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"Archaeology" Article Items

Archaeology has affirmed much of the ancient history of Israel.  This includes

the existence of Sodom,
the historicity of the ancient Jewish kings,
the existence of ancient Jews in Israel,
the likely place of Mt. Sinai and the place of the Red Sea Crossing,
the wars of the Canaan Conquest,
the likely Pharaoh who chased Moses to the Red Sea,
and much more.

The last few decades have seen an explosion in the number of archaeological findings throughout Israel.   These findings confirm the Biblical narrative and have rewritten history.  For example, many archaeologists doubted the very existence of the Hittites, claiming it was all fictional.  Then, the Hittite civilization was uncovered through modern archaeology, supporting the Biblical narrative.

Many confirmatory archaeological findings have been made through the Sifting Project.  This project uses help from civilians to sift through a vast amount of rubble that was illegally removed and discarded from the Temple Mount.

Ancient Rabbinical References to Jesus
The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament representing the Law.

Posted on July 15, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

Quick Facts: Ancient rabbinical literature confirms the historicity of Christ This literature is supplemented by other secular sources There is no reason to doubt the existence of Christ in ancient Israel. Ancient rabbinical references to Jesus confirm the historicity of Christ in addition to secular sources.  Another blog referenced some secular references to Christ, while this blog evaluates extra-Biblical rabbinical references. Rabbis often comment critically on Scripture passages in the Old and New Testaments.  These comments provide a historical evaluation of Jewish thought on various issues for the past several millennia.  This is not a particularly easy field to study,… Read More »

Ancient Secular References to Jesus
The historicity of Christ is supported by secular writers.

Posted on July 9, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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I have discussed several ancient secular references to Jesus in another post evaluating the historicity of Scripture from a broad perspective.  In this article, I am going to concentrate on the evidence substantiating the historicity of Christ. The historicity of Christ is after all the most important question that must be answered regarding all of Scripture for as Paul said, if the Resurrection of Christ did not happen, then Christians are deluded and above all to be pitied.  If Christ did not exist, then neither did the Resurrection. I am only going to evaluate secular, extra-Biblical sources for the historicity… Read More »

Hardening Your Heart
Hardening of the heart is an expression going back to the ancient Egyptians. A heavy heart when weighed against a feather could mean a dismal future in the afterlife.

Posted on July 4, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Philosophical

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One of the most common colloquialisms is about hardening your heart.  According to Merriam-Webster, it means to stop having kind or friendly feelings for someone or caring about something. It would probably surprise most people that the expression derived from ancient Egypt and is important in the Biblical narrative. Hardening Your Heart Ancient Egypt was a place of customs that seem very strange to us today.  Many of these ancient customs are related to religious rituals the Egyptians followed concerning the afterlife. The Weight of the Heart ceremony was a procedure that the Egyptians believed occurred after death when you… Read More »

The Three Doomed Cities
The gospel is told in the stars in the constellations of the zodiac. These constellations are ancient in origin but many of the original names are Hebrew..

Posted on June 26, 2021 by

Categories: Archaeology, Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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There are three doomed cities pronounced by Christ in the New Testament.  These particular cities had seen more miraculous events and the personal teaching of Christ for years, and yet they failed to understand.  They could not see the meaning of what was right before their eyes. Many readers are familiar with Christ’s pronouncement against Jerusalem, For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before your, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave… Read More »

Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Bible with Hands

Posted on June 20, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence, Textual

The historical reliability of the gospels offers another means for determining their historicity.   There are two means for determining the authenticity of any  historical account. The first is the most obvious; does the historical account have events that can be corroborated by multiple accounts.  This becomes progressively more difficult as the historical account becomes more remote.  Sometimes corroborating accounts become lost to history due to their loss or destruction.  Think for example of all the historical accounts that were lost during the destruction of the ancient Alexandria papyrus library. The second means for determining the reliability of an ancient historical… Read More »

Textual Reliability of the Gospels
Bible Image

Posted on June 12, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Textual

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The reliability of the gospels is extraordinarily important to establish.  If they are not a reliable record of what actually happened during Christ’s life, then they would hold little value.  This is why the reliability of the gospels has been such an area of intense interest to theologians throughout church history. Skeptical authors have always held that the four gospels are folklore – just tales of epic stories that in reality represent a gross exaggeration and manipulation of actual events.  This is thought to have been done by ancient scribes interested in magnifying their country’s history.  These skeptics believe that… Read More »

Age of the Old Testament
Shrine of the Book houses the ancient Isaiah Scroll written about 200 BC including Isaiah 53 which gives a description in great detail about Jesus Christ - the coming Messiah.

Posted on April 16, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Philosophical, Textual

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Dating the Age of the Old Testament The age of the Old Testament has been debated for the past two hundred years – it is a very controversial and very important topic.  Traditionalists say the Old Testament was written many hundreds of years before Christ by the authors attributed to each book.  For example, the Torah (first five books in the Bible) was written by Moses, the Psalms mostly written by David, Proverbs written by Solomon, and the major and minor prophetic books written by their respective prophet. Recent handwriting analysis published in peer-reviewed journals lends credence to the traditional… Read More »

Restoration of Israel
Jerusalem has been conquered many times through history; in this blog it was conquered in 586 BC by the Babylonians who destroyed the city and Temple.

Posted on February 18, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence

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The restoration of Israel is one of the most important Biblical prophecies to be fulfilled.  Israel had been destroyed centuries earlier by the Romans and its people dispersed throughout the world.  Jerusalem – the capital city – was destroyed. The Romans wished to destroy all memory of the ancient city of Jerusalem that was renamed Aelia Capitolina and then rebuilt in the style of a typical Roman town.  The new Roman city would be inhabited by Romans, and the city dedicated to Jupiter – one of the Roman gods. The Roman emperor had become so enraged with the Jewish revolts… Read More »

Zircon Crystals
The early Earth was bombarded by a series of asteroids which periodically liquefied the rocks on Earth.

Posted on October 16, 2020 by

Categories: Archaeology, Historical Evidence

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Zircon Crystals and Earth’s Age Zircon crystals are thought to represent some of the oldest surviving materials on earth.  The ancient earth was a very inhospitable places imaginable with soaring heat due to the constant bombardment of our planet by asteroids and comets.  The surface was molten rock, constantly heated by these collisions releasing huge amounts of heat which quickly melted any solidifying rock. Zircon crystals are some of the toughest materials on the planet.  Scientists have located some of these crystals in ancient rock sprouting from the ground in the Jack Hills range located in Western Australia.    These… Read More »

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