THE BIBLE: Fact or Fiction? - Pt 2: Archaeology and the Bible – Old Testament

We have looked at unity of the Bible as one of the evidences for divine inspiration. Another line of evidence can be found in archaeology. Although it doesn’t prove inspiration directly, it does, however prove its historical reliability.

Archaeology has verified numerous ancient sites, civilizations, and biblical characters whose existence was questioned by the academic world and often dismissed as myths. Biblical archaeology has silenced many critics as new discoveries supported the facts of the Bible.

Here are a few examples. In the Old Testament, the Bible records that the Hittites were a powerful force in the Middle East from 1750 B.C until 1200 B.C. (Genesis 15:20, 2 Samuel 11, and 1 Kings 10:29). Before the late 19^th century, nothing was known of the Hittites outside the Bible mentioning it, and many critics alleged that they were made up by the biblical authors.

However, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, archaeologists in Turkey discovered a city which proved to be the capital of the Hittite empire. In the city they discovered a massive library of thousands of tablets. These tablets showed that the Hittite language was an early relative of the Indo-European languages.

Another example is Sodom and Gomorrah. The existence of these two cities, along with three other cities mentioned, was thought to be fictitious until evidence revealed that all five cities mentioned in the Bible were in fact centers of commerce in the area and were geographically situated exactly where the Bible said they were!

As to the destruction of the two, evidence points to earthquake activity, and that the various layers of the earth were disrupted and hurled high into the air. To this day, bitumen is plentiful in that region, and an accurate description would be that brimstone (bituminous pitch) was hurled down on those two cities. There is also evidence that the layers of sedimentary rock have been molded together by intense heat. Evidence of such burning has been found on the top of Jebel Usdum (Mount Sodom).This is permanent evidence of the great and terrible event that took place in the long-distant past, possibly when an oil basin beneath the Dead Sea ignited and erupted.

Still another historical confirmation has been regarding the captivity. Records found in Babylon’s famous hanging gardens have shown that Jehoiachin and his five sons were being given a monthly ration and place to live and were being treated well (2 Kings 25:27-30). The name Belshazzar was put in question, because there was not only no mention of him, but was not on the list of Babylonian kings; however, Nabodonius left a record that he appointed his son, Belshazzar (Daniel 5), to reign for a few years in his absence. Nabodonius was still king, but Balshazzar ruled and it was against him that the writing on the wall by the hand of God was intended for!

In 1 Samuel chapter 31, it narrates the death of Saul, the first king of Israel. The Bible tells us that upon Saul’s death, his armor was put in the temple of Ashtaroth (a Canaanite fertility goddess) at Bethshan, while Chronicles says that his head was put in the temple of Dagon, the Philistine corn god. This was thought to be an error because it seemed unlikely that enemy peoples would have temples in the same place at the same time. However, excavations have found that there were two temples at this site that are separated by a hallway: one for Dagon, and the other for Ashtaroth. It appears that the Philistines had adopted the Canaanite goddess as their own.

The site of Solomon’s temple has not been excavated, because it is near the Muslim holy place, The Dome of the Rock. The only piece of evidence from the temple itself is a small ornament, a pomegranate that sat at the end of a rod bearing the inscription, “Belonging to the Temple of Yahweh.” It was first seen in a shop in Jerusalem in 1979, verified in 1984, and was acquired by the Israel Museum in 1988.

During an excavation of Gezer in 1969, they ran across a huge layer of ash that covered most of the mound. Sifting through the ash revealed various pieces of Hebrew, Egyptian, and Philistine artifacts. Apparently all three cultures had been there at the same time. This discovery puzzled researchers greatly until they realized that the Bible told them exactly what had happened and 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).

In every period of Old Testament history, we find that there is strong evidence from archaeology that the Bible speaks the truth!

Next we will tackle archaeological evidence for the New Testament.

James
1/23/2008

Information compiled from:
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
by: Norman L. Geisler