For the first time, the true history of ancient Israel as revealed
through recent archaeological discoveries-and a controversial new take
on when, why and how the Bible was written.
In the past three decades,
archaeologists have made great strides in recovering the lost world of
the Old Testament. Dozens of digs in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon
have changed experts’ understanding of ancient Israel and its
neighbours- as well as their vision of the Bible’s greatest tales.
Israel Finkelstein
Yet until now, the public has remained almost entirely unaware of
these discoveries which help separate legend from historical truth.
“Prof. Israel Finkelstein &
Neil Silberman, Two of archaeology’s leading scholars shed new light on
how the Bible came into existence. They assert, for example, that
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never existed, that David and Solomon were not
great kings but obscure chieftains and that the Exodus never happened.”
Here, at last, two of archaeology’s leading scholars shed new light on
how the Bible came into existence. They assert, for example, that
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never existed, that David and Solomon were not
great kings but obscure chieftains and that the Exodus never happened.
They offer instead a new historical truth: the Bible was created by
the people of the small, southern nation of Judah in a heroic last-ditch
attempt to keep their faith alive after the demise of the larger,
wealthier nation of Israel to the north. It is in this truth, not in the
myths of the past, that the real value of the Bible is evident.
The Bible is both a religious and historical work, but how much is
myth and how much is history? When and why was the Old Testament
written, and by whom? What do contemporary archaeologists know about the
Patriarchs? The Exodus? The Conquest of Canaan? Kings David and
Solomon? Where do the people of Israel originally come from? Why were
the historical accounts of the Bible written down?
A masterful archaeological and biblical investigation, The Bible Unearthed
visits digs in Egypt, Jordan and Israel – including Megiddo, the cradle
of biblical archeology, where 7,000 years of history have been
excavated.
This far-ranging exploration of biblical history also makes use of
archival footage of previous archaeological excavations, maps, biblical
illustrations and computer animation, revealing ancient architecture,
cuneiform tablets and other rare artifacts.
Based on the best-selling book (The Bible Unearthed) by
prominent Israeli archeologist Israel Finkelstein & coauthored by
American historian Neil Asher Silberman, this enthralling documentary
features interviews with archaeological specialists and biblical
scholars from all over the world, including experts from the Louvre, the
Museum of Cairo, the Museum of Jerusalem, and the British Museum.
The Bible Unearthed does something which has never been done
before: it reveals a still-unraveling revolution of what we know of the
society, the history, and the men who wrote the Bible.
