The Bible and Archaeology by Matthieu Richelle

Author:Matthieu Richelle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bible history;biblical history;biblical archaeology;biblical studies;archaeology and the bible; Faculté Libre de Théologie Évangélique;old testament archaeology;biblical archaeology review;bible archaeology;archaeological study bible;biblical history;archaeological proof of the bible;biblical archaeology books;biblical archaeology society;biblical archaeological discoveries;biblical archaeological finds;Christian archaeology
ISBN: 9781683072324
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
Published: 2018-07-20T21:31:26+00:00

Let us consider another illustration, concerning the Siloam inscription, which is one of the finest documents written in the Paleo-Hebrew script, that is, the main script used in Israel and Judah during the monarchic period. It was found in 1880, a few meters from the end of the famous Siloam tunnel, a 533-meter-long (almost 1750-foot-long) passage in the City of David that is one of the most impressive places to visit in Jerusalem today. This text poignantly narrates how the two digging teams—which began their work on opposite ends of the tunnel—met in the middle:

. . . This is the record of how the tunnel was breached. While [the excavators were wielding] their pick-axes, each man towards his co-worker, and while there were yet three cubits for the brea[ch,] a voice [was hea]rd, each man calling to his co-worker; because there was a cavity in the rock (extending) from the south to [the north]. So on the day of the breach, the excavators struck, each man to meet his co-worker, pick-axe against pick-[a]xe. Then the water flowed from the spring to the pool . . .[12]

The Bible contains a tradition about the digging of a tunnel by King Hezekiah in order to bring water into Jerusalem (2 Kgs 20:14). And according to another biblical tradition, he “stopped the waters of the springs that were outside the city” in order to prevent the Assyrians from drinking it when they invaded the country (2 Chr 32:1–4), which happened in 701 BCE. Against this background, it is very tempting to think that it was Hezekiah who ordered the Siloam tunnel to be dug, since this tunnel indeed brings the water of the Gihon spring inside the city. At first, paleography seems to support this hypothesis, because the script of the inscription corresponds to what was in use ca. 700 BCE. However, if we remember that paleographical dating only allows us to date inscriptions in a range of several decades, it would be closer to the truth to say that the text may date from the late eighth century or the early seventh century BCE.

In other words, the tunnel could just as well date from the reign of Manasseh, who may have been co-regent as early as ca. 696 BCE, and who was sole sovereign beginning around 686 BCE. As it happens, in recent years some archaeologists and historians have proposed ascribing the digging of the tunnel to Manasseh.[13] Actually, it seems evident that this work took more than a few months to complete. Lately, Asher Grossberg has proposed that the water system was made in several stages—more specifically, that Hezekiah was responsible for the Siloam tunnel as we know it but that he was not able to complete it before the Assyrian invasion.[14] The debate will no doubt continue, and it would probably be simplistic to state that archaeologists have found “Hezekiah’s tunnel” for sure, so that the historicity of the biblical tradition would be warranted. Strictly speaking, we may speak of a reasonable or possible correlation, not a proof.

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