ARCHEOLOGY

 

  1. Dead Sea Scrolls
    • Discovered March 1947 (leather scrolls)
    • Owned by a Jewish religious sect called the Essenes
    • Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls
      • Carbon 14 Process = 168BC and 233 AD
      • Paleography & Orthography = writing forms and spelling (before 100BC)
      • Archeology = pottery found in caves from late Hellenistic (150-163 BC) and early Roman period (63BC – 100AD)
    • Dead Sea Caves (#1-11)
      • CAVE #1
        • Earliest known complete book of the Bible (Isaiah)
        • Commentary on Habakkuk
        • Genesis Apocryphon
      • Cave #2
        • Discovered by Bedoins
        • Fragments of about 100 manuscripts found
      • Cave #3
        • 2 halves of a copper scroll
        • Directions to 60 other cities
      • Cave #4
        • Also called the Partridge Cave
        • Discovered September 1952
        • Fragments of Samuel
        • Oldest known piece of Biblical Hebrew (4th Century BC)
      • Cave #5
        • Some Biblical and Apocryphal books
      • Cave #6
        • Mostly papyrus fragments
      • Cave #7
      • Cave #8
        • Fragment of Genesis, Psalms, and a mezuzah
      • Cave #9
      • Cave #10
      • Cave #11
        • Some of the Psalms (Psalms 157) and portion of Leviticus
        • An Aramaic Targum (paraphrase) of Job
  1. Assyrian Limmu List
    • Discovered in Ninevah
    • Cuneiform tablets listing over 250 years of Assyrian history
    • Assyrians named each year after a person called the Limmu
    • Limmu = a high official of the court, governor of a province or the king himself
    • We are able to apply this to the Old Testament to determine specific dates
  1. Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III
    • An inscription that mentions Ahab, King of Israel
    • Another inscription says that King Jehu brought tribute to Shalmaneser in 841BC
  1. The Cyrus Cylinder
    • Confirms the Biblical claim that Cyrus allowed the Jewish people who had been captured by the Babylonians to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple
    • Discovered in 1879 in the ruins of Babylon by Hormuzd Rassam
    • 19th century critics claimed the Bible was wrong because a king would never allow a captured people to return to their homes and rebuild their temples but this discovery proves otherwise
  1. Merneptah Stele
    • Discovered in 1896
    • 10 foot tall inscribed monument
    • Records victories of Pharoah Merneptah (1213 to 1203 BC)
    • Last three lines talk about campaign into Canaan
    • “Israel is wasted, its seed is not”
    • The oldest definitive reference to Israel as a nation outside of the Bible
    • The clearest Egyptian reference to Israel as a nation
    • Confirms the chronology of the Bible
  1. Moabite Stone
    • Discovered in 1868
    • Recording the acts of Mesha, King of Moab around 840 BC
    • Contains 34 lines of text written in Moabite that describes the same event as 2 Kings 3 regarding Moab being subject to Israel
    • Contains a reference to YHWH. The earliest mention of Yahweh outside the Bible
    • Contains reference to the “House of David”
  1. The Jerusalem Chronicle
    • Series of clay tablets that recount history of kings of Babylon between 605-594 BC
    • Records the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar
    • 2 Kings 24:10,15,17; 2 Chron. 36:18
    • Gives the exact date that the city of Jerusalem fell: March 16, 597 BC
  1. Hezekiah’s Tunnel
    • 2 Chron. 32:2-4,30 talks about Hezekiah preparations made when he knew the Assyrian King was on his way to besiege Jerusalem
    • Hezekiah made a tunnel that connected to a pool that brought water into the city
  1. The Lachish Reliefs
    • Stone carvings from the wall of the palace of Sennacherib depict the siege of the city of Lachish
    • 2 Chronicles 32:9-10
  1. Silver Kitef Hinnom Scrolls
    • Discovered in 1979-80
    • Lead to the discovery of 2 Amulets
    • A mirror of Numbers 6:24-26
    • Identified traces of new letters and clarify those letters that were difficult to read
    • Amulet 1 references Deut. 7:9
    • Contains the oldest extra-biblical reference to YHWH
    • Provide evidence that the books of Moses were not written in the exilic or post-exilic period
    • Demonstrate the accuracy of scribes who copied the Scriptures over hundreds of years
  1. Tel Dan Stele
    • During the 1980’s and 90’s, the Bible was being criticized and claimed to have no historical value
    • Critics rejected the existence of a historical King David
    • Critics rejected King David and Solomon’s kingdom as being an actual kingdown, but instead a small tribal kingdom
    • Discovered in 1993
    • Records the victory of the King of Aram (Hazael) over the King of Israel, and his ally, the king of the “House of David”
    • Dates to the 9th century BC
    • First, clear, widely acknowledged reference to David
    • House of David mean Dynasty of David
  1. Other Misc. Discoveries
    • The Taylor Prism
    • The Nabonidus Cylinder
    • The Lachish Letters
    • The Berlin Pedestal
    • The Shishak City List from the Temple at Karnak
    • The Megiddo/Jeroboam II Seal
    • The Soleb Inscription
    • Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III
    • Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad
    • The Epitaph of Uzziah
    • Arad Ostracon with the phrase “House of Yahweh”
    • The walls of Jericho
    • The city gates of Hazor, Gezer and Megiddo
    • Khirbet el-Maqatir (the city of Ai in Joshua 7&8)