Archaeology and the Bible

The Amarna letters

Hebrew Bible: On that day David had given orders, “Whoever would strike down the men of Jebus, let him reach them by way of the water tunnel…  (2 Samuel 5:8)

Amarna tablet: “The Habiru are now attempting to take Jerusalem” (EA287)

The Amarna Letters from Tel el Amarna in Egypt are important in the study of Biblical Archaeology because they refer to events in the middle east going as far back as 1500 years before Yeshua Jesus was born. They refer to the Hebrews, they give evidence of the trustworthiness of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They discuss Canaan, the half of Israel to the west of the Jordan. The Amarna Letters from Jerusalem are of interest as they come from Jerusalem a few centuries before King David would vanquish the Canaanite population of Jerusalem and claim it for Yahweh (2 Samuel 5).

The Amarna Letters are a group of inscribed clay tablets discovered around 1887 at Amarna, a site in Egypt on the east bank of the Nile about 190 miles south of Cairo and were likely a part of the personal libraries of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The tablets total almost 400 in number and are 3 inches wide and from 3 to 9 inches in length, and they are inscribed on both sides. The letters were written in Akkadian, which had been the language of international relations for some time. Today the Tell el Amarna Tablets are mainly in the BRITISH, Berlin and Cairo museums.

2020-09-17T00:53:13+00:00Egypt|

The Chaldeans

The Ziggurat of Ur

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” – Micah 5:2

Chaldea was an ancient land in southern Babylonia, on the Persian Gulf near the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As far as can be traced, the Chaldeans themselves descend from Shem’s son, Arphaxad, who is also an ancestor of Abraham and Israel. The study of Astronomy (which is concerned with the observation of the motions of celestial bodies, and the reduction of these observations to mathematical order) is said to have been instigated by the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C. The Chaldeans of Abraham’s time were pagan and built idols and temples such as the Ziggurat of Ur. The structure is a temple to the moon god Sin (or Nanna, as known in Ur). The Ziggurat was constructed in the 21st century BC and completed by King Shulgi. Abraham was a resident of Ur, and spent his childhood living near the famous Ziggurat, where his father was an idol maker. The boyhood home of Abraham stands about 500 meters from the Ziggurat.

At the time of Daniel, Babylon was the intellectual center of western Asia, and the Chaldeans were renowned for their study and knowledge of science, especially astronomy. They kept detailed astronomical records for over 360 years, which can help us understand how the wise men from the East would have been able to identify the star that marked the coming of the Messiah. The star marked the time. The scriptures like Micah 5:2 told them where and who the Messiah was. These Chaldean wise men and their families spent their lives, generation after generation, in anticipation of the Savior. They had only a few prophecies and a new star. Yet they remained true to their mission.

Friend, are you searching with all your heart for that star? Are you following the scriptures that lead you to Him? He died so that you could live. Find Him now. He is waiting for you.

See: The Astronomical Diaries of Babylon
2020-09-16T04:19:24+00:00Babylonian Chronicles|

The Astronomical Diaries of Babylon

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. – Daniel 12:3

Discovered in the library of the Assyrian king Aššurbanipal in Nineveh, the Astronomical Diaries are stone tablets that date from 650 to 60 BC that are now displayed in the British Museum. The Chaldeans of southern Babylonia (Iraq) were the scientists of the day and the tablets record what is likely the longest research program ever. The Chaldeans who authored these seventy tablets believed that the gods had created the movements of the planets to give the people on earth indications of the future. The interesting thing is that these predictions were not, like the horoscopes in our newspapers, invented by charlatans. On the contrary, the Chaldean astronomers used a purely scientific method. They observed the skies, collected data, discovered regularities, and warned the authorities when they knew something bad was about to happen. The Chaldean astronomers of Assyria and Babylonia are the originators of the scientific method used by astronomers and, in fact, every discipline of science today.

See: The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle
2020-09-15T23:24:54+00:00Babylonian Chronicles|

Babylonian Chronicles – The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle

Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are His.
 He changes times and seasons;
    He deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
    He knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with Him.”

The Babylonian Chronicles were discovered in 1860 in the region of Nineveh. The oldest and most-populous city of the ancient Assyrian empire, Nineveh is situated on the east bank of the Tigris River and now encircled by the modern city of Mosul, Iraq.

The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle records the King’s siege of Jerusalem on March 16th, 597 BC. The chronicle is written on a clay tablet that is now kept in the British Museum.
In Daniel 1 we learn that during the siege, slaves were taken that included four of the finest young Hebrew men. Daniel 1 says that they were to be young men without physical defect, handsome in appearance, skilled in all wisdom, quick to learn, prudent in how they used knowledge, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. They were to learn the literature and language of the CHALDEANS.
The CHALDEANS were secular, educated people from Southern Babylonia. The scientists of that day. Some were Astrologers. Some were capable of interpreting dreams. Upon experiencing a very troubling dream, King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that these wise men not only interpret his dreams, but that they do so without knowing what the dreams were! Just before the King dispatched them all for their incompetence, the young slave Daniel saved them by giving the king just what he asked for. From that time on, the Chaldeans watched Daniel and had faith in his God Yahweh. Daniel went on to serve on the Chaldean Court of Babylon for 70 years. He was a prophet of Yahweh and revealed prophetic secrets to the court that were passed on for future generations of Chaldeans.
Fast forward 600 years. Since the time of Daniel, generations of Chaldeans had studied the Hebrew Scriptures and the prophesies of Daniel. They had passed this knowledge on… generation after generation. And combined with their knowledge of the Scriptures, they were able to use the star to find Yeshua Jesus. They gave precious gifts that later would sustain the Holy family as they fled from Herod to Egypt. And they threw the evil King Herod off of their trail!
Yahweh God used the Chaldeans of Babylon in a mighty way. He used a young Daniel and his friends as a powerful witness. And the stone record of the Babylonian Chronicles is an important example of how the science of Archaeology authenticates the Bible. 
See: The Astronomical Diaries of Babylon
2020-09-15T23:27:44+00:00Babylonian Chronicles|

House of Abraham

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE: HOUSE OF ABRAHAM

The LORD spoke to him (Abraham), “I am the LORD, who brought you from UR of the CHALDEANS, to give you this land as an inheritance.” – Genesis 15:7

The house of Abraham in Ur in southern Iraq is mentioned in the Bible Genesis 11:28: “and Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldeans”. The house dates to 3000 BC. It was discovered by British Archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley in 1929. 
Ur Kaśdim, commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldeans, is a city mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham father of Isacc and Ishmael. In 1862, Henry Rawlinson first identified Ur Kaśdim with Tell el-Muqayyar, near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. It wasn’t excavated until the 1900’s.
References
Sinan Salaheddin (4 April 2013). “Home of Abraham, Ur, unearthed by archaeologists in Iraq”.
McLerran, Dan (2011-06-23). “Birthplace of Abraham Gets a
New Lease on Life | Popular Archaeology – exploring the past”. Popular Archaeology. Archived from the original
“Journey of Faith – National Geographic Magazine”. Ngm
“City of Biblical Abraham Brimmed With Trade and Riches”. 11 March 2016.
“Ancient site unearthed in Iraqi home of Abraham”.
David, Ariel (22 March 2018). “Archaeologists Glance Into Fox Burrow in Iraq, Find 4,000-year-old Sumerian Port” –
A. T. Clay, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915: “kal’-dez (‘ur kasdim; he chora (ton) Chaldaion)
Research by Archaeologist Esther Lovado
2020-09-15T16:53:45+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

The Pilate Stone

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE – THE PILATE STONE
“Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea, has dedicated to the people of Caesarea a temple in honor of Tiberius.”
In 1961, archaeologists discovered a plaque fragment at Caesarea Maritima, an ancient Roman city along the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The plaque was written in Latin and imbedded in a section of steps leading to Caesarea’s Theater.
The “Pilate Stone” is historically significant because it dates to Pilate’s own lifetime. It is contemporary evidence. Yet — powerfully illustrating the distinctly random nature of archaeological discovery — the excavators could easily have missed it, simply discarding it as rubble. By the fourth century, it had been incorporated into a set of stairs in Caesarea’s Herodian theater. There, the inscription faced downward — fortunately, because that position preserved it from being worn away!
2020-09-03T03:57:23+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

King Herod’s Temple Coin

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE – KING HEROD’S TEMPLE
A simple coin gives us the image of King Herod’s Jerusalem Temple that we read of in the Gospels. The sela or tetradrachm features what may be the most accurate representation of the Jerusalem Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The Coin depicts the entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant inside , surmounted by a star with inscription in Paleo-Hebrew.
This coin was issued when part of the Jewish population in Judea revolted against Roman rule, in AD 132, under the leadership of a man named Simon ben Kosiba. He was thought by Jews of the time to be the promised ‘Messiah of Israel’, and was given the surname Bar Kokhba, ‘Son of a Star’, as fulfilment of a prophecy: ‘there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel’ (Numbers 24:17). In AD 135 Bar Kokhba was defeated, and the Roman emperor Hadrian expelled Jews from Jerusalem.
The tetradrachm was made by overstriking a Roman coin. It is possible to see traces of the portrait of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. AD 98–117) on the reverse. The legends on the coin are in Hebrew. The coin depicts the Temple of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans during the first Jewish revolt in AD 70. The reverse represents the palm branches (lulav) and a citrus (etrog) used for the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), during which the Jews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple (following Leviticus 23:40).
Thanks to Archeologist Esther Lovato for this research.
2020-09-01T18:39:09+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

The destruction of Herod’s Temple

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE – DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” He replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” – Matthew 24:1-2

Perhaps one of the most famous passages in which Jesus addresses the Temple is Matthew 24. Here Jesus prophesies the complete destruction of the Herod’s Temple.

Herod began construction on the Temple and its surrounding buildings in A.D. 20, the eighteenth year of his reign. John 2:20 states that the temple took 46 years to build – a time span longer than Herod’s reign. He never lived to see the entire structure completed. Indeed, Josephus tells us (Antiquities 20.219) that final embellishments and repairs on components of the Temple were just being completed at the time of the Jewish revolt in A.D. 70. It was at that time that Titus came into Jerusalem with the 10th Roman Legion and razed the Temple to the ground, burning it, dismantling it, and plowing the entire Temple Mount to the ground, exactly fulfilling the words of Jesus in Matthew 24.

(Thanks to the ancient Historian Josephus and to the amazing researchers at Epic Archaeology for this research)

2020-09-03T14:43:13+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

The Pool of Bethesda

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE-
THE POOL OF BETHESDA
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. – John 5:1–9 ✝️
The Apostle John wrote about the existence of a pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–9) and said that it was located in the region of Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, surrounded by five colonnades. For many years, some have argued that no such place exists outside of John’s gospel. This might support an argument that John’s gospel was written late in history by someone who was unfamiliar with the features of the city. In 1888, however, archaeologists began excavating the area near St. Anne’s Church in Jerusalem and discovered the remains of the pool, complete with steps leading down from one side and five shallow porticoes on another side. In addition, the twentieth-century discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls also provided us with ancient confirmation of the pool’s existence. The COPPER SCROLL (written between AD 25 and AD 68) described a list of locations in Jerusalem that included a pool called “Beth Eshdathayin” located near a porch. The claims of a first-century gospel writer are corroborated by archaeology! ❤️
2020-09-03T14:51:54+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

Caesar Augustus Coin

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE – CAESAR AUGUSTUS

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” – Luke 2:1

This bronze coin was issued in Ephesus to celebrate Caesar Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and bears his image. Caesar Augustus unknowingly fulfilled Bible prophecy when he made the decree that everyone in the empire should be enrolled in a census,

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child” – Luke 1:4-5

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” – Micah 5:2

2020-09-03T14:23:23+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|

Isaiah’s Signature Seal

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE – ISAIAH’S SIGNATURE SEAL
But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way;and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53
The signature seal of the Prophet Isaiah has been discovered at the Ophel excavation site, just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, about 3 meters away from where King Hezekiah’s royal seal was found. In the Bible, Isaiah is described as an advisor to King Hezekiah in 2nd Kings.
Friends, Jesus said of those proclaiming Him Lord, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” – Luke 19:40
2020-09-03T14:56:13+00:00Archaeology and the Bible|
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