BiblePlaces readers might be interested in the recent series “Digging the Bible” by David Plotz of Slate, who wrote the “Blogging the Bible” series last year. Plotz writes well and has some good insights interspersed with inaccuracies. Some things he says are disputed, while other things would be corrected if he bothered to run it by anyone knowledgeable. But this is all too common, it seems to me: those who know often can’t write in a way that’s compelling, and those who can write usually are covering fields they don’t really know.
One paragraph of interest:
It’s a eureka moment for me. Suddenly, the wars of the Bible that made no sense on the page are perfectly comprehensible. The geography explains it all: On this side is the backward hill kingdom of Judah. On that side is the technologically advanced coastal kingdom of the Philistines. And here, in between them, is the fortress line that must not break. Standing on this ancient hilltop, looking over a landscape that has not changed much since the Book of Kings—well, discounting the Israeli army base a quarter-mile below—I can see the Bible more clearly than I read it. (Emphasis added.)
But this is what they all say after coming to Israel. Unfortunately this guy blogged the Bible for a year before he went to Israel. Perhaps now he should give it another try.