Archaeology

Gideon & Jerubbaal Found. The Higher Critics Head for the Tall Grass.

The skeptics thump their chests and make crazy claims designed to malign and discredit Holy scriptures but bluster is all it is. When challenged with the truth they collapse under the weight of their blasphemy. The archaeologist’s spades continue to dig and God’s word is continually confirmed.
Recommend To A Friend
Audio Options: MP3

Gideon & Jerubbaal Found. The Higher Critics Head for the Tall Grass.

Article#: 1903

Hard, hard days approach for this world and its citizens. Gross darkness and uncertainty will prevail. Confusion of face as the prophet Daniel declares in chapter nine, will be the global state of mind. Dan. 9:8:

O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to out princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

Of the very end of days Dan. 12:10: writes;

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

        The contrast between the unredeemed and the BORN AGAIN could never be more stark. We are nearing supernatural separation where the blood bought are caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the clouds (I Thes. 4) and where the willingly lost are left behind to incur the final wrath of God. Decisions are being made today.

         Dear visitor if you have yet to make your decision for Jesus Christ, you will surely decide today in this very feature. The prophet Joel pens these words concerning the lost sons and daughters of Adam in Joel 3:14:

       Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

      Earlier I said that the contrast between the camps of the BORN AGAIN and the unsaved could never be more stark, allow me to stack on a capitol ‘S’.

  • In the camp of the unsaved hopelessness will abound, but in the camp of the BORN AGAIN you’ll find divine hope even the everlasting blessed hope and the anticipation is so exciting!
  • In the camp of the unsaved darkness wil be deep and they will stumble at noon day, but in the camp of the BORN AGAIN there is a constant Light that grows brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. (Prov. 4:18)
  • In the camp of the unsaved there will be a calamitous cry as they see God’s judgement coming upon the earth, but in the camp of the BORN AGAIN a new song “The Song of the Soul Set Free”, will prevail.

      In just a few moments I will offer you a simple prompt and if you follow from your heart everything for you will change and I mean EVERYTHING. Today all your sins and your shame will be fully erased even as if you never committed them. Today, Jesus Christ, will snap Satan’s chains of bondage from your soul. Today you will become a new creature. Today your soul is in your own hand. You are deciding yes or no now. Here is the prompt I promised. Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry in the Kingdome of God.

NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Ps. 19:9:

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

GOD SAID, Gen. 11:17-26:

        17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

        18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

GOD SAID, Judges 7:19-20

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and  they blew the trumpets, and brake  the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

MAN SAID: The stories in the Bible are just wild stories. When you look you’ll discover the lack of any real credibility. The history, the chronology, geography, names and places, wrong, wrong, wrong! Throw it in the trash. Set yourself free!

      Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1094 that will once again certify the Holy Bible to be the inerrant words of the God of creation, true and righteous altogether, every jot and every title. All of these faith building features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and that you might know the certainty of it all. Everything truly depends upon it. Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.

Thank you for coming. May the revelation of the marvels of BORN AGAIN be multiplied unto you.

      The skeptics thump their chests and make crazy claims designed to malign and discredit Holy scriptures but bluster is all it is. When challenged with the truth they collapse under the weight of their blasphemy. God’s word cannot be broken…NOT POSSIBLE! The word of God has been incessantly challenged since Eden and the critics will continue their assaults, but be advised, the Holy Word will continue to stand and dominate the arena of all that’s true.

Satan has paraded before the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve his champions of unbelief, which he has been doing for thousands of years, and they failed time after miserable time. Their zero victory record will not improve as a result of their latest discoveries or in their next excursion to Mars. God''s word is true and righteous altogether and yes I absolutely need to know it is truth. Everything depends upon it.

      GodSaidManSaid utilizes a four level proof platform to establish the supernatural inerrancy of God’s Holy Bible. The first category on the navigation bar on your left is titled “Archaeology”, and inside that banner you’ll also find the scientific disciplines of paleontology, geology and ancient history. This category establishes the Bible as a supremely accurate historic record of past events from paradise and the garden of Eden and forward even the miraculous. Many are shocked at the in depth nonbiblical scholastic information available concerning marvels such as creation itself, Adam and his ribbed wife Eve, to Noah’s ark and the global flood onto the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the walls of Jericho and on and on. The jeering from the sidelines continues but do keep firmly in mind that the Bible’s historic record has never been controverted.

      In the following excerpts from Encyclopedia of Bible Life you’ll find a quote from one William F. Albright who stood a giant in the field of archaeology. He was an orientalist and Professor of Semitic Languages at Johns Hopkins University. Albright was Director of American Schools in Jerusalem and lead excavations in numerous places. A bibliography of Albright’s work was written by Henry M Orlinsky, where 473 items were listed. The following is from “Encyclopedia of Bible Life”;

        Nothing that has happened in the past fifty years has put the Bible on sure a footing as the development of biblical archaeology. Without starting out to “prove that the Bible is true,” research has a posteriori come upon facts confirming and illustrating point after point, especially of Old Testament record. Higher criticism has received a blow and must henceforth be considered only in connection with the findings of archaeology. We now know that Abraham was not merely a Mesopotamian folk hero but a historic personality, though not contemporary with Hammurabi, whose date is not 2000 B.C. but between c.1728 B.C. and 1686 B.C. We now believe, with Albright, that Jericho fell later than c.1375 B.C., (Others accept 1400 or 1250). Confirmation has been found of the destruction and desertion of Shiloh by the Philistines after the battle of Ebenezer and the capture of the ark, C.1050 B.C. Exodus I has been confirmed with the discovery of Egyptian Tanis and Pithom (Tell Retabeh), store cities of Ramesses II. The antiquity of the Song of Deborah has been demonstrated, and the pushing back of dates of portions of the Old Testament once placed in the post-Exilic period has come about. Ras Shamra in northern Syria has given us not only the lost Canaanite religious literature but has helped us construct the progress of Israel’s loftier religion by tracing its steps of ascent from the worship ways of its neighbors. We know now, since Megiddo and Ezion-geber excavations, much about the economic foundations of Solomon’s kingdom and the background of his Temple-building and chariot cities. Cross-references synthesizing Babylon with Palestinian history in the sixth century B.C. have built up satisfactory conclusions.

        As Albright has pointed out in Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, the most brilliant and searching scrutiny of science has not lessened the pre-eminence of the Bible as a masterpiece of literature and an absolutely unique religious document. Nothing has been unearthed which need disturb the faith of Hebrew or Christian, but much has been excavated which heightens this faith. “No major contention of Scripture has been proved unhistoric.”

Those paragraphs were written over 70 years ago and the situation for the higher critics has certainly not improved.

The ancient city of Mari, that one text claims is the 10th city to be founded after Noah’s flood, shocked the archaeology world beginning in 1933 during excavations at Tell Hariri. Passages from “The Bible as History” follow:

        B) Pg. 61 No one knew as yet how close a connection the finds at Mari would prove to have with quite familiar passages in the Bible.

        Year by year reports of the expedition provided fresh surprises.

        In the winter of 1933-34 a temple of Ishtar the goddess of fertility was exposed. Three of Ishtar’s royal devotees have immortalized themselves as statues in the shrine which is inlaid with a mosaic of gleaming shells: Lamgi-Mari, Ebin-il, and Idi-Narum.

        In the second season of digging the spades came upon the houses of a city. Mari had been found! However great was the satisfaction with their success, far more interest, indeed astonishment was aroused by the walls of a palace which must have been unusually large. Parrot reported: “We have unearthed 69 rooms and courts, and there are still more to come.” On thousand six hundred cuneiform tablets, carefully stacked in one of the rooms, contained details of household management.

        The record of the third campaign in 1935-36 noted that so far 138 rooms and courtyards had been found but that they had not yet reached the outer walls of the palace. Thirteen thousand clay tablets awaited deciphering. In the fourth winter a temple of the god Dagon was dug up and also a Ziggurat, the typical Mesopotamian staged tower. Two hundred and twenty rooms and  courtyards were now visible in the palace and another 8,000 clay tablets had been added to the existing collection.

        At last in the fifth season, when a further forty rooms had been cleared of rubble, the palace of the kings of Mari lay in all its vast extent before Parrot and his assistants. This mammoth building of the third  millennium B.C. covered almost ten acres. Never before during any excavations had such an enormous building with such vas ramifications come to light.

        C) Pg. 66 On other clay tablets the Assyriologists dealing with these reports of governors and district commissioners of the Mari empire came across one after another a whole series of familiar sounding names from Biblical history – names like Peleg, and Serug, Nahor and Terah and – Haran.

        “These are the generations of Shem,” shays Gen. 11. “…Peleg lived 30 years and begat Reu: And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug: And  Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor: And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begat Terah: And Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”

        Names of Abraham’s forefathers emerge from these dark ages as names of cities in north-west Mesopotamia. They lie in Padan-Aram, the Plain of Aram. In the centre of it lies Haran, which, according to its description, must have been a flourishing city in the 19th and 18th centuries B.C. Haran, the home of Abraham, father of the patriarchs, the birthplace of the Hebrew people, is here for the first time historically attested, for contemporary texts refer to it. Further up the same Balikh valley lay the city with an equally well-known Biblical name, Nahor, the home of Rebecca, wife of Isaac.

        D) Pg. 67 The documents from the kingdom of Mari produce startling proof that the stories of the patriarchs in the Bible are not “pious legends” – as is often too readily assumed – but things that are described as happening in a historical period which can be precisely dated.

Prior to the establishment of kings in Israel they were ruled by judges with the great prophet Samuel being the last. At the time of the account recorded in Judges chapters six through eight Israel had fallen into sin and the judgement of God was upon them. Judges 6:1-5:

1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of  Midian seven years.

2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;

4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.

At this time God raises up a man named Gideon to work a miracle. The whole history is recorded in the three chapters mentioned but the archaeological issue today is the name Jerubbaal. Judges 6:22-32:

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

23 And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father''s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

26 And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father''s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

The UPI headline of Sept. 24, 2021 reads, “3,100-Year-Old Gideon Inscription in Israel Provides Bible-Archaeology Link.” Excerpts follow:

E) Summary: Rare inscription, found on a jug fragment discovered in the Judean foothills, connects a name used for the biblical judge Gideon with historical reality.

Inscription Dated to Period of the Book of Judges

A five-letter inscription from biblical times was found at the Khirbet al-Ra’i dig site in central Israel, between Kiryat Gat and Lachish, about 43 miles southwest of Jerusalem. This unique discovery offers us a 3,100-year-old glimpse back in time and ties the Bible with archaeological history.

F) “If you’d like a biblical parallel, we’re talking about the days of the judges and King David,” Ganor said in an IAA Hebrew-language film.

The hundreds of artifacts discovered during seven seasons of excavations help piece together the daily lives of people living during the ancient biblical period. Among them, found in one of the site’s 20 storage silos, was this “unimaginable inscription,” said Ganor.

G) This extremely rare pottery piece originally uncovered in 2019 was dated by Ariel University’s Prof. Ben-Shlomo through using a variety of methods: radiocarbon dating which gave a result of 1050 BC, typography of the pottery shards found and petrographic analysis of the inscribed pottery. It was concluded that the small jug was made locally.

The inscribed letters on the pottery are classified as Proto-Canaanite by the scholars and could be the missing link in the development of early alphabetic writing used during the 12th-10th centuries BC. The five letters inked on the jug spell out the personal name Yrb’l (Jeruba’al). Early alphabetic inscriptions did not include vowels – only consonants.

The name Jerubbaal appears in the Book of Judges as an alternative name for Gideon, a judge of northern Israel. The name was given to him by his father Joash, who in defending Gideon from the men of the city who wanted to kill him because he destroyed an altar of Baal, said: “Let Baal contend against him”(Judges 6:28-31).

H) Notably, the name Jerubbaal only appears in the Bible in the period of the judges and has never been found outside of the biblical text until now. People are often named after famous individuals in their era, and at a minimum this inscription now shows that the name Jerubbaal was indeed being used at that time.

“In a similar manner, the name Ishbaal, which is only mentioned in the Bible during the monarchy of King David, has been found in strata dated to that period at the site of Khirbat Qeiyafa,” remarked Ganor and Garfinkel referring to a previous discovery they led.

I) Inscriptions From This Era Are Extremely Rare

“The fact that identical names are mentioned in the Bible and also found in inscriptions recovered from archaeological excavations shows that memories were preserved and passed down through the generations,” the archaeologists concluded.

These discoveries cannot prove the details of the biblical account, but they do give archaeological evidence that the Bible is far more reliable than skeptics claim. Keep Thinking!

The Biblical account of Gideon, also known as Jerubbaal, and the epoch battle with the Midianites ends as described in Judges 7:19-22:

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man''s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

The archaeologist’s spades continue to dig and God’s word is continually confirmed. You would suppose at least one uncontested victory for the doctors of unbelief, but alas…not one.

A few final excerpts follow from Dr. Grant Jeffreys book, “The Signature of God”;

Pg. 56-57 Dr. Nelson Glueck, the most outstanding Jewish archaeologist of the last century, wrote in his book Rivers in the Desert:

It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries. They form tesserae in the vast mosaic of the Bible’s almost incredibly correct historical memory.

        Another respected scholar, Dr. J. O. Kinnaman, declared:

Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by the archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the biblical record.

Well-known language scholar Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, formerly professor of Semitic philology at Princeton Theological Seminary, made the following statement:

After forty-five years of scholarly research in biblical textual studies and in language study, I have come now to the conviction that no man knows enough to assail the truthfulness of the Old Testament. When there is sufficient documentary evidence to make an investigation, the statement of the Bible, in the original text, has stood the test.

It’s all true, every jot and every tittle in God’s beautiful book. This is the Solid Rock and the place to build a life that will last forever. The critics must criticize. That’s what critics do. God on the other hand must be God…I AM THAT I AM…because that’s just who He is, and all his words are true and righteous altogether and, yes, especially the miracle.

GOD SAID, Ps. 19:9:

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

GOD SAID, Gen. 11:17-26:

        17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

        18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

GOD SAID, Judges 7:19-20

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and  they blew the trumpets, and brake  the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 and the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and the cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

MAN SAID: The stories in the Bible are just wild stories. When you look you’ll discover the lack of any real credibility. The history, the chronology, geography, names and places, wrong, wrong, wrong! Throw it in the trash. Set yourself free!

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Upi.com/ScienceNews/2021

The Bible as History, Werner Keller

The Signature of God, Grant R. Jeffrey

Encyclopedia of Bible Life, Madeleine S. Miller & J. Lane Miller

Visits: 3707