MidnightCall Magazine
In this issue:
- Before the Last Flood — By Norbert Lieth
- Gaza Flotilla: Aggression or Self-Defense? — By Arno Froese
- Far East AsiaTrendsToday – Part III:Geo-prophecy or Geopolitics? — By Wilfred Hahn
News From Israel MagazineIn this issue:
- The Myth of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: Part 1 — By Herbert Novitsky
- ON THE HORIZON:
- Obama Honors Jewish Heritage Month
- Building an Electronic Human Brain
- ‘Iran Critics Must Get Rid of Nukes,’ Says Turkish PM
- Israel Joins Prestigious OECD Club
- Israel Accepted after Unanimous Vote
- Spy Satellite Successfully Launched
Discovery of King David’s Waterway?
The “gutter,” or
water system mentioned in the Bible as the way King David's men conquered
Jerusalem may have been found. Dr. Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist excavating the
City of David, the most ancient part of Jerusalem, believes it has, and is to
present her findings at a seminar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The excavations, carried out under the auspices of the Hebrew
University's Institute of Archaeology, are funded by the Shalem Center and the
Elad organization that also purchases buildings in the Silwan neighborhood,
where the City of David is located, to populate the area with Jews.
Mazar offers a revolutionary interpretation of the “gutter”
mentioned in 2 Sam. 5:8. Most scholars believed that David conquered Jebus,
which later became known known as the City of David, through the water system.
But Mazar believes
the water system served to purify David’s warriors, first among them his chief
of staff, Joab, after the city had already been conquered.
She says that purification was necessary because the Bible
states they had to fight against the “blind and the lame,” and in so doing
would have become impure. She notes the use in the relevant verse of the Hebrew
root naga (touch) in relation to the “gutter,” a word usually involving matters
of purity.
-www.haaretz.com, 30 October 2008
Here is the Scripture reference: “And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward” (2 Samuel 5:8-9).