One of the major obstacles to accepting Christianity as the truth and the only way to restore a right relationship with the Creator of the universe is people's unwillingness to take the Bible seriously as the word of God. We already saw that in the area of morality where people balk at the thought of having a 2500 year old book determine behaviors, especially in the area of sex. It is primarily seen as a theological book written by men not God and as to History and Science, it can't be trusted in these areas. The next few blogs will deal with this subject - Is the Bible to be trusted as a correct history of the world and can we take seriously the science found in the Bible. Certainly if it is God's word, we would be embarassed for God if He can't recount History or Geography accurately. And if we are claiming that God is all knowing and all powerful, we should expect His book to represent that in the areas of science. Lastly, we would expect His word to not have to be updated as to content to adjust to scientific or archeologic findings. It should be as accurate 2000 years after it is written as when it was written. So first, let's look at if the Bible has historical errors.
If you look at a religious book like The Book of Mormon that tries to be historical, or the Koran which gives some history also, we see how the Bible stands in a completely different league. In fact you could make a case that the Bible is a History book which also contains theology. The Book of Mormon, for example, states that in the Americas from 600BC - 421 AD that there was silk, horses, steel, iron, coins, donkeys, cattle, cows, and oxen, pigs, grain and wheat - yet according to the Smithsonian Institute none of those items existed here according to archeology. Mormon 6:9-15 states that many thousands of men fought in a great battle armed with swords, bows, axes, yet none of this has ever been found. Ether 15:2 states that 2 million Jaredite people were killed in a battle armed with shields, breastplates, headplates, etc. yet not one person or armament has ever been recovered from this battle.
The Koran has some notable problems too. According to the Koran, Mecca was the first and most important city in the world. Adam placed the black stone in the original sanctuary there while Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt the sanctuary many years later. Mecca was the center of Arabian trading routes before Muhammad's time. Unfortunately there is no archeological confirmation of this. In fact, Mecca is first mentioned as a city in an 5th century document. According to the Koran, the direction of prayer was to face Mecca as of 624AD. However on excavating mosques, they all faced Jerusalem until the 8th century. Also, on studying the earliest manuscripts of the Koran (150 years after written) they vary substantially with the current Koran.
Not so with the Bible. A noted archaeologist said, "No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference". Let's look at some of these findings and validations.
Creation - Ebla tablets found in Syria consist of 1800 clay tablets dated 2500BC.
They are in the Sumerian language which predates the Hebrew language. Long before all the creation legends developed in many cultures, this one is very similar to the Genesis account. It speaks of one being who created Heavens, Moons, Stars,and Earth out of nothing. A quote goes "Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Earth was not...You created it. The day was not...you created it, the morning light you had not yet made exist." Also, near Ninevah, a seal dated 3500BC shows a naked man and woman bent over as if they were downcast. This is felt to represent Adam and Eve.
Flood - Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hindus, Chinese, Mexicans, Hawaiians all have records of or stories of a flood. What is common to all of them is that a man is told to build a ship to specific dimensions by God who is going to flood the world. He rides out the storm and offers sacrifices on leaving the boat. God responds with remorse and makes a covenant with man. Much of our geological findings confirm a universal flood which we will get to in the next blog.
Tower of Babel - Sumerian literature alludes to a world with a universal language. It tells of the king of Ur (2044BC - 2007 BC) gave orders to build a great tower as an act of worship to the Moon God. This offended other gods so they threw down the temple, scattered the people, and made their speech strange.
Abraham - The Mari documents were found in northern Syria and are dated around 2000BC. They speak of the war described in Genesis 14:8,9 between four kings one of whom is the Amorite king called Arioch in the Bible and Ariwwuk in these documents.
"...the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five." Gen.14:8,9
It also describes cities by the name of Haran and Nahor possibly after Abraham's brothers.
Dr. Steven Collins is currently excavating the region of Sodom and Gommorah and has made multiple findings confirming the validity of scripture. Along with locating the area by using geographic descriptions from the Bible, he has found an area covered with Sulphur smelling ash with evidence of super-heating to the level of a nuclear event. Also he has found signs of rapid death and destruction and even though this is in a well watered plain, no one built on this sight for 500 years after the destruction.
Moses - An old papyrus written by Egyptian priest Ipuwer
tells of a series of plagues including the river turning to blood, crops consumed, darkness, and children and princes dying and mass burials of brothers with wailing and lamentation throughout the land. A monolith of El-Arish tells a similar story of darkness and suffering in the land in the days of King Thom. Armies of Pharoah went out to fight against the friends of Apopi (the god of darkness) and didn't come back as they leapt into the Place of the Whirlpool.
There is much archaeological evidence for the Pharoahs mentioned in the Bible.
"So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed." Gen. 47:11
RamsesII 1279-1214BC
" Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him". 2Kings 19:9
Tirhakah 690-640BC
" This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies" Jeremiah 44:30
Hophra 598-560BC
"...Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish." 2Chron.35:20
Necho 610-595BC
Saul became the first king of Israel and his fortress at Gibeah has been excavated. One of the noteworthy finds was that slingshots were one of the most important weapons of the day which not only relates to David but Judges 20:16 "there were 700 slingers in Israel who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss."
The Hittites were thought by critics of the Bible, not to have existed. In recent years, so much has been excavated about the Hittites that there is a whole museum in Ankara, Turkey devoted to Hittite relics.
David was thought to be a legend made up by the Israelites to scare their enemies until an inscription dated 900BC was found which refers to "The House of David" called the Tel Dan Inscription: This stone tablet
contains an inscription that is the first reference to the Davidic dynasty outside of the Bible. It was erected by Hazael, king of Aram, which is present-day Syria. The inscription makes reference to a military victory and corresponds to the biblical account in 2 Chron. 22.
"He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 6 so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram." 2Chron.22:5,6
This inscription dates to the 9th century B.C., thus giving us accurate dating to the Davidic dynasty as well verifying its existence. This is the only extra-biblical reference to the House of David that has been discovered to date.
Also a stone was found in the city of Gath, the city of Goliath that bears the name Goliath written in Hebrew. This is also dated in the same time period.
Solomon's temple was completely destroyed so little evidence for this has been found. However, in a curio shop in Israel was found a small ornament, a pomegranate, that sits on the end of a rod and bears the inscription, "Belonging to the temple of Yahweh"
An excavation of Gezer in 1969 revealed a massive layer of ash covering a mound. This puzzled researchers until they found 1Kings 9:16, " For Pharoah, king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire and killed the Caananites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomons's wife.
The Assyrian invasion - 26,000 tablets found in the palace of Esarhaddon
who conquered the northern kingdom in 722BC confirm the Bible's accuracy. Even though Sargon was unknown for sometime, when his palace was found and excavated there was a wall painting of the battle mentioned in Isaiah.
"In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it" Isa.20:1
Accounts of the attempted siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib (2Kings 19:36) are also found where he recounts," I made the King of Israel a prisoner in his own palace like a bird in a cage." His annals were found in the Sennacherib prism.
Ahab and Jezebel the below artifact mentions Ahab at the battle of Qarqar in 850BC
...and a seal of Jezebel has also been found
An 8th century BC amulet has been found which reads, "Belonging to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah"
Also, Hezekiah made a tunnel in which was discovered in 1838 and can be walked through today.
"As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?" 2Kings 20:20
A recent article from Relevant magazine tells of this finding in 2016.
Archaeologists in Israel were recently digging at the site of the ancient city of Tel Lachish located in the Kingdom of Judah. There, they uncovered what is believed to be a 2,700-year-old toilet like one actually described in the Bible. The toilet was found in a room of a multi-chambered gate, that may have once been a shrine. Nearby, were small alters to cult figures which appeared to have been intentionally damaged: their "horned corners had been smashed." It looks like ancient Israelite rulers installed a toilet in the alter room as a way of desecrating idols to false gods. As it turns out, this exact scenario is mentioned in the Old Testament. 2 Kings 10:27 says that Israelite forces had previously “demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.”
Babylonian captivity - Records found in Babylon's Hanging Gardens have shown that Jehoiachin and his five sons were given a monthly ration and place to live and were well treated. It actually lists the oil and grain rations given to him and his family.
"In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived." 2Kings 25:29,30
The name Belshazzer (Daniel 5 and the writing on the wall) had caused problems because there was no mention of him in the list of Babylonian kings. Records have recently been found in a clay cylinder
that Nabodonius appointed his son, Belshazzer, to reign for a few years in his absence.
The edict that Cyrus gave in Ezra 1 to rebuild Jerusalem has been found in a cylinder in 1879.
and corroborates the Biblical account.
"Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.
King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found" Ezra 5:17, 6:1
Nebuchudnezzer 605-582BC. The Nebuchudnezzer brick states, "Nebuchudnezzer, King of Babylon who cares for Esaglia and the eldest son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon
Nebo-sarsekim - the Nebo-Sarsekim tablet is a clay cuneiform inscription that refers to Nebo-Sarsekim as being an official from the court of Nebuchudnezzer, was unearthed in the 1870s
"Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon" Jeremiah 39:3
King Esarhaddon 689-671BC Below is a plaque of Esarhaddon, youngest son of Sennacherib with the queen mother.
"One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king". 2Kings 19:37
King Mesha of Moab. The Mesha or Moabite stone is dated at 840BC and is set up 20 miles east of the Dead Sea
"Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams." 2Kings 3:4
King Uzziah. In 1931 the Uzziah tablet was discovered
Ezekiel prophecies that the city of Tyre would be ruined and its remains cast into the sea.
" They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. 13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord." Ezek 26:12 - 14
This provoked scoffing at the Bible when it was discovered that Nebuchudnezzer destroyed Tyre and left the ruins where they were. However, it was found that 200 years later, Alexander the Great conquered the city and its inhabitants fled to a nearby island. In order to reach them, Alexander threw all the remnants of the city into the sea to make a causeway to reach the island. Later, this area became a great place for fishing.
As to manuscript evidence for the old testament...
Dead Sea Scrolls: One of the most important finds of in the field of biblical archaeology is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 in the Qumran area on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. There are approximately 900 documents and fragments that comprise the find. The scrolls predate A.D. 100 and include a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The significance of the find is the age of the documents and the astonishing lack of variants to documents that have been most trustworthy . The vast majority of the variants (about 99 percent) are punctuation or spelling errors. Incredibly, none of the variants changed the meaning of the text, nor did they contain any significant theological differences. This gives us the assurance that the text we have today in our Bible is the same as the early church had two thousand years ago. No other secular manuscripts can make the same claim.
New Testament Archeology
Caesar Augustus Luke 22:17-21 When Jesus was asked about paying taxes, he asked for a coin and said, "Whose face is on this coin?"... "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's"
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. Luke 3:1,2 Luke lists eight people here and all eight have been confirmed by outside sources, to have lived and to have lived at this precise time, 29AD.
Tiberius Caesar - Tiberius also had his face on a coin
Caiaphas Ossuary: An ossuary is a stone or pottery box in which the remains of a deceased person are buried (an ancient casket). The Caiaphas Ossuary found in 1990, bears the inscription “Yeosef bar Qafa” and is dated to the second temple period. Yeosef (Joseph) was the son of Caiaphas. This verifies that there was a high priest at the time of Jesus and his name was Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the priest that presided over the false trial of Jesus
Pilate Inscription: This stone tablet was found in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. The tablet was found in the theater of Caesarea and bears an inscription mentioning the name of Pontius Pilate the procurator of Judea, and the Tiberium, which was an edifice built in honor of the Emperor Tiberius by Pilate. There has been much written to discredit the biblical narrative in regard to the existence of Pilate; this tablet clearly says that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea" and verifies that he was a person that lived during the time of Jesus, exactly as written in the biblical narrative.
Herod the Great 74-4BC Matthew 2:1 Here is a coin named after Herod the great or Herod I
"Now Herod Antipas had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison " Matthew 14:3.
Crucified Man: This is the remains of a full skeleton of a man crucified in the first century. The foot bone contains a bent crucifixion nail. There have been those that argued that the crucifixion of Christ was a hoax because that was not a form of capital punishment in Christ’s time. These remains verify that crucifixion was being done and that the crucifixion of Jesus was done exactly as outlined in the biblical narrative.
King Aretas was the king of Damascus from 9AD - 40AD. He also had a coin in his honor
"In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me." 2Corinthians 11:32
Claudius Caesar- The 4th Roman Emperor who had, guess what, a coin made after him ...
"who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Acts 18:2"
...which also on the reverse side has Diana of the Ephesians
There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty. They all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” Acts 19:27,35
Sergius Paulus An inscription was found in 1877 which referred to Sregius Paulus as a proconsul.
"... who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus."Acts 13:7
Jesus - How do we know that Jesus really existed outside of the Bible? Is there historical proof? Actually there are a number of hostile and Jewish sources that talk of Jesus. Josephus (37-101AD), Thallus (52AD), Tacitus (56-120AD), Mara Bar-Serapion (70AD), Phlegon (80-140AD), Pliny the Younger (61-113AD), Suetonius (69-140AD), Lucian (115-200AD), Celsus (175AD) If you compile their writings along with the Jewish Talmud and the Toledot , here is what we know about Jesus without the Bible:
Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.
So the history of the Old and New Testament seems very reliable. Any challenges, given time, are explained with new findings. But how do we know that the content hasn't changed substantially over 2000 years. In other words, how do we know that the Bible we have in our hands is the one that was written by God through inspired men so many years ago?
The following is an article on the archeology of Bible manuscripts by Matt Slick.
| Author | Date Written | Earliest Copy | Approximate Time Span between original & copy | Number of Copies | Accuracy of Copies |
| Lucretius | died 55 or 53 B.C. | 1100 yrs | 2 | ---- | |
| Pliny | A.D. 61-113 | A.D. 850 | 750 yrs | 7 | ---- |
| Plato | 427-347 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1200 yrs | 7 | ---- |
| Demosthenes | 4th Cent. B.C. | A.D. 1100 | 800 yrs | 8 | ---- |
| Herodotus | 480-425 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1300 yrs | 8 | ---- |
| Suetonius | A.D. 75-160 | A.D. 950 | 800 yrs | 8 | ---- |
| Thucydides | 460-400 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1300 yrs | 8 | ---- |
| Euripides | 480-406 B.C. | A.D. 1100 | 1300 yrs | 9 | ---- |
| Aristophanes | 450-385 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1200 | 10 | ---- |
| Caesar | 100-44 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1000 | 10 | ---- |
| Livy | 59 BC-AD 17 | ---- | ??? | 20 | ---- |
| Tacitus | circa A.D. 100 | A.D. 1100 | 1000 yrs | 20 | ---- |
| Aristotle | 384-322 B.C. | A.D. 1100 | 1400 | 49 | ---- |
| Sophocles | 496-406 B.C. | A.D. 1000 | 1400 yrs | 193 | ---- |
| Homer (Iliad) | 900 B.C. | 400 B.C. | 500 yrs | 643 | 95% |
| New Testament | 1st Cent. A.D. (A.D. 50-100) | 2nd Cent. A.D. (c. A.D. 130 f.) | less than 100 years | 5600 | 99.5% |
Almost all biblical scholars agree that the New Testament documents were all written before the close of the First Century. If Jesus was crucified in A.D. 30., then that means the entire New Testament was completed within 70 years. This is important because it means there were plenty of people around when the New Testament documents were penned--people who could have contested the writings. In other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would have pointed it out. But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century that contest the New Testament texts.
Furthermore, another important aspect of this discussion is the fact that we have a fragment of the gospel of John that dates back to around 29 years from the original writing (John Rylands Papyri A.D. 125). This is extremely close to the original writing date. This is simply unheard of in any other ancient writing, and it demonstrates that the Gospel of John is a First Century document.
Below is a chart with some of the oldest extant New Testament manuscripts compared to when they were originally penned. Compare these time spans with the next closest, which is Homer's Iliad, where the closest copy from the original is 500 years later. Undoubtedly, that period of time allows for more textual corruption in its transmission. How much less so for the New Testament documents?
| Important Manuscript Papyri | Contents | Date Original Written | MSS Date | Approx. Time Span | Location |
| p52 (John Rylands Fragment)3 | John 18:31-33, 37-38 | circa A.D. 96 | circa A.D. 125 | 29 yrs | John Rylands Library, Manchester, England |
| P46 (Chester Beatty Papyrus) | Rom. 5:17-6:3, 5-14; 8:15-25, 27-35; 10:1-11, 22, 24-33, 35; 16:1-23, 25-27; Heb.; 1 & 2 Cor., Eph., Gal., Phil., Col.; 1 Thess. 1:1, 9-10; 2:1-3; 5:5-9, 23-28 | 50's-70's | circa A.D. 200 | Approx. 150 yrs | Chester Beatty Museum, Dublin & Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan library |
| P66 (Bodmer Papyrus) | John 1:1-6:11, 35-14:26; fragment of 14:29-21:9 | 70's | circa A.D. 200 | Approx. 130 yrs | Cologne, Geneva |
| P67 | Matt. 3:9,15; 5:20-22, 25-28 | circa A.D. 200 | Approx. 130 yrs | Barcelona, Fundacion San Lucas Evangelista, P. Barc.1 |
