12. Archaeological Evidence

• Is there any actual archaeological evidence related to the events, place names, and remains mentioned in the Bible?
• Do the archaeologically revealed historical facts support the contents of the Bible?

So far, we have confirmed that the Bible is an unparalleled document in terms of accuracy and reliability compared to any other ancient historical document describing a person. In addition, through other ancient documents and history, we confirmed that the records related to "Jesus," the core of the Bible, are not products of fiction but historical truth.

Another way to confirm the reliability of the Bible is to verify the historical facts recorded in the Bible through archaeological discoveries or relics. Of course, archaeology cannot prove the belief that the Bible is the word of God. However, it is clear that archaeology helps prove the historical accuracy of the Bible. This is because if the archaeologically proven facts clearly match the contents revealed in the Bible, the truthfulness of the Bible becomes even more solid.

People thought that the numerous stories recorded in the Bible were mere myths or legends. However, as archaeological discoveries have accumulated and continued, numerous people, cities, relics, and events in the Bible that seemed like a fantasy novel have been revealed to be literally true one after another. Moreover, the archaeological discoveries known so far have already reached an overwhelming level.

Now, let's take a look at some representative cases.

12.1. Ur of the Chaldeans

"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there."

The content that there was a region called "Ur" where the Chaldeans lived is found in several places, including Genesis 11:31, which was recorded 1,400 years BC, that is, 3,400 years ago. However, most historians have ridiculed this saying in the Bible as a mere legend and have not believed it until recently.

Then, in the late 1800s, many archaeological excavations were carried out at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates meet in present-day Iraq, and in the process, it was revealed that the Ur of the Chaldeans actually existed.

As shown in the map above, the Euphrates River flows, and the Tigris River flows above it, maintaining a fertile land in between, and connects to the Mediterranean Sea. Mesopotamia means the land between the rivers, and there is the Sinai Plain, and the end of that place is the Ur region.

As a result of continuous research by numerous archaeologists since the mid-1800s, amazing facts were discovered. It was found that they thoroughly managed water for farming in the area by creating very precise waterways, and perfect maps drawn on many clay tablets were also confirmed.

12.2. Sumerian Civilization

It is common knowledge that the world's first civilization recognized as such is the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian civilization developed in the Ur region of the Chaldeans, and the most notable thing in the Sumerian civilization is the discovery of Sumerian writing. The oldest writing in human history is the cuneiform writing used by the Sumerians.

One of the amazing facts discovered on the Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets is the record of the "Epic of Gilgamesh" revealed by George Smith of the British Museum through his lifelong research. It is an epic recorded by a Sumerian chieftain named Gilgamesh, and its content is almost the same as the story of Noah's flood in the Bible.

The fact that the record of Noah's flood event appears in the earliest civilization of mankind proves that the event of Noah's flood clearly existed before the earliest civilization of mankind.

In other words, it reveals that the Sumerian civilization was a civilization that arose after the flood. The etymology of the word Sumeria comes from "Semer," which means "the land of Shem." It means "the land of Shem," the firstborn among Noah's sons recorded in Genesis of the Bible.

12.3. Haran

Abraham's father Terah obeyed the word of God and lived in Haran and died there. Then God came to Abraham, who was staying in Haran, and said, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you," as recorded in the Bible.

Abraham obeyed the word (he was about 60 years old when he left Ur) and left Haran at the age of 75, following God's word, to set out for Canaan. So, not only Ur of the Chaldeans but also this region of Haran is one of the very important regions, and recent archaeological discoveries in the Haran region are attracting great attention.

The Haran region is located in present-day Syria. According to archaeological findings about the Haran region, it was revealed that a very developed civilization existed here in the past, and it was proven by records found here that it was a civilization that was several hundred years ahead of Sumeria.

The name of the country that built that civilization was also discovered, called "Ebla." So this area came to be called the "Ebla civilization." The name of the god they believed in was also discovered, and that name was "Ya." Perhaps this can be seen as the oldest archaeological record of the name "Yahweh God."

12.4. Tower of Babel and Ziggurats

Genesis 11:1-9 contains the following content: "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.' But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world."

Here, the city refers to a city. It wasn't just a city, but a huge city. The person who led this was "Nimrod," the first person to create an ancient unified empire. It is considered that after Nimrod created a unified empire, he carried out large-scale civil engineering works in order to keep various heterogeneous tribes in check and easily rule them, and after creating a city like this, he built a high tower.

The Babylonian temple is called a ziggurat. Among those temples, the tower that appears to be the largest was recently discovered. According to Babylonian records, this ziggurat is recorded as a tower that already had an old history at that time.

The greatest king of Babylonia was Nebuchadnezzar, and the fall of Jerusalem was in 586 BC. Even at that time, the ziggurat was already an old tower. Not only Babylonian records but also the famous Greek historian Herodotus left the same record.

The Greek historian Herodotus around 500 BC recorded the huge structures of Babylonia, consisting of eight interlocking layers, with a spiral path around it to climb to the top, and a huge temple at the top, the house of the Babylonian god. This huge structure is known to have had a height of over 210 meters.

12.5. Hittite Tribe

In Genesis, there is a content that when Abraham's wife Sarah died, he bought a cave owned by Ephron, a Hittite in the Machpelah region of Hebron, buried his wife, and then used it as a tomb for himself to be buried and for his son Isaac and descendants to use. The people who sold this field to Abraham are mentioned several times in the Bible as the Hittites.

However, it has only been about 100 years since it was archaeologically revealed that this Hittite tribe existed. Until then, for thousands of years, people regarded the Hittite tribe as nothing more than a legend, and because of that, the Bible was criticized as a nonsensical book. Then, archaeological evidence of the Hittite tribe began to appear, and their splendid civilization was revealed.

As the Hittite tribe was archaeologically excavated, the Hittite civilization was identified, and the area marked in red on the map of Turkey above is the center of the Hittites. The capital of the Hittites is "Hattusa," located east of Ankara, the current capital of Turkey. With Hattusa as its capital, it was revealed that it formed a great empire centered on Turkey, ruling the entire Mesopotamia (the Fertile Crescent) based on a powerful iron civilization, and even conquering Egypt.

12.6. Edomites

Genesis 36:8, 11, and several other places record that there were Edomites, that the first ancestor of the Edomites was Esau, the son of Isaac, that Esau was also called Edom, and that he lived in a place called Mount Seir. The words Esau and Edom both mean red. However, this Edomite tribe was also only recorded in the Bible and no other historical records existed, so the Bible was criticized as false for thousands of years.

However, as archaeological discoveries in the Middle East boomed, while exploring the area called Mount Seir, it was discovered that a group called the Edomites lived there for thousands of years. The most famous of these is Petra in Jordan, which many of you are well aware of. As you can see, Petra has an architectural structure carved into a rocky mountain.

12.7. Jericho

The first city attacked by the Israelites who entered the Palestinian region under the leadership of Joshua, Moses' successor, was the city of Jericho in the land of Canaan.

Joshua 6:15-17 records, "On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!' When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed." It's hard to understand rationally, right? The walls collapsed just by marching around the city. But was this really false?

As a result of attempts at archaeological discovery of Jericho by several archaeologists and the British Museum exploration team since the 19th century, evidence was found that Jericho was conquered in the way recorded in the Bible. The geological structure excavated by the British Museum exploration team showed that Jericho was destroyed by a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 during the time of Joshua.

12.8. David and Goliath

According to the record in 1 Samuel 17:48-51, a war broke out between the Israelites and the Philistines in the Valley of Elah.

Among the Philistines, many of the Israelite warriors had already fallen and died because of a giant called Goliath, and a boy named David went to bring food to his brothers who had gone to the battlefield. There, David saw the giant cursing Jehovah God and despising the people of Israel, and young David felt indignation and went out to fight.

"As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword." The young boy went out with a sling and knocked down Goliath with one shot right on target. So the Philistines fled in confusion and Israel won a great victory.

In May 1993, while archaeologists were making archaeological discoveries in the Palestinian region, they discovered the skull of a giant with a stone embedded in his forehead. As a result of measuring the width of the forehead and calculating the giant's height, it was revealed that he had a huge physique with a height of 2.9 meters, and radiocarbon dating showed that he died around 1000 BC, during the time of David.

Considering that the discovery site is in the Palestinian region, the physique was huge, a stone was embedded in the forehead, and the dating is from the time of David, it was announced that the owner of this skull is certainly the remains of Goliath, who was killed by David.

12.9. Assyrian Invasion

The powerful nation of Assyria invaded surrounding weak countries and expanded its power, eventually destroying northern Israel in 722 BC.

However, despite being a weak nation, the southern kingdom of Judah survived about 136 more years during the Assyrian invasion, according to the Bible, and many archaeologists did not believe it, criticizing it as a nonsensical story. They did not believe it, saying how could King Hezekiah, who had no power, win against the powerful Assyria of the time?

However, in a monument of Assyria shaped like a cylinder excavated in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the same content as the biblical record was discovered. In other words, it was discovered that the Assyrian king "Sennacherib" went to invade Jerusalem but failed. The image below is the cylindrical inscription of Sennacherib.

Also, 2 Kings 20:20 in the Bible records that during Sennacherib's invasion, King Hezekiah dug the ground and made a waterway to draw water into the city. This waterway has been excavated as it is and has now become a tourist attraction in Jerusalem.

12.10. Archaeological Factuality of the Bible

In addition to these, archaeological discoveries proving the records of the Bible have been accumulating endlessly over time. Of course, not all the contents of the Bible have been archaeologically revealed. This is because archaeological confirmation requires the discovery of corresponding historical relics.

However, among the archaeological discoveries made so far, there has not been a single case that contradicts the records of the Bible. As mentioned above, claims that many people thought were absolutely unbelievable because they were rationally absurd eventually had to remain silent in the face of archaeological discoveries.

Unlike other religions, the Bible alone is persistently subjected to "historical" and "archaeological" verification and attacks. The reason is that the Bible is not a novel or myth created by a specific person arbitrarily without mentioning the time period, geographical, historical, and cultural background at all, but a "record of history" that mentions specific people, places, countries, and eras in great detail.

If you thought that there are many problems with the Bible itself because it alone receives such persistent concentrated fire unlike other religious books or myths, that is a big misunderstanding.

This is because other religious scriptures or myths are not only far less historically reliable than the Bible from the beginning of the record itself, but they do not deal with specific history, places, or people, making verification itself impossible.

It is not that there are no problems with their historicity or truthfulness, but that criticism itself is meaningless because they do not even have the basic qualifications to be properly verified. This is the same principle as genuine luxury products having many imitations, high consumer expectations, and much criticism.

All these facts prove that the Bible contains historical truth as it is.

"According to archaeology, it must be admitted that most of the Old Testament traditions are historical facts. Important historians of the 18th and 19th centuries had excessive doubts about the Bible. Those doubts are still often raised, but they are gradually being revealed to be unfounded. As archaeological discoveries are repeated, they are further supporting the contents of the Bible, making the Bible as a historical fact increasingly certain." (Dr. Albright, an authority on Mesopotamian archaeology)

"It can be clearly stated that there has never been an archaeological discovery that denied the records of the Bible. It is evident that numerous archaeological finds are confirming the historical statements of the Bible, either in outline or in detail." (Dr. Nelson Glueck, a Palestinian archaeology expert)

In the next post, I will deal with a very interesting topic. It is about the prophecies that have been fulfilled in the Bible and are still being fulfilled today.