Scientists have just released a report on a massive earthquake in 749 A.D. in Israel. The Jerusalem Post article is misleading in suggesting that they just now learned about this particular earthquake, as any visitor to Beth Shean will attest when viewing the fallen columns. But some more information has been learned based on excavations at Umm el-Kanater in the Golan Heights.
The discovery by Tel Aviv University scientists that a major earthquake (over 7 on the Richter scale) took place on the Golan Heights in the year 749 CE – and none of similar magnitude in some 975 years – means the area is long overdue for another one. So say the TAU geologists and archeologists who published their findings in Seismology Research Letters released to the press on Sunday.
The archeological signs of the earthquake were found at Umm el-Kanater (“Mother of the Arches”), a five- or 10-minute drive from Katzrin and near Moshav Natur east of the Kinneret. The damage consisted of a broken pool of water whose two parts were moved a meter from one another. The pools had been used to collect water for a nearby village inhabited from the Byzantine Period until the middle of the eighth century. The dig site has been open to the public for more than three years.
The village suffered destruction, including damage to an elaborately built synagogue that collapsed and whose stones were fortunately not stolen, unlike those of many other archeological sites on the Golan.
You can read the rest at the Jerusalem Post.
The reference to 975 years is enigmatic. It probably is a reference to an earthquake in 1724 A.D., but why that means Israel is due for another one at this time is not clear.
Umm el-KanatirPhoto courtesy of David Bivin (March 2007)
4 thoughts on “Earthquake Evidence”
Interesting, I has thought that Bet Shean was destroyed during the Byzantine period, not during Moslem rule.
That they are due for an earthquake is probably because the underground forces that cause earthquakes build over time. Earthquakes release that pressure. The longer you go without an earthquake in a area prone to them, the more likely one will occure.
Of course, scientists are always warning of some impending disaster, whether earthquakes, volcanoes, or meteors. They like to say, “We’re well overdue for a major…” or “A … could happen at any moment.”
They say that just so it doesn’t come as a suprise. I think the Bible already told us that.
Isaiah chapter 2:2 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days Thatthe mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
(mountains/Bashan/Golan Heights)
Isaiah 2:17-21
17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
18 But the idols He shall utterly abolish. 19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. 20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
Read all of this chapter in Isaiah. This earthquake is impending soon, like within days it is coming and will shake the Golan heights in such fury that the headwaters of the Jordan will be released into the dead sea and the sea will be cleansed and the valleys a fruitful field once again. Though the salt for preservation, the living water shall flow and the time of great cleansing has come. Declare it! Pray for the Muslims, Pray for the Israelis. Pray God’s mercy and grace that He may reveal Himself to those in whose hearts who have been searching and heard his knock on the door within their heart.