1. The historic component of the Bible is something we can test against independent, nonbiblical sources for accuracy. T.E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley uncovered real evidence of Old Testament sites.
2. Carchemish was an important biblical landmark. This was the ancient city of the Hittites, whose state first developed in Mesopotamia between 2000 and 1700 BCE, and who sold land to Abraham in Genesis. In 605 BCE, Carchemish became the site of an important battle where the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the Egyptians. The name Carchemish occurs on Babylonian tablets dating from 2000 BCE, and in Egyptian reference from 1470 BCE. Then it disappears from history in the seventh century BCE.
3. In 1876, archaeologist George Smith spotted similarities between the monuments existing at Djerabis, a horseshoe-shpaped embankment on the River Euphrates, and known Hittite stones in other localities. His suggestions sent Lawrence and Woolley on the track.
a.File:Leonard Woolley (right) and T.E.Lawrence at the British Museum's Excavations at Carchemish, Syria, in the spring of 1913.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
b. Hittite sculptures and slabs were uncovered, as well as correlations with Egyptian, Assyrian and Hebrew references. The biblical Carchemish had been found and verified.
4. Next, Lawrence and Woolley set out to locate the Bibles Kadesh-Barnea, somewhere near the desert of Sinai, and south of the Dead Sea, called the Wilderness of Zin in the Bible. The wanderings of the ancient Israelites is a focal point of Exodus, and Kadesh-Barnea was their headquarters for 38 of their 40 years of wandering. Data in support of the desert wanderings would be gold to biblical archaeology.
5. As of 1913, the earliest evidence of Israels existence outside of the Bible had appeared on the Merneptah Stele.
a. The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele, bears the oldest known written reference to Israel. Engraved with its current text in 1207 B.C.E., the 7.5-foot-high, black granite monolith was discovered in the ruins of Merneptahs funerary temple in western Thebes in 1896. Most of its hieroglyphic text celebrates Merneptahs defeat of the Libyans and their Sea Peoples allies in his fifth regnal year.
The texts last three lines, however,briefly mention a campaign into Canaan against the background of a pacified eastern Mediterranean political situation: The rulers lie prostrate saying Peace; none raises his head among the Nine Bows [Egypts traditional enemies, by now a literary convention]. Plundering is for Tehenu [Libya]. Hatti is at peace. Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe. Ashkelon has been overcome. Gezer has been captured. Yanoam was made non-existent. Israel is laid waste, (and) his seed is not. Hurru [Canaan] is become a widow for Egypt. All lands are united in peace.
The mention of Israel appears slightly to the left of center in the second line from the bottom. The glyphs include determinativessigns indicating a words categorythat classify Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam as city-states; but the determinative attached to Israel identifies it as a people, apparently not yet possessing a distinct city.,
Shanks, Questions & Comments, Biblical Archaeology Review (17.06), November/December 1991
6. It identified the northern Sinai site Ain el-Qudeirat, rather than nearby Ain Kadeis (which had previously been proposed), as the site of Biblical Kadesh-Barnea, where the Hebrews in the Exodus settled and from whence Moses sent men to spy out the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 1:2, 19, 2:1; Numbers 13:321) . they reasoned that only in the Kossaima district, which includes the sites of Ain el-Qudeirat, Kossaima, Muweilleh and Ain Kadeis, was there enough water and greenery to support a large tribal group. Moreover, Moses, in writing to the King of Edom, described Kadesh as a city in the uttermost of thy border (Numbers 20:16), and Lawrence and Woolley thought that the fortifications at Ain el-Qudeiratassuming, on the basis of pottery, that they dated from the time of Mosesmore nearly fit that description than any other site in the Kossaima area. Lawrence of Arabia as Archaeologist, Stephen E. Tabachnick, BAR 23:05, Sep/Oct 1997 - CojsWiki.
7. Radiocarbon dating of organic remains collected by Bruins and van der Plicht prove Lawrence and Woolley correct.
a. This identification, which was based on the biblical text, has been universally accepted.
The Fortress at Kadesh-Barnea, Moshe Dothan, Ein el-Qudeirat, 1965 AD
So, then .at the very least, the Bible has been shown to be reliable as a record of historic truth. The archeological record is in accordance with the biblical text, substantiated by the above evidence.
Perhaps it contains other truths, as well....
2. Carchemish was an important biblical landmark. This was the ancient city of the Hittites, whose state first developed in Mesopotamia between 2000 and 1700 BCE, and who sold land to Abraham in Genesis. In 605 BCE, Carchemish became the site of an important battle where the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the Egyptians. The name Carchemish occurs on Babylonian tablets dating from 2000 BCE, and in Egyptian reference from 1470 BCE. Then it disappears from history in the seventh century BCE.
3. In 1876, archaeologist George Smith spotted similarities between the monuments existing at Djerabis, a horseshoe-shpaped embankment on the River Euphrates, and known Hittite stones in other localities. His suggestions sent Lawrence and Woolley on the track.
a.File:Leonard Woolley (right) and T.E.Lawrence at the British Museum's Excavations at Carchemish, Syria, in the spring of 1913.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
b. Hittite sculptures and slabs were uncovered, as well as correlations with Egyptian, Assyrian and Hebrew references. The biblical Carchemish had been found and verified.
4. Next, Lawrence and Woolley set out to locate the Bibles Kadesh-Barnea, somewhere near the desert of Sinai, and south of the Dead Sea, called the Wilderness of Zin in the Bible. The wanderings of the ancient Israelites is a focal point of Exodus, and Kadesh-Barnea was their headquarters for 38 of their 40 years of wandering. Data in support of the desert wanderings would be gold to biblical archaeology.
5. As of 1913, the earliest evidence of Israels existence outside of the Bible had appeared on the Merneptah Stele.
a. The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele, bears the oldest known written reference to Israel. Engraved with its current text in 1207 B.C.E., the 7.5-foot-high, black granite monolith was discovered in the ruins of Merneptahs funerary temple in western Thebes in 1896. Most of its hieroglyphic text celebrates Merneptahs defeat of the Libyans and their Sea Peoples allies in his fifth regnal year.
The texts last three lines, however,briefly mention a campaign into Canaan against the background of a pacified eastern Mediterranean political situation: The rulers lie prostrate saying Peace; none raises his head among the Nine Bows [Egypts traditional enemies, by now a literary convention]. Plundering is for Tehenu [Libya]. Hatti is at peace. Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe. Ashkelon has been overcome. Gezer has been captured. Yanoam was made non-existent. Israel is laid waste, (and) his seed is not. Hurru [Canaan] is become a widow for Egypt. All lands are united in peace.
The mention of Israel appears slightly to the left of center in the second line from the bottom. The glyphs include determinativessigns indicating a words categorythat classify Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam as city-states; but the determinative attached to Israel identifies it as a people, apparently not yet possessing a distinct city.,
Shanks, Questions & Comments, Biblical Archaeology Review (17.06), November/December 1991
6. It identified the northern Sinai site Ain el-Qudeirat, rather than nearby Ain Kadeis (which had previously been proposed), as the site of Biblical Kadesh-Barnea, where the Hebrews in the Exodus settled and from whence Moses sent men to spy out the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 1:2, 19, 2:1; Numbers 13:321) . they reasoned that only in the Kossaima district, which includes the sites of Ain el-Qudeirat, Kossaima, Muweilleh and Ain Kadeis, was there enough water and greenery to support a large tribal group. Moreover, Moses, in writing to the King of Edom, described Kadesh as a city in the uttermost of thy border (Numbers 20:16), and Lawrence and Woolley thought that the fortifications at Ain el-Qudeiratassuming, on the basis of pottery, that they dated from the time of Mosesmore nearly fit that description than any other site in the Kossaima area. Lawrence of Arabia as Archaeologist, Stephen E. Tabachnick, BAR 23:05, Sep/Oct 1997 - CojsWiki.
7. Radiocarbon dating of organic remains collected by Bruins and van der Plicht prove Lawrence and Woolley correct.
a. This identification, which was based on the biblical text, has been universally accepted.
The Fortress at Kadesh-Barnea, Moshe Dothan, Ein el-Qudeirat, 1965 AD
So, then .at the very least, the Bible has been shown to be reliable as a record of historic truth. The archeological record is in accordance with the biblical text, substantiated by the above evidence.
Perhaps it contains other truths, as well....
