London, United Kingdom Dec 23, 2019 (Issuewire.com) - Israeli Historian Michael Goldelman Challenges the Accuracy of Biblical Chronology
In his research on the New Chronology of the ancient Jewish history, Israeli historian Michael Goldelman asserts that the inconsistencies between the traditional Biblical chronology and the available archaeological data can be resolved by moving the accepted dates of the Biblical events from the time of the Babylonian exile of the Jews and their return from captivity approximately 200 years forward.
For the last 15 years, Israeli historian Michael Goldelman has been conducting research into the ancient Jewish chronology (https://michaelgoldelman.org), reconciling the Bible, previous historical research and newly obtained archaeological data from excavations in the territory of ancient Judea – and comes to some sensational conclusions.
“My research relates to the general concept of an Alternative New Chronology of the ancient history of the Near Eastern civilizations proposed at first by the American scholar of Russian-Jewish origin, Immanuel Velikovsky, and advanced by the British historians, David Rohl and Emmet Sweeney. Furthermore, it also takes into account the results of archaeological research promoted most recently by Israel Finkelstein, Professor of Archaeology of Tel-Aviv University, who deals with the historical and archaeological realities behind the Biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah is known from his Memoirs as the Jew, the “cupbearer” of the Persian king Artaxerxes, who was appointed the Persian Governor of Judea; he arrived from Susa to Jerusalem, in the 20th year of the reign of the Persian King, successfully ruled Judea for a total period of twelve years and supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s city wall”, says Michael Goldelman.
“Traditionally, the figure of Nehemiah was set into the early Achaemenid period, mid-5th century BC. Professor Finkelstein, however, proves that the archaeology places the people and events described in the Biblical Book of Nehemiah during the Hellenistic period. Finkelstein's theory stands on three pillars. First - the list of the returnees who came with Nehemiah to Jerusalem from Susa provides the names of the exact geographic locations in Judea. Archaeology proves that most of these places did not exist in the Achaemenid period, the 5th century BC, and only appeared in the Hellenistic period. Second – the list of Nehemiah’s adversaries mentioned in his Memoirs includes the names of the local rulers: Samaritan governor Sanballat; Tobiah from Ammon, in Transjordan, and Geshem the Arab, the Nabatean chieftain. However, the lengthy history of the Tobiades dynasty described in the so-called Tobiades Roman and preserved by Josephus Flavius as well as in other historical sources, such as the Zenon Papyri archive from Egypt dated from the 250s BC, the time of Ptolemy II, places the beginning of the Tobiades dynasty of the Jewish rulers of Ammon, into the Ptolemaic period. Third – archaeology shows that the only city’s walls excavated in Jerusalem that were erected after the Iron Age period, and which can be identified as Nehemiah’s walls, date to the Hellenistic times.”
“Finkelstein concludes that since all this that the historical realities behind the Book of Nehemiah belong to the Hellenistic period, most probably the 2nd century BC, thus this Book must have been composed during this period. However, Finkelstein doesn’t consider the option that behind the literary realities there should also be found historical realities that allow to consider Nehemiah himself as a historical figure who was active in the early Hellenistic rather than the early Achaemenid period. And if so, what was the actual historical context behind the Jewish-Persian relations at the time? Thoughtful research of additional sources, including a comparative study of available numismatic data, especially the coins issued by the Kingdom of Persis and the Persian mints of Yehud (Judea), with bullae, the imprints of the personal seals dated from the post-exilic period, which appears to be contemporary with the Aramaic seals of Yehud and Jerusalem found on the handles of a large pottery vessels dated from the second part of the 3rd century BC, supports placing Nehemiah’s activities and the beginning of the return of the Jews from exile in the second part of the 3rd century BC”, states Michael Goldelman.
“The main reason that Nehemiah was assessed with an earlier date is that the Persian King Artaxerxes who dispatched Nehemiah to Jerusalem, was traditionally identified as the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes I (465 – 424 BC), thus Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem was dated to 445 BC. The traditional viewpoint is that the return of the Jews with Nehemiah cannot postdate the collapse of the Persian Empire which ceased to exist with Alexander the Great’s conquest when it became a part of the Seleucid Empire. However, the most recent research on the history of Hellenistic Persia shows that, during the 3rd century BC, a new semi-independent dynasty of Fratarakaemerged in Persia, and the capital of these kings was centred in Susa. After the death of the Seleucid king Antiochus II in 246 BC, which corresponds to the death of Ptolemy II in the same year, the PersianFratarakaArtaxerxes I started to restore the Persian outreach to the former Achaemenid lands, including Judea. Thus, the twelve-year period of Nehemiah’s activities as the Persian Governor of Judea belongs to exactly this period, c. 245-233 BC”, explains Michael Goldelman.
“Moreover, in the Second Book of Maccabees, there is a letter sent by Judah the Maccabee to the Jews of Alexandria, in Egypt, in c. 163 BC, where he provides a detailed description of the legendary story of the miraculous restoration of the ancient sacrificial altar in Jerusalem. Using a miraculous substance, “neftar”, - oil, it is told, Nehemiah“recovered” the sacred fire which was allegedly left in the pit by ancient Jewish priests when the First Temple has been destroyed. In this story, Nehemiah was presented not as a figure from the remote past, but as a predecessor of Judah the Maccabee. The celebration of the restoration of the altar was later fused with the story of the Temple’s purification performed by the Maccabees brothers in Jerusalem in December 164 BC and laid down the foundation of the Hanukkah Festival as a holiday of a sacred fire”, concludes Michael Goldelman.
The detailed arguments of Michael Goldelman can be studied in his paper “Outlines for a New Chronology of Ancient Jewish History” (https://michaelgoldelman.org/).
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MICHAEL GOLDELMAN PRESS OFFICE
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Source: MICHAEL GOLDELMAN PRESS OFFICE
Media Contact
MICHAEL GOLDELMAN PRESS OFFICE pr1@michaelgoldelman.org 07989727360 http://www.michaelgoldelman.org
