Who really destroyed the first Temple?

HERE'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Who Really Destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem? Renowned biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman suggests we got it wrong all along: that the real culprits weren’t the Babylonians (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

... This, says renowned biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman, a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia and author of the best-selling book “Who Wrote the Bible?” may have been a case of mistaken identity. The Babylonians may have destroyed Judah and kicked out its populace, but they did not destroy the temple. The culprits were the Edomites, a small kingdom in the southern Transjordan, he posits.

Just when you think there is something in biblical studies that everyone agrees on ...

I am skeptical about this one. But you decide. You can read the underlying article by Professor Friedman here. Link courtesy of Joseph Lauer.

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