Sharing My Story

Israel Dig Part 1

One of the areas of interest I've had over the years
was in archaeology—specifically in Biblical archaeology.
Perhaps this is related to my belief in the trustworthiness
of the the divine origin and transmission of the Old and
New Testament scriptures. The Bible makes lots of historical
claims or historical reports. The Bible speaks of places like
villages, cities and regions and individuals, people groups,
and nations that existed and left remains of their presence.

I have read and purchased books on the subject of Biblical
archaeology trying to see how this historical science has
been used to confirm the scriptures. I also came across a
popular magazine called the Biblical Archaeology Review
(BAR) that presents excavation data in a mostly layman
friendly manner. BAR is a often interesting and often
frustrating read as many of its contributors do not have
a high regard for the trustworthiness of scripture. Most
of them see some worth in the Old and New Testaments
as documents reporting on events that took place in
ancient times. However many deny well recorded Biblical
events such as the existence of the early patriarchs,
the Exodus, the Conquest of Canaan and other events.
It seems as if part of the problem has to do with
correlation of Biblical and non-Biblical chronologies.
Non-Biblical chronologies seem to be taken as the standard
to which the Biblical chronologies are judged and have to
adhere rather than the other way around. Other
chronology-related issues have to do with the physical
evidence left behind where it is or should be.

Through the influence of BAR I decided to take a trip
to Israel and go on an archaeological dig. This dig was
at Beth Shemesh about 15 miles or so west of Jerusalem.
I stayed in the Kibbutz Ha'rel near the dig site with a
number of other excavation workers. Here are some
excerpts from an account of the dig (in June 1997)
that I wrote shortly after my return from Israel.