The research of Archaeologists Ze’ev Herzog and Finkelstein

I quote from Wikipedia.

“The Bible and archaeology

Main articles: The Bible and history and Biblical archaeology

According to one of the world’s leading biblical archaeologists, William G. Dever,

“Archaeology certainly doesn’t prove literal readings of the Bible…It calls them into question, and that’s what bothers some people. Most people really think that archaeology is out there to prove the Bible. No archaeologist thinks so.”^[34] From the beginnings of what we call biblical archeology, perhaps 150 years ago, scholars, mostly western scholars, have attempted to use archeological data to prove the Bible. And for a long time it was thought to work. William Albright, the great father of our discipline, often spoke of the “archeological revolution.” Well, the revolution has come but not in the way that Albright thought. The truth of the matter today is that archeology raises more questions about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible and even the New Testament than it provides answers, and that’s very disturbing to some people.^[35]

Dever also wrote:

Archaeology as it is practiced today must be able to challenge, as well as confirm, the Bible stories. Some things described there really did happen, but others did not. The biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the ‘larger than life’ portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence….^[36] I am not reading the Bible as Scripture… I am in fact not even a theist. My view all along—and especially in the recent books—is first that the biblical narratives are indeed ‘stories,’ often fictional and almost always propagandistic, but that here and there they contain some valid historical information…^[37]

Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ze’ev Herzog wrote in the Haaretz newspaper:

This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, YHWH, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai.^[38][39]

Professor Finkelstein, who is known as “the father of biblical archaeology”, told the Jerusalem Post that Jewish archaeologists have found no historical or archaeological evidence to back the biblical narrative on the Exodus, the Jews’ wandering in Sinai or Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. On the alleged Temple of Solomon, Finkelstein said that there is no archaeological evidence to prove it really existed.^[40] Professor Yoni Mizrahi, an independent archaeologist who has worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency, agreed with Israel Finkelstein.^[40]

Regarding the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt, Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass said:

“Really, it’s a myth,”… “This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that is not my problem.”^[41]”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Bible

Paarsurrey says:

I have gone through the above; these observations of the Archaeologists are about the narratives of the Bible. Quran never supported the Jews about the authorship of Bible. We always maintained that Bible is not authored by the one true God or by Moses; it is written by sinful scribes who at time exaggerated things and at other times they were fictional and added things or removed them.

Quran does not mention the cities and places which were under study of the Archaeologists. Quran categorically mentions that Jews tampered with the Bible to the extent that new Word of Revelation was essential, hence the advent of truthful Muhammad.

This study rather adds to the faith of Muslims that Quran is authored by the one true God; and its narratives don’t belong to Bible.

 

Tags: Archaeology, biblical narrative, Finkelstein, Hebrew Bible, myth, Quran, temple of Solomon, Ze'ev Herzog