Unraveling Ancient Mysteries: Earth's Magnetic Field and the Tale of King Hazael

The prophet tells us: "Then Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath, and captured it, and Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem" (2 Kings 12:17).

The topic in these verses is Jerusalem. The king of Aram wanted to conquer Jerusalem, and in passing, it is mentioned that Hazael king of Aram captured the city of Gath, which was one of the Philistine cities.

In our era, where people are eager to argue and question everything, some have even cast doubt on the words of the prophets, wondering if it was merely written without basis or if someone had a reason to write it. Such is the nature of skepticism.

A new and fascinating scientific method allowed researchers from several universities in Israel last month to verify this piece of data indirectly mentioned by the prophet.

The site of Gath of the Philistines is identified with Tell es-Safi in the Shephelah region. The site was destroyed by fire, but when did this fire occur? Who caused it? It seems like a dead end. Without inscriptions or historical records, how can one determine when a specific site was burned?

The interesting method relies on the Earth's magnetic field. As we all know, the Earth has a magnetic axis. Although the magnetism is weak, you won't experience a hammer jumping out of your hand and flying toward the North Pole. However, when lightweight metal is freely floating in a liquid, such as a compass needle, it is magnetically attracted toward the axis, showing us the north.

The Earth's magnetic field changes periodically due to cosmological events, various geodetic reasons, and other factors known to researchers. Therefore, if we could reconstruct the magnetic field at the time of Gath's destruction, we could determine the date of its destruction.

One of the ancient building methods involved mud bricks fired in a kiln, as described in the Book of Genesis, "And they said one to another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar." Within the mud mixture are various magnetic materials that the Earth's magnetic field affects, and when fired, these materials harden irreversibly. Today, we can take the bricks from the layer of the fire, analyze the direction of the magnetic materials, and determine at what angle the magnetic field was during the fire.

This angle precisely matches the year described by the prophet, when Hazael king of Aram triumphed over Gath, which is the year 830 BCE.

You may ask: How do we know that the fire which fixed the magnetic direction was the fire of destruction? Could it have been the kiln fire where the stones were prepared for construction? Professor Aaron Mayer provides a simple yet decisive answer: When bricks are fired in a kiln, there is no effort to maintain their orientation from the kiln to the construction within the wall. They are transported on a wheelbarrow or on a shoulder, set up one by one and plastered. If this were the case, the uniform direction within the bricks would not be preserved. The uniformity of the direction proves they were fired in place after the wall was built...

We don't necessarily need this confirmation, but it's fascinating to see how innovative scientific methods allow us to visually perceive the descriptions of the prophets.