Archaeologists proclaim discovery of ancient Biblical city, possibly the house of the prophet Elisha
During Tel Rehov excavation in the Jordan Valley, archaeologists uncovered a 3,000-year-old, well-planned and organized city and discovered a building (described as “unique”) which may have been the house of Elisha the Old Testament prophet.
“The house was full of objects of unique types… two pottery altars that were used for burning incense,” archaeologist Ami Mazar told CBN News.
“We found there figurines, clay figurines. We found large vessels — like big vessels that were probably used for serving food, not for just the nuclear family, but maybe for a larger community,” he said.
Mazar also pointed out the unique structure of the house.
Mazar has suggested that a room found in his excavations at Tel Rehov was inhabited by Elisha on the basis of (1) two incense altars found nearby, (2) a table and a bench discovered in the room, and (3) a fragmentary inscription reconstructed to read Elisha. In addition, the location of Tel Rehov is situated along a route that Elisha traveled between his home in Abel Mehola and the woman’s house in Shunem (2 Kings 4:8). According to the article, Stephen Pfann “calls the evidence compelling.” -Source: Bibleplaces.com
“I cannot say for sure this particular Elisha that we found is the Biblical Elisha. You know it’s very difficult to say, but it is very tempting because it is exactly the period when Elisha acted – the second half of the ninth century B.C.”
Many archaeologists shy away from drawing conclusions about the Bible, but some see it as a way of putting the pieces together.
“Archaeology is like a huge puzzle, you know, we add information from one excavation, a second excavation, a third excavation — Meggido, Tel Rehov, Beit Shean…and together we bring it into a large picture, the large puzzle trying to decipher the material culture of the Israelites,” Mazar explained.
For Cary Summers, who heads Nazareth Village, it’s even more special.
“Well, it’s like any other archeological site, in essence…every scoop of dirt it proves the Bible, one scoop at a time. And this site is absolutely magnificent dealing with the prophet Elisha,” Summers told CBN News.
Full CBN story here
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