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January 11, 2024

Magnetic Fields Yield Evidence for the Biblical Account of an Invasion of Judea

Burnt bricks.

According to the book of Kings, “Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.” In response, the Judean king Jehoash forestalled an attack on the capital by paying Hazael an impressive ransom. Israeli archaeologists have recently applied a new technique, involving the analysis of magnetic fields, to charred bricks in the ruins of Gath—located southeast of Ashdod—and found support for the biblical account. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich writes:

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