History is a story written by the finger of God. CS Lewis

 

 

Tel Megiddo from above-Public Domain

 

 

As we approach the New Year, TWW is planning a variety of posts. We will be looking at spiritual abuse recovery, abuse in some churches of Ireland, and will be posting from a yet unpublished book on church history and linking it to current events in the post evangelical world. On Thursday, we will do our assessment of the top 10 newsworthy items that we posted on TWW. We will be curious to see if our readers concur. We will not post on Friday and will pick up our regular schedule next week.
 

This week a fascinating story, “Armageddon Fortress May Hold Keys to History” was published in the science section of AOL news. Here is the link. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and much information comes from this article.

 

Before I begin, I would ask (not demand) that this not become a debate on the age of the earth or the age of the mentioned finds. That is not the intent of this post.

 

The article, written by Matthew Kalman, gets right to the intrigue of the matter by stating “Scholars are using the rich archaeological remains that soar more than 50 feet above the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel to synchronize the clocks of the ancient world and create the first definitive calendar of human history".

 

A little background is in order. Water is at a premium in Israel. Ancient peoples would build their communities around a water source. They also located near major trade routes for ease of shipment and obtaining of goods. However, when said community was destroyed by war, pestilence, fire or earthquake, it was usually abandoned. Slowly, the buildings would fall to ruin. Over time, a new society would choose the same site, due to the water source and access to a major roadway and begin building directly on top of the ruin since it was difficult to remove the rubble. Such a city is called a "tel" (also spelled tell, til or tal). The word 'tell' is from the Arabic language, meaning mound or mount". You can read more about this here.

 

The area in question is known as Har Megiddo, which means mountain of Megiddo. Below it is the Jezreel Valley, which is identified, in the book of Revelation, as the location of the battle to end all battles, Armageddon. Megiddo is found in the Carmel mountain range and is located along the Via Maris (The Way of the Sea). This was a main trade route, which, along with the Kings Highway, also in Israel, formed a major trading corridor that connected Egypt to Mesopotamia. In other words, Israel was at the crossroads of these major civilizations. (In the United States, think of Interstate 95 which connects the eastern seaboard and Interstate 40 which intersects I-95 and traverses east/west across the country, ending in California.) Thus, Megiddo stood sentry and witness throughout time to traders and invading armies from all over the known world.
 

Yet Megiddo is not a mountain but a vast tel. It is made up of “29 separate cities built one on top of the other by a succession of civilizations from 3000 to 300 BC. “ Interestingly, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which overlooks the Jezreel Valley. (Imagine, if there is to be the final battle of Armageddon here, then Jesus grew up looking at the place where He would have the final victory over Satan). The following picture is of the Jezreel Valley as seen from Tel Megiddo is courtesy of  Wikipedia.

 

 

 

As the reader might surmise, there are two precious natural springs surrounded by the excavated cities. As the archaeologists have dug through the various city layers they have discovered “houses, stables, temples, palaces surrounded by massive fortifications. There is even a mysterious temple which includes several large, perfectly round black stoned altars just a few inches high.”

 

Of course there are intrigues, debates and theories that surround the discoveries. One, in particular, pits legendary Israeli archeologist Yigael Yadin, who claimed one of the layers as belonging to the city built by Solomon, against the current director of the excavation, Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who says that Yadin is wrong and the city is 100 years younger. An old friend, Dr Daniel Wallace, Professor New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and the founder of the Center of the Study of NT Manuscripts, once told me that there is often a push/pull between those archaeologists who believe the historical accounts of the Bible and those who do not.

 

"The scientists hope to utilize four scientific dating techniques, two of which are in their infancy, to date these layers which they call “destruction layers”: radio carbon, archaeo-magnetism, optical luminescence, and rehydroxilation."  We hope to offer a post in the near future describing many of the new techniques for dating.
 

 

There is great excitement about this effort because it is believed that this effort will not only reveal exact dating for the historical events in Israel but also for those in ancient Greece where “specific historical dates before 600BC are basically guesswork.” Finklestein said ”Megiddo is the only site which has 10 layers with radiocarbon results for the period 1300-800 BC.”
 

At this link to the website called BibArch, one can see an awesome chart outlining all the layers in the Megiddo tel. Also, this site gives the following summary of the Scripture which mentions Megiddo.

 

• Joshua killed the king of Megiddo during the Conquest (Joshua 12:7, 12:21).
• The city of Megiddo was allotted to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 17:11; I Chronicles 7:29).
• Deborah and Barak led the Israelites to victory over the Canaanite armies of Sisera by "the waters of Megiddo" (Judges 5:19-20).
• Solomon made Megiddo one of his district capitals as well as one of his three main fortress cities (I Kings 4:12; 9:15).
• King Josiah of Judah died in battle near Megiddo when he tried to thwart pharaoh Necho's attempt to succor the Assyrians at the Battle of Carchemish (II Kings 23:29-30; II Chronicles 35:20-24).
• Western military forces gather in the Valley of Megiddo, at Armageddon, and proceed to Jerusalem to engage eastern forces advancing in that direction, and at the height of battle encounter the unforeseen intervention of the Messiah (Revelation 16:16).”

 

 

In an unrelated story, an Associated Press article written by Daniel Estrin, and posted today, 12/28/10, in the News and Observer, Raleigh, NC, reports that a Tel Aviv University team, (the same university involved at the Megiddo dig) while excavating a cave in central Israel, found a tooth dated 400,000 years old which resembles those of other Homo sapiens. This is about 200,000 older than any other Homo sapien tooth found in Israel. So what? Interestingly, the science generally believes that humans originated in Africa and migrated out of the continent. This could mean that modern man may have originated in Israel. Now, this will need far more extensive testing but the possibilities are intriguing.
 

What are the take away points from this somewhat dry Biblical archaeology  post?

 

1. Biblical archaeology is fascinating and uncovering more and more Biblical evidence every day.
2. Israel, even today, continues to be an important link to our past and future. It never ceases to amaze me that this little country, in a seemingly insignificant part of the world, should be at the center of the world’s conflicts and attention.
3. Christians should not fear the discoveries of archaeology. If we believe the Bible to be true, then the evidence should only serve to bolster the Biblical record.
4. There are sometimes two side to an archaeological find. Ask questions. Find out the biases of the particular archaeologist.
5. If Jesus should tarry what do you think that our descendents will discover about our civilization and the role faith played in our society? I wonder if the remains of megachurch coffee bars and fancy church offices will be a source of much curiosity.
    

Lydia's Corner: Exodus 39:1-40:38 Mark 1:1-28 Psalm 35:1-16 Proverbs 9:11-12