King David in Jerusalem
6
Textual Clues 2 Samuel 517

• When the Philistines heard that they had anointed
  David king over Israel, all the Philistines went
  up to seek out David and when David heard of it,
  he went down to the stronghold.
• This suggests that Davids Palace was built on
  higher ground than the Millo stronghold.

7
Evidence The High Ground

• The structure is built directly on bedrock along
  the citys northern edge, with no archeological
  layers beneath it - a sign that this structure,
  built two millennia after the citys founding,
  constituted a new, northward expansion of the
  citys northern limit. And it is located at what
  was then the very summit of the mountain - a
  reasonable place indeed for the palace from which
  David descended.

8
Evidence Pottery Shards

• Within the dirt fill between the stones were
  found pottery shards dating to the 11th century
  B.C., the time when David established his
  monarchy.

9
Evidence A Signet Ring

• In the new excavation, Mazar has discovered a
  remarkable clay bulla, or signet impression,
  bearing the name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, a
  noble of Judea from the time of King Zedekiah who
  is mentioned by name in Jeremiah 373, evidence
  suggesting that four centuries after David, the
  site was still an important seat of Judean
  royalty.

This matches the biblical account according to
which the palace was in more or less continuous
use from its construction until the destruction
of Judea by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.
10
Jeremiah 371 3

• Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar
  king of Babylon had made king in the land of
  Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son
  of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants nor
  the people of the land listened to the words of
  the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the
  prophet.
• Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of
  Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the
  priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Please
  pray to the Lord our God on our behalf."

11
The Bulla of Jehucal (Yehuchal) ben Shelemiah
12
Impact

• This alone is enough to overturn the hypothesis
  of Finkelstein and others that Jerusalem at the
  time of David was a poor village incapable of
  being the capital of an Israelite kingdom.
• No longer is it reasonable to claim, as did Tel
  Aviv Universitys Zeev Herzog basing his claim
  entirely on the absence of just this kind of
  evidence, that the great unified monarchy was an
  imaginary creation, invented at the end of the
  Judean period, at the very earliest.
• On the contrary Now we have a major Israelite
  compound dating to the time of the unified
  monarchy, firmly establishing Jerusalem as a
  major city of its time.

13
There is more evidence to weight our defense of
the Faith.
14
A Pile of Stones on Mt. Ebal
15
Aerial View of the Excavated Site
16
A Closer View of the Site
17
The Restored Site An Altar
18
Deuteronomy 274 7

• It shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall
  set up on Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am
  commanding you today, and you shall coat them
  with lime. Moreover, you shall build there an
  altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones
  you shall not wield an iron tool on them.
• "You shall build the altar of the Lord your God
  of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt
  offerings to the Lord your God and you shall
  sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and
  rejoice before the Lord your God."

19
This Fits the Description of an Israelite Altar

• Built of uncut stones (Deut. 27)
• Has a ramp instead of steps (Exodus 2026)
• Filled with animal bones.

20
The Report

• The bones, which were found in such large
  quantities in the filling, were sent for analysis
  to the zoology department of the Hebrew
  University in Jerusalem. The bones proved to be
  from young male bulls, sheep, goats and fallow
  deer. Most of the bones had been burnt in
  open-flame fires of low temperature (200-600
  degrees C). Some of the bones were cut near the
  joints.

21
The Report

• Examining the bones in the laboratories of the
  Hebrew University's Department of Zoology took
  several months When they brought us the
  results, they were very surprising. Except for
  the bones of a wild rabbit and a hedgehog (that
  happened to die on this site at a later date),
  942 bones were examined, representing 50-100
  specimens. These were attributed to four kinds of
  animals goats, sheep, cattle, and fallow deer.

22
The Report

• Examination of the sex and age of the animals
  revealed that all those that could be diagnosed
  were young males, approximately one year old.
  This correlates remarkably with the laws of
  sacrifice in the book of Leviticus Speak to the
  sons of Israel and say to them, 'When any man of
  you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall
  bring your offering of animals from the herd or
  the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering
  from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without
  defect he shall offer it at the doorway of the
  tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before
  the Lord. (Leviticus 12-3).

23
Joshua 830 31

• Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of
  Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant
  of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel an
  altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded
  an iron tool and they offered burnt offerings on
  it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

24
Our Benefits from This Lesson

• These discoveries confirm the Bibles reliability
  and authenticity.
• Each of these finds is a monument to Gods
  involvement in the world.

25
Monuments to Gods Involvement in the World

• David became greater and greater, for the Lord
  God of hosts was with him. (2 Samuel 510)
• The Ebal altar was constructed immediately after
  the incident with Achan and the city of Ai, as a
  reminder of Israels covenant with God.

26
Our Benefits from This Lesson

• These discoveries confirm the Bibles reliability
  and authenticity.
• Each of these finds is a monument to Gods
  involvement in the world.
• David became greater and greater, for the Lord
  God of hosts was with him. (2 Sam. 510)
• The Ebal altar was constructed immediately after
  the incident with Achan and the city of Ai, as a
  reminder of Israels covenant with God.
• These remind us that God is real, and we should
  not regard Him casually or lightly.