• Critics claimed Bible was myth and legend
• Bible names have been found
• Walls, stones and coins discovered referring to
Biblical names and events
Archaeological discoveries prove that the
Bible is accurate and reliable

• Bible mainly concerned with Israel and its neighbours
• Discoveries mainly relate to superpowers that dominated
Israel:
– Assyria
– Babylon
– Persia
– Greece
– Rome
• Each superpower conquered previous one
• Israel usually suffered as a result

Tel Dan in
Northern
Israel

• Critics doubted king David ever existed
• Tel Dan fragment made them think again

• Inscription text:
• “Hadad” made the writer king
• The writer boasting of achievements in war with Israel
• “House of David” is referred to

Now Ben-Hadad the king of
Syria gathered all his forces together… And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it
1 Kings 20 v 1
Inscription confirms Bible record :
• Hostility between Syria and Israel
• “Ben (son of) Hadad” title of Syrian kings involved in hostility

• And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David …”
1 Kings 12 v 26
Inscription confirms Bible record :
• Royal line from king David was known as “house of David”

Kurkh in
Southern
Turkey

• “Stela” - round topped vertical stone
• Shows Assyrian king
Shalmaneser III facing symbols of four gods
• Records of six military campaigns
• Record includes defeats of
Ahab, king of Israel and Ben-
Hadad, king of Syria

So Ben-Hadad said to him,
"The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in
Damascus, as my father did in
Samaria." Then Ahab said, "I will send you away with this treaty." So he made a treaty with him and sent him away .
1 Kings 20 v 34

Other Assyrian records name several kings mentioned in the Bible:
• Hezekiah
• Shallum
• Menahem
• Pekah
• Hoshea
• Uzziah
• Ahaz
• Hazael
Kurkh Stela and other findings support the Bible

Found at
Calah
Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III

Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III
• Black stone found in pit
• Panels of carved pictures on each side
• Inscription on each panel
• One panel shows
Jewish king Jehu

Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III
Obelisk confirms Bible record:
• Israel had king named
Jehu
• Jehu reigned when
Assyria was superpower
• Assyrians had kings called Shalmaneser
• Assyrians made subject nations pay tribute
Jehu paying tribute to Shamaneser

Found at
Nineveh
Six-sided Sennacherib
Cylinder

Six-sided Sennacherib
Cylinder
• Record of Sennacherib king of Assyria
• Details eight military campaigns
• Includes Sennacherib’s attack on Israel

Six-sided Sennacherib
Cylinder
“I then besieged Hezekiah of Judah who had not submitted to any yoke and I captured forty-six of his strong cities and fortresses, innumerable small cities … I brought out therefrom 200,150 people …
(Hezekiah) himself like a caged bird, I shut up within Jerusalem, his royal city. I threw up mounds against him, and I took vengeance upon any man who came forth from his city.!
No record of Jerusalem being conquered!

Six-sided Sennacherib
Cylinder
Sennacherib taking cities of Judah:
In the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign,
Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
2 Kings 18 v 13
Sennacherib coming against Jerusalem:
The King of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to
King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.
2 Kings 18 v 17

Six-sided Sennacherib
Cylinder
That night the angel of the LORD went out a put to death one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning - there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.
He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
2 Kings 19 v 35 and 36
Embarrassing defeat not likely to be mentioned by Sennacherib
Once again Bible supported by archaeological finds

Found at
Babylon

• Written by Cyrus, king of Persia
• Account of Persian conquest of city of
Babylon by Cyrus

• Persian policy toward captives and sacred objects
I returned to (these) sacred cities on the other side of the
Tigris, 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. I
(also) gathered all their
(former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, … he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, … Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel … which is in Jerusalem.
Ezra 1 v 1 and 3
• Cyrus encouraged captives to return home
• Encouraged them to practice own religion
Cyrus cylinder supports Bible record

Found at
Caesarea

• Pontius Pilate – fact or fiction
• In 1961 inscription discovered: “Pontius
Pilate, Prefect of Judea”
• Inscription part of dedication to Tiberius
Caesar

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,
Luke 3 v 1
Critics have once again been silenced!

Found at
Thessalonika

• How accurate is the book of Acts?
• Uses terms like
“politarch” for city rulers
• Terms not known anywhere else
• Luke must be wrong!
Recent discoveries show Luke was right

• Lists town officials in second century
• Six “politarchs” are listed
The same term found on other inscriptions from Thessalonika

...they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers [politarchs] of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” … And they troubled the crowd and the rulers [politarchs] of the city when they heard these things
Acts 17 v 6 and 8

• Other examples :
– “praetors” – rulers of
Phillippi
– “proconsul” – ruler of
Corinth
– “leading man of the island” – ruler of Malta
Yet again Archaeology supports the Bible

Archaeology supports Bible record:

Archaeology supports Bible record:

Archaeology supports Bible record:

Sennacherib cylinder
Archaeology supports Bible record:

Archaeology supports Bible record:

Archaeology supports Bible record:

Politarch inscription
Archaeology supports Bible record:

• Only tiny fraction of total evidence presented
• 100s of archaeological digs all providing evidence
• Nowadays many archaeologists use the
Bible
– Reference guide
– Help search out ancient sites
We can trust the Bible account!

• Writers of inscriptions we have looked at are dead
• They offer no hope of life after death
• Bible writings are different
…hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
Titus 1 v 2
The Bible is reliable and gives hope for the future

• Evidence shows
– Bible is reliable
– Critics proved wrong
You can trust the Bible when it gives advice about your life and offers hope for the future

Archaeology supports Bible record: