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.