Pastor Rick
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Registered: 07-2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1609
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The Elba Tablets
The Ebla Tablets were discovered in northern Syria by two professors from the University of Rome, Dr. Paolo Matthiae, an archaeologist; and Dr. Giovanni Petinato, an epigrapher. The excavation of Tell Mardikh began in 1964 and in 1968 they uncovered a statue of King Ibbit-Lim. Since 1974, 17,000 tablets have been unearthed from the era of the Ebla Kingdom. These tablets have already made valuable contributions to biblical criticism.
One contribution is in relation to Genesis 14. Critics have have described the victory of Abraham over Chedorlaomer and the Mesopotamian kings as fictitious and the five Cities of the Plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar) as legendary.
The Ebla archives, however, refer to all five Cities of the Plain and on one tablet the cities are listed in the exact same sequence as Genesis 14. The tablets further reflect that the region was prosperous and successful with a patriarchal culture consistent with that recorded in Genesis prior to the catastrophe recorded in Genesis 14.
* Information for this post is taken largely from: Josh McDowell, The Best Of Josh McDowell: A Ready Defense, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993), pp. 94-96, 98.
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Jun/24/2006, 1:04 pm
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