It is essential that we base our religious practices and beliefs on facts, this helps with developing a meaningful faith and sharing it with others. Historical and archeological evidence confirm what we can read in the Bible, and in this article we will examine just a few of the many available to us. God is telling us in so many different ways how to build trust and faith in Him, if we are willing to listen. Jesus Himself said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15)
In 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37, the Bible records King Hezekiah’s urgent prayer to God about Assyrian King Sennacherib’s invasion of Palestine in 701 BC. In 2 Kings 19:35 we can see where God answered that prayer by dispatching an angel who destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers overnight, forcing Sennacherib to withdraw and go home. Taylor’s Prism is a hexagonal artifact discovered in 1830 in Iraq and is currently at the British Museum. It dates back to 691 BC and gives intricate accepted historical details of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s various military campaigns, including one against ancient Judah and King Hezekiah. The significance of the prism is that it records Sennacherib’s invasion of Palestine and oddly just says he surrounded Jerusalem and confined King Hezekiah there “like a bird in a cage”, omitting any mention of capture or defeat of Jerusalem, just stating that he returned home. We can see why Sennacherib left out the details of what might have looked like a huge and embarrassing defeat from the history recorded on the prism. So why is this important to us? It is important because God provided an archeological find with an odd inscription corroborating what we can read about in the Bible.
In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we can read where Daniel the prophet interpreted a dream of the Babylonian king and prophesied about 3 future empires to come after his (see Daniel 2:31-39). Daniel goes on to specify in chapter 8:20-21 that the first empire would be Persia and would be followed by Greece. The major significance of what we see in Daniel is not that he just records history, but that he predicts these things well in advance of Babylon’s fall and while it is still strong; about 12 years prior for Persia and over 220 years prior for Greece. Daniel also records the details of the names of 4 Persian monarchs: Cyrus, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, and Darius II (Daniel 11:2). Archeologists have examined the ancient inscriptions at Persepolis (in modern day Iran) as well as the historical data recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder (discovered in 1879 during excavations of Babylon), and have confirmed the history we first read about in the Bible.
The text of the Bible is remarkably accurate and well preserved. Most Bible versions people have today use the Masoretic Text (a.k.a. the Leningrad Codex) as the Hebrew source-manuscript for the Old Testament. The Masoretic Text dates to 1008 AD and while that may seem old, when you consider when Moses wrote the first 5 books (about 1446 BC) we can see that we are talking about a manuscript that was copied down about 2500 years after Moses penned the originals. This could be a source of doubt, but archeological discoveries have repeatedly proved the opposite, that the text we have is superior and accurate. For example, in the mid 1940’s and 1950’s several caves were discovered around the Dead Sea in Israel containing ancient manuscripts. The Dead Sea Scrolls, as they came to be called, are an archeological treasure-trove as they include many copies of various Bible books with some of these dating back to the 2nd century BC. The Dead Sea Scrolls predate the oldest manuscripts we previously had by up to 12 centuries and are near word for word copies. God’s hand at work!
In 1979 the Ketef Hinnom amulets were discovered. These small scrolls of pure silver contain Bible verses (Numbers 6:24-26 and Deuteronomy 7:9) and were meant to be worn around a person’s neck. The amulets contain the oldest known written passages of the Bible and date to about 600 BC, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by about 500 years. Comparison of the passages on the amulets to the Masoretic Text has revealed that they are near copies of each other, so our text again proved to be accurate.
Finally, in 1935 a fragment of the New Testament Gospel of John (with 18:31-33 on the front and 18:37-38 on the back) was discovered, dating to as early as 125 AD by some scholars. Designated the Rylands Fragment (P52), it predates our oldest complete copies of New Testament scripture by 175 years and was written very close to when many think the Apostle John lived (possibly into the 2nd century). Scholars again found what we have been highlighting, each new archeological discovery just serves to prove to us the consistent accuracy of the text we already had.
The Bible of course by itself is enough. However, it is amazing that the deeper we dig into the Bible the more evidences are shown to us to help add to our faith. I am convinced these archeological finds are a blessing from God and serve to give us the facts we need to increase our faith even more. We need to be thankful to Him.
The Bible calls on us to make substantive changes in our lives, to turn away from sin and toward Him, to stop serving self and serve Him, to completely rely upon Him. God willing, the next article will focus on our Trust Issues and how the Blessing of Trust can bring us closer to Him.
If you have any questions or comments, or would like to study any Bible topic, please contact me!
Jeff Mullen
Blanco Hills Church
830-554-0701
blancohillschurch@gmail.com