QRUEL

is there any recorded history, outside of the bible, to support the many outlandish claims the bible makes, such as gods' mass killings, etc...

surely with all of these outrageous acts of God going on people would have written about such huge numbers of people dying at the hands of god and his armies of followers

a few examples...

The entire population of the earth at the time of Noah, except for eight survivors, in a flood. "And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." Gen. 7:23

Every inhabitant of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the surrounding plain, by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." Gen. 19:24 Lot's family fled.

All the first-born of every family in Egypt, including children of those in the dungeons and the successor to the throne of Egypt's Pharaoh, by God on the first Passover night. Ex. 12:29

3,000 Israelites, massacred by their Levite tribe at the command of the Lord for worshipping the golden calf. "Take every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor." Ex. 32:27 These were the orders of a God who would brook no disloyalty, a self-styled "jealous" God.

14,700 Jews in a plague, because they rebelled against Moses after the killing of the 250 princes. At last Aaron makes atonement with incense to stop the plague. Num. 16:41-49

24,000 Israelites who co-habited with Moabite women and worshipped Baal. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun . . ." Num. 25:4,9

The Ammonites, decimated by the Lord so that Lot might possess their land. Deut. 2:19-21

The Horims, slain by God in order that Esau might acquire their land. Deut. 2:22

All the citizens of Jericho, except for a prostitute and her family. Josh. 6

All the people of Makkedah, and their king hanged, Josh. 10:28

All the people of Libnah. Josh. 10:29,30

All the people of Lachish, Josh. 10:32

All the people of Gezer. Josh. 10:33

All the people of Eglon. Josh. 10:34,35

All the people of Hebron. Josh. 10:36,37

Joan of Bark

History supports SOME parts of the Bible (there was a King David, for instance). The stories from Genesis through Joshua are nonsense. See The Bible Unearthed, by Finkelstein and Silberman, for more on the exodus.

Chris Weimer

There's not a whole lot of evidence that there was an actual King David. There's some evidence, but I think it's safer to say that history can support a King David. However, whatever the tribal warlord DWD did, it was not as the Bible suggested it. Samuel is a highly mythologized account of what may have been a powerful warlord in and around Jerusalem.

Weltall

Nope, no evidence for a worldwide flood. Those darned Chinese and Egyptians missed the memo and forgot to record the whole thing. Maybe Shang Di and Ra knew how to create forcefields and protected them, or was that the Atlantians?
Nope, I feel certain someone in Egypt would have noticed this and written it down. Strangely, we don't have anything like that. Last I checked, the historical evidence for the Hebrews being slaves in Egypt and the Exodus story is a little on the scarce side as well.

Doug Shaver

There is nothing to support the outlandish claims and much that contradicts at least some, if not most, of them.

A few incidental details from stories of the late kingdom -- i.e., events leading up to the conquests of Israel and Judah -- are confirmed by extrabiblical sources. Aside from that, essentially every historical assertion in the Bible falls into one of two categories: (1) uncorroborated; (2) provably false.

spin

If we put aside the apparent misinterpretation of the still dubious Tel Dan inscription (which merely mentions a BYTDWD, "house of the beloved", a word that sounds like a temple centre, similar to Bethel, Bethshamash, and Bethanath), is there any evidence at all which points to a historical figure, David? Hmmm,... thought not....


spin

gregor

Does Finkelstein present any new archeological evidence for the existence of David in his new book?

David and Solomon (or via: amazon.co.uk)

Or is it a compilation of text analysis with previously considered evidence?

QRUEL

has anyone compiled a list of what you've stated above ?

Amaleq13

Recent thread on the book:

"David and Solomon": Finkelstein and Silberman's new book is out

jeffevnz

The flood story with Noah and the Ark almost certainly originated outside the book of Genesis, and outside of Hebrew culture altogether. A comparison with the Epic of Gilgamesh (written eariler) and a Sumerian story about a guy named Ziusudra (even earlier) reveal a number of improbable similarities:

http://www.flood-myth.com/parallels.htm


Of course, that doesn't mean it's based on an actual event. Certainly there was no worldwide flood. It is interesting to speculate that the original story was a semi-historical account of a local flood (of the Black Sea or the Euphrates river, etc), but that there's no way to know for sure.