Episode 20 – David and Goliath – Two Views of Scripture

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script Notes:

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

1 Samuel, Chapter 17, verses 51 and 52, English Standard Version

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy, Chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, English Standard Version

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VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome you to another episode of Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. Today we are continuing our conversation about the battle in the Elah valley between David and Goliath with the Founder of Crystal Sea Books and author, RD Fierro. In recent episodes we’ve been probing the details of the story to see whether there are historical and archeological records that help confirm the story’s historicity. And today we want take a look at a particularly amazing archeological find that might be the most incredible piece of evidence ever found that pertains to the story. But as we frequently do we want to start off on a lighter note with by using one of Crystal Sea’s Life Lessons with a Laugh series on David and Goliath. RD, is there anything you want to mention first?

RD: Well today I want call the folks attention to a remarkable archeological find that is the subject of a 2018 article from a website called patternsofevidence.com. The title of the article is David battles Goliath and it’s a particularly good article for anyone who wants to examine the intersection of archeology, the Bible, and contemporary thinking. We’ll put a link to the article on the written notes that accompany the podcast version of this show. We won’t have time today on Anchored by Truth to cover all of the interesting things in the article but we do want to highlight one of two aspects of the article to help us examine the question of the kind of lens through which people view scripture.

VK: Lots to get to then, but let’s start with a little humor. We had some good feedback on the “pizza delivery” lesson from the David series so we’ve decided to give it an encore airing. So here’s RD and Jerry discussing how bread and cheese became important ingredients in the Hebrews defeat of the Philistines.

---- David and Goliath, Lesson 3

VK: I must confess I like the musical parody in that episode. Especially that “God’s willing to show and He wants us to know His amore’” - His love. That’s so true and one of the ways God has revealed in His love to us is through His book, the Bible.

RD: Absolutely. After the fall, God could have just dismissed or ignored mankind but he didn’t. He launched a plan of redemption that would unfold over many, many centuries. But while the plan was unfolding he didn’t leave His people without guidance. He began giving progressive revelations to His people by means of the prophets and those revelations were ultimately assembled into a book that we know as the Bible. The word “Bible” actually traces its roots through Latin and Greek words that simply mean book. Of course, the question that all of us have to answer today is how do we approach the Bible and what does the Bible mean to us. At the heart of that question is whether the Bible is reliable and trustworthy.

VK: And that’s why we like to take some time on Anchored by Truth to look into the specific details of some of the better known Bible stories. To see whether or not there is an evidentiary basis to invest trust in those stories – in those mini-histories – if you will. Of course there are many parts of the Bible that should not be interpreted in a wooden, literal sense – the metaphors, the allegories, much of the poetry. But the portions of the Bible that are recording history should be reliable as history, so that’s a part of what we continue to study and discuss. And there’s a lot of available research and empirical evidence that allows us to have confidence in the historicity of the Bible’s historical reporting.

RD: Yes. And as I mentioned earlier today I want to look a couple of particularly tantalizing bits of evidence that have come to light only recently. And a couple of the most tantalizing ones come from a site overlooking the Valley of Elah which is where the fight took place. The site is an ancient fortress city called Khirbet Qeiyafa which the excavators think was likely the Biblical city of Shaaraim and is only about 7 miles from Goliath’s hometown of Gath. Remember in our opening scriptures we heard that the Israelites pursued the defeated Philistines to Gath and Ekron from Shaaraim. Shaaraim means “two gates” in Hebrew and the site excavators have found two gates at Khirbet Qeiyafa.

VK: Well, that makes sense in a lot of ways. The Valley of Elah was near the boundary between the Philistine territory and the Israelite territory so it would make sense to put a fortified city there. You would position such a city so that it would overlook the most likely avenue of attack from an enemy – in this case the valley that leads from Philistine cities of Gath and Ekron into the Israeli territory. So who was doing the excavation and what are some of their finds?

RD: The excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa have been led by two Israeli archeologists: Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Garfinkel has proposed an Iron Age date for the fortification there which fits in precisely with the Biblical timeframe for the fight between the Philistines and Saul’s army. Saul, of course, was the king of Israel and the leader of the Hebrew army when the fight occurred between David and Goliath. One of the most interesting things they found was a jar with the name “Eshbaal” on it. Eshbaal was one of Saul’s four sons – who naturally would have been with Saul at the time of the battle.

 

VK: Interesting. Even if it wasn’t a jar that belonged specifically to Saul’s son it means there’s evidence that that name was in use among the Hebrews at that point in history. Also, the fact that the excavators think that Khirbet Qeiyafa was a fortress means that at that point in the history of Israel, Saul had begun to create a defensive network for his kingdom which in turn indicates a higher degree of centralized control and a more sophisticated Hebrew society that some archeologists believed existed at the time. What else?

RD: Well, the most interesting and - potentially revolutionary – find was a potsherd that contained some of the oldest Semitic writing ever found in Israel. The potsherd has been labeled the Qeiyafa Ostracon and it contains five lines of fairly legible text. Some portions of the lines are faded which you expect after something had been buried for a few thousand years, but much of it is amazingly legible. There’s a picture of the Ostracon in the article that we’ve been mentioning.

VK: But reading and translating ancient writing is usually pretty challenging isn’t it? I mean not only do the letters tend to fade or become discolored, but ancient Hebrew writing wasn’t like today’s English. They used vowel points instead of having separate letters for vowels and they didn’t put spaces between words which is conventional today.

RD: All that is very true and so there will always be a certain amount of uncertainly or imprecision when it comes to translating the text that is contained on items like the Ostracon. Attempts by various scholars have come up with varying interpretations most including some variations on the words for God, judge, servant, and king or kingdom. But one scholar, Brian Corless, who is an honorary research associate at Massey University and a recognized expert on ancient Northwest Semitic scripts has come up with an absolutely astounding possibility.

VK: Which is...

RD: I’m going to read his tentative translation but first I would reiterate the caveats that you mentioned above. These kinds of translations are notoriously difficult. But here is what Corless said that he believes fits what he sees:

1. Anak, you have cursed against the servant of God

2. The servant of God has judged you with the judgments of Yahu

3. Goliath, you are dead; David is master forever

4. I arise and we raise up the foundation of my kingdom

5. I raise up the people of my servant for his virtuous acts.

VK: Wow. That would be truly incredible. A pottery remnant that actually contains the names of David and Goliath that is from a site that is near the actual place where the fight occurred. It’s amazing to think about something like that appearing.

RD: Precisely. It would be amazing but my general observation is the more the amazing a particular find seems the more incumbent it is on the community of faith to be cautious in citing it as “proof” of something. But even if Corless’s particular transformation were not entirely accurate, I think the Qeiyafa Ostracon and site are important for a couple of reasons. First, the Ostracon demonstrates that there making written records was commonplace among the Hebrews in the early part of the Iron Age and second the site confirms that an embryonic Hebrew kingdom was already starting to give evidence of a transformation to the kind of centralized, organized kingdom that is described in the Bible. Many scholars had thought this transformation did not occur until well after David’s time. Khirbet Qeiyafa gives evidence it was already occurring while Saul was still king.

VK: So you think that how we approach these kinds of new archeological finds or revelations is an important element of we approach scripture in general?

RD: Yes. Unfortunately, we live in a society that is increasingly Biblically ill informed, at best, or ignorant, at worst. As such, it’s more common these days to run into people whose basic attitude toward the Bible, if they think about it at all, is that something in the Bible is not true unless there’s extra-Biblical evidence that confirms it. And that is true even if the person isn’t an ardent atheist or outright hostile to the Bible. In other words, the Bible is often viewed with skepticism, suspicion, or an ingrained disbelief. Even many Christians today no longer hold to the classic view that the Bible is inspired and inerrant because they’re immersed in a culture that rejects a previously shared embrace of transcendent truth.

VK: Well, skepticism or criticism of the Bible also seems to be the stock in trade of much of what gets aired on television or in the news these days. Just about every time there’s a Christian holiday – Christmas, Easter, etc. – you see cable shows on science or history channels that purport to tell us the real story behind what used to be a commonly accepted Bible based idea or story. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen specials that tell me now we’re going to hear the – quote – real truth about Jesus or Moses or David for that matter.

RD: Right, but as a supervisor of mine used to say, “it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” And the good news about the Bible is that it can withstand honest inquiry, questions, and even doubts – if it is given the opportunity to address those questions. The Bible – or at least parts of it – has been around for over 3,000 years.

VK: And the entire Bible – what we refer to as the Old and New Testaments has been around for over 2,000 years. And the Bible has certainly withstood more than its fair share of attempts to dismiss it or destroy it. But as you have rhymed in one of the Life Lessons – it persists to exist. And it will until the mists are dismissed.

RD: Yes. Because the Bible is the word of God it possesses the attributes that allow us to demonstrate to others that it is. We can demonstrate that it has relevance to this world – through a basic historicity and the ability to positively change lives. And it possesses evidence of supernatural origins through an extensive body of accurate, fulfilled prophecies and through its remarkable unity and consistency despite the fact that it contains books that were prepared by dozens of human authors over a period of almost 1,500 years. But it is true that for people to see its real character and attributes someone must be able to explain them to those who have honest questions.

VK: You believe that it is an overstatement to say things like “archeology proves the Bible is true” or “science proves such-and-such about the Bible.” But that doesn’t mean that understanding relevant archeological, historical, or scientific material isn’t helpful in demonstrating that we do not accept the Bible on blind faith.

RD: Exactly. Some people would say, “the Bible isn’t true unless facts outside the Bible confirm the Bible.” But they don’t take that same approach to other books of antiquity such as the histories written by – say – Josephus or Herodotus or Tacitus. When they review books written by secular historians they impart a basic degree of reliability to the book and the writer even they would rightfully be alert to potential errors or misrepresentations. And even for non-believers I think that’s a reasonable approach to take to the Bible.

VK: But as believers we can have an extra level of confidence in the Bible’s inspiration and infallibility because we have the internal witness of the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would lead us into all truth.

RD: Yes. Only God can change the human heart but when He does so He will give us confirmation that He, in fact, has done so.

VK: Sounds like a great opportunity for a prayer. Since it’s so important to study the Bible how about if today we pray for any of our listeners who have just begun a new season of Bible study and reflection.

---- Prayer for starting a Bible study (56) – needs to be tracked

VK: Next time on Anchored by Truth we’re going to finish up our study of David and Goliath – at least for now. We want to circle back around and ensure that listeners see how the story of David and Goliath and all the stories in the Bible for that matter are integral parts of God’s revelation of His love and plan for salvation. We hope you’ll be with us then and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quotes from the English Standard Version)

1 Samuel, Chapter 17, verses 51 and 52, English Standard Version

2 Timothy, Chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, English Standard Version

https://scientistsforjesus.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/david-and-goliath-factual-evidence/

https://patternsofevidence.com/2018/10/26/david-battles-goliath/

https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/8/4/1

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/the-tel-dan-inscription-the-first-historical-evidence-of-the-king-david-bible-story/