The Bible Buried's Secrets

NARRATOR: God is dead, or so it must have seemed to the ancestors of the Jews in 586 B.C. Jerusalem and the temple to their god are in flames; the nation of Israel, founded by King David, is wiped out. 

WILLIAM G. DEVER (University of Arizona): It would have seemed to have been the end, but it was, rather, the beginning. 

NARRATOR: For out of the crucible of destruction emerges a sacred book, the Bible, and an idea that will change the world, the belief in one God.

THOMAS CAHILL (Author, The Gifts of the Jews): This is a new idea. It was an idea that no one had ever had before.

LEE I. LEVINE (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Monotheism is well-ensconced, so something major happened which is very hard to trace.

NARRATOR: Now, a provocative new story from discoveries deep within the Earth and the Bible.

EILAT MAZAR (Shalem Center): We wanted to examine the possibility that the remains of King David's palace are here.

WILLIAM DEVER: We can actually see vivid evidence here of a destruction.

AMNON BEN-TOR (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Question number one: "Who did it?"

NARRATOR: An archaeological detective story puzzles together clues to the mystery of who wrote the Bible, when and why.

GABRIEL BARKAY (Bar-Ilan University): And it was clear that it was a tiny scroll.

RON E. TAPPY (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary): I immediately saw very clear, very distinct letters.

P. KYLE MCCARTER (Johns Hopkins University): This is the ancestor of the Hebrew script. 

NARRATOR: And, from out of the Earth, emerge thousands of idols that suggest God had a wife.

AMIHAI MAZAR (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem): We just found this exceptional clay figurine showing a fertility goddess.

NARRATOR: Powerful evidence sheds new light on how one people, alone among ancient cultures, finally turn their back on idol worship to find their one god. 

CAROL MEYERS (Duke University): This makes the god of ancient Israel the universal God of the world that resonates with people—at least in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition—to this very day.

NARRATOR: Now, science and scripture converge to create a powerful new story of an ancient people, God and the Bible. Up next on NOVA, The Bible's Buried Secrets. PBS Airdate: November 18, 2008