''Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor and put her king to the sword. Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. ...However, all those towns that are still standing on their mounds were not burned down by Israel; it was Hazor alone that Joshua burned down.'' (Joshua 11:10-13)
Differing biblical descriptions in Joshua and Judges of how the Israelites conquered Canaan pose a puzzle for scholars who see Joshua as an exaggerated military account.
They contrast the picture of Joshua as a conqueror against a more gradual occupation described in Judges 4:1-2, 23-24, in which the Israelites assimilate into the Canaanite culture.
But archaeology has found evidence that on at least two occasions the city of Hazor was destroyed by fire, the first estimated at 15th to 13th centuries B.C., the time of Joshua. This is the first corroboration outside the biblical account of the city's destruction by fire.
Jesse Long a Bible professor at Lubbock Christian University and tour leader, views a Canaanite palace.
In uncovering the ancient Canaanite crossroads city that spread across more than 200 acres, archaeologists have the advantage of historical documents and biblical references to assist them in evaluating what they have found.
In the days of David and Solomon, Hazor was about 10 times the size of Jerusalem, scholars say. It is the largest biblical-era site in Israel.
Jesse Long, a Bible professor at Lubbock Christian University, and Billy Wade Libby, a history professor at McMurry University in Abilene, in June led a 24-member tour group of students and others to visit archeological sites in Israel and Jordan, including Hazor.
Libby and Long are members of an excavation team involved in a dig at Khirbet Iskander. The team will return next summer to excavate, and Long hopes to have some students participate. Although LCU has no archaeology department, Long teaches an introductory course in archaeology that augments Bible study.
Amnon Ben-Tor tells a group of visitors to Hazor about the archaeological finds at the dig in Israel. Ben-Tor is head of the Hazor excavation.
The educational tour went so well, he said, that he would like to conduct more such tours. He is a member of LCU's Global Committee, which focuses on providing cross-cultural study abroad. Hazor was the highlight of the tour for Long.
''One of my goals is to give students a sense of the periods of history,'' he said. ''The more we can get to the Near East, the broader (students') understanding will be.
''It's too easy for us, especially in Protestant Christianity, to have too narrow a view, to see everything from our world view. One of the fundamental principles of interpretation is understanding that world view.
''It helps just seeing the countryside. You get a sense of how small the Galilee area was, yet how cosmopolitan it was, although it was a backwater.''
Matt Owens, an LCU graduate student, was impressed with the geography, the closeness of biblical sites, for example, in Jerusalem. The trip ''has given me a much deeper insight. (The Bible) is now much more interesting,'' he said.
Albert Garcia, an LCU student from Muleshoe, said as he stood on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, it occurred to him that ''when Jesus is standing there in agony about the cross, he could probably see the roads back to Galilee, but he took another road.''
Daniel Freeman, also an LCU student, said he has always been interested in the Roman ruins. ''I knew I would love that, but it was much more than I expected,'' he said. At Jerash in Jordan, ''I had an eerie feeling standing in the streets. I could just see how beautiful they were.''
Freeman came away with a new appreciation for the Romans and for what the Christian experience was in the first century.
The visit to the Garden of Gethsemane brings new life to the song ''In the Garden'' for James Peel. ''Now when I sing those words, I can imagine what it looked like.''
Standing in the Jordan River was also a special experience for Peel because ''our beliefs are so involved with baptism.''
The palace-fortress dig at Hazor helped Peel understand the vulnerability 1300 B.C. Canaanites might have felt when their city was threatened. Today, only 25 miles to the north, Lebanon and Israel are lobbing shells at each other across the border.
Long said the issues of violence and Israel's conquest of the land in ancient times ''is being reproduced now. In politics, those issues are at the forefront. It is one reason secular Jews are uncomfortable with the theological aspects.''
Scholarly arguments about which is the accurate account, Joshua or Judges, miss the mark, Long thinks.
''God gave them the land, then told them to take the land, but they didn't,'' Long said. ''They end up becoming like the Canaanites, so God disinherits them from the land.''
In his view, pitting one version of the story against the other is a misreading of the story. ''You read Joshua and Judges together,'' he believes.
Commentators for ''The New Open Bible'' say that ''Joshua's seven-year conquest is general in nature; much of the land remains to be possessed. ... The events covered in Judges range from about 1380 B.C. to 1045 B.C., but the period of the judges extends another 30 years since it includes the life of Samuel.''
Also at issue with scholars is the dating of the site, with some arguing for a later date and others for an earlier date. Such inconsistencies in dates may stem from differing figures for what makes a generation. Biblical numbers often are symbolic, in which case scholars ''could still respect the Bible and believe a late date,'' Long said. These differences are not something to be dogmatic about, he added.
''I'm very conservative and come from that perspective, but as an archaeologist, I am uncomfortable with the idea of 'proving' the Bible just as I am uncomfortable with proof-texting.''
Proof-texting is taking a position and finding Scripture that supports that position without regard for context.
''The same thing can happen in archaeology,'' Long said. ''People come at the Bible with assumptions and presuppositions which determine the result.''
Beth Pratt can be contacted at 766-8724 or email@example.com