The Evidence for Israel 4: Michmash

In the amazing book "Wilmington's Guide to the Bible", DR. H. L. WILLMINGTON shares a story of a British soldier named Major Vivian Gilbright recollects that during the first world war, they were victorious in one attack because of the brigade major's knowledge of the Bible.

This story all the more shows how true the Bible is and how it can be seen as a prime evidence that indeed the Israelites were here in ancient times. You can see the story in 1 Samuel 14:1-14.

fromWilmington's Guide to the Bible:

Major Vivian Gilbright, a British army officer, relates an amazing story regarding this passage in his reminiscences about World War I. He writes:

“In the first world war a brigade major in Allenby’s army in Palestine was on one occasion searching his Bible, with the light of a candle, looking for a certain name. His brigade had received orders to take a village that stood on a rocky prominence on the other side of a deep valley. It was called Michmash and the name seemed somehow familiar. Eventually he found it here in First Samuel. The brigade major reflected that there must still be this narrow passage through the rocks, between the two spurs, and at the end of it the ‘half acre of land.’ He woke the commander and they read the passage through together once more. Patrols were sent out. They found the pass, which was thinly held by the Turks, and which led past two jagged rocks-obviously Bozez and Seneh. Up on top, beside Michmash, they could see by the light of the moon a small flat field. The brigadier altered his plan of attack. Instead of deploying the whole brigade, he sent one company through the pass under cover of darkness. The few Turks whom they met were overpowered without a sound, the cliffs were scaled, and shortly before daybreak the company had taken up a position on ‘the half acre of land.’ The Turks woke up and took to their heels in disorder since they thought that they were being surrounded by Allenby’s army. They were all killed or taken prisoner. ‘And so’ (concludes Major Gilbright) ‘after thousands of years British troops successfully copied the tactics of Saul and Jonathan.’”

The Evidence for Israel 3 - The Call for Help

In our last post, we discussed how the Jews conquered the present day land of Israel after the falling of the Walls of Jericho. If this happened one must think, that the nation states in that area of the Canaanites will not give it without a fight or just roll over and die. War and chaos had to ensue right? Now is there any evidence for this atmosphere?
The Amarna Tablets found by archaeologists show that there was indeed a growing war with invaders at that time. They were letters written in Babylonian cuneiform to an Egyptian Pharaoh about a group of called the "Apiru" or "Habiru" who scholars believe and has evidence were the Jews. It was a distress call for help.

Among them were letters written in Babylonian cuneiform script to these Pharaohs of Egypt by various kings dwelling in the land of Canaan and Syria, they were written during the time of Moses. They provide the first evidence of the Hebrew tribes entering into the land of Canaan in ancient times.

from Bible History Online

Imagine today that one nation is being attacked or threatened to be attacked by another or a group of nations. The president of the threatened country will call a press conference to call for help from its allies or ask for sympathy at the UN. Of course this does not discount the fact if the attacked country is guilty or not. CNN,BBC and other international news media will cover the plea for help with great interest.

The Canaanites have no satellite technology at that time so they sent their plea with stones as letters to the Egyptian Pharaoh.

The Evidence for Israel 2 - The Walls of Jericho

In the first part of series, I mentioned that this is to show that the Jews are legitimate in occupying the present land of Israel and that its history shows it. I also say that the evidence we will cite will be set in stone and not just in the pen of history. This series aims to use archaeology to show that Jews should live in present day Israel and it was theirs to begin with as God decreed it thousands of years ago.

Israel's history can be seen in length and in detail if one reads the Bible. Archaeology has provided evidence to the biblical accounts and along it ties up with Israel's ancient existence. The first evidence we will look at are the walls of Jericho.

God first promised the land of Israel to Abraham. But it was not in the time of Joshua until the Israelites officially ruled this land and defeated the Canaanites (these are not the ancestors of the Palestinians) . You can read the details of this conquest by going to the Book of Joshua in the Bible.

After following God's instructions of encircling the Wall of Jericho and the blasting of trumpets, the structure fell down. Is there any evidence for the wall of Jericho and its falling down?

In the website of answersingenesis.com, it cites the findings of British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950s.
Photo from: Bibleplaces.com (Jericho page)

Kenyon’s work was the most detailed. On the west side of the tell, at the base of the retaining, or revetment, wall, she found,

‘fallen red bricks piling nearly to the top of the revetment. These probably came from the wall on the summit of the bank [and/or] … the brickwork above the revetment

The scientific explanation of what caused the the collapse of the walls according to some is via an earthquake. But even that earthquake explanation is quite unusual according this time from Christiananswers.com.

What caused the strong walls of Jericho to collapse? The most likely explanation is an earthquake. But the nature of the earthquake was unusual. It struck in such a way as to allow a portion of the city wall on the north side of the site to remain standing, while everywhere else the wall fell.

Even one of the difficult details of this conquest has archaeological evidence. Before going to the land, Joshua sent spies to scout the land. The spies stayed in the house of the prostitute Rahab who was sympathetic to the Jews since she has heard of the prophecy that they will be the future occupiers of the land (Joshua 2). The Bible also states that Rahab's house was part of the city wall.

"So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall." (Joshua 2:15)

Rahab was promised as well that her house will be spared. But how can this be if the wall was destroyed?

Answerinsgenesis also cites the works of Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger on why this has archaeological evidence.

The German excavation of 1907–1909 found that on the north a short stretch of the lower city wall did not fall as everywhere else. A portion of that mudbrick wall was still standing to a height of over two meters (eight feet). What is more, there were houses built against the wall! It is quite possible that this is where Rahab’s house was.

With the archaeological findings of the Walls of Jericho we can now establish the conquest of this land of the Jews from the Canaanites. God punished the wickedness of the Canaanites with the arrival of the Jews and also at the same time fulfilled His promise to Abraham.

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Citations:

Joshua 1 (NIV Bible)

Anwersingenesis.com

Christiananswers.com

Kathleen M. Kenyon, Excavations at Jericho, 3:110, London, British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 1981.

Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger, Jericho die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, Osnabrück, Otto Zeller Verlag, p. 58, 1973 (reprint of the 1913 edition).

Photo from: Bibleplaces.com (Jericho page)

The Evidence for Israel 1 - The Historical Map

I was thinking of one article providing evidences of the legitimacy of Israel occupying its present land. But the mountain of evidences will not do justice to the argument if I would compress it into such a short post. There has been a lot of campaign in recent years not only from radical Islam but even from the secular media of twisting history saying that Israel was never present in this land at all.

We will in this series not only argue on the point of history and ideas but we will show evidence that is undeniable and without debate. These will be evidences set in stone.

First of we will argue via video at the point of history. Here is a good video from ColonieRabbi on the transformation of the present land of Israel and its occupiers. If one is to deny the ancient existence of Israel, all scholars should also deny the existence of the kingdoms that occupied this land.