Queries & Comments

008

Tabloid Junk

Your magazine used to be a rigorous scientific journal. It is a sign of the depressing times to see it now: a rag sheet that twists science to justify Scripture. Recent headlines included: Noah sailed in a sewn boat! The pool where Jesus healed the blind man! Has BAR become the Weekly World News?

Time for Another Point of View

BAR is just like any other “scholarly” periodical—the prerequisite: it must be liberal. I would love a serious Biblical archaeology periodical that would deal with those oh-so-close-minded conservative views, treating them like real points of view, because they are.

Let’s Get Personal

I really love all the letters to the editor, which often have all sorts of helpful information about digs, relics, controversies and such. But what I really love are the personal letters, divided between those of us who love BAR and the many people who don’t; they are divided into those who believe your magazine is too liberal-modern-sexy-using-C.E.-and-B.C.E. and who knows what else, and those who think your magazine is hopelessly mired in backward, reactionary ideas. Keep up the good work!

Two-Pronged Effort

I always enjoy reading BAR, including the disputes. Keep up the fight for truth in earthly matters while seeking spiritual truth as well.

Pugnacious but Passionate

I have read numerous letters to the editor, both complaining and supportive of BAR’s and the editor’s style of addressing certain topics and people.

You can’t help but notice the occasional pugnacious language, and I have had to ask myself why I am so drawn to a publication that can be rather ungracious. The answer is that there is nothing else out there with so much passion in its writing. Biblical subjects and professional reputations are always hot topics. Put the two together and one can’t help but see the sparks fly. I may cringe at certain articles, but I do appreciate the forum for controversial positions. I hope I am attentive enough to sift through the personal attacks and judge arguments by their merits.

Misreading the Fossil Record

In a letter published in the September/October 2005 issue Robert Gadeken writes, “Pre-Cambrian rock, before life, is empty of fossils … Then Cambrian rock explodes with thousands of fossils of complex plants, insects ….”

Mr. Gadeken is mistaken. The Pre-Cambrian period does indeed contain fossils, many of which show a progression to forms found in the later Cambrian period. The reason we do not find more is that these organisms were predominately “soft-bodied” creatures that typically do not fossilize well. But increasing numbers of these organisms are found in this period.

Equally important, the organisms found in the Cambrian explosion are at the level of Phyla in classification. None resembles in the slightest anything that exists today other than worm-like organisms. No plants, insects and the like have 010ever been found as part of this explosion of life forms from this era. Certainly nothing at all fully-formed is observed during the 50-75 million years represented here. These only begin to appear some 200 million years later, as numerous transition forms from earlier organisms begin to emerge.

Delusional Anti-Evolutionist

Being a long-time devotee of BAR, I am used to the bi-monthly whining of readers whose fragile faith is suddenly challenged by simple observations of archaeological reality. Always comical and never enlightening, such ravings are a mere curious prelude to the substantive portions of the magazine. I never envisioned stooping so low as to waste time forming a response to one.

However, Robert Gadeken’s reply to Frank Moore Cross’s assessment of the evolution of Israelite religion is nothing less than delusional. Mr. Gadeken takes issue with the idea that parallel structures presume antecedents; he cites the so-called Cambrian Explosion as an example of forms springing “full-formed into history.” The imbecility of such a statement belies Mr. Gadeken’s ignorance of the subject. He has, of course, perfectly parroted the mantra of Intelligent Design theorists who conveniently (and frequently) ignore historical evidence when it doesn’t fit. He states, “Pre-Cambrian rock … is empty of fossils.” Pure poppycock! Fossils abound in the Pre-Cambrian and, what’s more, exhibit increasingly complex body plans up to and including the “explosion” of Cambrian life (which occurred over tens of millions of years and was not instantaneous as Mr. Gadeken and others imply). Antecedents to Cambrian forms abound by the truckload. Mr. Gadeken’s statements reach the height of absurdity when he asserts that “complex plants, insects, reptiles and fish” occur suddenly in the Cambrian. No plants, no insects and certainly no reptiles occur anywhere within the Cambrian. The few animals arising at the end of the Cambrian that might be considered fish exhibit so many primitive characteristics that no one would classify them as such. Not only biology but history as well abounds with evidences for antecedent characteristics, parallel structures and homologies that demonstrate clear ancestor-descendant relationships between organisms, languages, cultures and religions. Frank Cross has done nothing more than use a standard scientific methodology, repeatedly substantiated by observation and successfully employed daily by paleontologists, historians and archaeologists, among others. The need to question the claim that Israelite religion evolved over time (particularly when based on a mythical paleontological analogy) reeks of the kind of theological protectionism 011often used to cover a weak faith. Cross is doing great history, preceded, no doubt, by decades of reading, fieldwork, painstaking research and development of an extensive body of knowledge. On the other hand, Mr. Gadeken’s knowledge does appear to have “leaped, fully formed into history”—without any antecedent validation.

Siloam Pool

With BAR in Hand

I was a student in Israel in 1963–1964 and a volunteer at Masada under Yigael Yadin. I later returned to work on a kibbutz for a summer. This year I have had the privilege of going to Israel on three extended trips. I have used BAR articles while visiting Beit Guvrin, the City of David, Sepphoris and other areas. It was my great joy recently to return home and have waiting for me the September/October 2005 issue, with the Siloam Pool steps on the front cover. My son and I had just walked over those steps a week before. While viewing Warren’s Shaft I was able to explain various arguments from what I had read in BAR. While walking through Hezekiah’s Tunnel I was able to point out where the two teams met and tell what happened there while we were in that exact spot. My son will never forget that trip, thanks mainly to articles in BAR.

Coin Flip

I am sure I will not be the only one to notice, but on page 23 of your September/October 2005 issue you have a photo of a coin, one of four “embedded in the plaster of the newly discovered Siloam Pool … All four date to the rule of Alexander Jannaeus, one of the later Hasmonean kings, who ruled from 103 to 76 B.C.”

The coin depicted is actually a coin from the first Jewish Revolt. The Hebrew inscription on the obverse around the amphora reads “SHNT SHTIM” or “Year Two” of the first Jewish Revolt. The reverse would have a vine leaf with the inscription “HRT TZION,” or the “Freedom of Zion.” The bronze coin was struck in Jerusalem in 67 C.E.

Our thanks to Mr. Blizzard and several other readers for pointing out the error. The first to do so, however (to the best of our knowledge), was Professor Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University. Readers should recall that there were two groups of coins found at the pool—one from the Hasmonean period and one from the First Revolt. The misidentification of the coin in the photo as being part of one group rather than the other does not alter the fact that the pool was in use from the first century B.C. to about 70 A.D.—Ed.

Overhyped Discovery

The article about the Siloam Pool was fascinating. However it is misleading to use such phrases as “accidental discovery,” “discovered by accident” and “now we have found an earlier pool.”

This area has been known for many 012years as the site of the old Pool of Siloam and is clearly marked on maps of old Jerusalem. I have one such dated from 1936 and printed under F.J. Salomon, Commissioner for Lands and Surveys in Palestine.

Such notations on maps were speculation. Nothing definitive about the New Testament-era Pool of Siloam was known until the recent discoveries.—Ed.

Josephus on Siloam

In your article on the Siloam Pool you stress the connection to John 9:1–11 but do not mention the numerous references to the pool found in the writings of Josephus.

In The Jewish War, Josephus explains Siloam is the name of “that fountain of sweet and abundant water” (War Bk. 5, Ch. 4, Par. 1, Sec. 140) and half a dozen times uses it as a geographic reference point. He even describes a miracle happening there. In quoting his own speech in which he urged the revolutionaries to surrender Jerusalem so that it not be destroyed, Josephus points out that Siloam and all the springs outside the town had up to then been failing. Indeed, water was so scarce that it was being sold by the amphora. But now that the Romans were outside the walls, the waters “flow so freely for your enemies as to suffice not only for themselves and their beasts but even for gardens. This miracle [teras], moreover, has been experienced ere now on the fall of the city …” from which he draws a parallel to a similar occurrence (not found in the Bible) just prior to the Babylonian capture (War Bk. 5, Ch. 9, Par. 4, Sec. 410; translation of H. St. J. Thackeray).

From this activity of Siloam, Josephus concludes that the Deity no longer favors the holy places and has sided with the Romans. You report the excavators found coins dating from the years 2, 3 and 4 of the First Revolt against Rome. This suggests the pool could have been beginning to fill with debris at this time, confirming the account of its failure in Josephus.

Kedesh

Encore! Encore!

I enjoyed reading “Life and Death on the Israel-Lebanon Border” (BAR 31:05) very much. The article was well written and well thought out. The authors’ considerations early in the story about what they hoped to find at the site were particularly interesting. Please ask Andrea Berlin and Sharon Herbert to write for BAR again.

Your layout artists continue to produce the best-looking pages of any magazine in the nation! Type faces, use of color, balance—these really enhance the stories.

013

Hebron

Great Mistake

I read with great interest Jeffrey Chadwick’s fascinating article on Hebron, having visited that ancient city many years ago. I did, however, notice that he inadvertently left out Obed when referring to David’s ancestors. Ruth was David’s great-grandmother [not grandmother, as we stated—Ed.], Obed was his grandfather and Jesse was his father. I with to extend my compliments to your exciting, well-written magazine.

Potpourri

Too Few Cover Boys?

I’ve been subscribing to BAR for over 20 years now. It is possible you have had an older gentleman hold up an artifact on one of your Dig Issue covers from time to time. If memory serves, though, it has been a young lady pretty much every year. A simple statistic should clear things up.

Going back to 1985, our Dig Issue covers have featured seven women and two men; six covers have had both men and women and six have had non-dig subjects.—Ed.

Correction

In the caption to the plan of Tel Dan (“Mycenaeans Were There Before the Israelites,” BAR 31:05), we incorrectly stated that the Mycenaean tomb (Tomb 387) was found in area T. It was actually found in area B, just north of the city gate. We should also have noted that the photo of the vase on page 45 was taken by David Harris.

010

BAS Added to “Wall of Life” in Jerusalem

The Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS), publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review, Bible Review and Archaeology Odyssey magazines, will be honored in Jerusalem next June at the meeting of Hebrew University’s Board of Governors. The university will engrave the organization’s name on its “Wall of Life,” a wall on the Mt. Scopus campus overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, in recognition of the Society’s support for the university’s archaeological endeavors. BAS has donated more than $100,000 to numerous archaeological projects in recent years.

Tabloid Junk