Do archaeologists purposely erase any mention of the Biblical figures from ancient artifacts that they find?? If not who did it?
Read the following:
Currently the tally stands at 53, according to Prof. Lawrence Mykytiuk’s stringent analyses (this is the number just for individuals mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament). Mykytiuk’s list has an additional 13.
Here is just a sample ....
Read the following:
Currently the tally stands at 53, according to Prof. Lawrence Mykytiuk’s stringent analyses (this is the number just for individuals mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament). Mykytiuk’s list has an additional 13.
Here is just a sample ....
Isaiah
The Isaiah artifact bulla can be seen pretty clearly. There is a general consideration that this artifact did actually belong to the biblical prophet. But because of a broken letter, debate has raged among members of the scholarly community, and thus some degree of doubt still hangs over this artifact. And so here, it illustrates the semantic difficulties nicely.
All the evidence is there. The bulla (seal stamp) was found in a controlled scientific excavation. It dates to exactly the same period as the biblical prophet. It belonged to a high-ranking official, as was the prophet. It was found in a royal quarter of Jerusalem, where the biblical prophet lived and worked. It was found right alongside a bulla belonging to King Hezekiah himself, whom the prophet worked with closely, as evidenced in the Bible; the king and prophet are mentioned together in 16 different verses.
The title on the bulla clearly reads
Belonging to Isaiah.
It was merely the final word—actually, just one letter of the final word—that has generated so much scholarly debate as to whether or not we can be absolutely sure it belonged to the prophet.
The final preserved word is Nvy.
The Hebrew word for “prophet” is Nvy’ (both pronounced the same). The place where the final symbol was expected had been damaged by a 2,700-year old fingerprint.
Belonging to Isaiah.
It was merely the final word—actually, just one letter of the final word—that has generated so much scholarly debate as to whether or not we can be absolutely sure it belonged to the prophet.
The final preserved word is Nvy.
The Hebrew word for “prophet” is Nvy’ (both pronounced the same). The place where the final symbol was expected had been damaged by a 2,700-year old fingerprint.
Hence the debate—over one little letter. Without this letter (aleph), some of the more skeptical scholars argue, the word Nvy could just be a family name or a location.
But as Dr. Eilat Mazar (the archaeologist who uncovered it) keeps coming back to, what are the chances that this is just another “Isaiah”?
Given all of the above, the wider context, that fits so perfectly—given that the word “prophet” is all there, minus one letter
All the evidence points to this being the Prophet Isaiah.
Still, due to the tiniest bit of damage over one single letter,
the curse of doubt has been introduced. And to the scholarly
world, the tiniest speck of doubt makes even the unreasonable reasonable. Cue the flurry of articles, as certain skeptics jump
on the “not so fast” bandwagon—typically ignoring the context and instead focusing on semantics regarding the missing letter.
Still, due to the tiniest bit of damage over one single letter,
the curse of doubt has been introduced. And to the scholarly
world, the tiniest speck of doubt makes even the unreasonable reasonable. Cue the flurry of articles, as certain skeptics jump
on the “not so fast” bandwagon—typically ignoring the context and instead focusing on semantics regarding the missing letter.
Yet regarding that final letter, a close reexamination of the bulla appears to show a partially preserved aleph after all—thus completing the word prophet.