Message #113890

[Bianca]

                                                  Supposes there's no Moses






By ADAM BUCKMAN
NYPOST.COM
Nov. 17,2008
   
A new, two-hour edition of "Nova" begins with the pro vocative words, "God is dead," but the documentary is anything but an obituary for the Almighty.

Nor does it seek to kill off the Old Testament, although those who believe deeply in the literal truth of this ancient text might conclude that the film's producers are attempting to do just that in exposing just how little evidence exists to support the viability of some of the Bible's best-known events and heroic figures.

Four years in the making, this sprawling, dense documentary - filmed in Israel, Egypt, Syria and the US - compares what is actually known by archaeologists about the ancient world to some of the Bible's most dramatic stories.

Perhaps not surprisingly to some, the archaeological facts outlined in "The Bible's Buried Secrets" fly in the face of some of the strongest assertions of the Bible.

Among the findings that are likely to produce angry reactions from literal believers in the Bible:

* Though the story of the Hebrew nation's exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses is the most oft-mentioned incident in the Old Testament (according to the film), no real evidence of the event has ever been found.

* Archaeological evidence overwhelmingly supports a scenario in direct opposition to the biblical account of Joshua, the story in which the forerunners of the Jews - the Israelites - became established in Canaan only after they waged a triumphant campaign of conquest over key cities in the region (most famously Jericho) under Joshua's leadership.

Instead, says one of the archaeologists interviewed in the film, Israel Finkelstein, "In the text you have the story of the Israelites coming from outside, and then besieging the Canaanite cities, destroying them and then becoming a nation in the land of Canaan. Whereas archaeology tells us something which is the opposite. According to archaeology, the rise of early Israel is an outcome of the collapse of Canaanite society, not the reason for that collapse."

* The principle of monotheism (the worship of a single deity), established first by the Jews and later to form the foundation for both Christianity and Islam, took much longer to take root than most people assume. In fact, the archaeological discovery of troves of household idols in ancient Canaanite towns and cities proves that the Israelites practiced polytheism long after they had been thought to have discarded the practice.

But the news isn't all bad for Bible devotees. Sometimes, archaeology confirms aspects of the Old Testament, including discoveries reported in the film that support biblical descriptions of the extent of Solomon's Canaanite kingdom - one of the documentary's most fascinating portions.

The film also demonstrates how the existence of Solomon's father, King David - the most prominent figure of the Old Testament whose very existence has been doubted by some - has been proven by archaeology. The movie notes dramatically that David - legendary slayer of Goliath, creator of the kingdom of Israel, and composer of "lyric psalms still recited today" - "is the earliest biblical figure confirmed by archaeology to be historical," in the words of the film's narrator, actor Liev Schreiber.

But the aim of "The Bible's Buried Secrets" - produced, written and directed by Gary Glassman - was not to debunk the Bible. Instead, the film is an exploration of the ancient, real-life roots of monotheism, a concept that changed the world. The telling of this story, with its implications for the future of all mankind, is one of the most dramatic tales you'll see on television this season.

"Nova: The Bible's

Buried Secrets"

Tomorrow night at 8 on WNET/13