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>>John Bradshaw: This is It
Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
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Thanks for joining me.
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Today we're going back in time
back to what many refer to as
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the golden age of Israel.
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The time of the united monarchy,
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when King David and
then King Solomon reigned,
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and all of Israel
were pressed together
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and were mighty,
strong and powerful.
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My guest today is
Dr. Michael Hasel.
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He is a professor of Near
Eastern study and archaeology
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at Southern
Adventist University.
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Dr. Hasel, thank you for
joining me. Welcome today.
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>>Dr. Michael Hasel:
Thank you. It's good to be here.
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>>John: It's good to be here in
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the Lynn H. Wood
Archaeological Museum.
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And today I'm going to ask you
to walk me through yesterday,
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and talk about some of the
great figures of the Bible.
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I wondered if today we
could talk about Solomon,
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the great King Solomon.
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Before we begin with Solomon,
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let's go back a little
bit further than Solomon,
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to his dad, King David.
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Explain to me how your work in
archaeology has shined a light
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on the life and the
times of David the King.
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>>Dr. Hasel: Well,
David has been a very, uh,
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important figure in history.
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If, uh, you didn't have David
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you'd have no
capital in Jerusalem.
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If you didn't have David,
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you'd have no, uh,
none of the Psalms,
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73 of them written
and attributed to him.
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You wouldn't have, uh, his
son Solomon building the temple,
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which we're going to
talk about in this program.
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And you wouldn't have so
many of the other elements
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that made Israel what it was.
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So David was a very, very
central figure in history.
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>>John: Nor would you have Jesus
referred to as the son of David.
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>>Dr. Hasel: That's
right. That's right.
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>>John: Now,
let me ask you this,
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briefly touch on this with me.
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David in archaeology is
a bit of a disputed figure.
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Why is that?
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>>Dr. Hasel: Well, for
many years there was no mention
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of David outside of the Bible.
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And this led some highly
critical scholars to say,
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“Well, because we
don't have evidence
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outside of the Bible for David,
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we don't think
David really existed.”
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Um, that's an
argument from silence, and, uh,
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in archaeology we're
always finding new things.
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The main scholar
who said this, in 1992,
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in a book that was
published in England,
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uh, the very next year,
archaeologists working in Israel
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uncovered a very
exciting inscription.
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We have a replica of it here.
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This inscription, this
is a smaller version of it,
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is an inscription, once a
very large, monumental stele, or
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uh, commemorative inscription,
that documented a campaign
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by an Aramean king
from Damascus who came down
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and who conquered the
northern kingdom of Israel
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and the
southern kingdom of Judah
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about 140 years
after the time of David.
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And in this inscription
it describes his victory
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over the King of Israel
and, on this line here, it says,
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“and the house of David.”
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That's exactly the way the Bible
in Kings and Chronicles refers
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to the dynasty of David and
the kings that followed him:
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“the house of David.”
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And so for the
first time in history,
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in 1993, we found David's name
in an extrabiblical inscription.
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>>John: Let me ask you
this: Why has it been so hard
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to find any mention
of David in archaeology?
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After all, he was David.
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And Israel was mighty
and powerful during his time.
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So why the silence?
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>>Dr. Hasel: I think
part of the reason is we,
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we're only finding a fracture
of what actually was out there.
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Jerusalem,
which was his capital,
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is, is not a very
well-excavated site.
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It's still occupied today.
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It's still the
capital of Israel today.
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And so you have
houses everywhere.
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You have a temple mount.
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It's a very disputed
area between Arabs and Jews.
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And so all of this
political uh, situation,
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as well as the modern buildings,
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have made Jerusalem
very difficult to excavate.
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>>John: So did that settle
it in the archaeological world,
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or was there, were
there still doubts about David
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and his existence and
the extent of his empire?
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>>Dr. Hasel: I would say
that probably for the most part
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it settled David's existence.
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I mean, there's a few scholars
here and there that are,
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you know,
die-hards that would say,
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well, we still can't be sure.
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But I think for the
most part 99 percent,
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99.9 percent of scholarship
says this is evidence,
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without a doubt,
that David existed.
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The big question today is,
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what was the
extent of David's kingdom,
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and uh, how did that follow
in the reign of his son Solomon?
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>>John: Well, let me
ask you this question, then.
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The Bible tells us about
the extent of David's kingdom.
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Archaeology,
therefore, in the minds of some
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must be seen to
validate the Bible.
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Is that the issue?
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Academics aren't simply prepared
to trust what the Bible says,
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as in a number of
other disciplines.
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Archaeology is there
to support and to confirm
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what the Bible says.
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Is that the role of
archaeology for many people?
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>>Dr. Hasel: I think
for many people that's true.
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For many Christians that's true.
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I think as a
Christian archaeologist,
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I also want to look at the data
and see the data for what it is.
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And for many uh, many,
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that's not what
archaeology is at all.
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Archaeology is
simply studying history,
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studying the backgrounds
uh, to many of the kingdoms and,
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and, and the histories
that we have out there.
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So, um, the Bible is a part
of that, and it's important,
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but certainly, in
the broader scope,
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we're also wanting
to know bigger questions
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than simply questions
about the biblical history.
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But in this case, yes,
the Bible and archaeology,
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uh, do go hand in
hand, certainly in Israel.
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>>John: Well,
we have King David.
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King Saul, King David.
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And then a whole slew of
kings that followed King David.
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What does the record tell
us about David's successors?
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>>Dr. Hasel: If you look at
the people of the Old Testament
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and the New Testament,
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we have a total of
over a hundred individuals
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that have been
uncovered through archaeology,
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in one way or another have been
confirmed through archaeology,
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and many of those
are the ancient kings
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of Judah and Israel.
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So that's to me very exciting.
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There are only a few
kings here and there missing.
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The very large majority of
them we have good evidence for.
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And, uh, and archaeology is
still, it's a young discipline.
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We've only been
around for 150, 175 years.
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So you never know what the
next season is going to bring.
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>>John: Now, very
quickly, what about Solomon?
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What about Solomon in
the archaeological record,
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or Solomon's temple?
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David wanted to build a
temple, was not able to.
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God said, no, we'll
have your son build that.
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So, so let's go
in that direction.
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Solomon, or through
Solomon, to the temple.
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>>Dr. Hasel: The temple was
an amazing, amazing building
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that was,
according to the Bible,
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very well described in Kings.
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Um it was a building that,
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of course, David wanted
to build in honor of his God.
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Uh, he was not allowed
to do that, as you said.
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Solomon did.
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Unfortunately, the
temple was completely destroyed
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during the
Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C.
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And so what we have today
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is, is no remains from
Solomon's temple, really.
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Um, from that
period we have materials.
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It's interesting that in recent
years there has been excavations
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done on the temple mount area,
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and the dump has been put
over the edge of the walls
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and, and, and dumped down into
the valley, the Kidron valley.
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And a colleague of
mine, Dr. Gabriel Barkay,
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for several years now has been
collecting that dump material,
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sifting through it all,
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and we have found artifacts
dating back to that time period.
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But from the building itself,
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we have only the
biblical description.
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And that is something
that is a little frustrating
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for archaeologists,
but it, it is what it is,
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because Jerusalem was
destroyed and conquered
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so many times in history.
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>>John: Back today to
the time of the kings,
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and we'll have more
from the time of David
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and more importantly,
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the time of King
Solomon, in just a moment.
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>>John: Thanks for joining
me today on It Is Written.
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I'm John Bradshaw, and
my special guest today is
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archaeologist Dr. Michael Hasel.
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Dr. Hasel, a moment ago we were
talking about Solomon's temple.
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The archaeological
record offers nothing to us,
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really, of the temple itself.
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Understandable.
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It was destroyed.
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There have been temples
built in its place since.
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But does the archaeological
record offer us anything else
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to help us understand
Solomon's temple and its times?
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>>Dr. Hasel:
Yeah, it really does.
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We have temples
that have been built
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all around the nation of Israel.
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Um, and we also have a
very interesting new discovery
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that was made just in
the last couple of years
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at the site of Khirbet
Qeiyafa, which I co-directed.
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A model was found in a
room, a cultic room area.
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And in that cultic
room we found several items
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that seem to indicate
this was a place of worship.
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>>John: And when
you say a cultic room,
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what does that mean?
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>>Dr. Hasel: It
means a place of worship.
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Not like the occult, but
simply a place of worship,
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a place where people
engaged in worship practices.
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And what is fascinating about
this particular shrine is, its,
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its architectural elements
that make it very unique
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from anything ever
found in Israel, like this.
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It's a very unique piece,
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and it mirrors in some ways the
architecture of Solomon's temple
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that comes just a
few decades later.
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>>John: Okay.
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Now, what's the
significance of that?
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This sort of prefigures
the architecture of the temple,
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the point being,
help me understand that.
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>>Dr. Hasel: The point, the
point is that David and Solomon
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are given this, these,
these dimensions by God
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of how the
temple should be built,
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how specifically it
should be constructed.
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And, um, during
this time period,
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during the time of David, we
have this shrine being built,
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which is fascinating, because
it, it mirrors in many ways
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what the Bible
account is describing.
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You have these recesses,
as you move inside the door.
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These recesses, there
are several of them here,
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the Bible describes
the same kind of pattern
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for the building
of Solomon's temple.
00:11:50.24\00:11:51.71
>>John: Okay.
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>>Dr. Hasel: You have
the, you have the, um,
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the dimensions of the door,
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which are
identical to the dimensions,
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obviously, this
is a smaller scale,
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but identical to the dimensions
of the door of Solomon's temple.
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And then you have
these interesting triglyphs,
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we call them triglyphs.
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They're three-part,
probably referring to the beams
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that would hold up
the roof of the structure.
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These triglyphs become
an architectural element
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that can be seen on major
temples for centuries later.
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We think of the famous Parthenon
in Athens, on the Acropolis.
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It has triglyphs in
stone all around it.
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This decorative element
is known in many temples
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after this time period,
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but it's never
been found this early,
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nor has it been found in
Israel in this, in this case.
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So here we have these.
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And the Bible uses a
very specific term in Hebrew
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that we believe may be
referring to these triglyphs.
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It's been not well understood
because it's one of these words
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that is not used very
frequently in the Bible,
00:12:48.30\00:12:50.07
but it's an
architectural technical term,
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and we believe it
refers to these triglyphs.
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So what we have
here in this shrine model
00:12:54.44\00:12:57.27
is something curiously that
comes from the time of David.
00:12:57.31\00:13:01.71
It comes just a few
years before the time
00:13:01.74\00:13:04.31
Solomon's temple is built,
00:13:04.35\00:13:06.01
but some of those architectural
elements are already present.
00:13:06.05\00:13:09.65
And what is
fascinating to me is,
00:13:09.68\00:13:11.22
we found no deities
or gods around these,
00:13:11.25\00:13:15.02
these shrine, the shrine or
in any of these cultic rooms.
00:13:15.06\00:13:18.53
>>John: Suggesting that...
00:13:18.56\00:13:19.83
>>Dr. Hasel: This
suggests, I think,
00:13:19.86\00:13:21.20
that the people
were not practicing, uh,
00:13:21.23\00:13:24.13
worship that
involved other deities.
00:13:24.17\00:13:26.30
Uh, God was always, the
deity of the Old Testament,
00:13:26.33\00:13:30.64
Yahweh, was never supposed
to be fashioned into a deity,
00:13:30.67\00:13:34.98
based on the second commandment.
00:13:35.01\00:13:36.75
And so we have a very
interesting clue, anyway.
00:13:36.78\00:13:40.95
>>John: Now, we
know that the temple
00:13:40.98\00:13:42.25
was a magnificent structure.
00:13:42.28\00:13:44.25
It was built, designed for
the honor and the glory of God.
00:13:44.29\00:13:49.06
But it wasn't long
before God's own people
00:13:49.09\00:13:53.36
were using that temple
for all the wrong reasons.
00:13:53.40\00:13:56.60
How did that come about?
00:13:56.63\00:13:58.47
>>Dr. Hasel: Part of it was
Solomon building up his kingdom
00:13:58.50\00:14:01.67
and beginning to make all kinds
of alliances with other nations.
00:14:01.70\00:14:05.07
And part of the way he did
that was marrying wives from,
00:14:05.11\00:14:08.54
this was a very common practice
in the ancient Near East,
00:14:08.58\00:14:10.78
where a king would
marry a princess from another,
00:14:10.81\00:14:13.85
another country.
00:14:13.88\00:14:14.88
And one of the
princesses that Solomon married
00:14:14.92\00:14:16.58
was an Egyptian princess.
00:14:16.62\00:14:17.95
And we have some evidence
00:14:17.99\00:14:19.92
that he even built a
temple for her in Jerusalem.
00:14:19.95\00:14:23.43
Not this temple,
but another temple.
00:14:23.46\00:14:25.79
And as these kinds of practices
began to creep in with time,
00:14:25.83\00:14:30.03
Israel moved
further and further away
00:14:30.07\00:14:31.97
from where it was supposed
to, uh, continue its practice.
00:14:32.00\00:14:36.14
>>John: So what do
we find in archaeology?
00:14:36.17\00:14:37.51
Before you said that, uh, many
of the other Israelite kings,
00:14:37.54\00:14:42.81
uh, pop up in the
archaeological record.
00:14:42.84\00:14:45.11
Does the record show in
any way the apostasy of Israel,
00:14:45.15\00:14:48.12
Israel moving
away from true worship
00:14:48.15\00:14:51.35
and away from fidelity to God?
00:14:51.39\00:14:53.29
>>Dr. Hasel: Well, it
gets to the point where we have
00:14:53.32\00:14:55.22
Manasseh, the king of Judah,
00:14:55.26\00:14:58.19
who is known as one
of the most wicked kings,
00:14:58.23\00:15:01.43
if not the most
wicked king in the Bible.
00:15:01.46\00:15:04.53
And he takes things
to a whole new level,
00:15:04.57\00:15:07.27
because the Bible tells us
00:15:07.30\00:15:08.64
he actually places these
gods in the temple itself.
00:15:08.67\00:15:12.61
He desecrates the
temple, so to speak.
00:15:12.64\00:15:14.44
And what we have
as a result of that,
00:15:14.48\00:15:17.85
we look at the
archaeological record,
00:15:17.88\00:15:19.65
and even if we
don't have a temple today,
00:15:19.68\00:15:21.75
we can see what the people
are doing during this time,
00:15:21.78\00:15:24.49
and how they are reacting, and,
and living that life as well.
00:15:24.52\00:15:28.52
>>John: So what
does that show us?
00:15:28.56\00:15:29.86
What do we find from the record?
00:15:29.89\00:15:31.13
>>Dr. Hasel: Well,
we find, uh, deities.
00:15:31.16\00:15:33.53
We find images in the households
00:15:33.56\00:15:36.83
that we excavate
throughout the area of Judah.
00:15:36.87\00:15:39.93
We find, uh, a
great deal of, um,
00:15:39.97\00:15:43.30
of evidence of other worship
places besides the temple,
00:15:43.34\00:15:46.57
which shouldn't
really have been.
00:15:46.61\00:15:47.94
There should only have
been one temple in Jerusalem
00:15:47.98\00:15:49.74
that all the people come to
00:15:49.78\00:15:50.85
to worship during the
festivals and the holidays.
00:15:50.88\00:15:53.25
So all of these, all of
these things come together.
00:15:53.28\00:15:56.69
One of the things that we
find are, are small figures.
00:15:56.72\00:15:59.95
We have a figurine here.
00:16:00.06\00:16:02.26
This particular figurine, um,
00:16:02.29\00:16:05.63
is typical of this
period of the time of Manasseh.
00:16:05.66\00:16:11.10
And this figurine, uh, we call
it a Judean colored figurine,
00:16:11.13\00:16:15.40
because even though
we excavate in Canaan,
00:16:15.44\00:16:18.17
even though we
excavate in Phoenicia
00:16:18.21\00:16:20.58
and other
surrounding areas, Philistia,
00:16:20.61\00:16:22.54
this figure
primarily comes from Judah.
00:16:22.58\00:16:25.08
Ninety-six
percent of these figures,
00:16:25.11\00:16:26.98
and there have been over
a thousand of them found,
00:16:27.02\00:16:29.12
come from Israel,
00:16:29.15\00:16:30.45
come from Judah itself.
00:16:30.49\00:16:32.12
Half of those were
found in Jerusalem itself.
00:16:32.15\00:16:34.79
So that tells you how
widespread the worship.
00:16:34.82\00:16:37.39
If this was a fertility
goddess, Asherah was the,
00:16:37.43\00:16:40.46
the fertility goddess
mentioned often in the Bible,
00:16:40.50\00:16:44.60
over 40 times in the Bible.
00:16:44.63\00:16:46.30
If this were Asherah, and some
scholars believe that it was,
00:16:46.33\00:16:50.07
then we have the worship
of this fertility goddess
00:16:50.11\00:16:52.47
taking place just at the time
where the Bible is describing
00:16:52.51\00:16:55.14
Manasseh placing an
Asherah in the temple itself.
00:16:55.18\00:16:59.05
>>John: I have that here
in Second Kings, chapter 21.
00:16:59.08\00:17:01.38
“He built alters,”
00:17:01.42\00:17:02.48
verse 5, “for all
the host of heaven,
00:17:02.52\00:17:04.25
in the two courts of
the house of the Lord.”
00:17:04.29\00:17:06.22
This was pretty
brazen apostasy, wasn't it?
00:17:06.25\00:17:08.52
Verse 7, “He set a
graven image of the grove
00:17:08.56\00:17:10.86
that he had made in the house,
00:17:10.89\00:17:12.13
of which the Lord had said to
David, and to Solomon his son,
00:17:12.16\00:17:15.76
in this house, and in Jerusalem,
00:17:15.80\00:17:18.03
which I have chosen out
of all tribes of Israel,
00:17:18.07\00:17:20.94
will I put my name forever.”
00:17:20.97\00:17:22.77
And there was Manasseh
putting something just like that
00:17:22.80\00:17:25.34
inside the temple of God.
00:17:25.37\00:17:27.11
>>Dr. Hasel:
That's right. Right.
00:17:27.14\00:17:28.41
>>John:
Breathtaking. Breathtaking.
00:17:28.44\00:17:29.78
Archaeology once again shining
a light on the Word of God,
00:17:29.81\00:17:33.08
making alive the biblical
record we hold in our hands,
00:17:33.11\00:17:37.19
and rightly understood,
00:17:37.22\00:17:38.62
making more alive our
faith in the living God.
00:17:38.65\00:17:42.29
Don't go away; be
right back in just a moment.
00:17:42.32\00:17:44.69
¤[Music]¤
00:17:44.73\00:17:55.04
>>Announcer: In Matthew
4:4, the Word of God says,
00:17:55.07\00:17:57.44
“It is written,
00:17:57.47\00:17:58.51
‘Man shall not
live by bread alone,
00:17:58.54\00:18:00.54
but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”
00:18:00.58\00:18:04.65
“Every Word” is a one-minute,
Bible-based daily devotional
00:18:04.68\00:18:07.95
presented by
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00:18:07.98\00:18:09.68
and designed especially
for busy people like you.
00:18:09.72\00:18:12.89
Look for Every Word
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00:18:12.92\00:18:15.89
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00:18:15.92\00:18:17.99
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00:18:18.03\00:18:20.36
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00:18:20.40\00:18:22.46
Watch “Every Word.”
00:18:22.50\00:18:23.87
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00:18:23.90\00:18:25.40
Here's a sample.
00:18:25.43\00:18:26.13
¤[Theme music]¤
00:18:26.17\00:18:34.21
An automobile manufacturer
00:18:34.64\00:18:35.78
recently recalled a million
vehicles due to a defect.
00:18:35.81\00:18:38.88
Now, these recalls
happen with some frequency,
00:18:38.91\00:18:41.22
and it's not really surprising,
00:18:41.25\00:18:43.08
because cars are
incredibly complex things.
00:18:43.12\00:18:46.12
Now, when God made human beings,
00:18:46.15\00:18:47.49
He intended for them to function
without defect for eternity.
00:18:47.52\00:18:51.93
We were perfectly made.
00:18:51.96\00:18:53.56
But then in Eden
things went south in a hurry
00:18:53.60\00:18:55.96
when Adam and Eve chose to
step outside the will of God.
00:18:56.00\00:18:59.40
Now, God might have
recalled the human family,
00:18:59.43\00:19:02.04
fixed the problem,
00:19:02.07\00:19:02.90
and re-released a
new improved model.
00:19:02.94\00:19:05.44
But instead He gave
Jesus to die for our sins.
00:19:05.47\00:19:08.81
Faith in Christ, not a recall,
00:19:08.84\00:19:11.08
would get us
working right again.
00:19:11.11\00:19:13.28
Second Corinthians 5:17 says,
00:19:13.31\00:19:15.15
“Therefore if
any man be in Christ,
00:19:15.18\00:19:16.85
he is a new creature:
old things are passed away;
00:19:16.89\00:19:19.22
behold, all
things are become new.”
00:19:19.25\00:19:21.12
Yield to Jesus,
00:19:21.16\00:19:22.16
and He'll restore you
and make everything new.
00:19:22.19\00:19:25.13
Let's live today by every word.
00:19:25.16\00:19:28.36
>>John: Thanks for joining
me today on It Is Written.
00:19:29.43\00:19:31.43
My special guest is
archaeologist Dr. Michael Hasel.
00:19:31.47\00:19:35.20
Dr. Hasel, in all of your
involvement with archaeology,
00:19:35.24\00:19:37.74
what's the thing that
stands out in your mind
00:19:37.77\00:19:40.31
as being the most exciting
thing you've participated in?
00:19:40.34\00:19:42.84
>>Dr. Hasel: Well, I
think probably it goes back
00:19:42.88\00:19:44.31
to that first excavation
project I was part of in Israel.
00:19:44.35\00:19:47.32
Um, we worked at
a site called Gezer.
00:19:47.35\00:19:49.92
And that site is a very
important Canaanite city for,
00:19:49.95\00:19:53.22
for hundreds of years, and
then it's taken over by Solomon.
00:19:53.25\00:19:57.03
And, um, it is then refortified,
00:19:57.06\00:20:00.66
and we were excavating
the gate that we believed
00:20:00.70\00:20:03.00
dated back to
the time of Solomon.
00:20:03.03\00:20:04.33
>>John: To the time of Solomon.
00:20:04.37\00:20:05.80
>>Dr. Hasel: That's right.
00:20:05.83\00:20:06.80
>>John: And how does an
archaeologist ascertain,
00:20:06.84\00:20:08.44
this is from
the time of Solomon?
00:20:08.47\00:20:10.34
We talked a few moments about
how when you're digging into a,
00:20:10.37\00:20:13.24
into houses or
dwellings, there are all,
00:20:13.27\00:20:15.44
maybe there are hundreds
and hundreds of artifacts.
00:20:15.48\00:20:17.65
But a gate, how
do we get to that?
00:20:17.68\00:20:19.61
>>Dr. Hasel: Well, we
find pottery also in gates.
00:20:19.65\00:20:22.02
The gate was a very important
place in ancient times.
00:20:22.05\00:20:24.85
It was a place
not only of defense,
00:20:24.89\00:20:26.55
but it was also a
place where people gathered.
00:20:26.59\00:20:29.06
Um, we talk often, we read often
in ancient narratives about, uh,
00:20:29.09\00:20:33.56
elders sitting in the gate.
00:20:33.60\00:20:36.20
Uh, we talk
about judicial matters
00:20:36.23\00:20:38.70
being decided in the gate.
00:20:38.73\00:20:40.87
Um, so the gate was not
only a place of, of defense;
00:20:40.90\00:20:44.64
it was a place where
legal transactions took place,
00:20:44.67\00:20:46.78
where social
activity took place,
00:20:46.81\00:20:48.14
where the men and
the elders of the city
00:20:48.18\00:20:49.51
would sit and make decisions.
00:20:49.54\00:20:51.48
Uh, and so this was a
very, very crucial gate.
00:20:51.51\00:20:55.55
But how did we date it?
00:20:55.58\00:20:56.69
It was based on
the pottery, primarily.
00:20:56.72\00:20:59.29
There's a certain type
of pottery that dates back
00:20:59.32\00:21:01.36
to the early part
of the 10th century.
00:21:01.39\00:21:03.73
It's called red slipped.
00:21:03.76\00:21:05.06
And I have one vessel here.
00:21:05.09\00:21:07.76
This particular
vessel has a red slip,
00:21:07.83\00:21:11.93
that is, it's colored in red.
00:21:11.97\00:21:13.90
You can see the
original color here.
00:21:13.94\00:21:16.10
But it was
actually dipped into a red,
00:21:16.14\00:21:18.97
very watery clay substance.
00:21:19.01\00:21:21.31
And then a polishing
stone like this one was used,
00:21:21.34\00:21:26.11
and it was
burnished before firing.
00:21:26.15\00:21:29.45
And they burnished it all
kinds of different directions.
00:21:29.48\00:21:32.22
And you can see how,
in this particular vessel,
00:21:32.25\00:21:35.02
you have all of these
different burnishing marks.
00:21:35.06\00:21:37.96
And this type of
pottery dates back
00:21:37.99\00:21:40.16
to the early united monarchy,
the time of David and Solomon,
00:21:40.20\00:21:43.93
and even more so in
the time of Solomon.
00:21:43.97\00:21:47.14
We found this pottery in 1990,
00:21:47.17\00:21:49.67
which helped us date the gate
to that particular time period.
00:21:49.70\00:21:53.31
>>John: And that
particular time period,
00:21:53.34\00:21:54.98
how many years before
Christ are we talking?
00:21:55.01\00:21:56.98
>>Dr. Hasel: We're talking, uh,
00:21:57.01\00:21:58.55
Solomon's dates are
between 971 and 931 B.C.
00:21:58.58\00:22:03.39
He reigned for 40
years in that time range.
00:22:03.42\00:22:06.19
So almost a
thousand years before Christ.
00:22:06.22\00:22:08.42
>>John: So what
we're looking at here
00:22:08.46\00:22:10.26
is something
almost 3,000 years old.
00:22:10.29\00:22:12.56
>>Dr. Hasel: That's right.
00:22:12.59\00:22:13.73
>>John: Now, I want to
read a little passage here from
00:22:13.76\00:22:14.93
the Bible that, that I think
refers back to that very time.
00:22:14.96\00:22:18.97
In First Kings,
chapter 9, it says in verse 14,
00:22:19.00\00:22:22.30
“Hiram sent to the king
sixscore talents of gold”
00:22:22.34\00:22:26.47
One hundred and
twenty talents of gold.
00:22:26.51\00:22:28.78
“And this is the reason of the
levy which king Solomon raised;
00:22:28.81\00:22:31.21
for to build the
house of the Lord,
00:22:31.25\00:22:33.28
and his own house,
00:22:33.31\00:22:34.65
and Millo,
00:22:34.68\00:22:36.28
and the wall of Jerusalem,
00:22:36.32\00:22:37.29
and Hazor,
00:22:37.32\00:22:38.72
and Megiddo, and Gezer.
00:22:38.75\00:22:41.12
For Pharaoh king of Egypt
had gone up, and taken Gezer,
00:22:41.16\00:22:43.39
and burnt it with fire,
00:22:43.43\00:22:44.53
and slain the Canaanites
that dwelt in the city,
00:22:44.56\00:22:47.00
and given it for a present unto
his daughter, Solomon's wife.”
00:22:47.03\00:22:50.37
That's what
we're discussing here.
00:22:50.40\00:22:51.70
>>Dr. Hasel:
We're discussing that,
00:22:51.73\00:22:52.80
because what Solomon did
after he built the temple,
00:22:52.83\00:22:54.64
he also rebuilt several of
the important cities of Judah,
00:22:54.67\00:22:58.17
and of Israel.
00:22:58.21\00:22:59.57
And those cities
are listed there.
00:22:59.61\00:23:01.88
Jerusalem, of course,
the capital, was refortified.
00:23:01.91\00:23:04.35
Um, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.
00:23:04.38\00:23:07.72
So we're excavating
the gate of Gezer in 1990.
00:23:07.75\00:23:10.82
We have to go back in time.
00:23:10.85\00:23:12.52
Because in the early period
of archaeology in Israel, uh,
00:23:12.55\00:23:17.83
in the 1930s, the
University of Chicago
00:23:17.86\00:23:20.40
had excavated
the site of Meggido
00:23:20.43\00:23:21.86
and found a gate
that had six chambers,
00:23:21.90\00:23:25.13
just like the gate that
we were excavating at Gezer.
00:23:25.17\00:23:28.17
A little bit
later on, Yigael Yadin,
00:23:28.20\00:23:30.54
the famous archaeologist
and later statesman,
00:23:30.57\00:23:32.77
was deputy prime
minister of Israel
00:23:32.81\00:23:34.71
he uh, excavated
the site of Hazor,
00:23:34.74\00:23:37.48
and he found a
six-chambered gate,
00:23:37.51\00:23:40.32
also dating to the 10th
century, based on the pottery.
00:23:40.35\00:23:43.52
And he began to
say, wait a minute.
00:23:43.55\00:23:45.29
He was reading his Bible, and he
read this passage, and he says,
00:23:45.32\00:23:48.42
we've already got a
date like this from Meggido
00:23:48.46\00:23:50.16
dating to the same time period.
00:23:50.19\00:23:51.33
We've got this gate.
00:23:51.36\00:23:52.99
And he made a
prediction in 1957,
00:23:53.03\00:23:55.83
in an article
that was published.
00:23:55.86\00:23:57.17
He was not the prophet
or the son of a prophet,
00:23:57.20\00:23:59.30
but he made a
prediction and said,
00:23:59.33\00:24:00.70
“Whoever will dig
Gezer in the future
00:24:00.74\00:24:02.27
will find a similar gate
there, based on this passage.”
00:24:02.30\00:24:05.51
So when my major professor
from the University of Arizona,
00:24:05.54\00:24:07.98
Professor William Deaver,
00:24:08.01\00:24:09.51
excavated at Gezer
in the 1960s and ‘70s,
00:24:09.54\00:24:13.18
sure enough, there
they excavated a gate,
00:24:13.21\00:24:16.22
and it dated to
the same time period.
00:24:16.25\00:24:17.79
But a controversy
began to brew in the 1980s.
00:24:17.82\00:24:21.76
Did this gate
actually date to Solomon,
00:24:21.79\00:24:23.86
or were these built
during the time of Ahab,
00:24:23.89\00:24:26.13
some eighty years later?
00:24:26.16\00:24:27.40
We decided to go back to
Gezer in 1990 with a small team
00:24:27.40\00:24:31.13
of about forty
volunteers and staff.
00:24:31.17\00:24:34.00
And we began to
re-excavate the gate,
00:24:34.04\00:24:35.94
because the gate
had been excavated down
00:24:35.97\00:24:37.87
to a certain level,
00:24:37.91\00:24:38.81
but nobody had ever
gone below the gate.
00:24:38.84\00:24:40.94
Many times you can't
figure out what the sequence
00:24:40.98\00:24:43.28
of chronology is
unless you go below
00:24:43.31\00:24:45.15
a piece of
architecture that was built.
00:24:45.18\00:24:47.55
So what we did, we
went below the gate,
00:24:47.58\00:24:49.65
and there was a massage
destruction underneath the gate,
00:24:49.68\00:24:52.12
which we attributed
to the pharaoh of Egypt,
00:24:52.15\00:24:56.26
who had destroyed Canaanite
Gezer and given it as a dowry
00:24:56.29\00:25:00.10
to Solomon, or to
his wife, his new wife,
00:25:00.13\00:25:02.80
the princess,
who he had married.
00:25:02.83\00:25:04.70
And we found that
massive destruction level.
00:25:04.73\00:25:06.74
Right after that, we
found pieces of this red slipped
00:25:06.77\00:25:09.87
and hand burnished pottery,
00:25:09.90\00:25:11.57
and we believe that we
found very, very good evidence.
00:25:11.61\00:25:14.41
>>John: Tell me this, then, in
the moment or two we have left.
00:25:14.44\00:25:18.88
How does the
study of archaeology,
00:25:18.91\00:25:21.88
how might it
strengthen the faith of someone,
00:25:21.92\00:25:26.82
uh, the everyday Christian
reading his or her Bible?
00:25:26.86\00:25:30.39
Or, how might it
challenge somebody who says,
00:25:30.43\00:25:34.73
“Uh I don't believe in
the biblical record at all”?
00:25:34.73\00:25:37.67
>>Dr. Hasel: Well, to me, there
are many people who say that,
00:25:37.70\00:25:41.34
many Christians who
believe in the Bible already,
00:25:41.37\00:25:43.41
and then there are the
others who are very skeptical.
00:25:43.44\00:25:46.54
To me,
00:25:46.57\00:25:47.78
after having worked in that
part of the world for 30 years,
00:25:47.81\00:25:50.05
I'm not skeptical at all.
00:25:50.08\00:25:51.45
I think that we have a
great deal that we know today
00:25:51.48\00:25:54.45
that we didn't know
10, 20, 30 years ago.
00:25:54.48\00:25:57.65
We have, uh, amazing discoveries
00:25:57.69\00:26:00.52
that are being made on a yearly
basis that uncover the names,
00:26:00.56\00:26:04.26
the events, the
places of these ancient,
00:26:04.29\00:26:07.76
uh, stories that we
read about in the Bible.
00:26:07.76\00:26:09.80
And that, to me,
00:26:09.83\00:26:11.23
not only confirms what
I believe as a Christian,
00:26:11.27\00:26:13.44
but it also
gives evidences, data.
00:26:13.47\00:26:16.37
We're living in a
media age where everybody
00:26:16.40\00:26:18.87
wants to touch, feel and see.
00:26:18.91\00:26:20.71
Archaeology can do that
for the world of the Bible,
00:26:20.74\00:26:23.41
and it gives
people a reason to believe
00:26:23.45\00:26:26.35
and a reason to
understand the biblical world
00:26:26.38\00:26:28.52
in a deeper, more profound way.
00:26:28.55\00:26:30.19
>>John: Dr. Hasel, thanks
so much for joining me today.
00:26:30.22\00:26:32.02
I appreciate it.
00:26:32.05\00:26:33.02
>>Dr. Hasel: Sure.
00:26:33.05\00:26:34.39
¤[Music]¤
00:26:34.42\00:26:42.13
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and it's your support
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That temple of old was built
as a dwelling place for God.
00:27:43.63\00:27:47.13
How tragic that over the
years the original purpose,
00:27:47.13\00:27:51.30
God's purpose, for the
temple was lost sight of
00:27:51.33\00:27:54.10
by the very people who
should have been keeping
00:27:54.14\00:27:56.04
their eyes on that purpose.
00:27:56.07\00:27:58.21
Don't forget that God
created you to inhabit,
00:27:58.24\00:28:02.01
to fill with His presence,
00:28:02.04\00:28:03.14
so that from you He can shine
00:28:03.18\00:28:06.01
and reveal His
glory to the world.
00:28:06.05\00:28:08.25
And if you allow God to do that,
00:28:08.28\00:28:10.85
He will do that work in you,
00:28:10.89\00:28:12.55
through you,
00:28:12.59\00:28:13.25
dwell in you,
00:28:13.29\00:28:15.26
and conform you
to the image of Jesus
00:28:15.29\00:28:17.13
in preparation
for Jesus' return.
00:28:17.16\00:28:18.93
Dr. Hasel, again, thanks
so much for joining me today.
00:28:18.96\00:28:20.96
Let's pray together.
00:28:20.96\00:28:23.43
Our Father in Heaven
we are grateful today,
00:28:23.47\00:28:26.60
that you through your word,
00:28:26.63\00:28:29.00
reveal yourself to us,
and, through archaeology,
00:28:29.04\00:28:32.81
give us more reasons to
believe in the validity,
00:28:32.84\00:28:36.85
the strength and the power,
00:28:36.88\00:28:39.68
the relevance of your word.
00:28:39.71\00:28:42.28
And now I pray that,
00:28:42.32\00:28:43.25
as you wished to
dwell in the temple of old,
00:28:43.28\00:28:44.82
and as you did, dwell
in us, dwell in that heart,
00:28:44.85\00:28:48.29
that person who's
reaching out to you right now,
00:28:48.32\00:28:50.99
that one who has been
battling, perhaps feeling weak,
00:28:51.03\00:28:53.43
maybe thinking of letting go.
00:28:53.46\00:28:56.77
And all of us,
Lord, wherever we are,
00:28:56.80\00:28:58.23
we need you again.
00:28:58.27\00:28:59.23
We need you afresh.
00:28:59.27\00:29:00.70
We must be
filled with your spirit.
00:29:00.74\00:29:03.00
Let it be so.
00:29:03.04\00:29:04.81
We thank you for
joining with us today,
00:29:04.84\00:29:07.54
and we pray in Jesus' name,
00:29:07.58\00:29:09.94
Amen.
00:29:09.98\00:29:12.31
Thanks so much
for joining me today.
00:29:12.35\00:29:13.65
I look forward to
seeing you again next time.
00:29:13.68\00:29:15.42
Until then, remember:
00:29:15.45\00:29:17.29
“It is written,
00:29:17.32\00:29:18.89
man shall not
live by bread alone
00:29:18.92\00:29:21.32
but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”
00:29:21.36\00:29:26.63
¤[Theme Music]¤
00:29:26.66\00:29:41.64