From the AP- Sunday 18, April 2010
It’s just a wall. But an Israeli archaeologist sees something special in this recently-excavated ancient fortification: proof that the Bible is true. The Associated Press reports that the wall, which is thought to date back some 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon, is an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C. Scholars have long debated whether or not this was true, but if the wall’s date is correct, it verifies the Bible’s account about the Hebrew kings David and Solomon, who ruled from Jerusalem around that time. While some Holy Land archaeo-logists support this version of ancient history, including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar, others insist that King David’s reign was largely mythical, since there was no strong central government at the time.
But the wall could change the skeptics into believers. Mazar says that the discovery of the wall is “the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel.” She told AP, “It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction.” Based on what she believes is the age of the wall and its location, she thinks the fortification, which is mentioned in the Old Testament’s Book of Kings, was constructed by David’s son, Solomon. She believes the wall is 3,000 years old, based on a large number of pottery shards found in the area that date to this time.
The fortifications include a gatehouse and an ancient wall measuring 77 yards. Located just outside the present-day walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, the wall is next to the holy compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The compound is now home to two important Islamic buildings, the golden-capped Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque. The Bible says that Solomon built on this site the First Temple, which housed the Ark of the Covenant and served as a religious focal point in ancient Judaism. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 576 B.C., rebuilt in 516 B.C. and later renovated by King Herod in the time of Christ. Roman legions destroyed it again in 70 A.D.
But not everyone agrees. The key in all of this is the age of the wall, and at least one archaeology professor, Aren Maeir from Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said he has yet to see evidence that the fortifications are as old as Mazar claims. There are remains from the 10th century in Jerusalem, he said, but proof of a strong, centralized kingdom at that time remains “tenuous.” He thinks the truth is somewhere in the middle. “There’s a kernel of historicity in the story of the kingdom of David,” he told AP.