Rare Biblical Discovery Traces Jewish Presence in Israel back to King David’s time

Rare Biblical Discovery Traces Jewish Presence in Israel back to King David’s time
A rare archaeological find offers fresh insight into the biblical era of King David, as recorded in Scripture, and ancient Jewish history in the Land of Israel.

A unique inscription from the time of King David was discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Valley of Elah, Israel’s Antiquity Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.
The Valley of Elah, located near the modern city of Beit Shemesh, is famous as the spot where the Israelites were encamped when David slew the giant Philistine warrior Goliath.
A roughly 3,000-year-old ceramic jar broken into numerous shards was discovered in 2012 in excavations carried out by Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lecturer Saar Ganor, directors of the IAA’s Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Project. Letters written in ancient Canaanite script could be discerned on several shards, sparking the curiosity of researchers.

More here:

Rare Biblical Discovery Traces Jewish Presence in Israel back to King David  

A One-Sided Attack on Zionism

A One-Sided Attack on Zionism
The many problems with the documentary ‘With God on Our Side.’
Gerald McDermott

The documentary With God on Our Side is anything but balanced. It does not give “both sides their due” but instead interviews only Israelis on the far left and ignores Christian Zionists who defend the rights of Palestinians. The result is a one-sided attack on Israel that treats social and political realities with the same ideological insouciance which the documentary assigns to John Hagee and his band.
One interviewee in the film claims—without rebuttal—that Jews did not live in the land for two thousand years. The truth is that Jewish communities have lived in the land through all this time, flourishing in Jerusalem, Galilee and coastal cities in the 9th and 11th centuries, and then rebounding after being massacred by Crusaders in the 12th century. By the early 19th century, long before the rise of Zionism, more than ten thousand Jews lived in what is now Israel. . .

Read more here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2011/january/one-sided-attack-on-zionism.html

Rewriting the History of Israel

According to Palestinian Media Watch:

“Rewriting the history of the Land of Israel in order to deny Israel’s right to exist is central to Palestinian Authority (PA) policy. Long before it started the PA terror campaign (the ‘Intifada,’ 2000-2005), the PA was fighting a history war – erasing Jewish history and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history.

“Erasing Jewish history in the land of Israel is followed by the PA’s invention of ancient and modern histories that support its political ideology and claim to the land of Israel. The Holocaust and other aspects of Jewish history are alternately denied, downplayed or distorted. Another distortion is to hide from Palestinians that Jesus was a Jew who lived in the Land of Judea/Israel. PA leaders repeatedly define Jesus as a Palestinian who preached Islam, thus denying not only Jewish history, but also the history and legitimacy of Christianity.”

–THE PALESTINIAN JESUS
by Jim Fletcher
http://balfourpost.com/the-palestinian-jesus/

‘Absolutely sure’: 2nd Jewish Temple ‘waiting to be unearthed’

‘Absolutely sure’: 2nd Jewish Temple ‘waiting to be unearthed’ …
Archaeologist ‘absolutely sure’ structure beneath Jerusalem’s holy mount

WND

One of the most prominent Israeli archaeologists declared today that remains from the First and Second Jewish Temple period – including the Second Temple itself – lie underneath the Temple Mount surface, just waiting to be excavated.

Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University accused the site’s Islamic custodians of destroying Jewish artifacts while attempting to turn the Temple Mount into a “giant mosque.”

More here:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=307697

Israel’s largest underground water source discovered near Jerusalem convention center

Israel’s largest underground water source discovered near Jerusalem convention center
Excavation work by Israel Railways while working on high speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train line reveals cave with largest underground water sources ever discovered in Israel.
By Zafrir Rinat

A cave discovered during excavation work by Israel Railways in Jerusalem contains the largest and most impressive underground water sources ever discovered in Israel, scholars say.

The cave was discovered near the International Convention Center in the capital during construction work on a station for the future high speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train line. Builders came across it while digging a service shaft at a depth of 75 meters – five meters from the planned bottom of the shaft.

Over the past few days, scholars from the Cave Research Unit of the Hebrew University’s Department of Geography, who were called to the scene by engineering companies working with Israel Railways, have been crawling through the underground nooks and crannies. “It’s hard work, crawling through mud into a cave the end of which we haven’t reached yet,” Prof. Amos Frumkin, head of the unit, said. Frumkin said the cave is between a half a meter to a few meters wide, and is a few dozen meters high.

More here:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-s-largest-underground-water-source-discovered-near-jerusalem-convention-center-1.365216

Ancient Books Uncovered in Jordan May Date to Start of Christianity

Ancient Books Uncovered in Jordan May Date to Start of Christianity

One of the largest and best-preserved collections of ancient sealed books has been discovered in a cave in Jordan and are believed to be some of the earliest Christian documents, according to the BBC.

The 70 tiny books could date back to the first century. Carbon dating tests found that a piece of leather found with the scrolls was over 2000 years old.

Experts say the books, made of lead and copper and bound by rings, may be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls, BBC reports.

More here:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/30/ancient-books-uncovered-jordan/?test=latestnews

Mythical water pipe discovered in Israel

CITYsights: Mythical water pipe discovered
By ITRAVELJERUSALEM.COM TEAM

Piece by piece, the ancient water system leading to Jerusalem is being revealed in the City of David.

Here in Israel, we are well-versed in the need to protect our scarce water sources from contamination, and we’ve built the National Water Carrier in order to ensure that all of the country’s citizens have running water at all times. But what about ancient times? How did the denizens of biblical Jerusalem retain access to water throughout the year — and especially in wartime situations — when their main water source lay outside the walls of the city?

As Danny Herman explains in the video, the Bible tells us that when King David conquered the city of Jebus and made it into his capital, he exploited the city’s only weakness — a mysterious “pipe” that led water from the valley, under the walls and into the city.

More here:

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=214399

Biblical Archaeology: The Temple Mount

Biblical Archaeology: The Temple Mount

By Nathan Jones

Where on the Temple Mount exactly was the Temple?

Dr. Reagan: Some people have argued that according to ancient manuscripts the priests stood on the steps of the Temple, looked over the Eastern Gate to the pinnacle of the Mount of Olives, and watched the sacrifice of the red heifer. They conclude therefore that the Temple has to be located up to the north and can be built without touching the Dome of the Rock. What do you have to say about all of that?

Answer here:

http://www.lamblion.us/2011/02/biblical-archaeology-temple-mount.html

1,500-year-old church found in Israel

1,500-year-old church found in Israel

HIRBET MADRAS, Israel – Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.

The Byzantine church located southwest of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible only for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil for its own protection.

The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., said the dig’s leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. He said the floor was “one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered in Israel in recent years.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_ancient_church

Monumental City of David Discovery

Monumental City of David Discovery Premiered on Fox News and Appears in Today’s Wall Street Journal

Ir David Foundation

Dearest Friends,

It is with great joy that we notify you of an exciting discovery which we have just premiered on Fox News and which was written about in today’s Wall Street Journal.

After seven years of hard work and partnership between the Ir David Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority, we have succeeded in revealing the ancient Herodian Water Channel which leads from the City of David in the South all the way to the Western Wall Plaza in the North. For the first time in 2,000 years, the City of David is once again connected to the upper “Old City” as it was during the First and Second Temple periods. This impressive Water Channel, which reaches 10 feet high and stretches more than 800 yards in length, is one of the finest examples of city engineering from the ancient near east.

More here (with pictures):

http://trailer.web-view.net/Show/0X86C94371FD30D695810B25D7891D1BF9F47F36485A01CF623478A8E1C8B0336E.htm

Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish

Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish

An official Palestinian report claiming that a key Jewish holy site — Jerusalem’s Western Wall — has no religious significance to Jews evoked an angry response from Israelis Wednesday, threatening to further inflame tensions over the disputed city.

Decades of archaeology have shown that the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, was a retaining wall of the compound where the two biblical Jewish Temples stood 20 centuries ago. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, is built atop the ruins.

Read more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/24/international/i072825S44.DTL

Oldest written document ever found in Jerusalem

Oldest written document ever found in J’lem
By BEN HARTMAN
12/07/2010
Archeologists unearth 14th century BCE fragment.

Hebrew University excavations recently unearthed a clay fragment dating back to the 14th century BCE, said to be the oldest written document ever found in Jerusalem.

The tiny fragment is only 2 cm. by 2.8 cm. in surface area and 1 cm. thick and appears to have once been part of a larger tablet. Researchers say the ancient fragment testifies to Jerusalem’s importance as a major city late in the Bronze Age, long before it was conquered by King David.

More here:

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=181135