significant ways. But more often than not, it tends to undergird the biblical account, sometimes in striking detail. What archaeology does do particularly and uniquely well, however, is to fill in many gaps left by the biblical record, especially about matters other than politics, such as the lives of the ordinary people. The books of Kings, not surprisingly, are all about kings and the great public events of their reigns—politics and international intrigue—occasionally mentioning religion only when
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