Archaeology confirms the accuracy of the Bible

Archaeology confirms the accuracy of the Bible

ARCHAEOLOGY PROVES THE ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE

The science of archaeology has proved to be a valuable tool in better understanding, confirming, and verifying the accuracy of the Bible.

Before the 19^th century little was known about the events, background, and setting of the Old and New Testament Scriptures. It was nearly impossible to confirm the reliability of the Biblical record. Modern archaeology, time and again, has provided the evidence of the reliability of the Bible.

As a matter of fact, however, it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. (Nelson Gleuck, archaeologist)

There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition. (William F. Albright)

It is therefore legitimate to say that, in respect of that part of the Old Testament against which the disintegrating criticism of the last half of the 19^th century was chiefly directed, the evidence of archaeology has been to reestablish its authority, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and settings. (Sir Frederic Kenyon)

The great value of archaeology has been to show that the geography, technology, political and military movements, cultures, religious practices, social institutions, languages, customs, and other aspects of everyday life in Israel and other nations of antiquity were exactly as described in the Bible.

Before the impact of Biblical archaeology, one of the assured results of higher criticism, was that the Pentateuch could not have been written by Moses because writing was not yet in existence in Moses’ day. These critics assured us that the first 5 books of the Bible were put together centuries after Moses by a group of editors and were subsequently attributed to Moses. However, in 1901 the Black Stele was found which contained the detailed laws of Hammurabi’s Code. The significant aspect of this find was that it was pre-Mosaic by at least 300 years. Therefore, it proved both writing and law codes were in existence centuries before Moses.

Another archaeological find that confirms the existence of writing centuries before the time of Moses is the discovery of the Elba Tablets in northern Syria in the 1960’s.

The Elba kingdom was in existence approximately 1,000 years before Moses lived. These documents written on clay tablets in approximately 2,300 BC, demonstrate that both personal and place names that occur in the account of the patriarchs are genuine. Critics thought that the name “Canaan” was incorrectly used in the book of Genesis, but it is found in the Elba Tablets. The word for the deep in Genesis 1:2 (tehom) was said to belong to a time much later than the writing of Genesis. But the word tehom also appears in the Elba Tablets.

Sir William Ramsay was one of the great archaeologists of modern times, undertaking extensive work in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Initially, he started this work as an unbeliever who was convinced that the book of Acts was the product of the 2^nd century and not written by Luke, a 1^st century historian. One of his goals was to prove that the history of the 1^st century was inaccurate. His beliefs were drastically changed when his finds confirmed the accuracy of the book of Acts in even it minutest detail.

Acts 14:6 “But they found out about it (a Jewish plot against Paul and Barnabas) and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country.”

In the 19^th century, Acts 14:6 was presented as an example of an historical error in the Bible. The verse portrays Paul and Barnabas as entering the province of Lycaonia when they came to Lystra and Derbe. The problem was that Iconium, the city from which they fled, was also in the province of Lycaonia. Ramsay checked out this passage in his quest to prove the historical inaccuracy of Acts. His archaeological discoveries showed that Iconium was made a part of Phrygia only during AD 37-72, both before and after this it was part of Lycaonia. Thus we find that Luke’s statement was written in the one and only period of history in which it would be accurate.