Update/Correction to an Earlier Post

Some months back I wrote this post about the early Israelites' brutal conquest of the Land of Canaan under the direction of Joshua, as recorded in the Bible.

Turns out that it just did not even happen. Modern archaeologists have painstakingly dug up pretty much this whole area which gave birth to western civilization. There is no evidence of the kingdoms of David nor the massive temple of Solomon, early Israelites never were enslaved in Egypt, never invaded Canaan, never murdered all those idol worshippers. They just thought it would be a good idea for them to understand that to be their history as a way to unify the tribes under one national/religious identity.

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman is written for the general public, and to my knowlege is the first attempt to introduce us to what archaeologists have known for quite some time.

Of course it might be a totally wasted effort, since it comes from the "reality-based" way of thinking. This book shows clearly that reality-based thinking and understanding of history has been on the run since ancient times.

I will not be spoiling the book for you if I tell you that according to archaeologists and other serious students of the Bible and the Holy Land, that the whole darned Old Testement was put together, a collection/editing and revisionist story, during the 7th century under the rule of King Josiah. Some of those cities supposedly sacked by Josua never even existed until Josiah's times.

After an initial relief that my chosen spiritual ancestors, the polytheistic Canaanites, were not destroyed by early Isrealites, a darker feeling descends. No, the followers of YHWH did not commit genocide, they just thought it would have been a good thing to have done! So they assembled, edited and wrote and rewrote these legends which were to become the new history. It is all based on huge cognitive dissonance. Pretty much the first thing that we do after getting the Ten Commandments, near the top of which is "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is to go out and supposedly eradicate the whole population of a dozen or so city states. Well dang. Off to a good start.

Next stop, the Koran. I've already peaked into some of the first verses, and it starts out with war and religious intolerance from the very beginning. I'll have more of the same, please.

How are we to ever have peace, freedom, or democracy, when the foundations of these major world religions is built on worship of angry and jealous war gods?