It has already caused a stir in the minds of many. Long- held doubts have surfaced. A steady skepticism seems to be reinforced. The college cynic seems to be confirmed. And the village atheist smiles in self-congratulation.

But there it was nevertheless. Time magazine's cover story asking whether the Bible really can be verified from an archeological point of view. Were the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, mere legendary characters with no real, historical existence?

Was Moses pure myth, as my former seminary classmate and now eminent archeologist, William Dever, was quoted as saying? Was the famous Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt a fabrication to undergird the later Israelites with a heroic founding legend? Did the famous King David ever actually exist or was he a fabrication of …