Archaeology Certifies Bible, Miracles and All

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Word Therapy—how amazingly and marvelously beneficial!  One of the largest studies of its kind discovered that those who go to church more than once per week live 11%, or eight years, longer than their un- or less-churched brethren.  It wasn’t just more life, but it was abundant life.  This group was sick less often, spent less time in doctors' offices and hospitals, and when they did get sick, recovered quicker.  Jesus said in John 10:10:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

And more abundant?  Yes!

Are you ready to participate in the Word Therapy that will last for eternity?  Have you been born again?  What are you waiting for?  Do it today and your sin, shame, and bondages will be broken and fall to the ground like paper chains.  Do it today and today will be the best day of your life, and tomorrow will be better.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  Today, an exciting new adventure begins.  NOW FOR TODAY'S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Psalm 19:7-11:

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

MAN SAID:  The Bible’s accounts are often inaccurate and exaggerated.  Surely, no one in this enlightened society finds it credible!

Now, THE RECORD.  We need to know with total certainty that God’s Words found in the majority-text Authorized King James Version of the Bible “are true and righteous altogether.”  As a result of following these Words, we will make decisions that will alienate us from friends and family.  We will make decisions that will alter our lives entirely.  As a result of following God’s Word, many have forfeited even life and freedom.  Believing God’s Words produces real consequences.  I need to know that they are completely true.  Jesus said in Mark 11:23:

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Where there is doubt, the mountain won’t move. 

You have arrived at GodSaidManSaid feature article 655.  These glorious features again and again certify the full inerrancy of God’s Word.  On this website, you will see third-party certifications from ancient history, societal records, archaeology, paleontology, geology, molecular science, and more, and every Thursday eve, God willing, these features grow by one.  All features are archived on GodSaidManSaid for the edification of the saints and as ammunition in the battle for the souls of men.  You’ll find the following three features for this site very helpful:

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The accuracy of Biblical history—and yes, all its miraculous accounts—is simply staggering.  Skeptics who challenge the accuracy of the Bible’s accounts abound, but their skepticism is being overturned on a very regular basis.  One of the world’s most renowned archaeologists, Dr. Eilat Mazar, had this to say concerning her confidence in the Bible’s history:

Mazar, who is both revered and reviled by some of her colleagues for being a “Biblical archaeologist,” says that the Bible is unquestionably the most important historical source for her work since it contains a “genuine historical account of the past.”  “I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other,” she says.  “The Bible is the most important historical source.”  

In reviewing Dr. Paul McCoy’s 468-page book, Scripture Insights from Science and Archaeology, we have pulled excerpts that highlight the accuracy of Holy Writ.  They follow:

Genesis 23:3-18.  Cave at Machpelah.  The name means “double or fold.”  The site was sanctified in the Hasmonean period, and Herod the Great built the present building over the cave in 10 BC.  This is very likely the oldest authentic site in Israel, with Jacob’s well at Shechem the second oldest.  It was purchased from Ephron (the Hittite) at Hebron (20 miles south of Jerusalem).  In a bargaining tactic still used today, by insisting on paying for the cave, Abraham was obligated to buy it (at the offered price, 400 shekels of silver ca. [approximately] 300 troy oz.).  The Code of Hammurabi lists the wages of a working man at 8-11 shekels per year—Law 274, or a cost of 36 years’ wages.  A high price indeed. 

2 Chronicles 26:21-23.  Uzziah a leper.  On the grounds, in the cemetery of the Russian church of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Mt. of Olives, was found in 1931, an ossuary (now in the Israel Museum) with the inscription, “Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah king of Judah.  Do not open.”  His tomb was originally located in “the burial field of the kings” and not in the royal Tomb of the Kings in the City of David, because he was a leper. [End of quote]

Remember, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace?

Daniel 3:19.  Fiery furnace of ca. 600 BC.  Excavations at Babylon found what looked like a brick kiln; however, an inscription reads, “This is the place of burning where men who blasphemed the gods of Chaldea died by fire.”  An inscription of Ashurbanipal 668-627 BC reads, “Saulmagina my rebellious brother, who made war with me, they threw into a burning fiery furnace and destroyed his life.”

A king of Larsa (north of Ur), a contemporary of King Hammurabi gave sentence for a slave to be thrown into a furnace. [End of quote]

They threw Daniel in the lions’ den, but he was not harmed.  Dr. McCoy continues:

Daniel 6:16.  Den of lions ca. 538 BC.  The excavator, Dieulafoy, at Babylon, fell into what looked like a well, but upon examination found an inscription, “The place of execution where men who angered the king died torn by wild animals.” 

At the palace in Shushan (Suza), a record list was found of 484 men of high rank who had died in a lion’s den. 

One of Ashurbanipal’s inscriptions reads, “The rest of the people who had rebelled they threw alive among bulls and lions, as Sennacherib my father (grandfather) used to do, Lo, again following his footsteps, those men I threw into the midst of them.”  [End of quote]

The list that follows is surely not exhaustive, but it emphasizes the clear accuracy of names and places in God’s Word.  Again from Dr. McCoy’s work:

Israel personages recovered from seals, bullae, and inscriptions. 

• Most of the seals and bullae are in Robert Deutsch’s Messages from the past Hebrew bulla from the time of Isaiah through the destruction of the first temple. 
• House of David from the stela at Tel Dan (fits only II Kings 9:14-29 where Hazael killed both Johoram son of Ahab and Ahaziah son of Joram and the Moabite stone).  Thus, David is real. 
• Uzziah from an ossuary in the Israel Museum.  “Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah; do not open.”  Also the Tiglath-pilester II tribute list at Azriau (aka Uzziah). 
• Seal of Jotham son of Uzziah.
• Seal of Abiyah and Shebnaiah, servant of Uzziah.
• Seal of Ahaz and Ushna, servant of Ahaz.
• Seal of Queen Jezebel.
• Seal of Hezekiah.
• Stela of Adad-Nirari III, which mentions  Jehoash of Israel. 
• Inscription above the tomb of Shebnayahu or Shebna in the Silwan village.
• Seal of Shebnayahu, Servant of the king (Hezekiah).
• Menahem, King of Israel, from the Iran stela of Tiglath-pileser’s 9^th year (737 BC) in the Israel Museum.  Also mentioned is the tribute paid in the 8^th year.
• Seal of Manasseh.
• Seal of Josiah. 
• Seal of Jehoiachin.  Ration list from his capitivity at Babylon.
• Seal of Shema, servant of Jeroboam II.
• Hezir from the architrave above his Kidron family tomb.
• Seal of Abdi, servant of Hoshea (king of Israel dates to 732-722 BC).
• Seal of Pequa, King of Israel.
• Ahaz, King of Judah, on a clay tablet of Tiglath-pileser III, giving his full name as Jehoahaz.
• Bulla of Ahaz, son of Yehotam (spelled Jotham in the Bible), King of Judah.
• Seal of Ushna, servant of Ahaz.
• Bulla of Gemariah (Gemaryahu), so of Shaphan.  Scribe of Josiah.
• Bulla of Berechiah (Baruch), son of Neriah, the scribe, showing his fingerprint.
• Bulla of Yerahme’el (Jerahmeel) (Jeremiah 36:26), the king’s son.
• Seal of Seraiah, son of Neriah.  Brother to Baruch.
• Seal of Azaliahu, son of Meshullam.  These are Shaphan’s father and grandfather, four generations are thus represented.
• Ring of Hanan, son of Hilq’yahu (Hilkiah) the priest.  Finder of the book of Deuteronomy in 622 BC (II Kings 22:8).
• Bulla of Azaryahu, son of Hilkiayahu (I Chronicles 6:13), grandfather and great-grandfather of Ezra (Ezra 7:1).
• Inscription of Tobiah the Ammonite at Araq el-Emir, Jordan.
• Seal of Ma’adanah, the King’s daughter (which king is unknown), from Jerusalem 7^th century BC.  Seals for women are rare. 
• Seal of ‘Elishama, servant of the king (Jeremiah 36:12; 41:1).
• Seal of ‘Asayahu (Asaiah), servent of the king (II Kings 22:12).
• Bulla of Yehuchal (Jehucal), son of Shelemiyahu (Shelemiah), son of Shovi (Jeremiah 37:3; the grandfather was not known before).
• Seal of Palta (Pelatyahu or Pelatiah), a high government official under King Zedekiah ca. 596 BC (Ezekiel 11:1).
• Babylonian cuneiform tablet in British Museum of Nebo-Sarsekim (Nabu-sharrussu-ukin) in Jeremiah 39:3. [End of quotes]

The archaeologists have unearthed ancient, pre-Moses (who penned the first five books of the Bible), Sumerian tablets that describe the creation account.  Finally, from Dr. McCoy:

Genesis chapters one and two.  Creation account.  The Sumerian creation account on six tablets known as the Enuma elish “when on high” dates to about 2500 BC.  In Babylon, it was recited on the fourth day of the New Year’s festival.  Creation is described ex nihilo.  The first tablet describes the time when heaven and earth did not exist.

One tablet describes the creation of a woman who is named Nin ti in Sumerian, translated as “the lady of the rib” and “the lady who make live.”  Thus, well before Moses, these concepts were known, but badly garbled, with accounts of gods and goddesses fighting for control.  Many seals from 2000 BC show a sacred tree and a serpent, but no text reports the Temptation of Eve.  The earliest Sumerian pictograph script dates to 3300 BC.  [End of quotes]

God’s Word is “true and righteous altogether.”  It is a place to build a life that will last forever. 

GOD SAID, Psalm 19:7-11:

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

MAN SAID:  The Bible’s accounts are often inaccurate and exaggerated.  Surely, no one in this enlightened society finds it credible!

Now you have THE RECORD.

       

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

McCoy, P., Scripture Insights from Science and Archaeology, 2010, Pleasant Word

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