Nothing Fails Like Bible History 14: How Archaeology Buried the Joshua Conquest Story

Did the mighty Canaanite kingdoms described in the Book of Joshua actually exist? Were there really seven nations mightier than Israel, with armies like sand on the seashore, iron chariots, giants, and sixty fortified cities ruled by King Og of Bashan alone? And what happens when archaeologists actually dig into Late Bronze Age Canaan to find out?

I spent months scouring over 100 archaeological reports, books, and academic publications to compile the latest data on every identifiable site mentioned in the Biblical conquest narratives — Jericho, Hazor, Megiddo, Jerusalem, Lachish, Bethel, and more. What I found was devastating to the Biblical account: abandoned cities, tiny villages that couldn't muster a fighting force large enough to fill a school bus, and "mighty fortresses" with populations smaller than a modern apartment building. Along the way, we'll examine how young earth creationist archaeologist Dr. Titus Kennedy inflated population estimates in his doctoral dissertation using density coefficients 2–3 times the archaeological standard, and how apologists like Scott Stripling and Bryant Wood of the Associates for Biblical Research swap out abandoned sites for equally tiny alternatives in a desperate attempt to rescue the narrative.

In this episode of Nothing Fails Like Bible History, let's go site by site through the archaeological record of 13th-century BCE Canaan and compare what the Bible claims with what's actually in the ground — from the Amarna Letters written by these very towns' rulers to the underwater surveys off the coast of Dor. The mismatch isn't minor exaggeration or poetic license. It's a completely different world.

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This is Part 14 of the Nothing Fails Like Bible History series. Check out the full series here

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