Candida Moss on the Museum of the Bible and "smallish rocks"

Everytime the Museum of the Bible in DC gets in the news, it's usually
because of one or another infraction or misstep.: a record Candida Moss,
Yale PhD now at Birmingham UK, is careful not to break:

... Ken McKenzie, CEO of the recently opened Hobby-Lobby backed Museum of
the Bible in DC, discussed the museum’s non-sectarian [!!] Bible
curriculum. While Hobby Lobby previously sponsored efforts to place a Bible
literacy curriculum in public schools, they now target private schools and
homeschoolers. McKenzie offered the following example of what non-sectarian
education looks like: "Archaeological excavations have found the stone that
was used of 1.5 to 2 pounds, and we’ll review some ancient texts about life
at that time and watch a video that shows how a sling could be accurate,”
Mr. McKenzie said. “This is not [an assignment that says], ‘This is what we
believe.’”

The statement created an immediate flurry of interest from academics who,
understandably, wondered if McKenzie was suggesting that Museum of the
Bible itself is claiming to possess the “1.5 to 2 pound” murder weapon
that, according to the story, killed Goliath. In a comment to *The Daily
Beast*, McKenzie clarified that he had been taken out of context; that what
he meant was that “archaeologists’ research in the area where the event
reportedly occurred have unearthed stones from that era weighing in at
1.5-2 pounds.” He also added that this is not an actual example from the
institution’s curriculum.

It is frustrating for McKenzie to be misquoted, but the method he describes
raises another problem: the way that *Christian organizations weaponize
archaeology* in the presentation of Biblical texts. *The presence of
smallish rocks in the region where David fought Goliath isn’t proof of the
Biblical story any more than the existence of the Sea of Galilee proves
that Jesus walked on water. *

Is the Museum of the Bible too easy a target?  Almost.  They seem capable
of messing up a two-car funeral.

On the other hand, the Museum is the creation (heh) of Hobby Lobby, which did
so much damage in its war on women
<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2014%2F06%2F30%2Fpolitics%2Fscotus-obamacare-contraception%2Findex.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7Cdf732cb20f0e4c60ee8408d68f84ecda%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C1%7C636854198409763952&amp;sdata=ue7n4vM8VrPyr1g38e%2Bk5GAutG3lKske%2BdMMxRTr5Gc%3D&amp;reserved=0>.
So when criticism is merited, it will likely be leveled.

I'm copying one friend in Tel Aviv to ask, can 1.5 lb rocks still be found
in the Holy Land?

Dan