Excellent Low Chronology Debate Against The United Monarchy Sea Of Galilee : Sea Of Galilee #34 by Brett Matthew West

Israel archaeologists accepted the Bible's High Chronology account of the United Monarchy until about 1995. What occurred to change their belief? Israel Finklestein, a Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, and the Head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa, is also the excavator of Megiddo, a key site for the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Levant (the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia from Greece to Eastern Libya). When Finklestein published his Low Chronology, he stated abundant archaeological evidence for the United Monarchy of the 10th Century BC should actually be dated to the 9th Century BC. Moreover, he claimed this would place David in the Iron 1A Period (approximately 925BC to about 586BC). Finkelstein further stated David was not the king of a centralized kingdom but the chieftain of a small polity in Judah disconnected from the tribes of Israel in the Northern Kingdom. Certain Israeli archaeologists have bought into Finkelstein's Low Chronology theory. In 2001, Finkelstein co-authored The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts, with Neil Silberman (an American archaeologist specializing in biblical archaeology). This book discusses the archaeology of Israel and its relationship to the origins and contents of the Hebrew Bible. In this writing, Finkelstein said, "Ideas of a United Monarchy are not accurate history but creative expressions of a powerful religious movement that are possibly based on certain historical kernals". Although he accepts David as a real king of Judah around the 10th Century BC, Finkelstein believes the earliest independent references to the Kingdom of Israel date to about 840BC and the Kingdom of Judah to almost 750BC. Finkelstein further professes "The United Monarchy existed under Jeroboam II in the 8th Century BC, whereas the former (the one under David) was potentially invented during the reign of Josiah to justify his territorial expansion". Jeroboam II was the 13th king of the Kingdom of Israel. Known as the most prosperous king the Northern Kingdom had up to that time, Jeroboam II ruled from about 793BC to about 753BC. He oppressed the poor and supported the worship of images like the golden calf. 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Hosea, and Amos mention him. Josiah was the 16th king of Judah. He removed the official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah became king at the age of 8 and reigned from about 641BC/640BC to about 610BC/609BC. No texts from Egypt or Babylon reference him, only biblical texts. No archaeological evidence bearing his name has ever been discovered. The biblical High Chronology account of the United Monarchy, and Finkelstein's Low Chronology, present two different views. Is there perhaps a happy median? Something else that might support one side or the other concerning the reality of the United Monarchy? Perhaps the Modified Conventional Chronology will cast some light on this debate? Sources: Bible The Bible Unearthed by Finkelstein and Silberman biblicalarchaeology.org bibleinterp.arizona.edu ajaonline.org smithsonianmag.com NEXT Time: Sea Of Galilee #35: Modified Conventional Chronology Of The United Kingdom Author Notes God Save The King, by eileen0204, selected to complement my posting.

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