Digs 2018BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 27
supported by archaeology. To be sure, there are dis-
crepancies between the Biblical account and the
archaeological evidence regarding the timing of this
immigration and the manner in which it occurred,
but the archaeological data definitively tell us that
people immigrated and emigrated into and out of
Israel. They came, and they went.
This has been true throughout history, both before
and after ancient Israel. Kingdoms were built up and
were conquered. Empires were overthrown by suc-
cessive empires. The Egyptians, Hittites, Phoenicians,
Canaanites, Amorites, Israelites, Moabites, Ammo-
nites, Edomites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians,
Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Hasmoneans, Naba-
taeans, Romans, Byzantines, Sasanians, Umayyads,
Abbasids, Tulunids, Ikhshidids, Fatimids, Ayyubids,
Mamluks, Ottomans, British, Jordanians, and Israelis
all at one time in history have migrated into modern
Israel and Palestine.
What’s more, the ancient Israelites understood
this. This is why the Hebrew God, his prophets,
and his righteous followers were so adamant about
caring for the poor, widows, orphans, and espe-
cially the foreigner or alien (Hebrew: gēr) (see, e.g.,
BIBLICAL FORTRESS UNEARTHED. Excavation director
Oded Lipschits, registrar Liora Freud, area supervisor Efrat
Bocher, and volunteer Ashley Byrd analyze potsherds
excavated at the Judahite stronghold of Azekah (right).
Above, volunteer Ella Gadot practices safety first by wear-
ing a hard hat to protect her head from debris.
ODED LIPSCHITSODED LIPSCHITS