The Stones Bear Witness: A Journey Through Archaeological Israel

By Michael Lane

Critics of the Bible today often say, Science has disproved the Bible. Others say that there is no evidence to support that the Bible is anything more than a book of myths and fables. But the science of archaeology is seldom mentioned by these critics. Even though no provable archaeological discovery has disproved the Bible, there have been thousands of discoveries that support the authenticity of the Bible. This book is designed to show just a few of these discoveries. In this book, the author has visited and photographed many sites and will show the archaeological evidence that can be found there and how it supports biblical accounts. The main purpose of this book is to show evidence that the Bible can be trusted and is authentic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546201342

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2017 Michael Lane. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/14/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0133-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0134-2 (e)

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Introduction

Is the Bible Accurate and True?

Evidence of a Written Language

Arad

Tel Beer Sheva (Beersheba)

Tel Beth-Shean

Beth-shemesh

Caesarea Maritima

The Capernaum Synagogue

Chorazin

Tel Dan

Hazor

Jericho

Megiddo

Peter’s House

Pigs in the Sea

Bullae Notary Seals of the Past

Sennacherib King of Assyria

Conclusion

Introduction

Christians today are often attacked and ridiculed for their faith and trust in the Bible. Some Christians, unfortunately, even begin to doubt the absolute truth of the Word of God. Some non-Christian scholars in the fields of science and history have written novels, textbooks, and articles in periodicals stating that the Bible is nothing more than a collection of mythical stories and characters that the Hebrews and Christians have borrowed from other ancient sources, and have elevated to a place of high honor in their faith.

When bombarded by attacks such as these, what can a Christian do to defend or endorse what they believe? Too often they are unable to make a plausible defense because the church has only taught them to recite biblical stories and has not trained them in the art of apologetics. It is the poor Christian, who when attacked, is able to only respond with a statement like, The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it! This is not an educated answer, but a response that yields victory to the attacker. Why have we in the church been so lax and negligent in preparing the minds of the people with facts that can, and do support what God Himself said of His Word?

2 Timothy 3:15-16 (ESV)

From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…

2 Peter 1:21 (ESV)

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,

but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:4 (ESV)

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,

that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

1 Cor. 2:13 (ESV)

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Galatians 1:11-12 (ESV)

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 (ESV)

Because our gospel came to you not only in word,

but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV)

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

1 Peter 1:23-25 (ESV)

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable,

through the living and abiding word of God; for

"All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord remains forever."

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 John 1:1-4 (ESV)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

And what about people who claim the Bible is nothing more than a mythological compendium of ancient stories without historical basis? What does God say of these people who despise His Word? Here again, the Bible makes it very clear. For what other books in literature make such claims as the Bible – that it is Truth. Not just a small collection of truth, but absolute Truth.

Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV)

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

1 Tim. 6:3-4 (ESV)

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions…

We Christians can quote such sentences to unbelievers and skeptics, but if that is all the weaponry in our arsenal, we are doomed to lose arguments and debates. I am not declaring that memorizing Scripture is useless in a debate, but to an unbeliever it is meaningless since they do not believe in God or the Bible in the first place.

What is the church to do to help in the mental development of its followers? Do other weapons exist that can help not only defend the Bible, but challenge those who criticize it? The answer is an unadulterated, Yes! There are many weapons that Christians can use to defend their faith. One of the most powerful of these seldom-used weapons is history itself. The field of biblical archaeology is in many ways still in its infancy, but many discoveries add strength and power to our debate, and witness that the Bible is the True Word of God.

Sir William Ramsey discovered this fact when he traveled to the Holy Lands in an attempt to destroy Christianity at its roots, its historical roots. He chose to utilize Dr. Luke’s Gospel and his historic book The Acts of the Apostles to dispel and vanquish Christianity. His firsthand testing of these two books of the Bible against the history of archaeology proved not only that Dr. Luke was a notable historian, but also resulted in Sir William Ramsey becoming a Christian himself. Today he is considered the Father of Modern Archaeology.

Now some skeptics might be able to point out some aspects of archaeology that seem contrary to what is recorded in the Bible. To these we must explain that biblical archaeology as a subject is still in its infancy. Most scholars believe that less than 5% of the archaeology pertaining to the Bible has been discovered at the time of this writing. This is similar to looking in a powerful microscope. When a slide is viewed at 1000X, only a very small area of the entire slide is under observation. But if the same slide is viewed at 40X, a larger area of the slide is in view. In other words, since biblical archaeology is still in its infancy, the few areas in complete disagreement with the Bible should be examined not in permanency, but by reasoning that the entire knowledge of the controversy can still be subject to change. This has happened on many occasions not just in archaeology, but also in science. For science used to proclaim that the earth was flat, that there were only 1019 stars, that all stars are exactly alike, that the water cycle did not occur on this planet, that blood was not the life liquid it is known to be today, etc. What is reassuring is that no archaeological discovery has been found that proves the Bible incorrect. On the other hand, numerous discoveries have added to the authenticity and accuracy of the Bible. This study is based upon some of these discoveries that have so strongly added credence to the Bible as being real.

Let’s now embark on a journey to both educate ourselves about what archaeology has to say about God’s Word, and add support to our faith that what we believe is really real and true.

Is the Bible Accurate and True?

Before the 1950’s most of Western society believed in the Bible as the Word of God and that parts of it existed from the time of Moses on. But in the 1950’s this image began to change. More and more people were beginning to suspect that the Bible was nothing more than a book of myths, comparable to books on classical Greek mythology.

What changed the West’s opinion of the Holy Scriptures? Much of this unbelief may be traced back to the field of biblical archaeology. It was in the 1950’s that a few famous and well-known archaeologists questioned the authenticity of some famous Bible stories, and came to the premature conclusion that stories like Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the Exodus were all fabrications. They published papers and books based on their lack of finding supporting archaeological evidence. This caused many lay-people to begin to doubt that the Bible was true.

For many decades now, mainstream science says that the Bible is not true. Because if many famous archaeologists cannot find any support for Moses or the Exodus, the rest of the Bible falls flat just as a house would whose foundations were suddenly removed.

In the later 1990’s this idea has been frequently challenged by more archaeologists. For instance, let’s examine the evidence for the Hebrew people in Egypt during the pre-Exodus period. Many scholars assume that Ramesses the Great would have been the pharaoh during the Exodus, placing Moses and the Exodus around 1213 B.C. in the New Kingdom Period. They excavate and dig looking for evidence of the Hebrew people in Egypt at that time, and always come up with nothing pointing to their existence in Egypt at that time. Basing the rest of this story upon this major lack of evidence, it is easy to see why many began to question the authenticity of the biblical accounts.

In the 1960’s archaeologists began digging at the site of the ancient city of Pi-Ramesses in the biblical land of Goshen, and found no evidence of Hebrews ever living there in great numbers as described in the Bible. Soon afterwards, a city was discovered under Pi-Ramesses, which is indeed of Syro-Palestinian design. It even features a palace composed of 12 columns and 12 unique and special tombs. One tomb is a pyramid in shape, and contains a large broken statue inside of a foreign ruler. The ruler is wearing a coat of many colors. It also appears that the inhabitants of this city called Avaris left the city abruptly leaving many items lying about not in a destructive manner, but in a manner indicating a major moving of locations. What is interesting is that this city was thriving during the 18th dynasty, and not the 20th dynasty of Ramesses the Great. Ramesses seems to have built a new city upon the remains of Avaris around 1200 B.C.

This seems to actually fit the Bible’s account of when the Hebrew people moved to Egypt, and when the Exodus actually took place. According to the Bible, the timing of these events was described based upon the completion of the First Jewish Temple. It is known that Solomon completed the Temple around 960 B.C. Now using this date as a starting point, let’s examine a few Scriptures to see what the Bible records timewise.

1 Kings 6:1 (ESV)

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel