Let’s take a look at the confirmation or contradiction of Biblical accounts and events by archeology.  If there is no trace of the people, places, things, or events left to see then the basis of our faith is likely imagination.   Most remarkable is that the people; places and events mentioned in the Bible are found just where scriptures locate them.

When Nineveh was excavated, thousands of clay tablets were discovered that comprised the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, who reigned 668-626 B.C.  Among these writings was a set of seven tablets called the “Creation Epic” that listed six days of creation and one day of rest, which corresponds with the biblical account.

A monument describing the Tower of Babel was discovered in the region of Ur of the Chaldees. It tells of King Ur-Nammu, who was told by his gods to build a ziggurat (tower). This monument is ten feet high and five feet wide. At the top is an inscription of the king setting out the tools needed for the construction.  In panels beneath him men are depicted working, scaling ladders as the towers rise.  (Genesis 11:1-8) Another clay tablet was unearthed that tells how the gods were highly offended and in a single night destroyed what had been built, and the people were scattered and their speech made strange.  (Genesis 11:9)

For years critics insisted that the story of Abraham’s rescue of Lot in Genesis 14 was not historically accurate, They said the names of the kings were fictitious, that the idea of the king of Babylon serving the king of Elam was historically impossible and the story that a band of Abraham’s followers defeating four powerful kings was absurd.  (Genesis 14:1-18) Archeology has proven the critics wrong.  The names of several of the kings has been identified. There is evidence that the King of Babylon did serve the king of Elam at this time and a monument depicting a warlike expedition of the character described here was discovered. This confirms that one tribe pursued another to subdue a rebellion during these time in history.  So Abraham would have been able to capture Lot and plunder some of the enemy’s spoils before a larger army could come after him.

For years it was said the the Old Testament writers invented the Hittite tribe, but in 1911 Professor Hugo Winckler of Berlin discovered ten thousand clay tablets at the site of the Hittite capital.

Solomon’s claim of having thousands of horses was at one time questioned.  But in Megiddo, which was one of thee five chariot cities, excavations have turned up the ruins of thousands of stalls for his horses and chariots.  (1 Kings 10:26-29)

Back in 1990 Time had an article on the walls of Jericho entitled, “Score One for the Bible.”   The article begins with a debate as to whether Joshua’s capturing Jericho was fact and was the wall suddenly tumbling down believable.  The article confirmed Joshua’s capture of the city and the archeological dig said that it does appear the walls of Jericho did indeed come tumbling down at the right time to match the biblical account.  (Joshua 6:1-20)

Let me quickly list New Testament examples of archeological confirmation of the times, events and places of scripture.

• William Ramsey a noted historian and archeologist set out to disprove the account of Caesar Augustus calling for a census around 5 or 6 BC, especially one that called for everyone to travel to their place of birth.  He came back from his study having to agree with all the details of the biblical account.  (Luke 2:1)
• The existence of the pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the lame man.  (John 5:2)
• Pilate has been confirmed as high-ranking Roman official.  Matthew 27:2
• An altar was found in Athens to the “Unknown god.”  Acts 17:23

I could go on for pages but I’ll let you go do your own continuing research. Just rest assured that many well qualified people have set out from many corners of the globe, intent on proving that a place claimed to exist in the scriptures didn’t.  God bless them for their intellectual honesty; one by one they have reported back that they were wrong and the biblical account was right.  Think about that the next time you need encouragement, counsel or understanding and be grateful that you have a reliable source of information in your Bible.

We used to sing, “Standing on the Promises of God,” lately I think we’ve just been “sitting on the premises.”   Well, we need to either dust off that old song or write a new one that echoes its refrain.  The Bible is strong enough for you to stand on its promises, plan your life around it’s purposes and trust your soul to be transformed by it’s power.

By the way, I am a little weary of people saying, “well you know the bible has a lot of errors.”   Now I am shooting back, “okay, show them to me.”   I am not saying the Bible has no errors, but if you are going to use that as a reason not to trust then we need to talk about the specific errors in it and what impact they have on the integrity of its message.   Let’s go find out what a life built on the word of God actually looks like; that would be further proof of it’s authenticity.