Archaeology
Archaeology also provides extra proof of Biblical events.
Consider the example of Belshazzar (Daniel 5). Daniel tells us that Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon. Yet for centuries Belshazzar’s name was found nowhere outside of the Bible. Historical records named Nabonidus as Babylon’s final king. Some scholars of the last century, therefore, rejected Daniel’s account, labeling it one of the Bible’s many “historical mistakes.”
But in 1853, archaeologists discovered four small clay cylinders at Ur in Mesopotamia, inscribed with accounts of the rebuilding of Ur’s ziggurat (temple tower) by King Nabonidus. The inscriptions concluded with prayers for Nabonidus’ health—and for his eldest son and co-regent, Belshazzar! Other texts that have been found show numerous treaties and contracts that mention this as well.
References to the Hittites (as in 2 Kings 7) were also once regarded as scriptural inaccuracies. Until a little more than a century ago nothing was known of the Hittites outside of the Bible. Some suggested there had been a scribal error and that Assyrians were actually intended.
The Bible was vindicated when Hittite monuments were discovered in the 1870s at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in Syria. In 1906, excavations at Boghazkoy in Turkey uncovered thousands of Hittite documents.
A more recent example: Some scholars doubted that Biblical King David actually lived. But in 1993, Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran discovered a ninth-century B.C. stone tablet among the rubble of a wall at Tel Dan in northern Israel. The 13 lines of script on the tablet commemorate the defeat of Baasha, king of Israel, by Asa of “the House of David.” This provided not only the first corroboration of their warfare (described in 1 Kings 15), but also the first mention of the name David outside the Bible.
Boghazkoy, Hittite Capital
The ancient Hittite’s large capital city has been recovered about 90 miles east of Ankara, Turkey. The Hittite’s rule extended to Syria and Lebanon. Although Hittite’s are mentioned often in the Old Testament, almost nothing was known about them until modern times. One hundred years ago, critics thought the Hittite’s were an imaginary people made up by the Biblical authors. Finding the Hittite’s empire forced that claim to be withdrawn and supported the Biblical record. The find also helps explain the language, history and literature of people who appear in the Old Testament and ruled in the 2nd millennium B.C.
Haran, Home of the Patriarchs
A village of Harran (Haran) exists in Turkey today, and has been found to stand atop the ancient one from the Old Testament. Also found near Haran are villages that still bear the names of Abraham’s great-grandfather and grandfather, Serug and Nahor, as mentioned in Genesis 11:22-26. Haran was the father of Lot (Genesis 11:27).
The cities of Ur and Haran both had the moon god as their main deity. Terah, father of Abraham, worshipped “other gods” (Joshua 24:2) and moved his family from Ur, in southern Mesopotamia (Iraq today), to Haran in the north (Genesis 11:27-31).
The Moabite (Mesha Stele) Stone
The ancient Moabites were relatives of the Israelites according to Genesis 19:37. On this stone King Mesha brags of having driven the Israelites out of his land. 2 Kings 3 tells that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel after the death of King Ahab of Israel.
The Moabite stone is one of the earliest finds that mention Biblical people. The stone says that King Omri and his son Ahab “humbled” Moab for many years. After Ahab’s death, King Mesha said he had “triumphed” over Ahab’s family and that Israel had “perished forever.” Some scholars say that the stone also contains a reference to the “house of David.”
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser
Pithom and Raamses
The book of Exodus tells how the Egyptians forced their Israelite slaves to build these two storage cities, yet the critics said it was a fable for children. But archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie discovered the site of these cities and found that the buildings were the only ones in Egypt built with mortar. Interestingly enough, the lowest levels of the building were built with brick and straw, the next levels were built with bricks and stubble, and the upper layers were built with no straw or stubble at all! A perfect parallel to the Biblical account.
Over 25,000 sites have been discovered by archaeology pertaining to the Bible, as well as the records of tens of thousands of individuals and events. Nelson Glueck, the renowned Jewish archaeologist, said,
“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted its Biblical reference.”
Many archaeologists have been convinced by their own findings that the Bible is an astonishing book – some even to the point of becoming Christians. Sir William Ramsay, for, example, was a wealthy atheistic English archaeologist who was determined to disprove the Bible. He spent many decades over his diggings and published book after book, detailing his findings which all confirm the Word of God. Sir William finally declared that the Bible is accurate and is the Word of God as a result of his findings!
Of course, the unbelieving world was aghast! That’s because, as Yale archaeologist Miller Burroughs states, “The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the super-natural.” Our media today chooses to splash any apparent findings that contradict the Bible across every magazine cover and newspaper, but ignores the numerous findings that support it.
The Siloam Tunnel Inscription
The inscription comes from the days of King Hezekiah (701 B.C.) who ordered the tunnel to be made so the water from Jerusalem’s Gihon Spring could be brought into the city to a man-made reservoir, the Pool of Siloam. This tunnel provided water to Jerusalem during the anticipated siege of King Sennacherib of Assyria.
Sennacherib Prism
A 15-inch tall, six-sided baked clay prism from ancient Assyria contains the story of the invasion of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib in 701 B.C. The prism was found at Nineveh.
King Sennacherib of Assyria is mentioned in 2 Kings 18-19. Isaiah prophesied that God would protect Jerusalem against attack by Sennacherib (Isaiah 36-37, 2 Chronicles 32). While the prism does say that the Assyrians trapped Hezekiah in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage,” like the Biblical record, it says nothing of them conquering the city.
The Bible says that God spared Jerusalem. The prism, together with the Lachish reliefs and excavations, adds detail to the Biblical account. King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. Isaiah brought him God’s message. That night the Lord smote 185,000 Assyrians, and Sennacherib went back to Ninevah and later was killed by his sons (Isaiah 37:35-38).
The Cyrus Cylinder
A 9-inch long clay cylinder found at ancient Babylon, dating to 539 B.C., tells of King Cyrus of Persia’s conquest of Babylon and of his decree to let the captives held by Babylon return to their lands and restore their temples. Cyrus sent the Jews back to their homeland after many years of exile in Babylon as Isaiah prophesied (2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1; Isaiah 44:28). This “return home” decree was one of the many issued by Cyrus. Though not mentioning Judah, It confirms that this was Cyrus’s policy and gives credibility to the Biblical record.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are actually hundreds of scrolls and scraps that date between 300 B.C.and 70 A.D. The first of them was found in 1947 in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea about seven miles south of Jericho. Some of the scrolls were found in jars. About one-third of the scrolls contain copies of portions of OldTestament books (every book but Esther). These copies are over 1,000 years older than most of the manuscripts scholars previously had available for study and translation.
This is one of the most important finds in history because it shows that the Old Testament was copied very accurately over the centuries. When the scrolls were compared with the oldest Masoretic text, only insignificant differences were found. Therefore we can be confident that our current translations are faithful to the original.
Gezer
The excavation of Gezer in 1969 ran across a massive layer of ash that covered most of the mound. Sifting through the ash yielded pieces of Hebrew, Egyptian, and Philistine artifacts. Apparently all three cultures had been there at the same time. This puzzled researchers greatly until they realized that the Bible told them exactly what they had found. “Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter; Solomon’s wife.” (1 Kings 9:16)
Tomb of Rekh-mi-re (15th century B.C.)
A wall painting in an Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Nobles at Thebes shows foreign slaves making mud bricks, recalling the enslaved Israelites’ forced brickmaking (Exodus 1:14; 5:7).
Israel Stele (13th century B.C.)
The name Israel is inscribed in hieroglyphs on a stone slab found in 1896 at Thebes. It is the only mention of Israel in all Egyptian records discovered so far, and the oldest evidence outside the Bible for Israel’s existence. Israel is listed as one of the peoples in western Asia during the reign of Ramses II’s son, Merneptah (c.1213-1203 B.C.), offering evidence that the Israelites were already settled in Canaan (the Promised Land) by that time.
Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle (sixth century B.C.)
Lachish Letters (sixth century B.C.)
Twenty-one military communiques, written on pottery fragments (as documents often were) during Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Lachish (Jeremiah 34:6-7). They provide strong evidence for the historicity of the captivity and exile.
Pilate Inscription (first century A.D.)
A battered limestone slab found at Caesarea is the only known inscription from his lifetime naming Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. Part of Pilate’s name can be seen on the second line. The stone had been part of a building dedicated in honor of the Emperor Tiberius.
Skeletal remains of crucified man (first century A.D.)
A crucifixion victim found in 1968 in a tomb at Giv’at ha-Mivtar, northeast of Jerusalem, provides the first authenticated physical evidence of a crucifixion in biblical times. The left heel bone was still fixed by a nail. An inscription names the victim as Yehohanan (John), a Jewish male about 25 years old who was executed around the mid-first century A.D.
Gallio Inscription (first century A.D.)
An inscription from Delphi in Greece, dates to A.D. 52, names Lucius Junius Gallio as proconsul of Achaia. The apostle Paul was brought before Gallio by his Jewish accusers during his first visit to Corinth (Acts 18:12).
The Tower of Babel
There is considerable evidence now that the world did indeed have a single language at one time. Sumerian literature alludes to this several times. Linguists also find this theory helpful in categorizing languages. But what of the tower and the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11)? Archaeology has revealed that Ur-Nammu, King of Ur from about 2044 to 2007 b.c., supposedly received orders to build a great ziggurat (temple tower) as an act of worship to the moon god Nannat. A stele (monument) about five feet across and ten feet high reveals Ur-Nammu’s activities. One panel has him setting out with a mortar basket to begin construction of the great tower, thus showing his allegiance to the gods by taking his place as a humble workman. Another clay tablet states that the erection of the tower offended the gods, so they threw down what the men had built, scattered them abroad, and made their speech strange. This is remarkably similar to the record in the Bible.
Rylands Papyrus (about A.D. 130)
A fragment of John’s Gospel, discovered in Egypt, contains verses from chapter 18. It is the earliest surviving copy of a New Testament book and is now in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England.