This outstanding article concerning Biblical archaeology was written by Wayne Jackson. It appeared in the September 1975 edition of The Christian Courier; published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and edited by Jackson.
The science of archaeology has been a multiple benefactor to the Bible student. First, it has enhanced our abiding conviction that the Bible, being a revelation of God, is accurate in its historical emphasis. Second, it has given us a better understanding of certain passages. This is not to say of course, that the Biblical way of salvation has not been sufficiently plain; however, some historical references have taken on a richer meaning in light of archaeological discoveries. The following examples will illustrate the benefits of archaeological investigations.
Identification of Biblical Places
Since Edward Robinson's initial exploration of certain Bible lands in 1838, thousands of Biblical sites have been identified through patient searches. Some of these have great significance. For instance, in I Kings 10 the divine writer recorded the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Unbelievers had scoffed at such claiming that there was no country known as Sheba. About a century ago however, Marib, the ancient capital of Sheba was discovered in southern Arabia.
Establishment of Biblical Dates
The chronology of the Old Testament indicates that the Israelites' exodus from Egypt occurred in the 15th century B.C. In recent years some scholars asserted that the exodus did not take place until the 13th century B.C. Excavations at Hazor in Galilee (between 1955 and 1958) have shown that this ancient city was twice destroyed in Old Testament times; once in the 13th century B.C. (corresponding to the period of the judges, Judges 4 and 5) and earlier in the 15th century (corresponding to Joshua's conquests). An inscription discovered at Delphi some seventy five years ago mentions the date that Gallio served as proconsul of Achaia (see Acts 18:12) and thus dates Paul's visit to Corinth.
Biblical Customs Explained
Some Biblical customs which have been obscured by antiquity are illuminated by archaeological finds. From the Nuzi tablets for example, it is revealed that the giving of one's sandal was a customary toke indicating that certain legal rights had been relinquished. This was precisely the significance of Boaz's reception of the "shoe" in Ruth 4:7-9; he was assuming legal responsibility for Ruth. If one wonders why Laban was so anxious to recover the "teraphim" which Rachel took when she hurriedly left home (Genesis 31:19) the answer lies, as indicated in the Nuzi tablets, in the fact that the possession of the family gods was legal proof of the right of property inheritance. Rachel ran off with the title-deed to her father's property!
Obscure Language Clarified
Archaeology has given new understanding or fuller meaning of numerous passages. For years scholars were perplexed on the meaning of Mosos' prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk. (Exodus 23:19) Some thought its design was simply against unusual cruelty, but the Ras Shamra tablets tell of how a certain pagan deity could be appeased by boiling a kid in its mother's milk. Thus, the Mosaic command forbids this mimicry of heathenism. some have been puzzled by the inspired statement of
Hebrews 7:3 that Melchizedek was "without father, without mother, without genealogy..." Several of the Tel el Armana tablets are letters from an ancient king of Uru-Salim (Salem, Hebrews 7:1, later known as Jerusalem) whose name was Ebed-tob. He contends that he is unlike numerous other rulers of his day in that he did not receive his crown by inheritance from his father and mother; rather, it was granted directly by the "Mighty King." This illustrates that the kingship-priesthood of Melchizedek was not genealogically inherited but conferred directly by Jehovah; and in this regard he was typical of Christ. Numerous inscriptions from the Greek papyri have shown that the expression eis to onama "into the name" (cf. Matthew 28:19) carries the idea of coming into the possession of another. Hence, at the point of baptism, one becomes the spiritual possession of the divine Godhead.
New Light on Biblical Words
The discovery of ancient documents has frequently contributed to an understanding of Biblical vocabulary. For years the meaning of the Hebrew word almah (Isaiah 7:14) has been a point of controversy among scholars. did the passage point to the virgin birth of Christ as the apostle Matthew (following the Septuagint Version which had allegedly been tampered with by certain persons disposed toward Christianity) simply make it apply to the virgin birth when in reality it only had reference to a "young woman" of Isaiah's own day? Christians have defended the former position while modernists have sought to establish the later. In recent times, tablets from Ras Shamra have corroborated the Christians' already strong case that almah did in fact mean "virgin." Dr. Cyrus H. Gordon, a prominent Jewish scholar who made some of the discoveries at Ras Shamra concedes that "the New Testament rendering of 'almah' as 'virgin' of Isaiah 7:14 rests on the older Jewish interpretation, i.e., the LXX, which in turn is now borne out, for precisely this annunciation formula by a text that is not only pre-Isaianic, but is pre-Mosaic in the form we now have it on a clay tablet." (The Journal of the Bible and Religion, XXI, April, 1953, p. 106.)
Archaeology and Bible Doctrine
As suggested earlier, it is hardly questionable that the doctrine of the Bible has always been sufficiently clear for one to know what his obligation to God is. However, in a few cases certain false arguments in support of sectarian doctrines have been demolished by archaeological investigations.
When the noted Presbyterian scholar J.A. Alexander wrote his Commentary on the Act of the Apostles (1857), he contended that it was probable that the 3,000 converts of the day of Pentecost were administered sprinkling or pouring (as a substitute for immersion in water) because, "Jerusalem has always been remarkably destitute of water, the fountain of Siloam being its only constant source." In 1879 J.W. McGarvey visited Palestine (also Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and Greece). His book Lands of the Bible, which resulted from his explorations and included more than six hundred pages of factual descriptions of Biblical places, was praised by competent judges as the most valuable book yet produced on Palestine, surpassing even the works of Edward Robinson and William Thomson. McGarvey made an extensive study of the pools of Jerusalem and his research completely destroys the assertion that Jerusalem lacked sufficient water for immersing 3,000 in one day. One pool for example, called Lower Gihon had an average length of five hundred and ninety two feet and a width of two hundred and sixty feet. the entire area of the pool was about three and one half acres!
Archaeology and Critics of the Bible - The bible has been the favorite target of those inclined toward infidelity. Time and again Biblical "blunders" have been pointed out by these pseudo-scholars. And time and again such critics have been given a resounding slap in the face with the archaeologist's spade. The following examples are but a few of the many which illustrate this point.
(1) Prior to 1843, it was assumed by modernists that Isaiah erred in mentioning the name of "Sargon." (Isaiah 20:1) The prophet recorded that this Assyrian king sent his commander against Ashdod and took the city. since Sargon's name was unmentioned elsewhere, surely Isaiah was mistaken! In 1843 however, Sargon's palace was excavated several miles north of ancient Nineveh. Not only was Isaiah vindicated, but he even used the exact word found in the Assyrian texts for Sargon's "commander in chief" (Tartan).
(2) The so-called "Higher Critics" of the bible contended that the Pentateuch was not Mosaic since background material within these books evidenced a later origin (9th to 5th centuries B.C.). the Nuzi tablets though, revealed that the Pentateuch was thoroughly patriarchal in content. And when infidels suggested that the book of Leviticus was obviously of late date because of the elaborate ceremonial system therein, the Ras Shamra tablets demonstrated that elaborate systems (the Canaanite rituals) were not foreign to that early period.
(3) When modernists allude to the Book of Isaiah, they glibly speak of a "First" Isaiah, "Second" Isaiah, or even a "Third" Isaiah, the design of which is to assert a multiple authorship for that Old Testament narrative. "First" Isaiah is alleged to involve chapters 1-29, "Second" Isaiah chapters 40-54 and "Third" Isiah chapters 55-60. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ and His inspired New Testament pens men did not endorse such a division (see Matthew 13:14; Mark 1:2 and Luke 4:17) matters precious little to the critics. But the discovery of the "Isaiah Scroll" in 1947 (a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls) was a bombshell on the Deutero-Isaiah theories. For chapter 40 (allegedly the commencement of "Second" Isaiah) begins on the very last line of a column which contains chapter 38 verse 9 through chapter 39 verse 8. Noted scholar Oswald T. Allis has observed, "Obviously the scribe was not conscious of the alleged fact that an important change of situation, involving an entire change of authorship begins with chapter 40." (The Unity of Isaiah, p. 40.)
(4) Archaeology has generously contributed to our confidence in the integrity of the text of the Bible. Do we really know for instance, that the text of our English bible is essentially that of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts? Indeed we do! Consider the labors of the illustrious Robert Dick Wilson. Dr. Wilson spent many years learning various Semitic languages in preparation for a thorough study of the text of the Old Testament. he mastered some forty five languages and dialects! By a comparison of the Old Testament text with ancient documents, manuscripts and monument inscriptions, he, after years of laborious research was able to declare that, "we are scientifically certain that we have substantially the same text that was in the possession of Christ and the apostles and, so far as anybody knows, the same as that written by the original composers of the Old Testament documents." (A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament, p. 8.) And when Professor S.R. Driver of Oxford, who had been influenced by radical German critics asserted that the Book of Daniel was untrustworthy, Wilson spent years pouring over 10,000 documents in numerous languages to demonstrate that it was Driver who was untrustworthy!
When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, though it pushed our possession of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament back a thousand years earlier than anything previously known, it corresponded almost perfectly to the contents of our present Bibles, both Hebrew and English and that "without either additions, omissions or alterations of any major importance." How remarkably accurate the Sacred Word has been preserved!
Those of us who love and believe the Bible are greatly indebted to the many scholars who have tirelessly sifted through acres of dirt in probing for information from the silent centuries past. How thrilled we are of the multiplied discoveries that have deepened our understanding of and appreciation for the abiding Word of God. And what courageous confidence we can take in the fact, as observed by the famous archaeologist Nelson Glueck, that, "no archaeological discovery has ever been made that contradicts or controverts historical statements in Scripture."
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