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River in Quran is pronounced "Nahar" just like Hebrew.

Great work: Please where does the rein of King Saul fall in?

This Kedem CZcamsr's full time job is to curate the comment section

Thank you for discussion. I remember reading a book as a child in which the biblical reference to the Philistines of Crete was cited as evidence of a real memory. But the book was from the 1970s, and much has changed since then.

Legendary lecture. ❤

Rise and fall of a Jewish archaeologist. Still think the kingdoms of David and Solomon was myth ?

21:30 (corrected by GPT4, and edited) ""(corrected by GPT4) 20:38 Judean, um, the Judean government of the Hasmoneans is keeping the rules of the Torah, specifically the Second Commandment that says, 'You shall not make any images.' Right? This is the earliest evidence that we have. The earliest coins of John Hyrcanus (John Hyrcanus was a Hasmonean (Maccabean) leader and Jewish high priest of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in 104 BCE). In rabbinic literature he is often referred to as Yoḥanan Cohen Gadol (יוחנן כהן גדול‎), "John the High Priest". ) are from about 132-131 BC, before the Common Era. From coins that we have before this, from the third century BCE, we have Judean coins-coins that were minted in Judea-but they already have figural art. So there's an eagle on one side and on the other side the face of the Ptolemaic king. And when we go backwards even further to the 4th century BCE, now we're in the Persian period, we have on every single coin that was minted in Judea by Judean rulers, there's always figural art-either human faces, animals, or sometimes even gods, foreign gods, minted on the coins. On Judean coins, there's a coin that has the name of the high priest John, the priest who is the high priest in Jerusalem, who minted a coin with the owl of Athena on it. So, what we find from the Hasmonean period and onwards, this refusal to put any kind of figural art on the coins in deference to the laws of the Torah, it only begins in the Hasmonean period. We don't have any evidence for it before that."

26:02 ".....and obviously, 7 comes from the 7 days of creation" no, it comes from the Babylonian calendar more than a 1000 years before there were Canaanite tribes identifying as either Judah or Israel 33:45 "most important invention of the last 1000 years was the printing press" you'll find that the Chinese invented that some 1000 years prior to Europe (500 years if you're referring to movable-type) 37:50 "the bible is the 1st document in history intended for wide distribution" Enuma Elish, Epic of Gilgamesh, Atra-Hasis

He totally lost me when he suggested that biblical descriptions indicating the Philistines had a Greek background stem from an association with 7th century Greek mercenaries. The philistines had already been in the land for over 5 centuries by that time and had thoroughly “gone native”. To suggest that there was enough “Greek” left in the Philistines after half a millennium to recognize them as such in comparison to these new arrivals who would have had an entirely divergent history implies the kind of cultural memory and continuity on the part of the Greeks that he regularly denies is possible of the Israelites. It seems to me, the Bible describing the Philistines as Greek is just inconvenient to his notion that it has no early memories of such and so he proposes what is something of a deus ex machina to get himself out of the problem.

How are theses "ejective sounds" related to the click-sounds preserved in Khoisan languages?

I look forward to you two teaming up again. This series has been fascinating and greatly deepened my understanding of the Old Testament. Thank you so much!

I have learned so very much from Prof Finkelstein and Dr Adams. So grateful to the whole Kedem Team. Thank you all.

These conversations with professor Finkelstein are so much fun!! 🥰 Thank you very much!

a book about phsychedelic drug rituals thinking they were seing god lolol and child abuse ,, this is what all ur religions r made from lololol.. also mind control with phsychedelic drugs ,, this is still used today , the greeks invented pharmakia ..

Thank You for discussion!

This is very interesting about Shiloh. It reminds me (with all the difference in meaning) of a local stronghold from before historical times, next to which I live. It is known that it was not inhabited, but it is not known what it was used for: worship, or as a place of refuge.

esta claro que el judaismo biblico se originó en tierras de arabia y que etan judios de sangre arabe

It is amazing to listen to Finkelstein talking about these things.

I love your series of interviews with Professor Finkelstein. My late father was from Arkansas. I used to joke that he couldn't pronounce anything unless it was in the Bible, so I'm thrilled to see that he pronounced Nehemiah the same way that Professor Finkelstein did in this interview. Thank you!!!

watch no 4 now

Glad to respond. In 1968 my only experience in archeology was working 2 weeks on the South Wall in Jerusalem. I had come on a year program on kibbutz and this was the final 2 weeks. Sherut Laam. Then 20 more on Kibbutz and 30 in the big city. History always an important interest.

I wonder if child sacrifice in Israel was propaganda from the Deuteronomist? Versus "passing children through fire" actually some symbolic pagan act of dedication.

I am not a historian, just an amateur who listens with curiosity to Prof. Finkelstein's lectures. PS. Thanks to Coursera I listened to Oded Lipschits course, do the gentlemen cooperate with each other?

How could the significant amount of text of the tnach arouse at appr 200 BC, generated out from nothing, without tradition of content and language by undisputed authors with a sudden consensus on its canonisation ?

How would the significant amount of hebrew tnach aroused at appr 200 BC, generated out from nothing, without tradition by undisputed authors with a sudden consensus on its canonisation.

I happened to come across this, probably because I watch a fair amount of both history and archeology. I have lived in Israel for just over 50 years and find the series superb. I pulled off my book shelves a book I read years ago "Chronicles of the old Testament Kings" by John Rogerson and find myself going back and forth between them as I reacquaint myself with the subject. Thank you very much. I saw no. 20 and now after seeing E1 will watch the others.

Thank you 🎉 thank you ❤

I would love to hear what happened to the "elites" who were taken following the Assyrian conquest of Israel and Babylonian conquest of Judah specifically how these elites survived economically once they have been removed from the source of their wealth......and what happened to their property in Canaan?

God always uses weather changes to judge sinful nations out of existence. From floods, drought, volcanoes, pestilence that leads to famine, migration, wars, and disease. Climate change is not a new phenomenon and has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years even before industrialization. As long as we have active volcanoes we will have weather changes.

Many thanks to Matt and Israel. This series far exceeds in value the University courses on these subjects which I experienced 50+ years ago. It is wonderful to be brought up to date on current archaeological knowledge of the Levant and surrounding regions.

Excellent and enlightening analysis. Humans are humans with all of their buttressing propaganda.

Once again a big Thank You to the whole team. This has truly been one great journey.

A round of applause for Professor Finkelstein and Dr Adams!

These you tube channels are treasure troves. I've only read The Bible Unearthed and condensed Josephus so far and probably need to re-read them. I need to watch all of Kedem and History with Cy and write down all the books they use and read them. A few years ago I didn't even know who Cyrus the Great was.

Hashmonean archeology + Hasmonean writing = Hashmonean religion

I love to cite experts like Dr. Finkelstein when I argue with Biblical literalists

Love this, please create more.

This was the best overview of historic Judah ive ever heard. In that it was succinct, easy to follow, and non-biased. Now i must go find and watch the other conversations you had with the Professor Finkelstein. 👍 thank you for posting. 😊

Strange hobby

Are you going to cover the topic of the Temple of Solomon itself sometime in the future?

I own three Greek-to-English translations for which I trust more than the Hebrew Old Testament!

if you want real history, avoid the extreme political fiction of religious texts, which are without authors and difficult to date. it's educational to read biblical political fiction after you already know the real history and real politics, without the massive spin and fairytales of miracles and beings in the sky. we dont try to reconstruct early greek or roman history via their tales of gods.

I would love to see a discussion of the topic concept of Moshiach or Messiah from Professor Finkelstein.

So, it was written as historical fact, which was later disputed, then resurrected as myth to give the stories the patina of antiquity.

So let's ask the question: Can you remember Prof Finkelstein, that you at one time you denied that the kingdoms of David and Solomon ever existed? In fact, you called it a myth. So, do you still hold to that view and if you retracted, where can we search for your about-face?

As so many others have said, I'd like to echo their profound appreciation for the time of these scholars.

Man! Dr. Matt and Prof. Finkelstein, this rocks. Thank you!

I have heard this story many times from Prof. Cline's lectures and book. The same thing, but from a different angle. Thank you very much for the lecture.

King Hezekiah was in 7th century BCE and although no coins have been found, we find his seals on objects. This seal contains Egyptian iconography with no kings portrait at a time when Israel was a vassal state of Egypt. This doesnt mean that Torah laws were not being kept.

When the professor produces the coin example with graven images on it from immediately before john hyrcanus (the first maccabee) - isnt this why John Hyrcanus revolted against this foreign rule of the seleucids in the first place? Not a good example to prove his thesis I should think?