transjordan and in a period probably of a few months conquered the whole land of canaan, expelled or slaughtered the canaanites, divided up the whole land among the 12 tribes, then joshua gives a sermon at the end, and it s all over. reporter: jericho is a highlight now on most holy land tours. the pilgrims are drawn here by the violent version of how the israelites came into the promised land. but it s unlikely that this is actually how it happened. people forget that there are two versions of the so-called conquest of canaan in the hebrew bible. the book of joshua suggests a blitzkrieg. it s a form of mass colonialism, massive slaughter. it s horrible. and then we have the story of judges, a gradual infiltration into the sparsely populated hill country, do we want the blitzkrieg model or do we want the gradual settlement model. the question is what do we
spoke of a day when the lord would make a new covenant. the temple would be rebuilt. and the land would be ruled by a righteous leader, a figure who came to be referred to as the messiah, god s anointed one. this is a cemetery outside the walls of the old city of jerusalem. in fact, this is a valley filled with cemeteries. jewish, christian, and muslim. all lying side by side in death. because they all believed that the words of the prophets will be fulfilled, that the messiah will come to this very valley, and they all want to be first in line when he raises the righteous from the dead. the valley, called the kidron, is the final scene of that final fiery battle between good and evil, accompanied by a mass resurrection of souls who will be gathered into god s army. and half a world away, in kansas city, missouri we went to meet some american christians who are ready to enlist now.
tonight, an amazing journey around the world and across the centuries, in search of david and goliath. the slingshot was in fact a bazooka. the lost ark of the covenant. the ark became a weapon of mass destruction. the real armageddon. we are in the end times. as we investigate the mystery behind the stories of the bible. if these stones could talk, what would they tell us? and can a war correspondent who has seen all that tears us apart? christiane amanpour in israel discover what it is that can bring us together. back to the beginning with christiane amanpour continues. reporter: driving through the region known today as the west bank, the heart of canaan in biblical times, it s hard to
sphinx. between its paws is what s called as the dream stealer. it indicates something else that s important as well. the writer, or whoever it was that composed the joseph story, knew an egypt of the seventh through fourth century bc. even clues about joseph s famous many colored coat can be seen in these carvings. you see peoples from canaan coming as traders. the egyptians obviously were fascinated by them, because their clothing, which reminds us of the coat of many colors and the joseph story were painted with the most care. these ruins helped build a clearer picture of joseph s time, even if they don t prove that joseph ever lived. they also set the stage for a dramatic struggle against the mighty egyptian empire, the bible s greatest story of the fight for freedom. coming up, what do we know
taking it over for better or for worse. however you view that kind of image. whether that s one of excitement and action or that s one of, hey, this is war. and war can be ugly. in this war, the bible makes clear that no prisoner should be taken alive. every man, woman, and child should be slaughtered. and according to the bible, this bloody battle was just the first stop on joshua s campaign. now, according to the book of joshua, the israelite troops invaded enmass from jordan and in the period probably of a few months conquered the whole land of canaan, slaughtered the people and divided up among the tribes and then joshua gives a sermon at the end and then it s all over. jericho is a highlight now on most holy land tours. the pilgrims are drawn here by the violent version of how the