See for yourself!
Ha’aretz informs us that a
Seal found by Israeli archeologists may give substance to Samson legend. Scholars say the scene shown on the artifact recalls the story in Judges of Samson fighting a lion.
Really??? Really???????? Boy talk about making a suit out of a button and seeing what one wants to see this is a brilliant example of exactly that.
A small stone seal found recently in the excavations of Tel Beit Shemesh could be the first archaeological evidence of the story of the biblical Samson.
Really???????????
The seal, measuring 1.5 centimeters, depicts a large animal next to a human figure. The seal was found in a level of excavation that dates to the 11th century B.C.E. That was prior to the establishment of the Judean kingdom and is considered to be the period of the biblical judges – including Samson. Scholars say the scene shown on the artifact recalls the story in Judges of Samson fighting a lion.
No, not really. It looks like something but a lion? And a tiny, tiny man?
But excavation directors Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of Tel Aviv University say they do not suggest that the human figure on the seal is the biblical Samson.
Well then why is the article titled as it is and why are readers, up to this point, basically told that it is????? Come on, this is dreadful pandering to the ‘bible in one hand and spade in the other’ mentality of fundamentalism.
Rather, the geographical proximity to the area where Samson lived, and the time period of the seal, show that a story was being told at the time of a hero who fought a lion, and that the story eventually found its way into the biblical text and onto the seal.
Well there ya go! Someone who had heard a story made a little seal. That’s no more proof of the biblical Samson than someone painting a picture of a Unicorn being ridden by a pretty princess is proof that Harry Potter is historical fact! The piece should have begun with this sentence.
Stop this dreadful misrepresentation, press people. You’re embarrassing yourselves and misleading (i.e., lying to) the public. And when Fox News and World Net Daily and the others of their ilk pick up this story they’ll run it as ‘Proof of the Biblical Samson found in Israeli Excavation!!!!’ and the next thing you know, the dim Maximalists will publish an essay in BAR suggesting that the seal was made by an eyewitness to Samson’s slaying of the lion.
You must be logged in to post a comment.