★★★★★ 4
Knowledgeable and delectable book.
Format: Paperback
This book shows an excellent archaeological evidence of the Bible accuracy of places, names, events, etc. and proving for the Christians that the Bible is a historical document as well as the inspired inerrant word of God.
The majority of the book is interesting and delectable, I mean, the pages where the author presents archaeological facts such as the artifacts and their correlation with people, places times, events and practices recorded in the Bible. But I do not like when the author make personal assumptions and do not present any proof of that. He says: it probably be…. it may be… Here I show three cases of this conjectures;:
1.The author seems to affirm that the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, or at least, the name of this event, was derived from the Roman triumph celebration. He says (page 231), regarding to the Roman Empire and the life of Jesus: “By the time of Jesus, the requirements and meaning of a triumphal entry had shifted slightly from its earlier roots associating it with a conquering hero, as it became even more significant and representative of kingship and divinity”. He continues to say: “In ancient Roman culture, a triumphant victor, known as vir triumphalis (“man of triumph”) would enter the city in a celebration parade wearing the laurel wreath and a purple garment, which identified him with the royal and the divine, while riding in a chariot pulled by four horses, alluding to Sol the sun god”.
But if we compare the Roman triumph celebration with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem described in the Bible, it is not derived from the Roman culture but is the exact fulfillment of the prophesy of Zechariah 9:9. I do not see any correlation between the two celebration; Jesus did not ride a horse but a donkey to signify peace, meekness and humility. It was not a pompous entrance of a conquering hero or king wearing a expensive garment and royal crown.
2.Even though, it is not possible to identify the location of the tomb of Jesus with absolute certainty; the author states (page 199) that the tomb of Jesus is located at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre possible based on “the restoration work to the edicule and an arcosolium tomb from the Roman period found in the church of the Holy Sepulchre”. The author also affirms without giving any proof that: “Christians in Jerusalem then passed down a continuous memory of the location of the tomb (of Jesus) from the time of the burial and resurrection in AD33 until construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was started in about AD326”. But where are the records of that time? The author probably based his statement on Eusebius who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.
According to the history , the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by the Roman Emperor Constantine around 326 AD, when her mother the Queen Helena, wanted to replace the pagan temples with Christian churches; she met the Bishop Macarious of Jerusalem who determined the location where Jesus had been buried at the place where was a temple to the Greek goddess Venus. At the beginning of the construction of the church, a rock-cut tomb was found there and an edicule was built to protect the site. But later the edicule was destroyed and rebuild. More tombs has been found under this church. How to be sure or verify that this rock-cut tomb was the one where Jesus was buried?
3.The author is biased with respect to the Masoretic Text, he make a statement but does not support it with any evidence in this regard. Writing about the Dead Sea Scrolls (Page 173) he states: “And certain passages in the Masoretic text seem to have been intentionally modified to match ideas and theology of medieval Judaism.” it is a bad accusation.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2021
