NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY ILLUMINATES THE PAST - Lester L Grabbe - April 1977

Lester L Grabbe

The normally sedate world of ancient Near Eastern archaeology is buzzing with the excitement of a new discovery- a discovery which some think will rival that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Others are throwing caution to the winds and calling it the "find of the century." Finds up to the present include approximately 17 ,000 clay tablets written in a language related to the Hebrew of the Old Testament. Further- more, these tablets describe a city and culture some centuries older than the patriarch Abraham but in his same general area. The finds are too recent to do more than whet one's appetite for the moment. Only careful and lengthy study will show their precise value for the research of language and history of the Bible. Yet the tantalizing data already found and released to the scholarly world suggest that some excitement is not unfounded. The archaeological site is Tell Mardikh, a mound in northern Syria about 45 miles south of Aleppo. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library