Director Erin Zimmerman discusses CBN film, "Written in Stone: The House of David"
Written in Stone
In 1867, a British engineer and archaeologist named Charles Warren arrived in Jerusalem to uncover the biblical history of the Holy Land. Since then, thousands of archaeological discoveries throughout the Middle East have confirmed the history of the Bible.
Hosted by CBN’s Gordon Robertson, Written in Stone: House of David takes you on a visual journey through the Bible--from King David in 1000 BC to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. In addition to providing archaeological evidence of biblical stories, you will also see the beautiful land of the Bible at a time when you can't travel there in person because of COVID-19. It was filmed in archaeological sites in Israel and Jordan, plus shows artifacts from the British Museum in London and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The purpose of creating this series was to use archaeology to prove that we can trust the Bible as an accurate historical source. The facts of the Bible like history, archaeology, the names of people and places are all accurate. In more than 150 years of biblical archaeology, not one thing has ever been discovered that disproved the Bible. If its historical facts can be trusted, we can also trust the rest of what’s written.
Archaeologists
Eilat Mazar is not a believing Jewish person but gladly accepts the Bible as a source of history that guides her excavations. She learned as a little girl on the excavations of her grandfather, who famously worked “with a trowel in one hand and a Bible in the other.” She used specific biblical passages to find the palace of King David, the wall of King Solomon, and some remnants of Solomon’s palace, specifically, the bakery.
Archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel calls himself an atheist but has discovered archaeological finds that confirm the biblical account of King David.
Modern Trends In Archaeology
There is a trend happening with modern archaeologists to disprove the Bible. King David is a great example. Back in the '80s and early '90s, some archaeologists were still saying that King David and Solomon were legends like King Arthur and never existed. They had no historical or archaeological basis to make those claims but felt the need to have a new, radical idea to get noticed. After the discoveries of two ancient stones, both bearing the phrase House of David and both written by two of Israel’s enemies, they could no longer say there was no David. Then their argument became “they may have existed, but they were local tribal chiefs, not kings of a big nation.” Again, archaeology has proven them wrong, and massive ruins of cities were discovered all over Israel in the very cities the Bible says were built by Solomon.
The Oracles of God
Erin’s next project is two docudramas about the creation and canonization of the Bible called The Oracles of God (Title comes from Romans 3:2). The films will cover the time period from Moses to the closing of the canon in the 4th century AD. How can we trust that the copies and translations that have happened over the centuries are the Word of God? Part 1 will cover the Old Testament, and Part 2 will cover the New Testament. She plans to start shooting in Israel this summer and fall.
