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The producers surveyed the evidence and take positions that are mainstream among archaeologists and historians, although they continue to raise objections among both Christians who believe in the bible as literal truth and minimalists who assert that the Bible has no historical validation.
The program airs archaeologists' assertions that:[2]
On the Origins of Israel
There is no archaeological evidence to corroborate the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah's flood and Abraham.
There is no evidence to support the mass exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, although some now believe that a small group did escape from Egypt; however, they were not Israelites but, rather, Canaanite slaves. On their journey back to Canaan they pass through Midian, where they are inspired by stories of the Shasu's god, Yhw.
The Land of Canaan (called the Promised Land in the Hebrew Bible) was not taken over by conquest as described in the Book of Joshua – rather, the Israelites actually might have been Canaanites who migrated into the highlands and created a new identity for themselves. Of the 31 sites the Bible says that Joshua conquered, few showed any signs of war. "Joshua really didn't fight the Battle of Jericho," William G. Dever said.
Some events of the Israelite kingdom given in the Book of Kings are more or less accurate as history.
On the development of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh
The Bible's first books have been traced back to multiple authors writing over a span of centuries. (See Documentary hypothesis.)
The early books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Samuel and Kings, reached almost their present form during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BCE.
On the development of monotheism in Israel
The Israelite religion was not exclusively monotheistic from the beginning as suggested in the Hebrew Bible, rather, the archaeological evidence indicates that, before the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE, the early Israelites were polytheistic and worshipped the local god Yahweh alongside his "wife," a fertility goddess named Asherah.
The emergence of monotheism and the belief in the universality of Yahweh was a response to the tragic experience of the Babylonian exile of the Israelites in the 6th century BCE. According to Dever, "It's out of this that comes the reflection that polytheism was our [the Israelites'] downfall."
I would assume that the OT is probably contains some actually historically accurate content. However, since some of the older stories obviously had to be passed down orally one would assume that there is a lot of myth and legend.
I'd be curious to know when the Israelites developed their written language during the evolution of their culture.
Just because Israel drifted from polytheism to monotheism to polytheism to monotheism does not mean they were correct to drift back to the error of polytheism. God, the one and only true God used prophets to steer them back to the one true God. Humans, being what they are miss the mark. It doesn't mean there are many true gods which can be worshiped if early Israel or the neighboring countries worshipped many gods.
Actually he did fight at Jericho along with about 40,000 soldiers.
And the walls came a-tumbling down!
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