Yesterday a friend sent me a link to this scandalous story. Recent archaeological research suggests that camels were first introduced to Israel in the year 900. This, of course, postdates the lives of many Israelite patriarchs and suggests that many such stories were composed in a postexilic period (I know, shocking!).But are we talking about 900 BCE or 900 CE? If you get your news from the Weather Channel link (above), you'll be off by about 1800 years. While the reporter tells us that camels were not used in Israel until 900 after Christ, the TAU study concludes, rather, that camels were first introduced to the region in 900 BCE.
To be honest, I'm not too bothered by biblical anachronisms - just so long as the Bible is more reliable than the weatherman.
-anthony
I didn't realize that the Weather Channel had such diversified interests.
ReplyDeleteThe American Friends of Tel Aviv University site says, at the very end of the piece, that domesticated camels "promoted trade between Israel and exotic locations unreachable before," as 'camels can travel over much longer distances than the donkeys and mules that preceded them. By the seventh century BCE, trade routes like the Incense Road stretched all the way from Africa through Israel to India." I think they're overlooking boats - I suspect that sea-borne trade routes between Iraq and India would have been well established long before the 7th century. You might like to point this out to them - it's such a delight to be niggley.
ReplyDeletefollowing up:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/10625036/Camel-bones-do-not-cast-doubt-on-Bible-stories.html
-anthony
The weathermen shouldn't challenge the Bible.. At the opposite. They'd better use the Bible for accurate forecasts
ReplyDelete