Dear Brian;
How did the writer of Joshua know that the wall of Jericho had fallen outward
I cannot find a verse in the Bible that states that the walls fell outward, you will have to help me out there.
if it had fallen 150 years before they got there and the city was deserted?
Well, I should have been more specific, Jericho itself was destroyed around 1550 BCE, there is only a slight trace of a city wall dated to that period. The main wall associated with the fall of Jericho by Garstang was originally dated by him to 1400-1385 BCE, based on nothing other than the bible texts (IMO). However, Kenyon demonstrated that Garstang’s wall belongs to the 3rd millennium BCE, about 2300 or so. (Callaway, J A. (1988)
The Settlement in Canaan in Shanks, H.
Ancient Israel: a Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, Prentice Hall: Biblical Archaeological Society, Englewood Cliffs; Washington DC. p.62)
So, the most substantial remains of a city wall at Jericho are not associated with its final destruction in 1550, they are to be associated with a period about 700 years before.
To find the wall archaeologists dug it up, since the Israelites probably weren't into archeology, how did they know?
They only dug some of it up, Garstang found much of his wall debris at the base of the Tell es-Sultan mound.
Anyway, most of the major town and cities were fortified at one time or another, Jericho was at the ‘gateway’ to Canaan, it stands to reason that it would be fortified. Also, what makes you think that Jericho was buried when the Israelites went past it? How do you know that the Bible authors haven’t simply borrowed this story from another culture, like they have borrowed creation myths and a flood myth? Perhaps the Egyptians were responsible for the destruction of Jericho, perhaps an earthquake was responsible?
To answer whether Joshua was responsible means we have to take the entire narrative into consideration to see if it is plausible. The Bible states that immediately afterwards the Israelites conquered Ai (at the second attempt), however Ai was not occupied from 2400-1200 BCE, so how can Joshua’s armies be responsible for both destructions?
In the same context, how can Joshua’s armies be responsible for the destruction of Hazor in 1250 B.C.E? (Dever, W. G. (1992)
How to Tell an Israelite from a Canaanite in Shanks, H.
The Rise of Ancient Israel, Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington, D.C. p. 31)
Then be responsible for the destruction of Lachish in 1150 BCE? (ibid 32)
It is quite obvious that the range of destruction levels at the cities across Palestine that the Bible claims were caused by Joshua’s armies cannot be harmonised to fit the narratives of the Book of Joshua. The Bible claims that the conquest took 5 years (some say 7), and Josephus repeats this:
Antiquities of the Jews Book 5 Chapter 1 Verse 19:
The fifth year was now past, and there was not one of the Canaanites remained any longer, excepting some that had retired to places of great strength.
Thus, the towns mentioned in the Conquest narratives need to have evidence of destruction within a five year period if the Bible is to be believed. This is not what we find at all. We have periods when cities were never inhabited at the same time, we have destructions hundreds of years apart, what we do not have is anything to support the face value biblical account.
The Conquest of Canaan simply didn’t happen.
Just as well you have that inner peace, because the history of the early books of the Bible is false.
By the way Kathleen M. Keyon's date on the destruction of the wall at Jericho is biased on pottery styles and the time periods in which they generally are found. Not a very ironclad dating system.
What is the problem with dating from pottery styles?
Kenyon dated on the absence of pottery didn’t she?
Plus archaeology has determined that after the wall fell, someone set the city on fire and burned it as stated in the Bible.
Ah, let's be careful here because the cause of the fire is not known for certain, it may have been caused by an earthquake, it need not have been started deliberately.
So finding a 150 year old mound site, the Bible writer got a number of details right without even lifting a shovel.
But the 1550 date is of no use to the accuracy of the Bible account. According to the Bible, the Israelites were still in bondage in Egypt in 1550.
While the exact sites of Sodom and Gomorrah is not know, the general location is.
Is it, do you know roughly then where this area is?
The area in which the cities were located is known to have been, experienced a destructive event like what is described in the Bible.
You mean that there is evidence that this area was not always covered in these material?
Do you have evidence that this area was once occupied?
The geology of how it may have occurred is as follows.
Thanks for the reference,
an outburst of smoke and rain of sulfurous fire reportedly accompanied the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24, 28).
So, we have burning sulphur raining down on the cities of the plain, are there any remains of these cities underneath the sulphur?
These material are interpreted as products of light fractions of hydrocarbons escaping from underground reservoirs and igniting upon reaching the surface.
Doesn’t the Bible say that the sulphur rained down from above?
Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrahfrom the LORD out of the heavens.
Given that, by Bible chronology, this sulphurous rain fell about 4000 years ago, how does that equate with hydrocarbons escaping from underground reservoirs?
Presence of heavier hydrocarbons in the Dead Sea sub-surface is proved by numerous seepages as well as by the tar pits described in Genesis 14:10. Source rocks for these gases, oil and asphalt are in bituminous marls and limestones of late Cretaceous Period
The cretaceous period is given as
144 to 65 Million Years Ago , how can that be if the universe is only 6000 years old?
Were these conditions that the researchers have described in place before the destruction of the cities of the plain? Don’t you think that it would be a rather silly place to build five cities if it was as volatile as your source describes?
The 'hydrocarbon fraction' could have been cracked and released from its source rocks because of beep burial and geothermal heating beneath the 6- to 10-km thickness of sediments of the Tertiary to Recent dead Sea Group.
I notice the word ‘could’ in there, does the author have any evidence to support that it ‘did’, or is this just wishful thinking?
Asphalts probably were released near the margins of the graben and oils close to the axis where the sediments were thicker and the temperature higher.
I take it by using the word ‘probably’ that the researcher again doesn’t have any evidence that it ‘did’.
rejuvenated faulting associated with the Sodom and Gomorrah earthquake
I have another silly question, where does the Bible mention an earthquake in relation to Sodom and Gomorrah? I can only see that God rained sulphur down on the cities, I do not see any mention of an earthquake in the Bible texts, do you have a reference?
would have opened numerous channels for sudden escape of hydrocarbons, allowing much larger outburst and fires."
Again, this is contrary to the biblical texts. Your source even cites Genesis 19:24 as one of the descriptions of the destruction, it is quite clear that the devastation was caused from above.
I thought I had covered the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah quite extensively in my personal study, but it appears that there must be some biblical references that I haven’t seen; could you point me towards those that tell of an earthquake and the seeping through to the surface of hydrocarbons?
Do you think it is possible that the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and of Lot’s wife could be aetiologies?
Brian.
™ Version 4.2