The Bible Is Supported by Archaeological Evidence Again and Again Millar Burrows Yale
Kerby Anderson provides an update on recent archaeological finds that approve the historicity of the Bible.
Ane of the almost important proofs for the historical accuracy of the Bible can exist found in archæology. Ancient history and archeology should confirm the accurateness of this record. That is what we find when comparing these finds with the written tape of Scripture.
My focus will exist to summarize a few of the past archaeological finds that ostend the Bible and and so provide an update on some of the newest archaeological discoveries made in merely the last few years that are very significant. On the Probe website, we have an splendid summary done twenty years agone of archaeology and the Old Attestation (probe.org/archaeology-and-the-sometime-testament/) and archaeology and the New Attestation (probe.org/archaeology-and-the-new-testament/).
Archaeology not only has confirmed the historical tape found in the Bible, but it as well provides additional details non constitute in the original writings of the biblical authors. Archaeology also helps explain Bible passages past providing context of the surrounding culture also as the social and political circumstances.
We must also admit the limitations of archæology. Although these archaeological finds can establish the historical accuracy of the record, they cannot prove the divine inspiration of the Bible. As well, nosotros must admit that fifty-fifty when we have an archaeological notice, information technology still must be interpreted. Those interpretations are obviously affected past the worldview perspective and fifty-fifty bias of the historians and archaeologists.
Even granting the skeptical bias that tin be constitute in this field, it is still amazing that many archaeologists acknowledge the biblical confirmation that has come up from meaning archaeological finds.
Dr. William Albright observed, "At that place can be no doubtfulness that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Erstwhile Attestation tradition."{1}
Archeologist Nelson Glueck and president of Hebrew Wedlock Higher concluded, "Information technology may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in articulate outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, past the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical description has ofttimes led to amazing discoveries."{2}
Millar Burrows, Professor of Archaeology at Yale University, remarked that "On the whole, notwithstanding, archaeological piece of work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of digging in Palestine."{3}
Old Testament Archaeology
There are and then many significant archaeological finds that confirm the historical accuracy of the One-time Attestation. Perhaps the nearly famous and most significant find is the Dead Sea scrolls. A young shepherd boy found the first of them in a cave in 1947. Somewhen over 800 fragments were found. This includes a complete scroll of the volume of Isaiah.
Many of these scrolls are from before the time of Jesus Christ. That is of import considering it provided a way to bank check the accurateness of the transmission of the Sometime Testament. The earliest copies of the Old Testament that we had before this discovery were a thousand years later. When nosotros compare the Dead Body of water scrolls to these later manuscripts, we can see that at that place were very few variations (mostly due to changes in spelling or grammer). The transmission through the scribe was very accurate.
Another pregnant find was archaeological documentation of King David. Archaeologists working at ane site uncovered an inscription that means "business firm of David" that dates to the ninth century BC.
Another important archaeological find was the Hittite nation. The Hittites are mentioned nearly 50 times in the Old Testament, but in that location was no solid archaeological testify they existed until the 20th century. Some argued that the Bible must exist wrong since information technology mentions this nation but archaeological evidence was defective.
The Hittites were a major strength confronting the Jews. State of israel needed to conquer them in order to enter the Promised Land (Joshua xi:3-iv). King David had Uriah the Hittite killed because of his adultery with his wife, Bathsheba (two Kings 11:3-21). Fortunately, archaeologists did uncover arable prove of the Hittites in Turkey. They found a temple, sculptures, a storeroom with ten,000 clay tablets. After they fifty-fifty uncovered the Hittite capital city of Hattusha.
Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority earthworks at Tel Lachish constitute an ancient toilet that confirms Sometime Testament history. To understand its significance, we need to look at the record of King Hezekiah. We read in two Kings that he removed the Asherah poles from the loftier places and smashed the sacred stones that were used in the Canaanite cultic worship.
Archaeologists discovered large rooms that announced to exist a shrine where four-horned altars were destroyed. They besides found a seat carved in stone with the pigsty in information technology that was used as a toilet. It was by and large likely placed there equally a form of desecration for the whole room.{4} This correlates with the biblical description in two Kings 10:27 that Jehu and his followers "demolished the colonnade of Baal, and demolished the firm of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day."
New Testament Archaeology
Jesus spent much of his fourth dimension in Capernaum by the Bounding main of Galilee. It is mentioned 16 times in the New Testament. Archaeologists take uncovered evidence of the fishing manufacture there (anchors, fishhooks), which would accept been used by many of the disciples. The houses were one-story buildings, with roofs of wooden beams or branches. This explains how men carried a man to the roof and let him down in front of Jesus (Marking 2:1-4). Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum (Mark 1:21-22, Luke 4:31-36). The remains of a synagogue built in the 4th century sits atop the black basalt foundations of this synagogue that existed at the time of Jesus.
In Jerusalem are many archaeological discoveries from the time of Jesus. That includes the remains of the temple likewise as the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15) and the pool of Siloam (John ix:1-7).
Archaeology (as well as history) verifies the existence of many political leaders mentioned in the New Testament. A Denarius coin shows a portrait of Tiberius Caesar. This is also significant because Jesus asked the people whose likeness was on the money (Marking 12:17). The name Pontius Pilate was found in an inscription at Caesarea Maritima.
Sometimes archaeology can shed lite on what seems similar a sharp disagreement in the Bible. In Paul'south letter of the alphabet to the Galatians, he recounts what he said to Peter who stopped eating meals with gentile Christians. He argued that Peter lived like a Gentile even though he was a Jew.
The answer lies in the fact that Paul was a devout Pharisee, who took kosher nutrient laws and purity very seriously. Peter, though Jewish, was not a Pharisee and grew upwardly in Bethsaida on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Archaeological excavations uncovered some non-kosher bear witness. Some were eating wild boar and catfish, which were considered unclean and not to exist eaten past Jew following the Torah.{5}
Archaeological finds at Corinth include the metropolis's bema seat, where Paul stood trial (Acts xviii:12-17) and an inscription with the proper name Erastus, a city administrator who was an associate of Paul (Acts 19:22; 2 Timothy four:twenty; Romans 16:23).
Critics take challenged the historical tape of Luke because of declared inaccuracies. Classical scholar Colin Hemer documents that Luke is a very accurate historian.{6} He identifies 84 facts in the Book of Acts that accept been confirmed by historical and archaeological enquiry. This includes nautical details, names of gods, designation of magistrates, and proper names and titles.
These are just a few of the archaeological discoveries in the by that have confirmed the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the next section nosotros will look at some of the near contempo archaeological discoveries.
Recent Archaeological Discoveries
Inside the final few years, there have been major archaeological discoveries that further confirm biblical history. An article in Christianity Today provides a list of the top ten archaeological discoveries.{7} Hither are but a few of these important discoveries.
The State of israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a limestone column on which the world "Jerusalem" was spelled out in Aramaic. This is the oldest inscription of this nature found so far. You lot might await that there would exist lots of such inscriptions, merely that turn out to be very rare.
The inscription was found in an aboriginal potter's village that must take served pilgrims making their mode to the Temple in Jerusalem. A potter'due south field calls to mind the i bought by the priests (Matthew 27:7) with the money Judas returned.
The Jewish tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were located for a time in Shiloh. Earthworks there produced a clay pomegranate. In the Bible, the pomegranate was a common temple decoration (1 Kings 7:eighteen; two Kings 25:17). Pocket-sized pomegranates embroidered with blue, majestic, and scarlet yarns hung from the hems of the priestly robes (Exodus 28:33). This discovery affirms the sacredness of Shiloh.
Scientists and archaeologists believe they made have institute the site of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They plant evidence that a "high-estrus" explosive outcome north of the Dead Bounding main wiped out all civilisation in the affected area. It killed all the people within a 25-kilometer circular surface area. The fertile soil would have been stripped of nutrients past the high heat. Waves of briny salt would take washed over the surrounding area and spread through hot winds.
The scientists suggest that a catholic airburst event from a meteor was the reason for the disappearance from the site. Information technology patently took 600 years for the region to recover before it could once again be inhabited. This fits with the description in Genesis 19, which says that burning sulfur rained downward on Sodom and Gomorrah and killed all the people and all the vegetation of the country.
Archaeologist Dr. Stephen Collins says that there was a violent conflagration that concluded occupation at the site. There is "melted pottery, scorched foundation stones, and several feet of ash and destruction debris churned into a dark gray matrix as if in a Cuisinart." He and another author in a joint paper conclude that all of this provides "signs of a highly destructive and thermal issue that one might expect from what is described in Genesis 19."{viii}
Recent Archaeological Discoveries
In a higher place nosotros looked at a few of the most recent archaeological discoveries that ostend the historical accuracy of the Bible. Most of them were establish in an article in Christianity Today. Here are a few more significant discoveries.
An inscribed piece of limestone discovered in a tomb along the west bank of the Nile was revealed to be a Semitic abecedary (alphabet in ABC lodge). It dates back to the fourth dimension of Moses and fits with the argument that "Moses wrote downwards everything the Lord had said" (Exodus 24:4). It turns out he wasn't the only one writing in a Semitic script in Egypt at that fourth dimension.
When ISIS terrorists captured Mosul, they blew up the tomb of the prophet Jonah. This uncovered the remains of a palace of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon. Previous archaeological teams stopped digging in sure sites in Iraq for fear of destroying them. That was a case of the traditional tomb of Jonah, until ISIS started excavation beneath it to find artifacts to sell. As one article put it, "ISIS Accidentally Corroborates the Bible."{ix} The tunnels they dug revealed a previously untouched Assyrian palace in the aboriginal city of Ninevah. Inscriptions institute in the old urban center of Nineveh give an order of Assyrian kings that matches perfectly with the biblical society.
Extra careful processing of dirt from an archaeological dig in the southwest corner of the Temple Mount provided a beka weight. This was used (Exodus 38:6) to measure the silverish in the half-shekel temple tax that was nerveless from each member of the Jewish customs.
Another seal impression seems to exist (a letter is missing) the proper name "Isaiah the prophet." Information technology was establish nigh the Temple Mount near another seal impression that says "Male monarch Hezekiah of Judah" that was uncovered 2 years earlier. Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah are mentioned in the same poetry 17 times. This clay seal gives the impression that Isaiah had admission to the king'southward palace equally his adviser.
A ring with the proper name "Pontius Pilate" on information technology was excavated decades ago just but could be read recently due to advanced photographic techniques. Of course, this is not the first fourth dimension that his proper noun has surfaced in archaeology, simply it is however a significant find. The ring is not fancy enough to accept been worn past Pilate. Information technology was probably worn past someone authorized to deed on his authority and would use it to seal official communications.
This is an exciting time for archaeological investigation. New finds provide even more bear witness of the historical accuracy of the Quondam Attestation and the New Testament. Archæology has provided abundant confirmation of the Bible.
Notes
ane. William F. Albright, Archeology and the Religions of Israel (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Printing, 1956), 176.
2. Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert (New York: Farrar, Strous and Cudahy, 1959), 136.
3. Millar Burrows, What Mean These Stones? (New York: Meridian Books, 1956), 1.
iv. Richard Grayness, "The wrong kind throne: Toilet discovered 2-800-year-erstwhile shrine," Daily Mail, 28 September 2016.
v. Craig A. Evans, "Why Archaeology Matters for Bible Report," Bible Study Mag, March/Apr 2019, 18-19.
half dozen. Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History (Academy Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 1990).
seven. Gordon Govier, "Biblical Archaeology'south Top 10 Discoveries of 2018, Christianity Today, December 27, 2018.
8. Amanda Borschel-Dan, "Show of Sodom? Meteor boom crusade of biblical destruction, say scientists," Times of State of israel, 22 November 2018.
9. "ISIS Accidentally Corroborates the Bible," Facts and Trends, March 19, 2018.
©2020 Probe Ministries
Kerby Anderson
Kerby Anderson is president of Probe Ministries International. He holds masters degrees from Yale University (scientific discipline) and from Georgetown University (regime). He is the author of several books, including Christian Ethics in Plain Linguistic communication, Genetic Engineering, Origin Scientific discipline, Signs of Warning, Signs of Promise and Making the Most of Your Coin in Tough Times. His new series with Harvest House Publishers includes: A Biblical Point of View on Islam, A Biblical Betoken of View on Homosexuality, A Biblical Point of View on Intelligent Design and A Biblical Point of View on Spiritual Warfare. He is the host of "Signal of View" (United states Radio Network) heard on 360 radio outlets nationwide equally well equally on the Internet (www.pointofview.net) and shortwave. He is also a regular guest on "Prime Time America" (Moody Broadcasting Network) and "Burn down Away" (American Family Radio). He produces a daily syndicated radio commentary and writes editorials that take appeared in papers such equally the Dallas Morn News, the Miami Herald, the San Jose Mercury, and the Houston Post.
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