The prophet Amos depicted in a Russian icon. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Recently, archaeologists found evidence of a huge earthquake, probably the one that Amos mentioned in his book.
Joel Kontinen
The Old Testament book of Amos mentions an earthquake that obviously was so massive that the prophet counted the years from it instead of giving the year in the reign of the king, as was usual.
Recently, Israeli archaeologists found the remains of a Philistine temple near Kiryat Gat and signs of an Old Testament time earthquake of approximately eight on the Richter scale.
This is interesting since the book of Amos (1:1) begins with the words:
”The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa – what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.”
The same earthquake is also mentioned in the book of Zechariah (14:5):
”You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.”
Commenting on the discovery, professor Aren Maeir suggests that the temple confirms what the book of Judges says about Samson and the temple of Dagon and what the Old Testament reveals about a great earthquake that devastated Israel.
Once again, an archaeological discovery supports the history of the Bible.
Source:
Hartman, Ben. 2010. Temple found in Philistine home of Goliath. The Jerusalem Post. (29 July).
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