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=> the Keystone Kops dig a tunnel...

Posted by pancho (Guest) - Thursday, February 2 2006, 16:09:51 (CET)
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...again from Gordon and Rendsburg....

"This watercourse, known as the Siloam Tunnel, was found by early explorers in Jerusalem in the nineteenth century, complete with a Hebrew inscription telling how the tunnel was hewn. The workers began at separate ends, eventually they heard each other through the stone, and then they joined the two sections as water flowed through the tunnel. The watercourse, moreover, is not a direct line; instead, it cuts through the rock in an S shape course. It remains, A MARVEL OF ANCIENT ENGINEERING (emphasis mine), and scholars still debate how the two crews of workers met one another."

There is a footnote at the bottom of the page: "The most likely hypothesis is that they follwed the natural fisures in the rock. This would have made the task of hewing the rock easier, and it also assured them that they would meet somewhere in the middle."

Not only are these two "scholars" not worth diddle...but rheir editors too seem to be in on the foolishness. You aren`t a scholar just because you read a lot...and then put what you read to WORK...as Aprim does, to FORCE a point. That isn`t scholarship, it`s partisanship and it`s dishonest.

Let`s look at this "marvel"...mind you, the ancient world contained pyramids, the Collosus of Rhodes, Ashurbanipal`s Library, The Hanging Gardens, the Parthenon etc...and these dweebs want to put a hole through rock right up there with the rest.

In one sense they`re right..but they didn`t mean it that way...a tunnel IS a marvel...for Hebrews.

How can scholars "still debate" how this dime store marvel came to be when the Hebrews who cut through the rock told how they did it? The inscription is RIGHT THERE..in their own handwriting...where`s there anything to STILL debate?

Then there`s the fatal footnote which these scholars add themselves, which is no doubt the entire story...that there was a fissure in the rock...as there are many springs that burst forth or trickle out from solid rock...and all the amazing Hebrews did was to follow the trail till they came together. Where`s the "marvel of ancient engineering"?

I mean REALLY!!!

...a sidebar to this bit of embarrassment is that Hezekial built this marvellous tunnel in anticipation of an attack by the Assyrians against Jerusalem...because they`d need water inside the city walls to withstand a seige...this tells you the caliber of people we are dealing with..it takes an attack by the Assyrians to get them to do what any other people would have done just for the sake of hygiene and efficiency, that is: bring the water directly INTO the city...it seems they can thank us for that as well.

..and another thing, the Hebrews bragged one too many times that the Assyrians never managed to take Jerusalem..they saw this as a sign that their god, who at other times seems to have dislkied them intensely, protected them from them nasty Assyrians.

..but that`s not the story. The Assyrians didn`t wipe people out, like the Hebrews did whenever they had the chance...the Assyrians maintained the Pax Assyriaca, which even the authors admit meant that the Hebrews and others were left to live in peace and security, to trade and grow wealth because the Assyrians PROTECTED the region...naturally they expected tribute for this service...armies on the march are expensive...tribute was a form of taxation...and no doubt the Hebrews, when they dared, neglected to send their`s. The Assyrians would accordingly come get it...they had no interest in "taking" Jerusalem...what on earth FOR? To the Romans an assignment in Israel was a season in hell..usually a punishment for an official or legion. What the hell would an Assyrian DO with Jerusalem?

The Assyrians had no desire to wipe out the Hebrews...for pissing against walls...they wanted them to work, to prosper, to raise their families in peace AND to pay theit fair share...they didn`t "take" Jerusalem because it would have been tantamount to killing the goose that was at least laying eggs. The Hebrews, true to their usual way in these situations claimed that the Assyrians were FOILED and had to LEAVE..they neglected to add that the Assyrians left and took the Hebrews shirts, pants, pots, pans, spoon and whatever else could be used to make up the tribute...and they left the Hebrews in PEACE to go on and build up their meagre treasury again...for the next tax year.

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