Lately there appears to have been an increase in the amount of material written about the Bible,especially the old Testament and the origin of the Israelites.Most are the personal opinions of the authors and based,for the most part,on an absence of evidence.The opinions that archeology proves the Bible wrong has been shown to be untrue and it has become necessary for critics of the Bible to search for other evidence.The list of so called contradictions and fabrications surrounding the conquest have become so large as to need a space of it's own.They have started to follow in the footsteps of Ze'ev Herzog,commonly quoting his outdated material that claims the Israelites combined history and myth to fabricate their ancient history:
"The Canaanite cities: The Bible magnifies the strength and the fortifications of the Canaanite cities that were conquered by the Israelites: "great cities with walls sky-high" (Deuteronomy 9:1). In practice, all the sites that have been uncovered turned up remains of unfortified settlements, which in most cases consisted of a few structures or the ruler's palace rather than a genuine city. The urban culture of Palestine in the Late Bronze Age disintegrated in a process that lasted hundreds of years and did not stem from military conquest."
Perhaps Ze'ev Herzog never read the Amarna letters uncovered in Egypt.They were correspondences between the pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten.They tell of cities of Egyptian held Canaan being attacked and taken.The key players were kings and princes of Jerusalem,Megiddo,Beth-Shean,Gezer,Gaza,Acco,Shechem,Jarmouth,Sile.These rulers believed they were under attack,and for some reason,the ruler of Jerusalem wrote the pharaoh several letters conveying the danger he was in:
"To the king my lord thus speaks Ebed-heba thy servant: at the feet
of the king my lord seven times seven I prostrate myself.
[Let the king listen to] the words [of his servant which] have been conveyed to
[him]....Let the king know that all the provinces have united
inhostility against me, and let the king send help to his country.
Behold the country of the cities of Gezer,of Askalon and of Lachish
have given them food,oil,and whatever they wanted;
so let the king send help to the troops
and dispatch troops against the men who have committed sin
against the king my lord.
If troops come this year, then there will remain both provinces and governors to the king my lord;
but if no troops arrive,
there will remain no provinces or governors to the king my lord."
   If the military conquest was fabricated,every city state in Canaan was in on it,as well as the Hittites. The reference to the country of the city of Gezer means that Gezer was the head of a kingdom.It was as much a capital city as Babylon,was the capital of Babylonia.Babylonia was,in fact,"the country of the city of Babylon."All the land of Canaan belonged to Egypt,but was made up of different kingdoms.According to the letters that have been published,there were no less than 20 garrison cities form southern Canaan to Byblos.It's very difficult to protect garrison troops without a walled city.The letters mention either walls or gates in several of the letters.It's safe to say that if the cities mentioned had gates,they also had walls.In reality the Bible never makes a claim as to how large the cities were,and as to the fortifications,the Amarna Tablets goes farther that the Bible in suggesting that they were well fortified.The Bible doesn't suggest they were all garrison cities.The Amarna tablets do.Perhaps Israel Finkelstein would suggest that these 300 plus letters,all sent to pharaohs,were also fabricated.
Again Ebed-Heba pleads with the king and tells him about the gifts he sent to Egypt:
"And now at this moment the city of the mountain of Jerusalem (Uru-salim),
whose name is Bit-Bir(the temple of the god Bir),
the city of the king,is separated from the locality of the men of Keilah.
Let the king listen to Ebed-heba thy servant,
and let him dispatch troops
that I may restore the country of the king to the king.
But if no troops arrive,the country of the king
is gone over to the Khabiri.
This is the deed of Suardatum and Malchiel.
But may the king send help to his country."
   It sounds a lot like a military campaign not only against Jerusalem,but against every garrison in Canaan.It was indeed destroyed by military conquest,shortly after 1400 BCE.Not only did the rulers of the garrison cities make that claim,but archeology has verified that.The changes in Canaanite culture,including religious worship,was sudden and did not take hundreds of years to accomplish are many more letters that tell of destruction and seizure of Canaanite cities,by a group called the Habiru.Volkmar Fritz, called those of us who believe in a military conquest,niave.At the same time,he published an article which supports that view .He claimed to be confident that the "Habiru" may have contributed to the disappearance of the city-states stating that:
"The establishment of new settlements in the early Iron Age
took place mainly in areas removed from the sites of the Canaanite cities in Galilee,
in the central mountains and in the Negeb" (1987: 92).
Once again a critic has supplied defenders with evidence that supports Scripture,although it was unintentional.The Habiru were creating chaos throughout Canaan and parts of Syria,and were blamed for the destruction and loss of almost every garrison city in the south.The early Iron Age would have been the period in which the conquest took place,at least the last stages.The above was written with a 13th century conquest in mind,at which time the Habiru could not have been the Israelites.With an Exodus and conquest in the 15th century bce,it is not only likely,but very possible that the Israelites were the Habiru. Whether or not the Habiru can ever be proven to be the Hebrews remains to be seen,but it does prove that Herzog's statements about no military conquest was blatantly contrary to actual history.His belief that there were no walled cities with high walls is also inaccurate letter form Ebed-Heba tells of prisoners that had been taken by the army from his small insignificant city.
" I have sent to the king, my lord
__ prisoners, five thousand _ __ _ _ ,
three hundred]ed and eighteen bearers for
the caravans of the king;
they were taken in the fields iati near Ialuna.
Ze'ev Herzog does mention the reference to "Israel" in the inscription left by Merneptha,son of Ramesses II.In it's true context the inscription tells of Merneptha putting down what he understood as a rebellion.Israel was mentioned alongside such empires as Hatti(Hittites) and various garrison cities of Canaan.The insignificant cities and cow towns of Canaan were not mentioned.,which is to be expected.The first part of the inscriptions concerns campaigns in Libya and has been omitted here.The final part is talking about the end of the wars in Canaan and Syria and the Egyptians being at peace.
Merenptah, Content with Maat The princes are prostrate
saying:"Shalom!" Not one of the Nine Bows lifts his head:
Tjehenu is vanquished,Khatti at peace,
Canaan is captive with all woe. Ashkelon is conquered,
Gezer seized, Yanoam made nonexistent; Israel is wasted,
bare of seed, Khor is become a widow for Egypt.
All who roamed have been subdued.
By the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,
Son of Re,Merenptah,Content with Maat,Given life like Re every day."
The Hittites had long been subdued,but were occasionally entering Syria in an attempt to expand their empire.The city states of Canaan listed by Mereneptha were also mentioned in the Amarna letters as having joined the Hapiru well as the Hittites.
   One of the major problems that arise from defending the Bible,is making an Exodus during the reign of Ramesses II fit with the building of the cities mentioned in the Bible.The Biblical mention of Pi-Ramesses is one of only two reason for dating the Exodus during that period.Archaeologists now know that neither Pithom or the city of Ramesses was built by Rameses the great.The chronology given in Exodus tells us the Israelites were not in Egypt for 430 years,making an Exodus during the reign of Ramesses impossible.
In the early days of archeology,the discovery of many of the cities mentioned in the Bible was not in harmony with a conquest in the 13th century BCE.Critics took advantage of that bringing to everyone's attention that such cities as Jerico,Debir,Hebron,Shechem and Askelon were all destroyed around 1400 and 1300 BCE and could not be connected to the Israelites.With an Exodus around 1450 BCE,their evidence against the Bible disappears,and would place the Conquest of Canaan beginning in 1418 BCE.It was not a whirlwind conquest,which is the opinion of most critics and some Bible scholors.Believing that gives them fuel to refute the Bible farther.Flavious Josephus wrote that the conquest by Joshua lasted for 20 years.Other texts,outside the Bible,verify that.In Joshua 13,the Lord tells Joshua that the conquest isn't over:
"1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years;
and the LORD said to him,
"You are old and advanced in years,
and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.
2 This is the land that yet remains:
all the regions of the Philistines,
and all those of the Gesh'urites
3 (from the Shihor,which is east of Egypt,
northward to the boundary of Ekron,it is reckoned as Canaanite;
there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ash'kelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim,
4 in the south,all the land of the Canaanites,
and Mear'ah which belongs to the Sido'nians,
to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites,
5 and the land of the Geb'alites, and all Lebanon,
toward the sunrising, from Ba'al-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath,
6 all the inhabitants of the hill country
from Lebanon to Mis'rephoth-ma'im,even all the Sido'nians."
That was a lot of land left,which would have no doubt taken at least as long as the first phase had.Caleb claimed it had taken five years:
Joshua 14:7-10
"I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Ka'desh-bar'nea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive,as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness; and now, lo, I am this day eighty-five years old."
The Amarna letters were written to the pharaohs Amenhotep III (Nebmaatre) 1382 - 1344 and Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten 1350 -1334.Some of the key players were Abi-Milku of Tyre,Rib-hadda of Gubla(Byblos),Milkilu of Gezer,Zatatna of Acco,Biridiya of Meggido and Abdu-Heba of Jerusalem, although they were not the only players.The letters tell of not only the Habiru,who were not Canaanites,but also the Shutu,who were Arabian bedouin.The Hittites were involved in a conquest in Northern Canaan and Syria,which kept the kingdoms of Retinue,as well as the Egyptians from send troops.The letters have shown that Ze-ev Herzog is not dependable as a historian,although critics continue to quote him.One of those is Isreal Finkelstein who claims that Jerusalem was no more than a cowtown,and that there were few walled cities.Again it is amazing how one can claim to be an archaeologist and disregard the abundance of archaeological evidence that has contradicted His statements.The archaeologists Kathleen Kenyon noted in her published accounts of Jerico that the walls of Jerico were built in such a way as to make a direct assault impossible.Not only was the city surrounded by double walls,they were up to 35 feet high in places.Perhaps we could say the walls were "sky high".Ashkelon was built within massive walls and a steep, reinforced sloped approach.It was an important city from 1900 BCE to 1200 BCE.Archaeological work at Shechem indicates that the city was a large and powerful commercial and military center between 1900-1300 BCE.The walls of Shechem were 17 feet thick in the 17th century BCE.Critics love to point out that Debir should be identified with Khirbet Rabud which was destroyed in the early 13th century BCE,rather than Tell Beit Mirsim as originally believed,which was destroyed prior to the 13th century BCE.In their quest to find evidence against the Bible,they have supplied defenders with evidence in favor of the Bible.That is often the case with critics.The evidence is mounting against their claim that there is no evidence and one wonders what their next move will be.We now know Jerusalem was not just a cow town prior to the divided kingdom.Canaan was prosperous and not scarcely populated.Amenhotep II,1450-1412 BCE,wrote of fighting the Edomites who,we are told by critics,were not supposed to be in Canaan at that time.It appears that the Edomites didn't listen to the critics and settled Canaan anyway.On his way back to Egypt,Amenhotep II wrote in the The Karnak Stela:
" passing southward toward Egypt,
his majesty proceeded by horse to the city of Niy.
Behold,these Asiatics of this city,
men as well as women,were upon their walls praising his majesty,
/// /// /// to the Good God."
Amenhotep believed there were walled cities along the northern route,which the Hebrews called the "way of the Philistines."Herzog also claimed that there has been an abundance of archeology in the Sinai and the Negev to be able to say that evidence of the Israelites should have been found.Since proof of them being there has never been found,they were never there.The most noted archeologists,those that could be considered trustworthy,have not been to the Sinai since the middle of the 20th century.Beit-Arieh one archaeologist that has actually done extensive work in the Sinai discovered what is known as Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions,that date to around 1400 BCE,that mirror the Biblical tale of the Red Sea crossing,the plague from eating poisoned quail and Meriam's rebellion.At the present we have no knowledge of how the Jewish inventors of Biblical fiction managed to get the inscriptions from Babylonia to the Sinai without arousing the suspicians of the Babylonians and Egyptians.On top of that,the ignorant,uneducated Jews managed to fool modern archaeologists into believing the inscriptions were from the 15th century BCE,instead of the 6th century BCE.Although the inscriptions may never be proven to be from the Israelites,they were written by early Hebrews who were familiar with Egyptian writing.That is far from a lack of evidence.William Foxworth Albright wrote:
"In 1948 I had a very easy time proving that the so-called "sleeping
shelters" were the remains of burial cairns (bamot),
where a number of funerary inscriptions were first discovered...
since the miners could not procure sacrificial animals themselves,
they had to resort to imploring those who could obtain the animals
to show the miners this last kindness.
Animals available in the wilds of Sinai
were picked for this purpose; wild cows, wild ewes and fatlings
(i.e., young male animals which could be fattened).
The divinities usually invoked were El and his consort Asherah
(apparently identified with a Nubian Serpent-goddess)
as well as the 'Lady' Hathor."
(p.14. William Foxwell Albright. The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their
Decipherment,Cambidge,Harvard University Press. 1966)
The place He was referring to was an Egyptian built temple at Seribit-el-Khadim in the southern Sinai.He also discovered mainly Semitic worship,rather than Egyptian.The Temple had been dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor,who was also called Hor.The Medians referred to the near by mountain as Mount Hor and Horeb.Again we quote Finkelstein:
" Hard evidence of the Exodus event in the preserving deserts of the Sinai,
where most of the biblical wandering takes place,is similarly elusive."
Of course most of the Biblical wanderings did not take place in the Sinai.Not only was Finkelstein unfamiliar with archeology but also the Bible.Scripture tells us that the Israelites were in the Sinai two years.That's a very short time compared to the other 38 years of wandering.It is a surprising statement coming from a man who claims to be a historian and has been placed in charge of Israeli antiquities:
Exodus 19
1 In the third month,when the children of Israel were gone forth
out of the land of Egypt,
the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Numbers 10
11 "And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month,
in the second year,that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle
of the testimony. 12 And the children of Israel took their journeys
out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.
In reality,the Israelites spent more time in the Negev than in the wilderness.Perhaps,the Negev is where we should be looking for the lack of evidence.
John Romer wrote that:
" Although its climate has preserved the tiniest traces of ancient
Bedouin encampments and the sparse 5000year-old villages of mine workers,
there IS NOT A SINGLE TRACE OF MOSES OR THE ISRAELITES; and they would have
been by far the largest body of ancient people ever to have lived in this great wilderness."
When the structures once believed to have been shelters for the miners turned out to be burial chambers built by Semites,followers of Romer continued to use His outdated information.They fail to mention the large Semitic grave site discovered in the Sinai,near the location of the quail inscriptions.It's easy to understand the critical concern of the Israelites finding enough water to sustain them in the Sinai,but had they researched the history they claim to know so much about,they would have discovered that sometime around 1803 BCE,according to the inscription of Ameni,a well was dug near the mines at Wadi Hammamat,which solves the problem of water in the Sinai:
" The god fulfilled my wish.For me water broke out of the mountain.
The path which had been cruel to all since the days of the gods is now soft
and easy in the days of my reign."
So it seems that the Egyptians built roads to make travel in the wilderness easier.They even dug wells to supply desert travelers with water,apparently a concept that modern skeptics and critics never thought about. There is no reason to believe the Egyptians marched workers into the Sinai and left them to their own devices.It may be difficult for critics to believe, but they actually supplied food and shelter for all the workers,including slaves. The Bible tells of Abraham and Isaac digging wells in Canaan,but doesn't say the same about the Israelites in the Sinai,probably because they didn't have to dig any. other than the wells dug by the Egyptians and probably some dug by the Medianites,it was and still is easy to get water out of the rocks.The Bedouin have always known that. The limestone sometimes forms an outer crust trapping moisture inside.When struck,the crust falls away exposing the water,which can sometimes gush forth in a stream.The Bedouin also know that a certain type of wood can take the bitterness out of water, making it more drinkable. Contrary to what many critics believe,the Israelites did not stay in the Sinai for an extended amount of time,and certainly not for 40 years.It might serve the critics better to not only study history before criticizing Biblical history,but also to read the Bible.Misquoting Scripture does little for either side of the argument.If we look for permanent stone structures,we will more than likely be disappointed.Although the Israelites may have spent 2 years in the Sinai,they always knew they would be moving on toward Canaan.Why build permanent houses when there is a possibility of moving camp on short notice.I would think that not even Israel Finkelstein would bother to build a house knowing that he may not be in the area tomorrow.According to Scripture the Israelites spent no more than two years in the Sinai:
Then again,if critics are dependent on non existing evidence,it may be more logical to not look for it in the right places.The best thing about interpreting no evidence as evidence is that it requires no research and no knowledge of history.In the words of Flavius Josephus:
"THOSE who undertake to write histories,do not,I perceive,take that trouble on one and the same account,but for many reasons, and those such as are very different one from another.For some of them apply themselves to this part of learning to show their skill in composition,and that they may therein acquire a reputation for speaking finely: others of them there are,who write histories in order to gratify those that happen to be concerned in them, and on that account have spared no pains,but rather gone beyond their own abilities in the performance: but others there are,who,of necessity and by force,are driven to write history,because they are concerned in the facts,and so cannot excuse themselves from committing them to writing,for the advantage of posterity; nay,there are not a few who are induced to draw their historical facts out of darkness into light,and to produce them for the benefit of the public,on account of the great importance of the facts themselves with which they have been concerned.”
There is today another type of writer of history.They do it for the personal gratification of proving others wrong.They go to great lengths to prove that nothing is all that is required to be a historian and the less they discover the more qualified they are as historians.In the words of Dr. Johnson C. Philip in his Historical/Legal Apologetics The Role In Apologetics Played By Archeology:
Skeptics feed off those who are ignorant of history.
They don't need better knowledge of historical facts
than those they are trying to convince.”
Many historians write that Akenhaten was preoccupied with a newly established religion,and ignored the pleas of the Canaanite rulers.The Amarna letters,Hittite inscriptions and other Egyptian texts tell of a plague outbreak.It isn't certain how or where it started,but the Hittites blamed it on Egyptian prisoners of war.Akenhaten was probably more concerned with not spreading the plague any farther.Akenhaten's three youngest daughters and His wife died from the plague all eight members of the Royal family had died within four or five years following His 12th year on the throne.Burnaburiash the king of Babylonia wrote to the pharaoh that he was ill,but didn't say anything about a plague.Ashur-uballit king of Assyria wrote the Pharaoh that he was concerned about his envoy's being detained and dieing in Egypt.Akenhaten himself later died from the plague.The Hittite king Mursilis wrote about the plague in Hatti:
   Akenhaten did not start a new religion,he blamed past problems on the gods that had previously ruled Egypt.The god Aten was an ancient god,which Akenhaten saw as better at running the country.He did not suggest that the other gods be banished,only that Egypt should adopt a supreme god to oversee the country.He had the backing of priests,who also believed that Aten should have supreme control over the other gods.Had there not been a plague in Canaan and Egypt,the outcome would have been different,and Akenhaten would have been immortalized as a god.Ramesses II did fight the Hittites,but it is
debatable whether or not he actually won a decisive battle.According to most historians,it ended more in a draw.Even the battle of Kadesh may have been for a memorial to His accomplishments more than an actual rebellion. Muwatalli,king of Hatti,wrote Ramesses concerning the invasion:
" Suteh are you,Baal himself,your anger burns like fire in the land of Hatti...
Your servant speaks to you and announces that you are the son of Re.
He put all the lands into your hand,united as one.The land of Kemi,
the land of Hatti,are at your service.They are under your feet.
Re,your exalted father,gave them to you so you would rule us.
Is it good,that you should kill your servants? ...
Look at what you have done yesterday.
You have slaughtered thousands of your servants
... You will not leave any inheritance.
Do not rob yourself of your property,
powerful king, glorious in battle, give us breath in our nostrils."
Perhaps Ramesses II wished for a military reputation equal to that of His predecessors.Maybe that had something to do with him stealing monuments from them and inscribing His own name.While Ramesses described the battle as a victory for the Egyptians,he also left an inscription telling of troops deserting:
" Not one of my princes,of my chief men and my great,....Was with me,
not a captain, not a knight;
For my warriors and chariots had left me to my fate,
Not one was there to take his part in fight."
It is doubtful that Ramesses,with his troops deserting,had the ability to defeat the "hundreds of ten thousands,with Two thousand and five hundred pairs of horses".
   It was once believed that the Pharaoh Akenhaten refused to send troops to Canaan and Syria,because of His preoccupation with a newly founded religion.The problem with that is that His predecessor also refused to send troops.In reality Akenhaten never tried to start a new religion,but a belief in one supreme god.He did not invent a new god,but tried to convince priests that the gods in the past had failed to protect Egypt.He was the first king to deny the the ability of past gods,and it must have been based on some catastrophic event in the past.Akenhaten,in fact left an inscription,showing his discontent with the gods,and praising Aten the creator:
Amenhotep IV(Akenhaten)
Horus (?) . . . , . . . [their temples (?)] fallen to ruin, [their]
bodies (?) shall not . . . : . . . [since the time of] the ancestors
(?). It is the ones who are knowledgeable. . . . Look, I am speaking
that I might inform [you concerning] the forms of the gods, I know
[their (?)] temples [and I am versed in] the writings, (namely) the
inventories of their primeval bodies [and] I have beheld them as they
cease, one after the other, (whether) consisting of any sort of
precious stone . . ., [except for the god who begat] himself by
himself, no one knowing the mysteries . . . : he goes where he pleases
and they know not [his] going . . . toward him at night. Further, [I]
approach. . . . [As for the . . . ]s which he has made, how
distinguished they are: . . . their [ . . . ]s are as the stars. Hail
to you, in [your . . . ] rays. . . . What would he be like, another
one of your sort? It is you [who . . .] to them, in your name of . . .
(Translation from Murnane, 1995)
Now it is the Aten, my father, who advised me concerning it, so that
it could be made for him as Akhet-Aten. Behold, I did not find it
provided with shrines or plastered with tombs or porticoes (?) . . .
or covered with . . . (or) with the remnant of anything which had
happened to it, so that it was not [. . . ing] me . . . Akhetaten for
the Aten, my father. Behold it is pharaoh who found it, when it did
not belong to a god, nor to a goddess; when it did not belong to a
male ruler, nor to a female ruler; when it did not belong to any
people to do their business with it. [Its . . .] is not known, (but) I
found it widowed. . . . It is the Aten, my [father], who advised me
concerning it, (saying) "Behold, [fill] Akhet-Aten with provisions --
a storehouse for everything!" while my father, Hor-Aten, proclaimed to
me, "It is to belong to my Person, to be Akhet-Aten continually
forever." (Translation from Murnane, 1995)
Akenhaten wanted Egypt to be in the hands of the creator and not minor gods as in the past.,but he did not try to eliminate the other gods.Had Akenhaten sent troops into Canaan,the Hittites and the Habiru would have been destroyed,and Akenhaten would have been deified.To do nothing showed that His god,Aten, wasn't any better than past gods.The reason for not sending troops was a plaque that had been ravaging Egypt,Canaan,Syria and Hatti for years.It is possibly the same plague that killed 24,000 Israelites in Moab ( Numbers 25).The Armana letters mention such a plague,and one Hittite texts claims it was spread into Hatti by Egyptian prisoners.Akenhaten had good cause to despise the gods.They had brought a plague to Egypt,and by the beginning of His reign,Egypt had lost a Pharaoh and most of it's Canaanite lands.During His reign,His wife,His mother and four of His daughters had died.

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