Archaeological Discoveries
Archaeological Discoveries Prove The Truth of The Bible
You can watch a short video about these discoveries on YouTube at this address.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=9+discoveries+that+confirm+the+bible
1. Pontius Pilate.
Pontius Pilate was a real person. At the time of Jesus crucifixion he was overseeing the Roman occupation of Israel.
In 1961 during an Italian archaeological dig in Caesarea archaeologists uncovered a stone that had a Latin inscription on it which said Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea. The find confirms the New Testament statement that Pilate was a Prefect of Judea.
Biblical Reading
John 18
Jesus Before Pilate
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected.
2. Hezekiah’s Tunnels
Hezekiah was a most remarkable king. After David he was perhaps the most righteous and faithful king that reigned in Judah. He did remarkable acts of service to the Lord, particularly protecting the Lord's worship and purifying it.
Hezekiah had built tunnels linked to a spring so that his people would have access to water if under attack.
The tunnels were found where water was channelled to the people of Jerusalem enabling to repel invaders who wanted to stop their water supply.
People can visit the tunnels today and even walk along them.
Thus proving that Hezekaih existed and built these tunnels as recorded in the bible.
Biblical Reading
2 Chronicles
Hezekiah’s Pride, Success and Death
27 Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. 28 He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29 He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches.
30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook.
3. The Taylor Prism
In 1830 a man called Robert Taylor uncovered a 50 inch clay cylinder.
There were 500 lines of written text on it. The cylinder was put there by a man called Sennacherib who was the King of Assyria between 720 BC and 683 BC.
On the cylinder it said “As to Hezekiah the Jew he did not submit to my yoke. I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity.
Biblical Reading
2 Chronicles 32 New International Version
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
32 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, 3 he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. 4 They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings[a] of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they said. 5 Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces[b] of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields.
4. King David
King David is one of the key figures of the Old Testament. Known as perhaps the greatest king of Israel. A shade of mystery has covered his existence. Outside of the pages of the Bible, no reference had been found to King David or his ruling dynasty.
This changed in the 1990s, when archaeologists made an interesting discovery in Tel Dan, Israel. The archaeologist’s name was Abraham Biran.
They uncovered a rock fragment inscribed with an ancient text referring to an Israelite King from “the House of David.” This was a phrase used for the ruling dynasty founded by King David. The rock appears to be a victory monument erected by a Syrian king nearly 3,000 years ago, after a battle described in the book of First Kings.
Biblical Reading
2 Samuel 10
15 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. 16 Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. 18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. 19 When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.
So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
5. The Moabite stone.
This was found in 1868. It was a stone made of basalt which was about 3 feet 6 inches high and 2 feet wide.
On the stone Mesha king of Moab’s wrote that Omri was the king of Israel and oppressed Moab during many days.
This is shown in 1 Kings 16:21-28
It also mentions Omri’s son Ahab and his close connection with the Moabites.
This is shown in 2 Kings 3:4-6
The stone also mentions the tribe of Gad and the Israelite God YHWH.
(In modern Hebrew vowel signs are not written.)
Biblical Reading
1 Kings 16 New International Version
Omri King of Israel
21 Then the people of Israel were split into two factions; half supported Tibni son of Ginath for king, and the other half supported Omri. 22 But Omri’s followers proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king.
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents[a] of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the name of the former owner of the hill.
2 Kings 3
New International Version
4 Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel.
6. The existence of a town called Nazareth.
In 2008 Rene Salm wrote a book in which he said that Jesus could not have existed because there never was a town of Nazareth in the first century.
In 2009 there was an archaeological discovery announced saying that they had uncovered a house that had existed in Nazareth at that time. This proved the claim made in the New Testament that Nazareth was a town.
7. Cyrus Cylinder.
In 1879 Hormuzd Rassam found a small cylinder about 9 inches long which is now in the British History museum.
This was found in the ancient city of Babylon.
The cylinder was commissioned by King Cyrus II of Persia who reigned between 559BC and 530BC.
Cyrus had conquered the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
He wrote “I returned to the sacred cities on the other side of the Tigres, the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries.”
This policy sometime called Cyrus’ declaration of human rites coincides with the biblical account of the events.
Cyrus was the king who allowed many of the Israelites to return home after 75 years in captivity in Babylon. He said that all of the Israelites who wanted to go to rebuild the Temple would have his blessings to do so.
Biblical Reading
Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.
8. Pool of Siloam.
This is where Jesus sent a man to wash after he had restored his sight. The pool was said not to have existed.
In 2004 a majestic stepped entrance to the pool of Siloam was uncovered in an area called the City of David.
Biblical Reading
John 9 New International Version
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
9. Hittite Tablets
Biblical sceptics would say that a lot of the peoples mentioned in the bible did not exist. One of these groups were the Hittites.
Then in 1906 Hugo Winkler was doing some excavation in the Turkish city of Bogaz.
There he discovered 10,000 tablets of stone that documented the history of the Hittite nation. This area is believed to be the capital of the Hittite nation.
The Hittites are mentioned in Joshua 11 verse 3.
Biblical Reading
Joshua 11 New International Version
Northern Kings Defeated
11 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph, 2 and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 4 They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots—a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 5 All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.