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[00:02]
A
The Week in Bible Prophecy, a Prophecy Watchers podcast.
[00:09]
B
Hello everyone. Welcome to the program today. Manu Gonzalez here in studio with our good friend Aaron Lipkin. And we're going to be discussing some of the archeology and updates of what is happening in the land of Israel. As you might know, things are always progressing there at lightning speed, which I think is awesome. And it's great to have Aaron here who can give us some updates about a variety of things. So as always, Aaron, welcome.
[00:33]
A
Thank you. It's great to be here again after a long two or three years of absence. So great to be here in the United States. Yeah.
[00:41]
B
And you are kind of tell us a little bit about what you're doing here.
[00:45]
A
So I lecture about biblical archaeology and churches and synagogues in Israel. And my main topics that I speak about are the discovery of Joshua's altar and some related discoveries to Joshua's alter and another interesting discovery, the footprint structures. Both discoveries are thanks to the work of Professor Adam Zertal, the late Professor Adams Zertal from the Haifa University. Adam Zertal actually spoke to the Prophecy Watchers group in Jerusalem. I believe it was in 2015 he came to the group and lectured about Joshua Zoltra. We actually have a picture of Adam speaking to the group. So I am part of Adam Zertal's team. I'm not an archaeologist. I am their drone photographer. And so during their work, I come with my drone and take photos of the archaeological sites that they discover and then these photos are published in their academic publications. And other than that, I'm an Israeli Jew. I live in Ophrah in Samaria, right by Shiloh and Bethel and these important biblical sites. And I have a travel agency that arranges tours for Christians from the United States that come to Israel. And we actually have a tour. We do this coming May. Registration is over.
[02:12]
B
Pretty full.
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A
Bus is full. So we're really looking forward to hosting you in Israel. And I think one last thing is that I served 730 days in reserve duty this past two years in Israel. I'm sure our viewers know that Israel had a war going on for the past two years. And so I served in the army, actually received an award of excellence.
[02:39]
B
Nice.
[02:40]
A
For my work there. And I never received an award for excellence for anything in my life. And for the first time at the age of 50 actually got one. And at the same time, while there was a war going on in Israel, we actually had groups landing from America, Christian groups touring the land. And this was not just a visit to Israel and to the biblical sites. It was also a way to show their support for the Jewish people in the state of Israel. So we were really honored to be able to host them in Israel and this was a great encouragement for us.
[03:21]
B
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, to me, obviously we love going to Israel and it's going to be a good time in May for those that you talked about speaking at churches. You know, maybe some of you are watching this and you might want Aaron to come speak at your church. How do they find out about that?
[03:38]
A
Well, they can visit altarofjoshua.com I have all the information there and they can send an invitation to me and I'll be happy to connect. And next time when I come to the States, I'll be happy to come to the church and speak about these discoveries. What's really important about these discoveries is that the person that made these discoveries, Adam Zertal, was not a believer. He was an atheist Jew from a kibbutz, socialist, the kibbutz in Israel. And the discoveries that he made, I wouldn't say made him a believer, but they made him believe in the historicity of the Bible. I'm sure that our viewers don't notice, but the mainline view in the academic world is that large parts of the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, are not true. They never really happened. They were made up. And what Adam Zurta was able to do with his discoveries is to actually prove that the early parts of the Bible, mainly the book of Deuteronomy, Joshua and on, correspond with the historical accounts in the Bible. And I think that that's very important for Bible believers to know because when we send out our children to colleges and they have to confront this mindset of the Bible is a fairy tale. If they go there with the knowledge that Adam Zertal gave us from his discoveries, you know, they are better equipped.
[05:14]
B
Yeah, 100%. I mean, this is really the value of understanding archeology and its connection to the Bible and the land. You know, there is this. I remember being again, as you guys know, I, I got a degree in archaeology, but in the land of Israel. But I always coming in, I didn't really fully. I loved archeology. But once I got in the academic world, I was just shocked. One of the professors, very wise, he would have us read books. And I went to him and I go, I'm reading this book by Israel Finkelstein and it was a book that he had said. And I go, I don't think he believes the Bible. He goes, that's exactly why I want you to read it. Not so much to convince me, but he wanted to say, listen, this is the world. If you're going to be in the academic world and especially archaeological world, you need to know who the players are. And you have, you know, the minimalist and the maximalist. There's all this debate, but just I want you to be aware of what the other side is saying. And so that. That was very helpful because I was a little naive. I thought everybody believed the Bible, of course, but archaeology is so amazing. Talk a little bit about, you know, most of you are familiar with, or you might not be, maybe Joshua's altar. Maybe give us a brief introduction for those that might not have ever heard about it, and then give us an update.
[06:32]
A
Okay, so the Bible clearly speaks about a commandment by Moses in Deuteronomy 11 to do a ceremony of blessings and curses on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. And then in Deuteronomy 27, Moses repeats that commandment and actually details exactly what needs to be done. So there are actually two things that needs to be done. One is to build a stone altar from uncut stones on Mount Ebal, to do sacrifices there. And basically to, you know, I always ask the churches that I go to, why is Moses commanding the Israelites? The first thing they do when they enter the land is to build an altar and do a barbecue party. And so, you know, the answer is very clear. They just entered the land of Israel. They came out of Egypt, they wandered for 40 years, and they finally got to the land that was promised to them by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God. And so they're celebrating. They're doing a celebration in honor of the entrance to the land of Israel. It's their independence day. And then the second thing that Moses commands in Deuteronomy 27 is to do a ceremony of blessings and curses where you have six tribes standing on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing, and six tribes standing on Mount Ebal, the mountain of curses. And there you have basically a different type of commandment to perform a covenantal event. I always say in churches, this is a second Mount Sinai. And when you look at the list of curses that the Israelites are supposed to answer amen to and accept, you see, there are many parallels to the Ten Commandments. So when the Israelites are standing there and they're hearing, you know, you should respect your father and mother, you should not bow to statues and do pagan work, all of these things correspond with the Ten Commandments. And also in their mind. And so this is a very important ceremony. The building of an altar on Mount Ebal and then the covenantal ceremony at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. And then when Joshua enters into the land in Joshua 8, he actually performs the commandments, builds an altar of uncut stones, and performs the ceremonial blessings and curses. And so we have a clear statement by the Bible that there is a structure of uncut stones that is present on Mount Ebal. And archaeologists, Christian archaeologists in the end of the end of the 19th century, early 20th century, went to look for that altar. And they looked for it on the southern slopes of Mount Ebal, facing the valley of where the ceremony was supposed to happen. They couldn't find any altar and structure. Later on, when you go into the 1970s, 1980s, you have a new school of thought in Europe that is basically overtaking the academic world and is saying, of course you didn't find the altar on Mount Ebal. It never really existed. These are the Bible deniers or the minimalists. And so when we come to the year 1980, we have a professor of archaeology, Adam Zertal, who was actually educated, according to the minimalist view in the Tel Aviv University, that the Bible is not true or is not accurate, that the early stories of the Bible, with the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan and King David, King Solomon, all these stories were invented hundreds of years later and are not really true. And because there's no proof. And so Adam Zertal is walking, you know, on Mount Ebal. He's doing something called, in archeology, an archaeological survey. He's mapping ancient sites on the mountain. And as he walks on the eastern slopes of the mountain, not the southern slopes, he bumps into an ancient compound. When he goes in, he identifies that the pottery is from the settlement period. We're talking about the year 1300 BC. That's a long time. That's a long time.
[10:59]
B
Yeah.
[10:59]
A
Ago. And as he advances into this compound and the pottery all over, he reaches the top of the area, and the top of the area has a pile of stone. This is April of 1980. He decides to excavate. So in 1982, he comes with his crew. And our viewers need to remember he's not looking for the altar.
[11:25]
B
He probably doesn't believe it exists, doesn't
[11:27]
A
know if it exists. He just gets there and he sees an ancient site from the settlement period, and it interests him. He wants curious to know what's there. And so they start excavating that pile of stone and they start peeling off the outer layer and under that a structure emerges. The structure is very, I have to say, it's strange, very strange. A room that doesn't have a door. The room is filled and sealed and there is a ramp going up to the rectangular room. And there are two courtyards on both sides of the ramp. And this was really, really weird, was really strange for Adam Zertel and started excavating inside into that room that had no door. And he found the four layers of bones and ashes. And when he continued on excavating, getting to the lowest area in the room, the bedrock, he actually found an installation that was even ancient than the actual building itself. And so he was really curious, didn't know what it was. And he made a sketch of this structure. And a religious Jew came by and saw this and said, professor Zertal, don't you recognize what this is? And he said, no, I don't. And he brought him a book from the Mishnah, the Jewish writing of the Oral Torah. And he opened the Mishnah and he showed Adam Zertal a picture of the second temple altar. And Adam's rittal is looking at both pictures and he can't believe it. They're identical. And so at that point, it dawned on Adam Zertal that he found a major Israelite worshiping site on Mount Ibar. And at that point he understood that the altar is Joshua's altar. And you know, Adam Zertal describes how his whole world collapses. He cannot sleep for three or four days. Because for Adam Zertal as a professor, this is unacceptable. This goes against all his education. And obviously the reaction in Israel was very enthusiastic. I mean, you know, Jews in Israel were very excited about the possibility of finding an original Israelite altar that can be identified with Joshua's altar. And so the reaction was very enthusiastic. And at the same time, the academic world immediately attacked.
[14:07]
B
Attacked. That's the system way it rolls.
[14:09]
A
Yep. Yeah. Mostly due to the fact that the site is located in Samaria, which is, according to the left wing in Israel, should become a Palestinian state and is not part of the land of Israel. And for our viewers, you should understand that Joshua's altar is smack inside the area where all the biblical stories happen with Abraham, with Jacob and with Joshua. This is really the center of the Israelites, the operation of the Israelite in the land of Israel. So there was a major attack on Adam Zertal. There was even a scholar that said that if Adam Zertal is right and he found an altar on Mount Ebal, We Bible scholars should all go back to kindergarten. This was the reaction, and therefore there was very strong opposition to try and excommunicate Adam Zertal in the academic world, stop funding him. He was never able to complete his final report on the excavation because of the academic world excommunicating him, not allowing to be able to give him grants for his work as an archaeologist. And believe it or not, since 1989, the the end of the excavations on Mount Ebal. The final report was not published until today, 2026.
[15:36]
B
Wow. Like right now, we're living it right now. Wow.
[15:38]
A
People have to understand this is critical because only after the final report is written, the actual discovery becomes a fact in the archaeological world. Something that people can dispute, can talk about, can dialogue about, and then it also becomes something that you learn about in, in school, in history or in archeology and so on. So this was really a way by the academic world to squelch the discovery of Joshua's altar. But thank God, there's several very, very exciting developments that we are about to see that are connected to the altar.
[16:17]
B
Yeah, and that really is the key is you think 37 years people had to wait to keep the knowledge out. And so this report, is it out yet?
[16:29]
A
So we just got a very generous donation several years ago. And so Dr. Shaibar, who is the student of Adam Zertal. Adam Zertal passed away in 2015. Shaibar is now working hard with his team on completing the final report. Hopefully that's going to be published during 2027. And Dr. Scheibar actually shared some of the new insights from the final report. They did some several carbon dating of bones and different findings from the altar. And for example, I'll give you an example. There is a very fascinating result. When Adam Zertal dated the site in the 1980s, he dated it to the reign of Ramses II, according to the scarabs, according to the carbon dating that he did at that time. And so for him, that was the time where the site was built. According to the carbon dating that Dr. Shaibar has performed, it seems as if there are two stages to the site. The first stage, the earliest stage, is actually from the late Bronze Age, which means around the year 1300, possibly even earlier than that. And that is really fascinating because when you ask a rabbi or a pastor, when did the exodus happen? He will say that it happened around the year 1450 or 1440, which would place the building of the altar in the late Bronze Age, not in the early Iron Age. And so what we see is first of all, results that are showing that the chronology, the traditional chronology of, of Jews and Christians is actually not so far away from what the science is saying. And the second thing which is also very fascinating is that after the building of the early stage of the altar, a circular installation at the middle of that room that I described, we have a break in use of this site. And then the use and then the bigger altar is built on top of the older altar and that's in use for around 70, maybe 80 years. This is during the end of the time of the Judges, maybe even during the time of Samuel. And this is very interesting because it's not mentioned in the Bible. The Bible is not saying anything about a major Israelite altar in operation on Mount Ebal during the time of the Judges. There might be a verse talking about it in Joshua 9 when the Bible describes the punishment the Gibeonites who cheated Joshua and the Israelites. The verse is that Joshua made them woodchoppers and water carriers at the altar of the Lord. And so this could be a later verse describing the second stage of the altar of Joshua, where you had the altar of Joshua in the beginning and then during the time of the Judges it became the altar of the Lord which venerated the earlier altar of Joshua.
[19:49]
B
I could see too where just historically speaking and even from a civilized, you know, in the sense of a culture, that that's going to be a huge reminder. So I imagine many of the prophets or others would want to use that as a way to main covenant fellowship with God and to maintain the relationship and say, hey look, this is still here. And so for them to use it would be a reminder to the people we need to stay faithful. So I certainly could see that going on until really until later what you see in the time of the prophets. But for the sake of time, you also have been very involved in the lead tablet. And we've talked about that, we've written about it in the magazine before. Give us an update on that just
[20:40]
A
to give a background. In 2019, we cleared the ancient archeological dump of Adam zertel from the 1980s. In other words, when Adam excavated inside the altar, the material was dry sifted and then he threw it down the valley nearby the altar. And so the idea was that there might be a chance that Adam's ertal didn't really either didn't do a good job sifting the material or just didn't have the technology and the understanding that we have today in archeology. And so we cleared around 30 to 40% of the archeological dump to a safe location nearby. And an archeologist by the name of Dr. Scott Stripling from Houston, from the Associates of Biblical Research came with his crew. And for maybe two or three weeks they worked on re examining the ancient dump. And after a few days I get a phone call from Scott. And Scott says, aaron, get over here. We found something. And when I got there, Scott opened his hand and I saw this small piece of metal in his hand and asked him what it was and he said that he didn't know. And this was sent to be analyzed in Prague, in the Czech Republic. And when they sent us scans, they told us there are indentations on the metal. We see that someone engraved shapes on the metal. We don't know what it is. Send it to experts. And these scans were sent and the answer was there is ancient Hebrew engraved on this lead strip of metal. A lead tablet that was folded on the outside.
[22:41]
B
So far all you could see was the outside.
[22:42]
A
Right, it was outside. And they wanted to see what's inside, but they couldn't open it because it was very fragile. After a few weeks, Dr. Scott Stripling did a press conference in Houston announcing the text that was found there. A terrible curse in ancient Hebrew script, sometimes called Sinaitic script, sometimes called hieroglyphic Hebrew.
[23:10]
B
Yeah, Paleo Hebrew.
[23:12]
A
Paleo Hebrew. And that curse actually had the name of the Hebrew God Y H W and the name El, which is another name for God in Hebrew. And it was just a magnificent finding because it just goes totally against so much of what the academic world has been saying. Again, that the Israelites were illiterate, that the belief in the God named YHW was not founded yet during the late Bronze, early Iron Age period. And this goes totally with the Bible and what the Bible describes. So again, very strong reaction against that. The peer reviewed article was published in 2021 in Science Heritage, so if you're more interested in that, you can find it on the Internet. And again immediately after that, reactions from the academic world claiming that this wasn't a tablet with writing on it and this is a fishing sink that was
[24:15]
B
like a fishing weight.
[24:16]
A
Yeah. That was found on the mountain ridge of Israel. I don't know how a fishing sink got there, but this is really an interesting finding. And I had the honor of being part of the team that initiated this tablet. I do want to say that while researching this tablet I got to a very interesting insight. The name of God yhw as it's written in the Ancient script is basically a man standing with his hands in the air. And then you have two letters, the YUD and the VAV on both sides of the person standing with his hands in the air. And that gave me an idea that I think is actually a revolutionary idea. One of the most ancient customs in the Jewish synagogue is the priestly blessing. The Cohens, the descendants of Aaron, they bless the congregation every morning and when they stand in front of the congregation, they bless the priestly blessing as they stand like this. Now our viewers might recognize this from Star Trek and this is indeed something that Leonard Nimoy brought to the Star Trek series. But he brought it from synagogue.
[25:34]
B
Yeah, he was Jewish.
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A
He was Jewish. And he describes how he noticed that ceremony and how he brought that to Star Trek. That became Live long and prosper. So I always asked myself, where does it come from, this tradition of standing like this and blessing the congregation? And now after seeing how God's name was written during the time of Moses and Aaron and later, I understand that the commandment to the priests is that they should put God's name over the Israelites. And so what I understood was that when the priests are standing like this, putting God's name, literally putting God's name on the congregation because they're standing there doing the letter hey, which is the middle name, the middle letter, and then the two other letters on both sides, they're literally putting God's name on the congregation as the Bible commands. So this was a big revelation for me.
[26:33]
B
Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's phenomenal to see all this come together and, and to see so many of the correlations that happen as we see in the Bible. And so the. I know there's been a lot of response. Of course this is the typical world. You publish something and then you could say get attacked or you get criticized, it's all the above. Everybody's going to go, they're going to have their opinions. And so it's been a few years now. Is there any further updates on this? I know. Well, eventually they, they got to see what was inside. Tell us.
[27:06]
A
Major, major updates. First of all, the peer reviewed article that was written was actually written on the skin scription inside the lead tablet. The scans were basically tomographic scans, X ray scans that showed exactly what's inside. And now there is another article that's being written by Dr. Peter van der Ven about the inscription on the outside of the tablet. And according to the initial results, it's the same text. In other words, we have two copies of the same text on both sides of the lead strip that was folded. Okay. So this is being written as we speak, and hopefully this is also going to be published in 2027. And what I do want to say is that the major changes that are happening are actually happening not with the tablet and with the final report, which are going to be very important. The changes. The major changes are actually being done by the government of Israel in the past few months and weeks. For our viewers, just so you know, the altar itself is located in area Baltimore, which is, according to the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is an area that's under Palestinian control archaeologically. Israel has made a decision about. Is to reclaim all the archaeological sites in all the area of Judea and Samaria.
[28:43]
B
That's huge.
[28:44]
A
Yes, it's huge. And the reason for that is because many of these sites were destroyed or vandalized by the Palestinians. And so now Israel is taking over these sites. And at the same time, the Palestinians are trying to destroy Joshua's altar. They tried to build a whole village, a new village on top of the altar and its surrounding. And so Israel immediately took steps to declare large areas of Mount Ebal as areas that you cannot build on. You cannot change their situation. And hopefully in the next year or two, we will see a site that's going to be built in the area, a tourism site, a national heritage site. And so if we have any of our viewers that actually came with us to Joshua's altar, it's just a site that's out there.
[29:42]
B
It's out there. Yes. Yes.
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A
You don't have any. Any restrooms. You don't have any air conditioning. You just walk until you get there. And so hopefully in a year or two from now, we're actually going to have a real tourist site there that's going to be able to. People would be able to have restrooms, and there will even be a tourist trap to buy. To buy, you know, olive oil and wine.
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B
Right.
[30:09]
A
But it's actually going to. Israel is actually going to be building a national heritage site in that place. And that's, for me, a dream come true because the site was neglected for so long, and it's such an important site for Jews and Christians, and Israel is also establishing a Jewish community on the top of Mount Ebal.
[30:30]
B
Oh, wow. Okay.
[30:31]
A
And that's also going to change the reality on the mountain from a place that was considered, you know, out there again, that may be even a dangerous place. It's going to become a place where you have a Jewish community. And, and normal roads to drive to. So all in all, I'm a very happy guy.
[30:49]
B
Does this mean then that the, you know, the, the authority, the archaeological authority, that they, they acknowledge this as being Joshua's altar? Are they just saying it's a possibility, but we're going to defend it anyway? It obviously has some ancient significance. But are they in agreement, do you think? Is the consensus changing to that they think it is Joshua's altar?
[31:10]
A
So, so when Adam Zertal came out with the discovery, at first he was the only professor probably that was courageous enough to say that he found Joshua's altar. The reactions were that it's, you know, it's a watchtower or it's some sort of an agricultural structure of some sort. But no one really came out with the saying this is an Israelite worshiping site. Today the situation is totally different. The majority of the archaeologists agree that this is a worshiping site from the settlement period. Okay, but that's as far as they go.
[31:51]
B
They won't necessarily connect it to the Bible. They're just acknowledging the facts that obviously they can't argue with the archaeology from the settlement period. Early worshiping site, eh, Whether it's Joshua or not. They probably, like you said, they wouldn't want to put their reputation on that.
[32:05]
A
They won't even say it's Israelite, you know, of course it is, but they won't. It's too hard for them to say that. But the majority agree that this is a worshiping site. And the final report will prove it without no doubt. I think that what we need to do is to continue the research of the site. I'm connected. If we found a document in ancient Hebrew from the dump that was from the altar, I'm pretty sure that we will be able to find more written documents in that site rather than the
[32:41]
B
dump in the actual site excavation itself.
[32:43]
A
Yeah, exactly. Think about it. If we had a worshiping site there, then we had priests, we had priesthood situated in the site. The priests were literate, they knew how to write, and they were the ones that were the teachers of the, the Israelites. They would teach them the Torah, the Bible, the stories of the Exodus and so on. And so there has to be more written material there. And the moment we are able to renew excavations in the site, are there plans for that? Well, definitely. The moment Israel reclaims the site and it's no longer an Area B site that is not under Israeli archaeological supervision, then the sky's the limit.
[33:27]
B
Because how did Zertal, how was he able to do it before in the sense, obviously he was in the 80s, was that before some of the rules. And now the rules are going to kind of go back.
[33:38]
A
Exactly. The turning point is the Oslo in 93. Before that, the Judea and Samaria were under full archaeological control of Israel. And Adam Zukla received his permit to excavate her. From 1993 till now, Israeli archeologists could not excavate in large areas in Judea and Samaria. And that's changing. So, you know, hopefully it's not just going to be Joshua's altar, but many other very important biblical cities.
[34:08]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Another thing that Adam Zertal was working on, which I would love to discuss in our final segment here, is really what's known as the footprints. So kind of give us a background of that. I think I find this extremely fascinating. And also the fact that you. You wouldn't really see it unless you were seeing it from the sky. So kind of tell us about that.
[34:30]
A
Okay. So when Adam's hertel is going into the compound, the holy compound that the Israelites built around Joshua's altar, he notices that there is a large surrounding wall in that compound. And it has a very peculiar shape to it that is similar to the right foot. And so when Adams Rutal continues to map the Jordan Valley and Samaria, he actually finds five more structures that were built by the Israelites, in other words, during the late Bronze, early Iron Age period. And these sides, again, have characteristics that repeat themselves. First of all, a foot structure, a wall that is shaped as the right foot inside some sort of an internal division, a sacrificial platform could be an altar, it could be a bama, which is a high ground, a sacrificial high ground. And it also has a. The slope of a mountain that is adjacent to the structure itself. This would allow hundreds or thousands of people to sit down and watch what was going on inside the foot structure. What he also saw was that in some of the structures, there's actually part of the wall becomes a procession road, so people could actually walk around the structure. This was part of the ceremony that the Israelites conducted there. The question that Adam Zertal asked was actually two questions. One, why would the Israelites build these structures in the shape of a foot? And the second question that he asked is, do these structures appear in the Bible? Because we're talking about major structures that you needed a lot of energy to build, to invest in, and to bring people and material. And so. And not only that, these structures were in existence for hundreds of years from the early Iron Age till the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in the year 722. So we're talking about 500 or 600 years of existence. So there has to be some sort of mention of it in the Bible. And so why a shape of the foot? Adam Zerta thinks that the reason is very clear. When you look at the Bible and you see verses saying wherever you will put your foot will be yours, from the Lebanon to the desert and so on, this is the, I would say the Iwo Jima flag of the Israelites. This belongs to us, this belongs to God. And the verses in the Bible are saying that the foot, the shape of the foot is a symbol of conquest. It's a symbol of control. And I urge all our viewers to open the book of Joshua and the book of Deuteronomy. You will see those verses using that symbol, the symbol of the foot. The other question is why? Where does it appear in the Bible? And Adam Zertal had a theory. He opened the Bible, he looked for worshiping sites that the Israelites are worshiping in during the time of Joshua, Judges and Samuel. And he sees one word repeating itself. Gilgal. I always thought that Gilgal was a name of a place near Jericho where the Israelites convened and then conquered Jericho from. But when you look at the Bible, you see that Gilgal appears in several distinct areas in the land of Israel. And when Adam's reptile looked for these Gilgals, he saw that there is a Gilgal according to the Bible, on the border between the tribe of Judah and, and Benjamin. And so he said, if I'm right, if these foot shaped structures are indeed Gilgals, then I will find a structure like that on the border between Judah and Benjamin near Maale Adumim. And he did something that he never did before. He looked at satellite footage on his computer, zoomed in and zoomed out. And guess what? He actually found the sixth structure in 2013 by trying to prove his theory that these are indeed the biblical Gilgals. And so Adam Zertal wrote a book about this. It's called the Footsteps of God. And the amazing discovery of these structures is detailed very well in that book. And actually people ask about Jerusalem, what about Jerusalem? Jerusalem was a holy city at the time of King David, was established later on during in the time of King Solomon. So are we able to see any connection between Jerusalem and the foot structure? And when you look at pictures of Jerusalem in the first temple period, it looks like the footprint structure. So this was a wow. Moment. Every time Adams Retel spoke about it with groups. And, you know, just to finish, I did some research on the food structures myself to try and understand why they are oriented the way they are. And after visiting them several times, I looked at the three foot structures at the Jordan Valley and I looked at the food structure on Mount Ibal. The four of them are all facing the same direction, generally eastward, but specifically facing the Jabok Pass, the area of the Jabbok Pass. And my theory is that at that time, the Israelites revered that area because of two stories. One, the story of Jacob fighting the angel Jacob came into the land from exile. His name was changed from Jacob to Israel. And for the Israelites coming into the land of Israel, that was important because they were a nation. They came from exile into the land of Israel. They were repeating the footsteps of Jacob. And another important event that is happening in that area specifically is, is the miracle of the stopping of the water of the Jordan River. We read in the Bible that the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and there was a miracle and the water stopped. The Bible states very clearly that the water did not stop in Jericho. It stopped near the city of Adam, which is right by the Jabok Pass. So the Israelites, upon entering the land, revered both these events. And when they built their worshiping sites, the worshiping sites faced that direction.
[41:44]
B
How has the archaeological community or, and even the state of Israel, have they embraced the footprints? Because I know, I think we were there. I've been there a couple times. But are they investing any resources into making those available for tourists as well?
[42:03]
A
Unfortunately. Unfortunately not. Like Joshua's altar. I think that this discovery is still under the radar for many Israelis and also for the government officials. But I do see it coming in the future, because truly, when you visit, for example, when you visit the Argaman foot structure, overwhelmed by its size, by the condition of its preservation.
[42:31]
B
So obvious, too. You can go up. You can just walk up on the hill and you can see. It's so obvious.
[42:36]
A
Yeah, it's just. It's enormous. It's magnificent. And I think that eventually these sites will become national heritage sites. But our viewers need to understand Israel has so many ancient sites.
[42:49]
B
True. Yep.
[42:50]
A
And not just from the Israelite period, from all the periods that. That, you know. And many of them are important that need to be preserved and accessed by tourists. So, you know, this will take time, but, you know, these sites waited for 3,300 years. They'll wait a few more years until
[43:11]
B
they're ready to me this whole, as you said, there's so many. How do you get it all? And I feel bad for the Israeli government because this is the nature of truth and the nature of living in a land that again, is very biblical and historical. You just can't get to all of it. And so for our listeners, once again, tell them a little bit about how to follow your work. And then also again, you know, we have many trips planned, Lord willing, in the future, as many as we can. And so kind of tell the audience where they can find out more information about it.
[43:42]
A
Well, lovely. So first of all, we have three books that we publish by Professor Adam Zertal about his discovery, so Joshua's alter a book called the Nation Born, the Footsteps of God about the footstep structures that he discovered. Another book, interesting book about is excavation of the city of Harosh et Hagoyim, which is identified with the Canaanite general Sisera that was killed by Yael in the Bible. So these are three books. We also have four Bible teachings, half hour Bible teachings about different sites in Israel, Joshua's altar, the footstep structures, ancient Shiloh where the tabernacle was for 400 years, and a very exciting teaching called the Gate of Heaven about the site of Jacob's dream of the Ladder at Bethel. So these are also available from Prophecy Watchers and people can purchase those. And we also offer, as you mentioned, tours to Israel. So if our viewers would like to get more information on future tours, Prophecy Watchers tours, they are invited to visit visitisraeltoday.com and they'll be able to complete a form and send us their information and we will update them about future tours with Prophecy Watchers. And also I'm also on Facebook, very active on Facebook, advertising information about archaeological discoveries. So people are more than welcome to follow my Facebook page.
[45:23]
B
It's always been good to reach out to Aaron when something's happening. Let's do an interview. Let's get the latest update from the land of Israel. And so I appreciate you all watching today. Thank you always for your prayers and support of what we do here. It's just fascinating information. It's up to date, it's current and that's our desire, is to keep you informed at all that's happening in the land of Israel, as well as showing that the Bible is God's word. It's true, we can trust it. So thanks for watching and we'll catch you next time.

Summary6 min read

Prophecy Watchers Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: Joshua’s Altar Found? | Aaron Lipkin | The Week in Bible Prophecy

Date: August 6, 2026
Guests: Host Mondo Gonzales, Guest Aaron Lipkin

Overview

This episode explores groundbreaking archaeological discoveries in Israel that have significant implications for the historical reliability of the Bible. Aaron Lipkin, a close associate of the late Professor Adam Zertal, shares updates on Joshua’s Altar, newly published archaeological findings, the controversial lead tablet, and the mysterious Israelite "footprint" structures. These findings offer compelling evidence supporting the biblical accounts of Israel’s early history, while also highlighting the ongoing academic, political, and cultural battles surrounding them.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Aaron Lipkin’s Background and Role (00:44–03:20)

Aaron Lipkin describes himself as a lecturer on biblical archaeology, drone photographer for Zertal’s team, and an Israeli Jew living near pivotal biblical sites (Shiloh, Bethel). He also runs a travel agency for Christian tours to Israel.
Military Service: Lipkin served 730 days in Israeli reserve duty over the past two years during wartime, receiving an award of excellence (02:40).

Quote: “I never received an award for excellence for anything in my life. And for the first time at the age of 50 actually got one.” (Aaron Lipkin, 02:40)

2. The Significance of Adam Zertal and His Discoveries (03:38–06:31)

Zertal’s Story: An atheist-educated archaeologist who, through his discoveries, shifted to accepting the Bible as historically reliable.
Academic Environment: Most academic institutions are skeptical towards the historicity of the Hebrew Bible, encouraging students to be versed in minimalist/maximalist debates.
Importance: Zertal’s findings are vital for believers, equipping them to defend their faith in academic settings.

3. Joshua’s Altar: The Biblical and Archaeological Story (06:31–15:38)

Biblical Background (06:31–10:58)

Biblical Command: Moses, in Deuteronomy, commands the Israelites to build an altar of uncut stones on Mount Ebal and hold the covenantal ceremony of blessings and curses on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.
Historical Perspective: The altar represents Israel’s “independence day” upon entering the land and establishing a covenant with God.

Discovery and Excavation (10:58–15:38)

Accidental Find: In 1980, while surveying Mount Ebal, Zertal discovers a peculiar structure with a ramp, sealed room, and bone layers.
Identification: A religious Jew recognizes the structure as matching descriptions of the Second Temple altar in the Mishnah. Zertal, initially skeptical, becomes convinced after comparing the two.
Reaction: “This goes against all his education. And obviously the reaction in Israel was very enthusiastic… And at the same time, the academic world immediately attacked.” (Aaron Lipkin, 14:08)

Memorable Moment: “There was even a scholar that said if Adam Zertal is right and he found an altar on Mount Ebal, we Bible scholars should all go back to kindergarten.” (Aaron Lipkin, 14:55)

Suppressed Final Report: Due to academic resistance and political tensions (site’s location in Samaria), the final excavation report has been delayed for decades.

4. Current and Upcoming Developments – The Final Report (16:28–19:49)

New Funding: Thanks to a recent donation, Dr. Shaibar (Zertal’s student) is finishing the long-awaited final report, expected in 2027.
New Insights:
- Carbon Dating: Confirms layers from the late Bronze Age (~1300 BCE), aligning with biblical chronology.
- Site Phases: The site has two significant phases — an early altar and a reconstructed, expanded altar, possibly in use through the time of the Judges/Samuel.

5. The Lead Tablet Discovery and Its Implications (20:40–27:05)

Background: In 2019, a team led by Dr. Scott Stripling resifted Zertal’s original spoil piles and discovered a minuscule folded lead tablet.
Analysis: Tomographic scans in Prague revealed ancient Hebrew inscriptions inside and out, featuring God’s name (YHW and El) and a curse text — contradicting mainstream claims about Israelite illiteracy and the late emergence of the divine name.
Controversy: Some critics dismissed the artifact as a fishing weight, but peer-reviewed articles have validated its significance.

Quote: “A terrible curse in ancient Hebrew script...and that curse actually had the name of the Hebrew God YHW and the name El...” (Aaron Lipkin, 23:11)

Priestly Blessing Insight: The script’s visual composition may have inspired the traditional priestly hand gesture (famously used by Leonard Nimoy in "Star Trek") (25:33).

6. Recent Government Actions and Site Preservation (27:05–30:29)

Israeli Government Decision: Israel is moving to reclaim archaeological control over important Judea/Samaria sites to prevent ongoing destruction, including Joshua’s Altar.
Tourism Development: Plans to turn Joshua’s Altar into a national heritage site, complete with facilities and protective regulations.

Quote: “Hopefully in a year or two from now, we’re actually going to have a real tourist site there...for me, a dream come true because the site was neglected for so long.” (Aaron Lipkin, 29:43 & 30:09)

New Jewish Community: Establishment of a community atop Mount Ebal is underway.

7. Academic Consensus and Future Excavation Plans (30:49–33:26)

Evolving Consensus: Most archaeologists now concede the site is a worship venue from the Israelite settlement period, though few publicly identify it as “Joshua’s Altar.”
Unrealized Potential: Lipkin emphasizes the likelihood of further finds, including more ancient writings once full excavation resumes under Israeli authority.

8. The Mysterious Footprint Structures (34:08–41:43)

Discovery: Zertal identified several large earthen compounds with a right-foot shape, only fully recognizable from aerial views.
Bibilical Symbolism: The foot represents conquest and divine possession — “wherever you will put your foot will be yours.”
Link to Gilgal: Zertal theorizes these comprise the “Gilgal” sites mentioned in multiple biblical locations.
Orientation: Many foot structures are oriented toward the Jabbok Pass, connecting to key biblical events (Jacob’s wrestle, crossing of the Jordan).

9. Preservation and Public Awareness of the Footprint Sites (41:43–43:10)

Current Status: Most footstep structures remain underrecognized and lack tourist infrastructure.
Expectation: Eventually, Lipkin predicts they too will become heritage sites, although this could take time due to Israel’s abundance of archaeological resources.

10. Resources, Tours, and Further Engagement (43:41–45:22)

Books and Video Teachings: Lipkin’s organization publishes books on Joshua’s Altar, the Footsteps of God, and more, as well as video teachings on key biblical locations.
Tours: Interested parties can find information about future Prophecy Watchers tours at visitisraeltoday.com.
Online Presence: Lipkin is active on Facebook and encourages listeners to stay updated on findings and events there.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“He [Adam Zertal] describes how his whole world collapses. He cannot sleep for three or four days. Because...this goes against all his education.” (Aaron Lipkin, 13:41)
“If Adam Zertal is right and he found an altar on Mount Ebal, We Bible scholars should all go back to kindergarten.” (Aaron Lipkin, 14:55)
“The majority of the archaeologists agree that this is a worshiping site from the settlement period. Okay, but that's as far as they go.” (Aaron Lipkin, 31:51)
“When you look at the three foot structures at the Jordan Valley and the food structure on Mount Ibal. The four of them are all facing the same direction...the Jabok Pass.” (Aaron Lipkin, 40:23)

Timestamps for Key Segments

00:44–03:20: Aaron Lipkin’s background and connection to archaeology
06:31–15:38: Biblical and archaeological overview of Joshua’s Altar
16:28–19:49: Updates on the final report and implications for chronology
20:40–27:05: Discovery and significance of the lead tablet
27:05–30:29: Israeli governmental intervention and site preservation
34:08–41:43: Exploration of the footprint structures and their biblical significance
43:41–45:22: Resources, tours, and how to stay connected

Conclusion

This episode provides a sweeping update on some of the most significant, and contested, archaeological findings related to the early history of Israel. With new scientific analyses, government moves to reclaim and preserve sites, and increased interest in both Jewish and Christian circles, the historicity of the biblical narrative is under renewed and vigorous debate. Aaron Lipkin’s inside perspective offers both hope and challenge for the integration of archaeology and faith.

For more information on tours, resources, or to connect with Aaron Lipkin:

Website: altaroftjoshua.com
Tours: visitisraeltoday.com
Facebook: Aaron Lipkin

Loading summary

Transcript62 lines

[00:02]
A
The Week in Bible Prophecy, a Prophecy Watchers podcast.
[00:09]
B
Hello everyone. Welcome to the program today. Manu Gonzalez here in studio with our good friend Aaron Lipkin. And we're going to be discussing some of the archeology and updates of what is happening in the land of Israel. As you might know, things are always progressing there at lightning speed, which I think is awesome. And it's great to have Aaron here who can give us some updates about a variety of things. So as always, Aaron, welcome.
[00:33]
A
Thank you. It's great to be here again after a long two or three years of absence. So great to be here in the United States. Yeah.
[00:41]
B
And you are kind of tell us a little bit about what you're doing here.
[00:45]
A
So I lecture about biblical archaeology and churches and synagogues in Israel. And my main topics that I speak about are the discovery of Joshua's altar and some related discoveries to Joshua's alter and another interesting discovery, the footprint structures. Both discoveries are thanks to the work of Professor Adam Zertal, the late Professor Adams Zertal from the Haifa University. Adam Zertal actually spoke to the Prophecy Watchers group in Jerusalem. I believe it was in 2015 he came to the group and lectured about Joshua Zoltra. We actually have a picture of Adam speaking to the group. So I am part of Adam Zertal's team. I'm not an archaeologist. I am their drone photographer. And so during their work, I come with my drone and take photos of the archaeological sites that they discover and then these photos are published in their academic publications. And other than that, I'm an Israeli Jew. I live in Ophrah in Samaria, right by Shiloh and Bethel and these important biblical sites. And I have a travel agency that arranges tours for Christians from the United States that come to Israel. And we actually have a tour. We do this coming May. Registration is over.
[02:12]
B
Pretty full.
[02:12]
A
Bus is full. So we're really looking forward to hosting you in Israel. And I think one last thing is that I served 730 days in reserve duty this past two years in Israel. I'm sure our viewers know that Israel had a war going on for the past two years. And so I served in the army, actually received an award of excellence.
[02:39]
B
Nice.
[02:40]
A
For my work there. And I never received an award for excellence for anything in my life. And for the first time at the age of 50 actually got one. And at the same time, while there was a war going on in Israel, we actually had groups landing from America, Christian groups touring the land. And this was not just a visit to Israel and to the biblical sites. It was also a way to show their support for the Jewish people in the state of Israel. So we were really honored to be able to host them in Israel and this was a great encouragement for us.
[03:21]
B
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, to me, obviously we love going to Israel and it's going to be a good time in May for those that you talked about speaking at churches. You know, maybe some of you are watching this and you might want Aaron to come speak at your church. How do they find out about that?
[03:38]
A
Well, they can visit altarofjoshua.com I have all the information there and they can send an invitation to me and I'll be happy to connect. And next time when I come to the States, I'll be happy to come to the church and speak about these discoveries. What's really important about these discoveries is that the person that made these discoveries, Adam Zertal, was not a believer. He was an atheist Jew from a kibbutz, socialist, the kibbutz in Israel. And the discoveries that he made, I wouldn't say made him a believer, but they made him believe in the historicity of the Bible. I'm sure that our viewers don't notice, but the mainline view in the academic world is that large parts of the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, are not true. They never really happened. They were made up. And what Adam Zurta was able to do with his discoveries is to actually prove that the early parts of the Bible, mainly the book of Deuteronomy, Joshua and on, correspond with the historical accounts in the Bible. And I think that that's very important for Bible believers to know because when we send out our children to colleges and they have to confront this mindset of the Bible is a fairy tale. If they go there with the knowledge that Adam Zertal gave us from his discoveries, you know, they are better equipped.
[05:14]
B
Yeah, 100%. I mean, this is really the value of understanding archeology and its connection to the Bible and the land. You know, there is this. I remember being again, as you guys know, I, I got a degree in archaeology, but in the land of Israel. But I always coming in, I didn't really fully. I loved archeology. But once I got in the academic world, I was just shocked. One of the professors, very wise, he would have us read books. And I went to him and I go, I'm reading this book by Israel Finkelstein and it was a book that he had said. And I go, I don't think he believes the Bible. He goes, that's exactly why I want you to read it. Not so much to convince me, but he wanted to say, listen, this is the world. If you're going to be in the academic world and especially archaeological world, you need to know who the players are. And you have, you know, the minimalist and the maximalist. There's all this debate, but just I want you to be aware of what the other side is saying. And so that. That was very helpful because I was a little naive. I thought everybody believed the Bible, of course, but archaeology is so amazing. Talk a little bit about, you know, most of you are familiar with, or you might not be, maybe Joshua's altar. Maybe give us a brief introduction for those that might not have ever heard about it, and then give us an update.
[06:32]
A
Okay, so the Bible clearly speaks about a commandment by Moses in Deuteronomy 11 to do a ceremony of blessings and curses on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. And then in Deuteronomy 27, Moses repeats that commandment and actually details exactly what needs to be done. So there are actually two things that needs to be done. One is to build a stone altar from uncut stones on Mount Ebal, to do sacrifices there. And basically to, you know, I always ask the churches that I go to, why is Moses commanding the Israelites? The first thing they do when they enter the land is to build an altar and do a barbecue party. And so, you know, the answer is very clear. They just entered the land of Israel. They came out of Egypt, they wandered for 40 years, and they finally got to the land that was promised to them by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God. And so they're celebrating. They're doing a celebration in honor of the entrance to the land of Israel. It's their independence day. And then the second thing that Moses commands in Deuteronomy 27 is to do a ceremony of blessings and curses where you have six tribes standing on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing, and six tribes standing on Mount Ebal, the mountain of curses. And there you have basically a different type of commandment to perform a covenantal event. I always say in churches, this is a second Mount Sinai. And when you look at the list of curses that the Israelites are supposed to answer amen to and accept, you see, there are many parallels to the Ten Commandments. So when the Israelites are standing there and they're hearing, you know, you should respect your father and mother, you should not bow to statues and do pagan work, all of these things correspond with the Ten Commandments. And also in their mind. And so this is a very important ceremony. The building of an altar on Mount Ebal and then the covenantal ceremony at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. And then when Joshua enters into the land in Joshua 8, he actually performs the commandments, builds an altar of uncut stones, and performs the ceremonial blessings and curses. And so we have a clear statement by the Bible that there is a structure of uncut stones that is present on Mount Ebal. And archaeologists, Christian archaeologists in the end of the end of the 19th century, early 20th century, went to look for that altar. And they looked for it on the southern slopes of Mount Ebal, facing the valley of where the ceremony was supposed to happen. They couldn't find any altar and structure. Later on, when you go into the 1970s, 1980s, you have a new school of thought in Europe that is basically overtaking the academic world and is saying, of course you didn't find the altar on Mount Ebal. It never really existed. These are the Bible deniers or the minimalists. And so when we come to the year 1980, we have a professor of archaeology, Adam Zertal, who was actually educated, according to the minimalist view in the Tel Aviv University, that the Bible is not true or is not accurate, that the early stories of the Bible, with the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan and King David, King Solomon, all these stories were invented hundreds of years later and are not really true. And because there's no proof. And so Adam Zertal is walking, you know, on Mount Ebal. He's doing something called, in archeology, an archaeological survey. He's mapping ancient sites on the mountain. And as he walks on the eastern slopes of the mountain, not the southern slopes, he bumps into an ancient compound. When he goes in, he identifies that the pottery is from the settlement period. We're talking about the year 1300 BC. That's a long time. That's a long time.
[10:59]
B
Yeah.
[10:59]
A
Ago. And as he advances into this compound and the pottery all over, he reaches the top of the area, and the top of the area has a pile of stone. This is April of 1980. He decides to excavate. So in 1982, he comes with his crew. And our viewers need to remember he's not looking for the altar.
[11:25]
B
He probably doesn't believe it exists, doesn't
[11:27]
A
know if it exists. He just gets there and he sees an ancient site from the settlement period, and it interests him. He wants curious to know what's there. And so they start excavating that pile of stone and they start peeling off the outer layer and under that a structure emerges. The structure is very, I have to say, it's strange, very strange. A room that doesn't have a door. The room is filled and sealed and there is a ramp going up to the rectangular room. And there are two courtyards on both sides of the ramp. And this was really, really weird, was really strange for Adam Zertel and started excavating inside into that room that had no door. And he found the four layers of bones and ashes. And when he continued on excavating, getting to the lowest area in the room, the bedrock, he actually found an installation that was even ancient than the actual building itself. And so he was really curious, didn't know what it was. And he made a sketch of this structure. And a religious Jew came by and saw this and said, professor Zertal, don't you recognize what this is? And he said, no, I don't. And he brought him a book from the Mishnah, the Jewish writing of the Oral Torah. And he opened the Mishnah and he showed Adam Zertal a picture of the second temple altar. And Adam's rittal is looking at both pictures and he can't believe it. They're identical. And so at that point, it dawned on Adam Zertal that he found a major Israelite worshiping site on Mount Ibar. And at that point he understood that the altar is Joshua's altar. And you know, Adam Zertal describes how his whole world collapses. He cannot sleep for three or four days. Because for Adam Zertal as a professor, this is unacceptable. This goes against all his education. And obviously the reaction in Israel was very enthusiastic. I mean, you know, Jews in Israel were very excited about the possibility of finding an original Israelite altar that can be identified with Joshua's altar. And so the reaction was very enthusiastic. And at the same time, the academic world immediately attacked.
[14:07]
B
Attacked. That's the system way it rolls.
[14:09]
A
Yep. Yeah. Mostly due to the fact that the site is located in Samaria, which is, according to the left wing in Israel, should become a Palestinian state and is not part of the land of Israel. And for our viewers, you should understand that Joshua's altar is smack inside the area where all the biblical stories happen with Abraham, with Jacob and with Joshua. This is really the center of the Israelites, the operation of the Israelite in the land of Israel. So there was a major attack on Adam Zertal. There was even a scholar that said that if Adam Zertal is right and he found an altar on Mount Ebal, We Bible scholars should all go back to kindergarten. This was the reaction, and therefore there was very strong opposition to try and excommunicate Adam Zertal in the academic world, stop funding him. He was never able to complete his final report on the excavation because of the academic world excommunicating him, not allowing to be able to give him grants for his work as an archaeologist. And believe it or not, since 1989, the the end of the excavations on Mount Ebal. The final report was not published until today, 2026.
[15:36]
B
Wow. Like right now, we're living it right now. Wow.
[15:38]
A
People have to understand this is critical because only after the final report is written, the actual discovery becomes a fact in the archaeological world. Something that people can dispute, can talk about, can dialogue about, and then it also becomes something that you learn about in, in school, in history or in archeology and so on. So this was really a way by the academic world to squelch the discovery of Joshua's altar. But thank God, there's several very, very exciting developments that we are about to see that are connected to the altar.
[16:17]
B
Yeah, and that really is the key is you think 37 years people had to wait to keep the knowledge out. And so this report, is it out yet?
[16:29]
A
So we just got a very generous donation several years ago. And so Dr. Shaibar, who is the student of Adam Zertal. Adam Zertal passed away in 2015. Shaibar is now working hard with his team on completing the final report. Hopefully that's going to be published during 2027. And Dr. Scheibar actually shared some of the new insights from the final report. They did some several carbon dating of bones and different findings from the altar. And for example, I'll give you an example. There is a very fascinating result. When Adam Zertal dated the site in the 1980s, he dated it to the reign of Ramses II, according to the scarabs, according to the carbon dating that he did at that time. And so for him, that was the time where the site was built. According to the carbon dating that Dr. Shaibar has performed, it seems as if there are two stages to the site. The first stage, the earliest stage, is actually from the late Bronze Age, which means around the year 1300, possibly even earlier than that. And that is really fascinating because when you ask a rabbi or a pastor, when did the exodus happen? He will say that it happened around the year 1450 or 1440, which would place the building of the altar in the late Bronze Age, not in the early Iron Age. And so what we see is first of all, results that are showing that the chronology, the traditional chronology of, of Jews and Christians is actually not so far away from what the science is saying. And the second thing which is also very fascinating is that after the building of the early stage of the altar, a circular installation at the middle of that room that I described, we have a break in use of this site. And then the use and then the bigger altar is built on top of the older altar and that's in use for around 70, maybe 80 years. This is during the end of the time of the Judges, maybe even during the time of Samuel. And this is very interesting because it's not mentioned in the Bible. The Bible is not saying anything about a major Israelite altar in operation on Mount Ebal during the time of the Judges. There might be a verse talking about it in Joshua 9 when the Bible describes the punishment the Gibeonites who cheated Joshua and the Israelites. The verse is that Joshua made them woodchoppers and water carriers at the altar of the Lord. And so this could be a later verse describing the second stage of the altar of Joshua, where you had the altar of Joshua in the beginning and then during the time of the Judges it became the altar of the Lord which venerated the earlier altar of Joshua.
[19:49]
B
I could see too where just historically speaking and even from a civilized, you know, in the sense of a culture, that that's going to be a huge reminder. So I imagine many of the prophets or others would want to use that as a way to main covenant fellowship with God and to maintain the relationship and say, hey look, this is still here. And so for them to use it would be a reminder to the people we need to stay faithful. So I certainly could see that going on until really until later what you see in the time of the prophets. But for the sake of time, you also have been very involved in the lead tablet. And we've talked about that, we've written about it in the magazine before. Give us an update on that just
[20:40]
A
to give a background. In 2019, we cleared the ancient archeological dump of Adam zertel from the 1980s. In other words, when Adam excavated inside the altar, the material was dry sifted and then he threw it down the valley nearby the altar. And so the idea was that there might be a chance that Adam's ertal didn't really either didn't do a good job sifting the material or just didn't have the technology and the understanding that we have today in archeology. And so we cleared around 30 to 40% of the archeological dump to a safe location nearby. And an archeologist by the name of Dr. Scott Stripling from Houston, from the Associates of Biblical Research came with his crew. And for maybe two or three weeks they worked on re examining the ancient dump. And after a few days I get a phone call from Scott. And Scott says, aaron, get over here. We found something. And when I got there, Scott opened his hand and I saw this small piece of metal in his hand and asked him what it was and he said that he didn't know. And this was sent to be analyzed in Prague, in the Czech Republic. And when they sent us scans, they told us there are indentations on the metal. We see that someone engraved shapes on the metal. We don't know what it is. Send it to experts. And these scans were sent and the answer was there is ancient Hebrew engraved on this lead strip of metal. A lead tablet that was folded on the outside.
[22:41]
B
So far all you could see was the outside.
[22:42]
A
Right, it was outside. And they wanted to see what's inside, but they couldn't open it because it was very fragile. After a few weeks, Dr. Scott Stripling did a press conference in Houston announcing the text that was found there. A terrible curse in ancient Hebrew script, sometimes called Sinaitic script, sometimes called hieroglyphic Hebrew.
[23:10]
B
Yeah, Paleo Hebrew.
[23:12]
A
Paleo Hebrew. And that curse actually had the name of the Hebrew God Y H W and the name El, which is another name for God in Hebrew. And it was just a magnificent finding because it just goes totally against so much of what the academic world has been saying. Again, that the Israelites were illiterate, that the belief in the God named YHW was not founded yet during the late Bronze, early Iron Age period. And this goes totally with the Bible and what the Bible describes. So again, very strong reaction against that. The peer reviewed article was published in 2021 in Science Heritage, so if you're more interested in that, you can find it on the Internet. And again immediately after that, reactions from the academic world claiming that this wasn't a tablet with writing on it and this is a fishing sink that was
[24:15]
B
like a fishing weight.
[24:16]
A
Yeah. That was found on the mountain ridge of Israel. I don't know how a fishing sink got there, but this is really an interesting finding. And I had the honor of being part of the team that initiated this tablet. I do want to say that while researching this tablet I got to a very interesting insight. The name of God yhw as it's written in the Ancient script is basically a man standing with his hands in the air. And then you have two letters, the YUD and the VAV on both sides of the person standing with his hands in the air. And that gave me an idea that I think is actually a revolutionary idea. One of the most ancient customs in the Jewish synagogue is the priestly blessing. The Cohens, the descendants of Aaron, they bless the congregation every morning and when they stand in front of the congregation, they bless the priestly blessing as they stand like this. Now our viewers might recognize this from Star Trek and this is indeed something that Leonard Nimoy brought to the Star Trek series. But he brought it from synagogue.
[25:34]
B
Yeah, he was Jewish.
[25:35]
A
He was Jewish. And he describes how he noticed that ceremony and how he brought that to Star Trek. That became Live long and prosper. So I always asked myself, where does it come from, this tradition of standing like this and blessing the congregation? And now after seeing how God's name was written during the time of Moses and Aaron and later, I understand that the commandment to the priests is that they should put God's name over the Israelites. And so what I understood was that when the priests are standing like this, putting God's name, literally putting God's name on the congregation because they're standing there doing the letter hey, which is the middle name, the middle letter, and then the two other letters on both sides, they're literally putting God's name on the congregation as the Bible commands. So this was a big revelation for me.
[26:33]
B
Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's phenomenal to see all this come together and, and to see so many of the correlations that happen as we see in the Bible. And so the. I know there's been a lot of response. Of course this is the typical world. You publish something and then you could say get attacked or you get criticized, it's all the above. Everybody's going to go, they're going to have their opinions. And so it's been a few years now. Is there any further updates on this? I know. Well, eventually they, they got to see what was inside. Tell us.
[27:06]
A
Major, major updates. First of all, the peer reviewed article that was written was actually written on the skin scription inside the lead tablet. The scans were basically tomographic scans, X ray scans that showed exactly what's inside. And now there is another article that's being written by Dr. Peter van der Ven about the inscription on the outside of the tablet. And according to the initial results, it's the same text. In other words, we have two copies of the same text on both sides of the lead strip that was folded. Okay. So this is being written as we speak, and hopefully this is also going to be published in 2027. And what I do want to say is that the major changes that are happening are actually happening not with the tablet and with the final report, which are going to be very important. The changes. The major changes are actually being done by the government of Israel in the past few months and weeks. For our viewers, just so you know, the altar itself is located in area Baltimore, which is, according to the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is an area that's under Palestinian control archaeologically. Israel has made a decision about. Is to reclaim all the archaeological sites in all the area of Judea and Samaria.
[28:43]
B
That's huge.
[28:44]
A
Yes, it's huge. And the reason for that is because many of these sites were destroyed or vandalized by the Palestinians. And so now Israel is taking over these sites. And at the same time, the Palestinians are trying to destroy Joshua's altar. They tried to build a whole village, a new village on top of the altar and its surrounding. And so Israel immediately took steps to declare large areas of Mount Ebal as areas that you cannot build on. You cannot change their situation. And hopefully in the next year or two, we will see a site that's going to be built in the area, a tourism site, a national heritage site. And so if we have any of our viewers that actually came with us to Joshua's altar, it's just a site that's out there.
[29:42]
B
It's out there. Yes. Yes.
[29:43]
A
You don't have any. Any restrooms. You don't have any air conditioning. You just walk until you get there. And so hopefully in a year or two from now, we're actually going to have a real tourist site there that's going to be able to. People would be able to have restrooms, and there will even be a tourist trap to buy. To buy, you know, olive oil and wine.
[30:09]
B
Right.
[30:09]
A
But it's actually going to. Israel is actually going to be building a national heritage site in that place. And that's, for me, a dream come true because the site was neglected for so long, and it's such an important site for Jews and Christians, and Israel is also establishing a Jewish community on the top of Mount Ebal.
[30:30]
B
Oh, wow. Okay.
[30:31]
A
And that's also going to change the reality on the mountain from a place that was considered, you know, out there again, that may be even a dangerous place. It's going to become a place where you have a Jewish community. And, and normal roads to drive to. So all in all, I'm a very happy guy.
[30:49]
B
Does this mean then that the, you know, the, the authority, the archaeological authority, that they, they acknowledge this as being Joshua's altar? Are they just saying it's a possibility, but we're going to defend it anyway? It obviously has some ancient significance. But are they in agreement, do you think? Is the consensus changing to that they think it is Joshua's altar?
[31:10]
A
So, so when Adam Zertal came out with the discovery, at first he was the only professor probably that was courageous enough to say that he found Joshua's altar. The reactions were that it's, you know, it's a watchtower or it's some sort of an agricultural structure of some sort. But no one really came out with the saying this is an Israelite worshiping site. Today the situation is totally different. The majority of the archaeologists agree that this is a worshiping site from the settlement period. Okay, but that's as far as they go.
[31:51]
B
They won't necessarily connect it to the Bible. They're just acknowledging the facts that obviously they can't argue with the archaeology from the settlement period. Early worshiping site, eh, Whether it's Joshua or not. They probably, like you said, they wouldn't want to put their reputation on that.
[32:05]
A
They won't even say it's Israelite, you know, of course it is, but they won't. It's too hard for them to say that. But the majority agree that this is a worshiping site. And the final report will prove it without no doubt. I think that what we need to do is to continue the research of the site. I'm connected. If we found a document in ancient Hebrew from the dump that was from the altar, I'm pretty sure that we will be able to find more written documents in that site rather than the
[32:41]
B
dump in the actual site excavation itself.
[32:43]
A
Yeah, exactly. Think about it. If we had a worshiping site there, then we had priests, we had priesthood situated in the site. The priests were literate, they knew how to write, and they were the ones that were the teachers of the, the Israelites. They would teach them the Torah, the Bible, the stories of the Exodus and so on. And so there has to be more written material there. And the moment we are able to renew excavations in the site, are there plans for that? Well, definitely. The moment Israel reclaims the site and it's no longer an Area B site that is not under Israeli archaeological supervision, then the sky's the limit.
[33:27]
B
Because how did Zertal, how was he able to do it before in the sense, obviously he was in the 80s, was that before some of the rules. And now the rules are going to kind of go back.
[33:38]
A
Exactly. The turning point is the Oslo in 93. Before that, the Judea and Samaria were under full archaeological control of Israel. And Adam Zukla received his permit to excavate her. From 1993 till now, Israeli archeologists could not excavate in large areas in Judea and Samaria. And that's changing. So, you know, hopefully it's not just going to be Joshua's altar, but many other very important biblical cities.
[34:08]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Another thing that Adam Zertal was working on, which I would love to discuss in our final segment here, is really what's known as the footprints. So kind of give us a background of that. I think I find this extremely fascinating. And also the fact that you. You wouldn't really see it unless you were seeing it from the sky. So kind of tell us about that.
[34:30]
A
Okay. So when Adam's hertel is going into the compound, the holy compound that the Israelites built around Joshua's altar, he notices that there is a large surrounding wall in that compound. And it has a very peculiar shape to it that is similar to the right foot. And so when Adams Rutal continues to map the Jordan Valley and Samaria, he actually finds five more structures that were built by the Israelites, in other words, during the late Bronze, early Iron Age period. And these sides, again, have characteristics that repeat themselves. First of all, a foot structure, a wall that is shaped as the right foot inside some sort of an internal division, a sacrificial platform could be an altar, it could be a bama, which is a high ground, a sacrificial high ground. And it also has a. The slope of a mountain that is adjacent to the structure itself. This would allow hundreds or thousands of people to sit down and watch what was going on inside the foot structure. What he also saw was that in some of the structures, there's actually part of the wall becomes a procession road, so people could actually walk around the structure. This was part of the ceremony that the Israelites conducted there. The question that Adam Zertal asked was actually two questions. One, why would the Israelites build these structures in the shape of a foot? And the second question that he asked is, do these structures appear in the Bible? Because we're talking about major structures that you needed a lot of energy to build, to invest in, and to bring people and material. And so. And not only that, these structures were in existence for hundreds of years from the early Iron Age till the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in the year 722. So we're talking about 500 or 600 years of existence. So there has to be some sort of mention of it in the Bible. And so why a shape of the foot? Adam Zerta thinks that the reason is very clear. When you look at the Bible and you see verses saying wherever you will put your foot will be yours, from the Lebanon to the desert and so on, this is the, I would say the Iwo Jima flag of the Israelites. This belongs to us, this belongs to God. And the verses in the Bible are saying that the foot, the shape of the foot is a symbol of conquest. It's a symbol of control. And I urge all our viewers to open the book of Joshua and the book of Deuteronomy. You will see those verses using that symbol, the symbol of the foot. The other question is why? Where does it appear in the Bible? And Adam Zertal had a theory. He opened the Bible, he looked for worshiping sites that the Israelites are worshiping in during the time of Joshua, Judges and Samuel. And he sees one word repeating itself. Gilgal. I always thought that Gilgal was a name of a place near Jericho where the Israelites convened and then conquered Jericho from. But when you look at the Bible, you see that Gilgal appears in several distinct areas in the land of Israel. And when Adam's reptile looked for these Gilgals, he saw that there is a Gilgal according to the Bible, on the border between the tribe of Judah and, and Benjamin. And so he said, if I'm right, if these foot shaped structures are indeed Gilgals, then I will find a structure like that on the border between Judah and Benjamin near Maale Adumim. And he did something that he never did before. He looked at satellite footage on his computer, zoomed in and zoomed out. And guess what? He actually found the sixth structure in 2013 by trying to prove his theory that these are indeed the biblical Gilgals. And so Adam Zertal wrote a book about this. It's called the Footsteps of God. And the amazing discovery of these structures is detailed very well in that book. And actually people ask about Jerusalem, what about Jerusalem? Jerusalem was a holy city at the time of King David, was established later on during in the time of King Solomon. So are we able to see any connection between Jerusalem and the foot structure? And when you look at pictures of Jerusalem in the first temple period, it looks like the footprint structure. So this was a wow. Moment. Every time Adams Retel spoke about it with groups. And, you know, just to finish, I did some research on the food structures myself to try and understand why they are oriented the way they are. And after visiting them several times, I looked at the three foot structures at the Jordan Valley and I looked at the food structure on Mount Ibal. The four of them are all facing the same direction, generally eastward, but specifically facing the Jabok Pass, the area of the Jabbok Pass. And my theory is that at that time, the Israelites revered that area because of two stories. One, the story of Jacob fighting the angel Jacob came into the land from exile. His name was changed from Jacob to Israel. And for the Israelites coming into the land of Israel, that was important because they were a nation. They came from exile into the land of Israel. They were repeating the footsteps of Jacob. And another important event that is happening in that area specifically is, is the miracle of the stopping of the water of the Jordan River. We read in the Bible that the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and there was a miracle and the water stopped. The Bible states very clearly that the water did not stop in Jericho. It stopped near the city of Adam, which is right by the Jabok Pass. So the Israelites, upon entering the land, revered both these events. And when they built their worshiping sites, the worshiping sites faced that direction.
[41:44]
B
How has the archaeological community or, and even the state of Israel, have they embraced the footprints? Because I know, I think we were there. I've been there a couple times. But are they investing any resources into making those available for tourists as well?
[42:03]
A
Unfortunately. Unfortunately not. Like Joshua's altar. I think that this discovery is still under the radar for many Israelis and also for the government officials. But I do see it coming in the future, because truly, when you visit, for example, when you visit the Argaman foot structure, overwhelmed by its size, by the condition of its preservation.
[42:31]
B
So obvious, too. You can go up. You can just walk up on the hill and you can see. It's so obvious.
[42:36]
A
Yeah, it's just. It's enormous. It's magnificent. And I think that eventually these sites will become national heritage sites. But our viewers need to understand Israel has so many ancient sites.
[42:49]
B
True. Yep.
[42:50]
A
And not just from the Israelite period, from all the periods that. That, you know. And many of them are important that need to be preserved and accessed by tourists. So, you know, this will take time, but, you know, these sites waited for 3,300 years. They'll wait a few more years until
[43:11]
B
they're ready to me this whole, as you said, there's so many. How do you get it all? And I feel bad for the Israeli government because this is the nature of truth and the nature of living in a land that again, is very biblical and historical. You just can't get to all of it. And so for our listeners, once again, tell them a little bit about how to follow your work. And then also again, you know, we have many trips planned, Lord willing, in the future, as many as we can. And so kind of tell the audience where they can find out more information about it.
[43:42]
A
Well, lovely. So first of all, we have three books that we publish by Professor Adam Zertal about his discovery, so Joshua's alter a book called the Nation Born, the Footsteps of God about the footstep structures that he discovered. Another book, interesting book about is excavation of the city of Harosh et Hagoyim, which is identified with the Canaanite general Sisera that was killed by Yael in the Bible. So these are three books. We also have four Bible teachings, half hour Bible teachings about different sites in Israel, Joshua's altar, the footstep structures, ancient Shiloh where the tabernacle was for 400 years, and a very exciting teaching called the Gate of Heaven about the site of Jacob's dream of the Ladder at Bethel. So these are also available from Prophecy Watchers and people can purchase those. And we also offer, as you mentioned, tours to Israel. So if our viewers would like to get more information on future tours, Prophecy Watchers tours, they are invited to visit visitisraeltoday.com and they'll be able to complete a form and send us their information and we will update them about future tours with Prophecy Watchers. And also I'm also on Facebook, very active on Facebook, advertising information about archaeological discoveries. So people are more than welcome to follow my Facebook page.
[45:23]
B
It's always been good to reach out to Aaron when something's happening. Let's do an interview. Let's get the latest update from the land of Israel. And so I appreciate you all watching today. Thank you always for your prayers and support of what we do here. It's just fascinating information. It's up to date, it's current and that's our desire, is to keep you informed at all that's happening in the land of Israel, as well as showing that the Bible is God's word. It's true, we can trust it. So thanks for watching and we'll catch you next time.