Zzyzx wrote:
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The Bible has a stellar archaeological record?
From a current thread:
Exactly WHAT constitutes the Bible's supposed stellar archaeological record? Cite evidence, references, studies.
INTRODUCTION: The discovery of ancient artifacts (pottery, ruins of buildings, clay tablets, coins, documents, monuments, and inscriptions) by archaeolgist in Bible lands has supported the historical and geographic accuracy of the Bible. Below are a few examples
BIBLE CHARACTERS
King David: The Merneptah (Victory) Stele inscription, (dated 9th Century B.C.E), confirmed the existence of the davidic dynasty. This can be viewed at
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
King Sargon of Assyria (Isaiah 20:1): For a long time only the Bible account referred to Sargon. In fact, during the early part of the 19th century this Bible reference to him was discounted by critics as of no historical value. Then archaeological excavations produced the ruins of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad, including many inscriptions regarding his rule. As a result, Sargon is now one of the best known of the Assyrian kings.
Suddenly, sceptics who had doubted the authenticity even of the historical parts of the Old Testament began to revise their views. -
Moshe Pearlman, Israeli historian
Belshazzar of Babylon: (Daniel 5:1-31) Only mentioned in the bible, certain critics claimed that Belshazzar never existed. However, ancient writings were subsequently found not only confirming his exitence but reflecting the bible' s conclusion on this position.
Yale University professor, R Dougherty, when comparing the Bible book of Daniel with other ancient writings, said: “The Scriptural account may be interpreted as
excelling because it employs the name Belshazzar, because it attributes royal power to Belshazzar, and because it recognizes that a dual rulership existed in the kingdom.
Pontius Pilate For 1,900 years, Pilate existed only on the pages of the Gospels and in the vague recollections of Roman and Jewish historians. Next to nothing was known about his life. Some said he never even existed. But in 1961, an Italian archaeological expedition was working in the ruins of the ancient Roman theater in Caesarea. A workman overturned a stone that had been used for one of the stairways. On the reverse side was the following, partially-obscured inscription in Latin: Caesariensibus Tiberium Pontius Pilatus Praefectus Iudaeae. (To the people of Caesarea Tiberium Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea.) It was a fatal blow to the doubts about Pilate’s existence.[...]For the first time there was contemporary epigraphic evidence of the life of the man who ordered the crucifixion of Christ. -
Michael J. Howard, the Caesarea expedition, Israel , 1979
EVENTS
The fall of Laichish ( 2 Kings 18:13, 14.) The Laichis inscription (British Museum) agree with the Bible’s account of the capture of the Judean city of Lachish by Sennacherib. Commenting on the significance of the find,
Sir Austen Henry Layard wrote: Who would have believed it probable or possible, before these discoveries were made, that beneath the heap of earth and rubbish which marked the site of Nineveh, there would be found the history of the wars between Hezekiah [king of Judah] and Sennacherib, written at the very time when they took place by Sennacherib himself, and
confirming even in minute details the Biblical record
Sennacherib's assassination (2 Kings 19:36, 37) The Bible says that two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, put Sennacherib to death. Yet both the account attributed to Babylonian King Nabonidus and that of the Babylonian priest Berossus of the third century B.C.E. mention only one son as involved in the slaying. Which was correct? The more recent discovery of a fragmentary prism of Esar-haddon, Sennacherib's son who succeeded him as king,
historian Philip Biberfeld wrote:
Only the Biblical account proved to be correct. It was confirmed in all the minor details by the inscription of Esar-haddon and proved to be more accurate regarding this event of Babylonian-Assyrian history than the Babylonian sources themselves. This is a fact of utmost importance for the evaluation of even contemporary sources not in accord with Biblical tradition.
Babylon's fall to Cyrus the Great (Daniel 5) Confirmed by the Nabonidus Chronicle
Hezekiahs' Tunnel (2 Kings 20:20) : Excavated in Jerusalem (discovered in 1867)
Solomon's Wall (1 Kings 3:1): The Ophel excavations, Silwan, Jerusalem.
LOCATIONS - Archaeological discoveries have repeatedly proven the Bible to be accurate in its detail of geographical detail.
Ur of the Chaldeans. (Gen. 11:27, 28) - Historians had long expressed doubts about the city of Ur mentioned in the Bible in connection with Abraham, however archaeological findings in digs between 1922 and 1934, headed by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley confirmed this identification
Nineveh: As recently as the early 19th century, some Bible critics doubted this city reported in the bible existed. In 1849, Sir Austen Henry Layard unearthed ruins of King Sennacherib's palace at Kuyunjik, a site that proved to be part of ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh.
PROPER NAMES
Peleg, Serug, Nahor, Terah and
Haran (Gen. 11:17-26) Stone cuneiform tablets from extensive diggings on the site of the ancient royal city of Mari, on the Middle Euphrates (conducted by French archaeologist André Parrot) confirm the existence of these cities. The profusion of such evidence from contemporary documents shows clearly that their names fit perfectly in the nomenclature of the Amorite population of the early second millennium, rather than in that of any later day
. The patriarchal narratives are thus in this respect quite authentic“ John Bright , History of Israel
Sodom and Gomorrah, Historians have long challenged the historicity of these cities. However the archives of the ancient city-state Ebla (northern Syria) which contain the names of cities mentioned in the Bible have vindicated the bibles accuracy in this regard.
The proper names are amazingly similar [to those in the Scriptures]. In the Bible we find ˜Abraham; in the Ebla tablets, Ab-ra-um Esau ”E-sa-um; Michael Mi-ki-ilu; David ”Da-u-dum; Ishmael Ish-ma-ilum; Israel Ish-ra-ilu. What is more, the tablets list cities in exactly the same order in which they are mentioned in the Old Testament... [Gen. 14:2] - The French magazine Le Point , March19, 1979
CUSTOMS AND LAWS - Archaeologists have confirmed numerous customs referred to in the Bible accounts.
“household gods (Gen 31: 19, 23, 30) The Nuzi excavations ( so named after the he ancient northern Mesopotamian city of Nuzi, southeast of Nineveh) authenticate the use of family gods. Excavations have revealed the existence of a patriarchal law whereby the possession of family gods gave a man the title deeds to the estate of his deceased father-in-law. The Louvre Museum, in Paris, displays several such household god's discovered in various cities of Mesopotamia. This harmonizes with the biblical depiction. Indeed The French Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. (Volume VI, columns 663-672) contains over eight small-print columns of examples of biblical customs confirmed by the Nuzi excavations, including: slaves becoming heirs to childless parents (Genesis 15:1-4), a barren wife's being obligated to provide her husband with a concubine (Genesis 16:1, 2), business transactions taking place at the gate of a city (Genesis 23:1-20) and many more. The Encyclopædia Britannica states: This Nuzi material has clarified many difficult passages in the contemporary patriarchal narratives of Genesis.
TERMINOLOGY
Politarchs: A term to describe a city ruler used by the bible writer Luke (Acts 17:6, footnote) was unknown in classical Greek literature but has since been proven to be authentic by an inscription (fragments of which are preserved in the British Museum) found on an archway in ancient Thessalonica.
CONCLUSION : The above list is far from exhaustive but the illustrate the steller biblical record as concerning archaeological discoveries . Striking vindications of biblical historiography have taught historians to respect the authority of both Old Testament and New, and to admire the accuracy, the deep concern for truth, and the inspired historical insight of the varied writers who gave the Bible its books of history. - The Archaeology of the New Testament, first published in 1970, E. M. Blaiklock It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. -Jewish archaeologist Nelson Gluek, Hebrew Union College
Further reading:
Le Nouveau Testament et les decouvertes archologiques modernes(The New Testament and Modern Archaeological Discoveries), F Vigouroux , 1890
St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen , W. M. Ramsay, 1895,
