Israeli Discoveries Have "Rocked the Archaeological World"
"I feel great joy when the details on the ground match the descriptions in the Bible. Today it's become fashionable to say there was no David, no Solomon, no Temple, no prophets. But suddenly the facts on the ground are speaking, and those outspoken voices are stammering."
(Israel)—Writing for Aish News, Rachel Ginsberg asks the question: How Jewish is Jerusalem?
"You might think that's a silly question," she says. In the world of academia, however, explains Ginsberg, "revisionist history and even Biblical archaeology, scholars have cast the shadow of doubt over Judaism's intrinsic connection to Jerusalem." In fact there are scientists who are currently in the business of trying to prove that King David, and his reign, are entirely fictional.
"But," says Ginsberg, "the debunkers of Jewish Biblical history got some bad news recently, when a spunky, dedicated archaeologist began her latest dig. Dr. Eilat Mazar, world authority on Jerusalem's past, has taken King David out of the pages of the Bible and put him back into living history. Mazar's latest excavation in the City of David, in the southern shadow of the Temple Mount, has shaken up the archaeological world."
Breaking Christian News has reported on some of Mazar's discoveries in the past, but not on the detailed challenges facing Mazar and the behind-the-scenes dangers of her work. This story (read in its entirety by following the link provided) gives a fascinating history of David's Jerusalem and an in-depth look at Mazar's journey to discovering his Palace.
For example, what reportedly amazed Mazar the most was how close [David's Palace] is to the surface—just one to two meters underground. "The cynics kept saying, 'there will be so many layers, so many remnants of other cultures, it's not worth digging, it's too far down," said Mazar. "I was shocked at how easy it was to uncover it, and how well-preserved it was, as if it were just waiting 3,000 years for us to find it."
"The jury is still out on where all this activity will lead," concludes Ginsberg in her report, "but one thing is certain: Mazar's discovery has rocked the archeological world...The normally reserved Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University, one of the most esteemed scholars in the field of Biblical archaeology and author of the standard textbook, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000-586 BCE, has described the discovery as 'something of a miracle.'"
"In the end," says Mazar, "the integrity of the land and its history will prevail. And I'm grateful to have a small part in it."
