The Backyard Professor: 027: Why Biblical Archaeology Refutes Joseph Smith's Literal Bible Theology

I specify how Joseph Smith understood the literal Bible of the Patriarchal Age, focusing on Abraham. I then show the updated Archaeological knowledge of the Patriarchal Age of Abraham and show why archaeology has not found evidence for Abraham. I include many dozens of gorgeous biblical archaeology pictures while I am talking showing you the peoples, maps, places, events, and beauty of the biblical world.

[shesus]

What is a biblical minimalist? So glad you uploaded the sequel so soon!!! Love your ability to laugh and educate us at the same time. You are a lot of fun to engage with and I can seriously hear your laugh and voice whenever I read your comments. Keep it up. Wish I had money to donate to you!!!

[zon]

Every cycle of civilizations produces new writings of past historical events, with older sources being consumed into the dust with time.

[noelhausler]

Israel Finkelstein has written on the historcity of Abraham. "So the combination of camels, arabiab goods, Philistnes and Gerr- as well as other paces and nations mentioned in the patriarchial storie in Genesis - are highly significant All the clues point to a time of composition many centuries after the time the Bible reports the lives of he patriarchs took place. These and other anachronisms suggest an intensive period of writing the patriarchal narratives in the eight and seventh centuries BCE "Searching for the Patriarchs, The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein. p38

[lilith]

I'm very late to this party, but I love hearing your thoughts on biblical archaeology and recommendations for reading.

I've been lucky enough to hear William Dever speak a handful of times (I believe he pronounces his name "DEE-ver?"), and he always jokes that people who don't like him pronounce his name דבר (plague), and people who do like him pronounce his name דביר (holy of holies). I thought you'd get a kick out of that.

[justinlevy]

Left another comment on a previous video about the Copenhagen school of OT studies. Those guys, Gmirkin and Wajdenbaum pick up from the likes of Lemke and Thompson so right up your alley.

[noelhausler]

The extent of the earth in the understanding of the Biblical writer is given in Gen10. The northern boundary is marked by the peoples around the Black sea (Gen 10:2; Ezek 38:6) The Southern boundary is marked by peoples living in the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula (Gen 10:7 cf Matt12:42); The eastern boundary is marked by Elam (Gen 10:22). The western boundary is at Tarhish (Gen 10:4) but its location is not certain. ….. All the earth in Gen 11:1 is then a circle or ellipse around 2400 miles in width and 1200 in height. Everyone in the ancient Near East understood this circular area to be the entire extent of the earth and that this earth was surrounded by a great ocean. Genesis 10 this indicates that the writer of Gen 11 was oblivious to the existence of the Far East, Australia and the Americas”
“The Date of the Tower of Babel” Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001) 15-38. PAUL H. SEELY

[pattykake]

Pretty much everything refutes pretty much everything Joe said…..🤠

[kentthalman]

I thought my donations to Mormon Discussion Podcast was in part going to you. Is that not helping?

[zon]

It's your version of the Bible that necessitates the Restoration.

[johnwinebrenner]

Two thousand years from now archaeologists doing a dig of an LDS stake building, finding and reconstructing the basketball court will come to the understanding that the LDS worshipped basketball because it was the only place that they stood in an attitude of worship with hands raised to the heavens The archaeologist would be both right and wrong. That is the nature of scholarship. You know this.

[zon]

So Christ in the New Testament, when referring to Abraham, was speaking of a fictional character of whom Christ is even a descendant of? Even David, that you show, has archeological markings is a descendant of Abraham.

[rogereastman]

Why did, does, this overt, simple, and easy to understand theme....continue to elude Joseph Smith and the Mormon church. The Priesthood, and the temple was exclusive to the Jewish faith. Not the Christian Church. When Christ died (and if course Rose again). God Himself ripped the Vail in the Temple in two from the top to the the bottom....to demonstrate that the priesthood was no longer necessary to interact with God. People could now go to God personally...without the priests or the temple. In Christianity, the Temple now is within us all...God lives in us. We are the Temple of God. The Christian Church never had the priesthood. It wasn't necessary. The priesthood was a Old Covenant requirement..Not the new. Therefore, the priest hood never had to be restored to the Church, because The Priesthood wasn't, and isn't part of the new covenant system. In Christ we are all kings ands priests....and we, individually are the Temple of The Lord.
..not a building, not a organization. So Joseph Smith's "revelation" to restore the priesthood, or Temples to the Church was not only unnecessary, but false. Never were they a part of the new covenant church at all....so they never had to be restored, nor could they
That folks is Christianity...that a child can understand. Apparently Mormons.... or whoever, don't know...or have simply read the Scripture.

[zon]

The school of the Prophets is the institute of Religion. CES

[rogereastman]

And I apologize. I realize this had nothing to do with the professors historical teachings, which are super interesting...
I'm just sick of propping up Mormonism...Baptists, Lutheran's....or Jehovah's none of which our favorite Rabbi is trying to do
So forgive my outburst which was unrelated to the professors outreach. I at times, am a dork