|
|
Over the years there have been many criticisms levelled against the Bible concerning its historical reliability. These criticisms are usually based on a lack of evidence from outside sources to confirm the Biblical record. Since the Bible is a religious book, many scholars take the position that it is biased and cannot be trusted unless we have corroborating evidence from extra-Biblical sources. In other words, the Bible is guilty until proven innocent. |
This standard is
far different from that applied to other ancient documents, even though
many, if not most, have a religious element. They are considered to be
accurate, unless there is evidence to show that they are not. Since the
mid 1800s archaeological discoveries have demonstrated the reliability
of the Bible narrative. Here are some examples.
Clay tablet from Ebla.
The discovery of the Ebla archive in northern Syria
in the 1970s has shown the Biblical writings concerning the Patriarchs
to be viable. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate
that personal and place names in the Patriarchal accounts are genuine.
The name "Canaan" was in use in Ebla, a name critics once said was not
used at that time. Ancient customs reflected in the stories of the
Patriarchs have also been found in clay tablets from Nuzi and Mari.
Ancient tablet listing
the Sumerian kings
The Sumerian King List, for example,
lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great flood came.
Following the flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time.
This is the same pattern found in the Bible. Men had long life spans before
the flood and shorter life spans after the flood. The 11th tablet of the
Gilgamesh Epic speaks of an ark, animals taken on the ark, birds sent out
during the course of the flood, the ark landing on a mountain, and a sacrifice
offered after the ark landed.
Sumerian tablets record the confusion of language
as we have in the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
The Babylonians had a similar account in which the gods destroyed a temple
tower and "scattered them abroad and made strange their speech."
Other examples of extra-Biblical confirmation of
Biblical events:
* Campaign into Israel
by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on the walls of the Temple
of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.
* Fall of Samaria
(2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11) to Sargon II, king of Assyria, as recorded
on his palace walls.
* Fall of Nineveh
as predicted by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah (2:13-15), recorded on
the Tablet of Nabopolasar.
* Fall of Jerusalem
to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-14), as recorded in the
Babylonian Chronicles.
* The existence of
Jesus as recorded by Josephus, Thallus, Pliny the Younger,
the Talmud, and Lucian.
In fact, Dr. Clifford Wilson, formerly director of
the Australian Institute of Archaeology, said ‘I know of no finding in
archaeology that’s properly confirmed which is in opposition to the Scriptures.
The Bible is the most accurate history textbook the world has ever seen.’
