semiopen

When I first noticed this, this seemed like a relatively intelligent response to my post. Most of the quotes you give are from the section of his paper entitled Judges. I made brief remarks about the Exodus and Joshua sections.

Imagine my shock today to see you arguing for millions of Israelites. My first thought was that you must have had a lobotomy over the weekend.

This is amazing, since I noted that Hess is arguing for a much smaller exodus because of the lack of archeological finds in the Sinai.

If there were millions of people and the Bible is accurate, why are they not entering Canaan from the West? That's a pretty major item to get wrong.

Another point that deserves mention are the tribes. The tribes seem to be named after the places they lived, and these areas are fitted into a sons of Israel structure. This is similar to the grandsons of Noah, who are given names from geographical areas. If the direction of the invasion is wrong, and the population is overstated, why would we expect there to be exactly 12 tribes leaving Egypt, and pre dividing the land?

Regarding the invasion or lack thereof, this isn't so much a Finkelstein issue as opposed to overwhelming academic opinion.

Minimalist

You might find this interesting, Semi. Not exactly on topic but it does go to the discussion of what was in Jerusalem.

Gabe Barkay is a well-known Israeli archaeologist. He is not known as a friend of the minimalists which makes his opinion very neutral. He has been digging through dirt which was dumped by the Palestinian Authorities (the Waqf) after they did some renovations on the Temple Mount.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128955

Coins were invented in Asia Minor c 700 BC and spread rapidly throughout the region because they were just such a great idea! Nonetheless, 3,500 coins recovered by Barkay's crew and not one from prior to the "Persian Period?" If Jerusalem was any sort of commercial center what are the odds of that?

:constern01: