Dr. Norma Franklin, one of the leaders behind the Jezreel Expedition, established that the Jezreel Valley was indeed a major wine producing area in biblical times, which lines up with the story of Naboth’s vineyard as found in 1 Kings in the Bible.
An archaeologist in Israel has shared an exciting new discovery that seems to validate the Bible’s account of a man named Naboth and his ownership of a vineyard.
The Christian Post reports that Dr. Norma Franklin, one of the leaders of the Jezreel Expedition, confirmed that the Jezreel Valley was a wine-producing region, as the Bible says it is.
The Jezreel Expedition team used laser technology to analyze the region and found several wine and olive presses, as well as over 100 bottle-shaped pits carved into the stone of the region. Franklin believes these hewn-out imprints were used to store wine in ancient times.
This discovery confirms the biblical account of Naboth and his vineyard in 1 Kings 21. There, the Bible tells the story of a man named Naboth who owned a vineyard. Israel’s king at the time, the wicked King Ahab, coveted Naboth’s beautiful vineyard and ended up having Naboth killed so he could take the vineyard for himself.
Although Franklin is not a Christian, she acknowledged that the discovery does seem to validate the biblical account.
“As an archaeologist, I cannot say that there was definitely a specific man named Naboth who had a particular vineyard,” Franklin told Breaking Israel News. “The story is very old but from what I have found, I can say that the story as described in the Bible quite probably could have occurred here in the Jezreel.”
Naboth’s vineyard was likely established sometime before 300 BCE.
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Source: Christian Headlines
