These chapters were so heavy with information that I didn’t know where to begin. I put here the EXTREMELY general version of the very detailed version the author wrote, leaving tons out.
“Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by the archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denites one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the biblical record.” – J.O. Kinnaman
Many believe David is a myth or literary fiction. In 1993, archeologists digging at Tel Dan in the Galilee in northern Israel found a fragment of a stone inscription that refers to the “house of David” and indentifies David as the “king of Israel”. The next summer 2 additional fragments of the original inscription were found that provided scholars with the whole inscription, and another 9th century B.C. stone inscription created by King Mesha of Moab was found with “the House of David”. A stone inscription from Egypt confirms that Israel was established as a nation in Canaan centuries before the reign of King David, just as the Bible claims.
The Walls of Jericho:
During excavations of Jericho between 1930 and 1936, confirmations of the biblical record about the conquest of the Promised Land were found. “As to the main fact, then, there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the city.” This is important because all other archeological digs around ancient cities in the Middle East reveal that walls of cities always fall inwards as invading armies push their way into the city. However, in the account of Joshua 6:20 it says “the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city every man straight ahead, and they took the city.” Only the supernatural power of God could have caused the walls to fall outward.
The main sources for the historicity of Jesus is the Gospels.
The Reliability of the New Testament Confirmed by Scholars:
About 100 years ago scholars concluded the Gospel documents were based on hearsay and oral tradition rather than eyewitness accounts. Fortunately, the extreme advances in research and archeology have convinced most scholars in the last 30 years that the Gospels and Epistles were written within 35 years or less of the events which they describe.
Confirmation From Non-Christian Sources:
Suetonius – Roman Historian – In his Life of Claudius he referred to the Christians causing disturbances in Rome which led to their being banished from the city.
Pliny the Younger – He was the governer of a Roman province in A.D.112. He wrote to the emperor requesting instructions about the interrogation of the Christians whom he was persecuting. In his Epistles X 96, he states that these believers would not worship Emperor Trajan and would not curse their leader, Jesus Christ, even under extreme torture. Their martyrdom is a result of knowing the truth of the statements in the Gospels about Jesus.
Further Confirmation – Julius Africanus and Thallus – A historical reference by the pagan historian Thallus confirmed the Gospel account regarding the darkness that covered the earth when Jesus was dying on the cross: There was a miraculous darkness covering the face of the earth at the Passover in A.D. 32.
Extraordinary Evidence About Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
A library of biblical manuscripts in Cave Four at Qumran contained every single book of the Old Testament with the exception of Esther. Multiple copies of several biblical texts were found in Cave Four. Scholars discovered that the manuscript copies of the most authoritative Hebrew text, Textus Recepticus, used by King James translators in 1611, were identical to these ancient Dead Sea Scrolls (aside from a tiny number of spelling variations, not a single word was altered).
The “Son of God” Scroll:
Another scroll found in Cave Four refers to the Messiah as “the son of God” and the “son of the Most High.” These words are the exact wording recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
