My wife loves news. Her preferred source? CNN. (Yes, I know… your eyebrows have raised and you feel the need to sing the praises of Fox News, hoping to pull us from the jaws of liberal media…. We’re OK, thanks.) Thus my Firefox homepage is CNN.com. I actually really enjoy starting from their page – they keep it simple with headlines and breaking news. Hilary can spend hours on the site whereas I give it 30 seconds to catch my attention with a headline or I’m off to Yahoo Sports or ESPN.
On Friday, CNN roped me in with the following headline: Archeologist finds 3000-year old Hebrew Text. (Click headline to read the post, if you’re at all interested)
I clicked – and then I read. Personally I really enjoy information concerning original biblical sources and ancient secondary sources; it’s not for everyone I know. Even if you aren’t the least bit curious, let me just hit the highlights for you, and let you know why I care…
(1) Carbon dating of the pottery which contains the text places the date @ around 3000 B.C…. which subsequently places it in the era of King David. This is said to be “the earliest-known Hebrew text.”
- What does this mean for a follower of Christ? It is an encouragement to us in much the same way the discovery of NT manuscripts is an encouragement – the evidence support isn’t the reason for faith (especially since this piece is not a scroll of Genesis or Jeremiah, though even if it were, it cannot be the reason for faith), but it’s empowering and calming at the same time to see evidence come alongside ancient biblical history….
(2) The text appears to feature the words “judge,” “slave” and “king.”
- The continuity between the Scripture and this cursory reading of the text is amazing. The initial hypothesis is that this piece is part of a legal text. So we’re not looking at a situation debating the Canon of the OT – instead we have a text that supports a view of the people of Israel as an organized and orderly people ruled by law (which was recorded in Hebrew) during the reign of the flagship king of the OT – David.
God is faithful and an article like this one – though it is not seeking to support and encourage followers of Christ – is evidence to me of His faithfulness to His people, bringing encouragement to them in the year 2008… 3000 years after this particular piece if pottery was fashioned and the text inscribed on its surface.
