Bibliology Session 6-Historicity of the Bible Part 2

Defending Inspiration The Historicity of the Bible Part 2 Defending Inspiration The idea that the Bible is a supernatural book sourced in God has come under immense attack in the last couple hundred years, however, we are going to defend the idea of inspiration by using two main angles… 1. The Historic Nature of the Bible 2. The Supernatural Nature of the Bible Historicity of the Bible 1. The Bible Claims to be Historically Accurate & Based upon Eyewitness Accounts (Deut. 4:32-40; Luke 1:1-4; Acts 4:20; 26:24-27; 1 Cor. 15:6; 1 John 1:1-4). 2. The Bible Can be Demonstrated to be Historically Accurate by Examining Evidence from History & Archeology. In 1993, archeologists digging at Tel Dan in northern Israel found a fragment of a stone inscription that clearly refers to the “house of David” and identifies David as the “king of Israel.” This is the first inscription outside the Bible that confirms that David was the king of Israel in the ninth century BC. Some critics suggested that the find was a fake. But the following summer two additional fragments of the original were found. Hezekiah’s Tunnel According to 2 Kings 20:20, King Hezekiah brought water into the city of Jerusalem in preparation for the impending invasion of Sennacherib. In 1880 some school boys were wading in the Pool of Siloam when one waded about nineteen feet into the conduit and discovered some peculiar marks cut in the east rock wall above the water level. When they informed their teacher, Professor Conrad Scheck, he and Dr. Sayce visited the spot and copied the inscription. It consisted of six lines written in ancient Hebrew. “Now this is the story of the boring through; while the excavators were still lifting up their picks, each toward his fellow, and while there were yet three cubits to excavate, there was heard the voice of one calling to another, for there was a crevice in the rock, on the right hand. And on the day they completed the boring through, the stone-cutters struck pick against pick, one against the other; and the waters flowed from the spring to the pool, a distance of 1000 cubits. And a hundred cubits was the height of the rock above the heads of the stone-cutters.” Excavations at Bet She’an Upon Saul’s death, 1 Samuel records that his armor was put in the temple of Ashtaroth in the city of Bet She’an. Yet the book of Chronicles states that his head was put in the temple of Dagon. So which was it? This was thought to be an error because it seemed unlikely that a Canaanite and Philistine temple would be in proximity. However, excavations have revealed that there are two temples at this site that are separated by a hallway: one for Dagon, the other for Ashtaroth. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser The obelisk was created from black limestone in Calah (the modern city of Nimrud) and erected in 825 bc. It was discovered there in 1846 and is now housed in the British Museum. This cast is located at the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser A bas-relief sculpture that commemorates the military exploits of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (r. 858–824 bc) during the first 31 years of his reign. The obelisk features five rows of reliefs that depict five subdued kings bringing tribute to Shalmaneser, one of whom is widely believed to be Jehu of Israel (reigned 841–814 bc) Biblical Belshazzar It was long believed by liberals that King Belshazzar of Daniel 5 was a myth because no historic record of him existed, and the Babylonian chronicles named Nabonidus as the ruling king when Babylon fell to Persia. Biblical Belshazzar - The “Babylonian Chronicles” are a group of clay tablets that were transferred to the British Museum after 19th century excavations in Babylon, and subsequently left undeciphered in the archives for decades. - Between the years 1887 to 1956 several of these tablets were translated into English and published. Biblical Belshazzar - From these chronicles we learned that although Nabonidus was king of Babylon when the city fell, he had been away from the city for sometime, down in the southern part of his empire. In his absence, he had appointed his son, Belshazzar, to rule in his stead. This explains why Daniel was awarded the third highest position in the kingdom; it was the highest position Belshazzar could give. - Apparently, the person who wrote the book of Daniel had a firsthand account of the court life in Babylon, since other accounts written in antiquity seem unaware of Belshazzar. Captives of Shishak This relief comes from a wall in Lepsius (Egypt) where Pharaoh Shishak boasts of the captives he brings back from his invasion of Judah (2 Chron. 12:2-9). Lachish Reliefs The Lachish reliefs are plaster panels that lined the walls of a small inner chamber (Room 26) of the southwest palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh. They date to 700–699 bc, when construction began on the palace (Russell, “Sennacherib’s Lachish Narratives,” 72). The British diplomat Sir Austen Henry Layard, who discovered the reliefs between 1847 and 1851, described them as the best preserved of all of the basreliefs in the palace (Layard, Discoveries, 125–29). Most of the pictures are well-preserved and bear captions, but any cuneiform text that may have been at the top of the slabs is missing. The slabs were taken to the British Museum in 1852. The Lachish reliefs were the first discovered artifacts to mention a place and event referenced in the Bible. They depict Sennacherib’s conquest of a city identified in a caption as Lakitsu. If this association is correct, the reliefs confirm the Bible’s record that Sennacherib fought against and captured Lachish (2 Kgs 18:13–14, 17; 19:8; 2 Chr 32:9; Isa 36:2; 37:8), along with all other fortified cities of Judah (2 Kgs 18:13; Isa 36:2), before moving on to Libnah (2 Kgs 19:8; Isa 37:8). According to Micah 1:13, this conquest served as judgment against Judah. The reliefs, along with Sennacherib’s other texts recording his third military campaign, largely support the Bible’s account of Hezekiah’s rebellion and subsequent defeat. Pontius Pilate Inscription The Pilate stone is a damaged block (82 cm x 65 cm) of carved limestone with a partially intact inscription attributed to, and mentioning, Pontius Pilate, a prefect of the Roman province of Judaea from AD 26–36. It was discovered at the archaeological site of Caesarea Maritima in 1961. It is contemporary to Pilate's lifetime, and accords with what is known of his reported career. In effect, the writing constitutes the earliest surviving record and a contemporaneous evidence for the historical existence of this person; otherwise known from the New Testament, Jewish Literature and brief mentions in retrospective Roman histories, which have themselves survived in still-later copies. Pontius Pilate Inscription - The limestone block was discovered in June 1961 by Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Antonio Frova while excavating in the area of an ancient theatre built by decree of Herod the Great around 22–10 BC. - It is likely that Pontius Pilate made his base at Caesarea Maritima, a city that had replaced Jerusalem since AD 6 as the administrative capital and military headquarters of the province, and the site where the stone was discovered. Pilate probably travelled to Jerusalem, the central city of the province's Jewish population, only as often as necessary. The Pilate stone is currently located at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Replica castings can be found at the Archaeological Museum in Milan, Italy, and on display in Caesarea Maritima itself. Red Sea Crossing Controversy of Archeological Finds & Debates Archeology for Red Sea Crossing Many archeologists such as Zahi Hawass, who is an Egyptian Archeologist & and formerly Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, claim "Really, it’s a myth... Sometimes as archaeologists we have to say that never happened because there is no historical evidence." Ron Wyatt Ron Eldon Wyatt (1933-1999) was a very controversial amateur archeologist who claimed to make over 100 discoveries of Biblical sites and events. Most mainstream scholarship including conservative Bible scholars cast doubt on the credibility of Ron Wyatt for a number of reasons. Yet Wyatt claimed to have discovered the actual location of the Red Sea Crossing. A DVD was called “Revealing God’s Treasure” summarizes his claims. Here is an overview. Solomon’s Column? This column matches one on the other side of the gulf in Saudi Arabia which had the inscriptions intact. The Hebrew words Mizram (Egypt), death, water, pharaoh, Edom, Yahweh, and Solomon were on that column. King Solomon had these columns erected 400 years after the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land. Solomon's sea port was at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba at Eilat (I Kings 9:26) and he was very familiar with the Red Sea crossing site, as it was in his neighborhood. Colin Humphreys a Cambridge University physicist came out with a book in 2004 called “The Miracles of the Exodus” in which he agrees with Ron Wyatt. Lennart Moller, who is a medical doctor for the University of Stockholm wrote, “The Exodus Case,” in which he also agrees with Ron Wyatt. Moller’s book was succeeded by a DVD in 2001 also supporting Wyatt’s claims. Peter Elmer Peter Elmer, a 38 year old forklift mechanic from Keynsham England was inspired by Ron Wyatt Videos, and in 2003 traveled to the site of the Red Sea crossing to verify Wyatt’s claims. In June 2003, WND interviewed Bible enthusiasts who dove the waters of the Red Sea, alleging they found and photographed parts of chariots that may be the actual remains of the catastrophe brought upon the Egyptian army which pursued the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus in the Bible. “I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel,” said Peter Elmer, a forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, who made two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. “It was covered in coral.” Micheal Rood Michael Rood, a Hebrew-roots teacher, has produced a video (2011) proffering evidence Elmer is absolutely correct. His DVD, titled “The Red Sea Crossing,” documents the work of numerous researchers from the U.S. and overseas who have probed an underwater land bridge between a beachhead at Nuweiba, Egypt, and what is today Saudi Arabia. “What they found strewn across the bottom of the reed sea has shaken the religious and scientific community,” says Rood. “Cameras mounted on remote-controlled submarines revealed coral-encrusted chariot parts, horse and human remains strewn like battlefield wreckage on the bottom of the reed sea.” Cairo University Faculty of Archaeology? Cairo University Faculty of Archaeology led a team of divers in the gold of Suez and announced on Oct. 25, 2014 that the remains of a gigantic mass of human bones and two war chariots were discovered. This news has been claimed a hoax by other sources… due to the fact that this news source is known for satire, and issues a disclaimer that most news on its sight is fiction. Verified? These claims and artifacts have had difficulties in verification because of the Egyptian Government not allowing artifacts to be removed and authenticated. Ron Wyatt & his sons were actually arrested & imprisoned for 78 days by the Arabian government because of their search for Mt. Sinai in Arabia. Yet Have Confidence Though the Red Sea Crossing or other Biblical events are not yet verified and therefore still under extreme controversy, recall Biblical archeology is still in its infancy. Have no doubt that in time more artifacts will be uncovered and evidence put forth.