Biblical stories of military campaigns against kingdoms of Israel and Judah are proven

Archaeologists have confirmed Biblical accounts of military campaigns against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah by reconstructing the direction and/or intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field recorded in burnt remnants found at 21 different sites across Israel.

A team of researchers led by Tel-Aviv University used a collection of mud stones containing magnetic minerals that record magnetic fields when heated or burned.

This is because some rocks and materials contain minerals that respond to the magnetic field like the needle of a compass, allowing researchers to determine if the city that once stood was burned to the ground.

The study, however, also uses ancient inscriptions found at the sites and text from the Old Testament. 

Findings indicate that the army of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of several cities—Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath of the Philistines, whose destruction is noted in the Hebrew Bible.

At the same time, the study debunks the prevailing theory that Hazael was the conqueror who destroyed Tel Beth-Shean.

The team dug through layers of destruction to uncover recordings of Earth’s magnetic field in burnt mud brick wall. This region is of from Tel Batash (Biblical Timnah) and shows markings of the field orientation

Earth’s ever changing geomagnetic field is generated by the motion of liquid iron in the outer core of the planet.

It shields the planet from dangerous radiation and enables technology to function – from satellites to phone lines.

Various dating methods have placed the destruction of Gath in the Judean foothills at around 830 BC, but such techniques were unable to verify that Hazael was also responsible for the destruction of Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit and Horvat Tevet.

Lead author Yoav Vaknin and colleagues synchronized the magnetic fields recorded at all four sites – making a very strong case for them occurring during the same campaign.

But a totally different magnetic field was recorded at Tel Beth-Shean, which suggest the city was not attacked by Hazael.

The team believes that because the data is different, the city was likely destroyed 100 years earlier.

This falls around the same time period as the the military campaign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshenq, which is also described in the Hebrew Bible.

Researchers used a collection of mud stones (pictured) containing magnetic minerals that record magnetic fields when heated or burned. This is because some rocks and materials contain minerals that respond to the magnetic field like the needle of a compass,

Researchers used a collection of mud stones (pictured) containing magnetic minerals that record magnetic fields when heated or burned. This is because some rocks and materials contain minerals that respond to the magnetic field like the needle of a compass,

Findings indicate that the army of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of several cities—Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit, and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath of the Philistines, whose destruction is noted in the Hebrew Bible

Findings indicate that the army of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of several cities—Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit, and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath of the Philistines, whose destruction is noted in the Hebrew Bible 

And an inscription on a wall of the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt, mentions Beth-Shean as one of his conquests.

The groundbreaking investigation also sheds fresh light on the end of the Kingdom of Judah.

Co author Professor Erez Ben-Yose, also from the Hebrew University, said: ‘The last days of the Kingdom of Judah are widely debated.

‘Some researchers, relying on archaeological evidence, argue that Judah was not completely destroyed by the Babylonians.

‘While Jerusalem and frontier cities in the Judean foothills ceased to exist, other towns in the Negev, the southern Judean Mountains and the southern Judean foothills remained almost unaffected.

‘Now, the magnetic results support this hypothesis, indicating that the Babylonians were not solely responsible for Judah’s ultimate demise.

Lead author Yoav Vaknin (pictured) explained that 'based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign

Lead author Yoav Vaknin (pictured) explained that ‘based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign

‘Several decades after they had destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, sites in the Negev, which had survived the Babylonian campaign, were destroyed – probably by the Edomites who took advantage of the fall of Jerusalem.

‘This betrayal and participation in the destruction of the surviving cities may explain why the Hebrew Bible expresses so much hatred for the Edomites – for example, in the prophecy of Obadiah.’

The researchers used archaeological findings collected from the 17 sites over the past several decades, along with the biblical accounts and ancient inscriptions.

This allowed the team to reconstruct the magnetic fields recorded in 21 destruction layers, which not only resulted in discoveries about what occurred on the land but also developed a new tool that can be used for archaeological dating.

Vaknin explained that ‘based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign.

‘Moreover, we have constructed a variation curve of field intensity over time which can serve as a scientific dating tool, similar to the radiocarbon dating method.’

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