Ammiratissimo (almeno da me) archeologo ebreo che non si cura delle ritorsioni dell’establishment locale: la Bibbia contiene racconti leggendari e fittizi. Non è una novità, certo. Ma se a scriverlo e a dirlo è uno studioso del suo calibro e della sua posizione l’affermazione assume proporzioni maggiori. Dice Finkelstein che

1. the traditional dating of many archaeological finds relating to biblical events is out by up to one-and-a-half centuries.
   

E il giornalista scrive

1. “His [Finkelstein's] conclusion is uncompromising: many famous biblical stories are probably pure fiction.” For example, Cohen states in the article based with his conversation with Finkelstein that the “exodus of the Israelites from Egypt never happened” and “Joshua never attacked Jericho, let along brought its walls down.”
   

Difatti, Gerico non aveva nemmeno le mura

1. “There is no evidence that Jericho even had city walls at that time.”
   

E più avanti

1. The article goes on to say, “David and Solomon were not great kings who ruled over the ancient land of Canaan in the 10th century BC from a palace in Jerusalem, as the Bible portrays; at best they were minor chieftains of some small-time tribe in that area. Their memory was later inflated and mythologised in the 7th century BC to serve particular political and military agendas, he [Finkelstein] says.”
   

Insomma, storielle. Almeno per chi studia professionalmente questi argomenti.