RWLJ wrote
Is Jericho the city that gives us true faith or is it the city that adds to our blind faith? Did Joshua conquer the city of Jericho? The Middle East scholars and biblical archaeologists are pretty unanimous that the city was burnt and destroyed around a hundred and fifty years before Joshua’s time. There are a few hopefuls that say that the pottery shows that it was destroyed at the time of Joshua. Are they grabbing at straws or are they for real?
I don't wish to derail your whole topic here amigo, but recent archaeological work has turned up very strong evidence that Jericho was indeed destroyed by Joshua as recorded in the OT, and that the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt actually occurred about 1526 BC, and not the 1200 to 1300 BC date assigned by so many biblical scholars. This date is a key date in time, as it coincides with the eruption of Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean sea, which resulted in massive tsunamis which even reached Egypt, where it was recorded as the great god of the sea, "Yam" came "unexpectedly". Volcanic pumice stone proven to match that of Akrotiri (Thera, Santorini) has been found in Egypt. Even the Egyptian records dovetail perfectly with the Hebrew account found in the Old Testament, once we realize that the date was not 1200 but 1526 BC, for the Egyptians recorded the events as their "driving out" the people whom had been ruling Egypt, which they called "Hyk-sos" which means, translated into English, "Shepherd Kings".
There is much more we could discuss in depth on this topic, but I wished to point out that seeming contradiction about the date of the destruction of the very ancient and famous city of Jericho, destroyed "too soon" to "fit" with the long held belief about when the Exodus and conquest of Canaan occurred, due to a misconception about the book of Judges.
Actually the issue in the book of Judges arose by scholars taking the sequential Judges stories, as
closely locked timetable. There are, if memory serves, two "gaps" in the book of Judges, where no known Judge was ruling over the people Israel; these two gaps could very easily account for 150 years.
As you rightfully pointed out in another thread - we ought not close our minds and our eyes to history, as if it were a closed book; when in reality, a turn of the spade tomorrow, can overturn whole centuries of long-believed record.
Good luck and good hunting to you all, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Oroblanco