Once again archaeology confirms the veracity of Tanach
“You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah.” (Zechariah 14:5)
The multi-year coronavirus pandemic is now firmly branded as a benchmark in modern memory. Likewise, in the first verse of the Book of Amos, the eighth century BCE biblical prophet referred to “two years before the earthquake” as an anchor to the events he was about to relate. Two centuries later, the prophet Zechariah again referred to this destructive earthquake period, so deeply was it ingrained in the collective psyche.
Now, for the first time, a team of Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in Jerusalem’s City of David report that they have found unprecedented concrete evidence of this eighth century BCE earthquake in the ancient capital.
In an upcoming research paper, the archaeologists chart, for example, that in one particular structure the destruction layer did not show signs of fire, yet other factors suggested the building had been damaged in a traumatic event, apparently an earthquake.
“This was most notable on the earliest floor of the southernmost room,” they write. “In this room, a row of smashed vessels was uncovered along its northern wall, above which fallen stones had been found. It appears that these stones were the upper part of the walls of the room, which had collapsed, destroying the vessels which had been set along the wall.”
Until now, the earliest destruction layer of Jerusalem comes from the Babylonian conquest of 586 BCE. For archaeologists, an earlier historical anchor if proven through securely dated evidence, serves as an important stratigraphical benchmark for scientific excavations in Jerusalem.
According to Tel Aviv University Professor Israel Finkelstein, who was not involved in the current research: “Destructive earthquakes in Jerusalem are possible, as shown by the well-recorded earthquake of 1927. The early layer of the book of Amos includes materials which relate to the eighth century and hence it is possible that a devastating earthquake left a strong impression and was recorded.”
Times of Israel/pmo.gov.il
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