We have just completed our fourth day of excavation. It has been toilsome labor but full of anticipation and excitement, with new discoveries made, questions answered, and new questions made almost constantly. It is captivating work. Yet, as our teacher and leader John Monson playfully quipped, first breaking the rocky soil where treasures may be hid underneath is like "gardening in hell." (John is the guy in white in the first excavation photo.) Swinging the pick axe deep into the earth is one of more rewarding aspects to our work, but when it hits immovable rock, beware! The jolt to the hands is bruising! Rock being so ubiquitious in Israel, it is no wonder God is likened to it. Any ancient Hebrew would understand the analogy. God stand firm, and we dare not go against him, as we in our sinfulness are so often prone to do.
I have four pictures showing our excavation progress from day to day. Sorry if it is hard to see the order--this mobile blog app doesn't give me a lot of control. But I think it should give you a picture of the progress we have made easily enough.
As you will see, most of out excavation hit bedrock near the surface in the first day. But we were encouraged to keep digging and not move to an adjacent site, especially because of some distinct walls that we eventually found amongst pottery shards know to be from the iron age.
Yesterday, day 3, I made the startling discovery of a tiny semi-precious stone carved as a bead. I really couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it in the dirt--and it took me a few seconds to come around to picking it up, trying first to think how this colorfully alien piece may have gotten there accidentally. It made a big splash with the formen at our site. I'm hoping the expert analysis will shed some light on its origins and value, especially for determining the date of our site, and that it will in some way corroborate the evidence that already exists for this being a Davidic fortress. It is a wonder that I even saw it, because the tools we are using do not facilitate discovery of such small objects.
Yossi Garfinkle, the dig director pictured here atop the ruins of the ancient city wall, gave us a detailed lecture on the rock-solid reasons already known for determining this to be in fact a fortress of King David. But some scholars, known as "minimalists," are recalcitrant and continue to reject the evidence, however increasingly strong it is. Since they cannot refute the evidence, it seems they have stooped now to underming it all by leveling personal insults concerning Yossi's scientific methods. Yossi and this excavation have been in the major news networks, the New York Times, National Geographic included. It will be picked up by ABC soon as well. So tune in!
Yossi is not a believer, but he has come to the conclusion that the Bible is faithful concerning the great King named David and concerning the only city of antiquity with two gates (lit. "Shaarim," see 1 Samuel 15,17), the one which we have been excavating. Wouldn't it be great if he- and the people of Israel- repent and turn to God, coming to know the Rock himself, the faithful God who gave the world the Bible and it's good news through them?
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