Archeology confirms the Bible

Bible stories have been confirmed by archeological findings such as Noah’s flood, Sodom  and Gomorrah, Israel’s exodus out of Egypt, conquest of Jericho, etc.

In Luke 19:40, Jesus says “If the people  would keep silent, the stones would  immediately cry out” and that’s literally  what is happening all over the world. Stones that archaeologists are  uncovering are crying out with  historical proof of the Bible. For the  past 150 years, hundreds of brilliant  scholars have conducted detailed  archaeological examinations at thousands  of sites throughout the Middle East. Their results over and over again have  proven that the Bible is reliable and  accurate in every single area where its  statements could be tested.

The Bible says that the world became so  evil at one point that God decided to  destroy everyone but Noah and his family  through a massive worldwide flood. God  instructed Noah to build a floating ark  to save his family and all of the  species of animals that God had created. Skeptics claim the ark was simply a myth  but you might be surprised to know that  many people say they have actually seen  the ark, which the Bible says came to  rest on the mountains of Ararat in what  is now known as Turkey. And it’s there right now. The mountains  are covered with snow about nine months  of the year, effectively preserving the  art by leaving it in deep freeze. 700 years ago, the famous Venetian  merchant Marco Polo even wrote about the  ark being on a high mountain in Armenia  and there have been people who have not  only seen the ark but walked through it. Residents of Armenian villages on the  mountain regularly took their children  to see the ark, a large flat ship stuck  in the snow. And for generations they  have passed down a story about the ark.

Did you know archaeologists have  discovered the ancient sites of Sodom  and Gomorrah mentioned in Genesis? God  said in chapter 19 that the cities were  so evil he was going to destroy them. The  ruins are southeast of the Dead Sea, near  the modern-day cities of Babadra and  Numeria in Jordan. Archaeologists have  made some startling discoveries in the  cemetery at what was once Sodom. They  found that the building used to bury the  dead was destroyed by a fire which  started on the roof. Why is that so  strange? Conquering nations would not  have bothered to burn a burial building  because the people inside were already  dead. And the fire starting on the roof  and burning down rather than from low or  inside where a person would be is an  indication that the fire came out of the  sky. Dr Bryant Wood explains what he  found while digging at the site. We have  abundant evidence for petroleum products  in this area and for sulfur deposits and  it seems quite likely that the cause of  that destruction was earthquake activity  which caused some of these materials to have been released from underground and  shot into the air and ignited and then  fell back down on cities, thus destroying them as the Bible  describes. 

“The Lord rained down sulfur  and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the  Lord out of the heavens.” (Gen 19:24) 

Now this was the  sin of your sister Sodom. She and her  daughters were arrogant, overfed and  unconcerned. They did not help the poor and  needy. They were haughty and did  detestable things before me. Therefore, I  did away with them as you have seen. (Ezekiel 16:49) 

What about Moses? This story made a good movie The Ten Commandments but did he  actually lead more than a million  Israelites out of Egypt and into the  desert toward the land God had promised Abraham’s ancestors? The Israelites’  40-year Exodus is mentioned in detail in  the Bible in Numbers 33. For many years,  some said the places the Israelites name  never existed. That’s because they hadn’t  found any archeological proof yet. And  those supposed experts say if there’s no  proof, the Bible must be lying. But as  always has been the case throughout all  of history, time proves the doubters dead  wrong when it comes to the Bible. You  could say that the Israelites weren’t  the Egyptians’ favorite people. Yet it’s  the Egyptians who God used to provide  physical evidence that what the Bible  says is true. Archaeologists have now  found Egyptian records which mentioned  the same names as those in Numbers, names  of sites the Israelites traveled through  in their exodus out of Egypt and towards  the promised land. It turns out they  weren’t just made up places after all;  they really existed thousands of years  ago. But it took modern-day  archaeologists to uncover the records  and prove the account was recorded  truthfully in the Bible.

Of the hundreds of thousands of  artifacts found by archaeologists, not  one has ever been discovered that  contradicts or denies one word, phrase,  clause or sentence of the Bible but  always confirms and verifies the facts  of the biblical record. 

Dr. J.O. Kinnaman,  scholar: 30 years after the Israelites  left Egypt in ruins, God led them out of  the desert into the land he promised  their forefathers hundreds of years  before. The Bible says the Israelites crossed  over the Jordan River into Canaan. God  commanded them through Joshua to attack  and destroy the first enemy city, the  city of Jericho but it wasn’t exactly a  West Point plan. The Bible describes the  attack on Jericho in the sixth chapter  of Joshua and in the book of Judges. Years ago, some archaeologists said the  attack on Jericho never really happened. All the liberal books were filled with  things like “You don’t have to accept  Jericho as an actual fact of history, it was  just a Hebrew myth.” Then archaeologist  John Garstang did the unthinkable and  unforgivable. He dug up Jericho. Now what  did God say and what did Garstang find?

And the Lord said to Joshua “See I have  given Jericho into your hand, its king  and all the mighty men who are in the  city.” (Joshua 6:2)

We know that Jericho had many  thousands of inhabitants. We know its  walls were 45 feet high, in some places  in excess of 20 feet thick. It was  unassailable except by siege. You  couldn’t get in. Jericho was very strongly fortified. Archaeologists  have found that there was a great earthen embankment around the city and  at the base of the embankment there was  a retaining wall about 15 feet high. On  top of that, a mud brick wall about 20  feet high and then at the crest of that  embankment, another mud brick wall about  20 feet high. So it’s very strongly  defended exactly as the Bible says.

You  shall march around the city, all you men  of war. You shall go around the city once. You shall do the same thing for six days. Can you imagine General Joshua getting  an instruction like this from supreme  headquarters? He’s looking at this  massive wall, a hostile land, the  Israelites had the Jordan River at their  backs and they were facing an enemy city  with two layers of mud brick walls. It  seemed impossible to think they could  conquer Jericho. And if Joshua didn’t  take the city, he would lose the land of the  Canaanites. He goes to God for counseling: What should I do? And the Lord says “I’ve  already given you this city.” Joshua: How would you like me  to do it? Do we breach the walls? No. Do we  break down those gates? No. Tunnel  underneath? No. We get catapults and  throw rocks? No. What do we do? You get  the priests and the people together and  the Ark of the Covenant and you march  around the city for six days and then  you’re going to blow your trumpets and  the walls are going to fall down. Talk  about poor military decision. We would  have good reason to call into question  the supreme military capability of the  God of the Bible. But God said do it.

And  seven priests shall bear before the ark  seven trumpets of rams horns. But the  seventh day you shall march around the  city seven times and the priests shall  blow the trumpets. Then it shall come to  pass when they make a long blast with  the ram’s horn and when you hear the  sound of the trumpet that all the people  shall shout with a great shout, then the  wall of the city Jericho will fall down flat (Joshua 6:4-5).

Joshua believed God and they marched  around the city each day, seven times on  the seventh day. After the seventh trip  around, they broke their silence by  shouting and then God did an amazing  thing. When the men shouted, Jericho’s  walls fell down. The walls were not  breached, the gates were not knocked in. When Garstang got to the walls, they had  fallen to the ground. He said “It was as  if some gigantic hand had come down out  of heaven and gone around the walls with  his finger like a sandcastle on the  beach.” The stones cry out in Jericho with  evidence that the Bible accurately  described its destruction, more proof  that what the Bible says is true. 

A feature that separates the Bible from  all other ancient literature is its  historical precision. Within the pages of  the Bible, we find many references to  events, people and places. The science of  archaeology, along with the testimony of  secular historical records, confirm the  precision of the references in the  various biblical books. “This minute  attention to detail observed by the  biblical writers is unparalleled in any  other ancient literature.” Don Stewart,  author and teacher.