ARCHEOLOGY and THE BIBLE

[Twilight Hue]

And? What do you mean by that?

The Bible is certainly historical in its own right, but like science, the Bible is definitely not a history book.

 

[sun rise]

What errors? Can you be more specific?
We can discuss one - but if you're bringing up a lot of so-called "errors," then you should create your own thread. I don't want this thread derailed.

This thread is for discoveries by archeology.

The "reed" sea story:

Yam Suph - Wikipedia
Crossing the Red Sea - Wikipedia
http://opensky.ucar.edu/islandora/object/articles:10312/datastream/PDF/view

 

[Altfish]

Separately, no....not revealing.

But cumulatively? As they pile up? Then, they are.

Circumstantial evidences become more powerful and can be conclusive, when there's many of them to reinforce each other!

They become CORROBORATIVE evidences!


here's an explanation of corroborating evidence:



Corroborating evidence - Wikipedia

Compare these tiny bits of evidence for the Bible to the evidence that we have for Egyptian history. It bears no comparison.

 

[tosca1]

No. Circumstantial evidence is not corroborative evidence, only Primary and Direct evidence can corroborate.

I didn't say circumstantial evidence is corroborative evidence.

I said:
Circumstantial evidences become more powerful and can be conclusive, when there's many of them to reinforce each other!

They become CORROBORATIVE evidences!

Circumstantial evidence, also known as indirect evidence, is an unrelated chain of events which when put together formulates circumstances leading to the commission of the crime and can be used to derive a conclusion.

https://lawtimesjournal.in/circumstantial-evidence/


A good number of circumstantial evidences that corroborate each other (crime).....can lead to conviction!

 

[Subduction Zone]

What errors? Can you be more specific?
We can discuss one - but if you're bringing up a lot of so-called "errors," then you should create your own thread. I don't want this thread derailed.

This thread is for discoveries by archeology.

The problem is that if you can't admit to the obvious problems in the Bible, claimed events that we know did not happen, it tells us that your judgement is in serious trouble. A person that only focuses on the positive aspects of something cannot be taken seriously.

 

[Subduction Zone]

And? What do you mean by that?

Spiderman lives in New York City.

 

[tosca1]

The "reed" sea story:

Yam Suph - Wikipedia
Crossing the Red Sea - Wikipedia
http://opensky.ucar.edu/islandora/object/articles:10312/datastream/PDF/view

Was the parting of the reed or red sea was really anywhere like the Cecil B. DeMille movie? We don't know.

Anyway, that's like giving the Resurrection account as an example of an "error" because there were no physical evidence to show.

If something was an act of miracle - can science prove it? I doubt it.


Anyway, this looks interesting, related to your pdf Drews:

The Science of the Red Sea’s Parting
It is physically and scientifically possible for a body of water to part

Software engineer and lead study author Carl Drews described himself to the Washington Post as "one of many Christians who accept the scientific theory of evolution." But he says that his beliefs do not influence his science, and, as the Washington Post points out, his peers seem to mostly agree. The Red Sea work—originally undertaken as his master's thesis—was reviewed and published in a scientific journal and is supported by his current employer, the prestigious National Center for Atmospheric Research.


Drews' work is founded on the idea that, based on a slew of archeological evidence, it wasn't actually the Red Sea, but the Eastern Nile Delta, at a body of water called the Lake of Tanis, that did the parting, the Washington Post explains. Given the conditions of the lake a couple thousand years ago, a coastal phenomenon called a "wind setdown"—very strong winds, in other words—could have blown in from the east, pushing the water to create a storm surge in another part of the lake, but completely clearing water from the area where the wind was blowing. As the Washington Post writes, such events have happened fairly recently in parts of Lake Erie and in the Nile Delta.

The Science of the Red Sea's Parting | Smart News | Smithsonian

 

[Subduction Zone]

I didn't say circumstantial evidence is corroborative evidence.

I said:
Circumstantial evidences become more powerful and can be conclusive, when there's many of them to reinforce each other!

They become CORROBORATIVE evidences!




Circumstantial Evidence - Law Times Journal


A good number of circumstantial evidences that corroborate each other (crime).....can lead to conviction!

It depends upon what one is trying to prove. All that this circumstantial evidence supports is that there were ancient lands of Judah and Israel. It does not support anything else.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I'm referring to all archeological discoveries related with the Bible. Each discovery is a corroborating evidence.

Evidence of what? Do you have a point?

I doubt anybody needs convincing that some of the events in the Bible have a historical basis confirmed by archeologists. Was that your point, or were you trying to imply that the Bible is a source of rare and special knowledge that point to a prescient or divine source?

If one wants to know about history through archeology, why turn to the Bible?

Again, what is your purpose with this thread?

 

[Kenny]

Separately, no....not revealing.

But cumulatively? As they pile up? Then, they are.

Circumstantial evidences become more powerful and can be conclusive, when there's many of them to reinforce each other!

They become CORROBORATIVE evidences!


here's an explanation of corroborating evidence:



Corroborating evidence - Wikipedia

Excellent statements!

 

[metis]

I'm referring to all archeological discoveries related with the Bible.
Each discovery is a corroborating evidence.

Are you familiar with BAR, by chance? When they publish findings that go against what's in scripture, that really upsets the fundamentalists, with some of them cancelling their subscriptions, and this happens quite often.

The main function of the Bible is to try and show that God caused all, and yet we simply cannot objectively verify any of that. However, on the basis of faith we can accept at least the main gist of the teachings.

 

[shunyadragon]

And? What do you mean by that?

The Bible is indeed stories set in history, and it was common to glorify, and amplify the lives of famous figures in the stories of people in history, and add supernatural attributes and miracles. There is evidence that King David existed, but the evidence indicates that the scale of King David's cities, and kingdom is exaggerated in the Bible. The Gardens of Babylon have been found to exist, but not in Babylon.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a fantastic relic but prove nothing.

On the contrary, they prove a lot: that the Scriptures we have today, though copies and copies have been made of unknown numbers of copies....the context is almost unchanged from the Qumran manuscripts!

 

[Subduction Zone]

On the contrary, they prove a lot: that the Scriptures we have today, though copies and copies have been made of unknown numbers of copies....the context is almost unchanged from the Qumran manuscripts!

Why do you think that there would have been much of a change? Most people grossly exaggerate the age of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

[oldbadger]

Was the parting of the reed or red sea was really anywhere like the Cecil B. DeMille movie? We don't know.

We can say that in all probability the Red Sea didn't part as shown in the movie, but your link which discusses a 'storm-surge' up in to the upper reaches of the Reed Sea is not bad.

But there is more to it than just the 'wind-surge' which could have been referred to in the original translations. The Passover occurred at Full Moon on Nisan 14, an equinoctial full moon. The spring tide that DID run a couple of days later produced a very low low-tide and a very high high-tide. These tides can also produce surges.
Now, if you add a three-day blow from the South East coinciding with an equinoctial spring tide......... whoosh!

The Israelite slaves that farmed the Reed beds for fish, papyruse, etc etc knew the wades and channels intimately, and so a mass emigration across and out of Egypt was easily possible. The Egyptians would not have had intimate knowledge of the channels and wades because they would never have set foot in the disease ridden places.

Now there is an example of DIRECT EVIDENCE, in as much as the Passover is celebrated every ecquinoctioal Full Moon on Nisan 14.

You couldn't make that up.

But it cannot prove the stories of the plaques and infestations before, nor what happened after.

In other words, a DIRECT find like the Pilate stone cannot show more than that Pilate the Roman Prefect was there.controlling Idumea, Judea and Samaria.

Yeah?

 

[tosca1]

The Gardens of Babylon have been found to exist, but not in Babylon.

Are the "Gardens of Babylon" particularly mentioned in the Bible?
There are several verses that talk about Babylon but no mention of the garden.

I'm seriously asking....which verse?

 

[tosca1]

We can say that in all probability the Red Sea didn't part as shown in the movie, but your link which discusses a 'storm-surge' up in to the upper reaches of the Reed Sea is not bad.

But there is more to it than just the 'wind-surge' which could have been referred to in the original translations. The Passover occurred at Full Moon on Nisan 14, an equinoctial full moon. The spring tide that DID run a couple of days later produced a very low low-tide and a very high high-tide. These tides can also produce surges.
Now, if you add a three-day blow from the South East coinciding with an equinoctial spring tide......... whoosh!

Now, I'm not going to debate whether the red sea happened or not. Archeology has found nothing on that - so it's irrelevant in this thread.

Now there is an example of DIRECT EVIDENCE, in as much as the Passover is celebrated every ecquinoctioal Full Moon on Nisan 14.

You couldn't make that up.

But it cannot prove the stories of the plaques and infestations before, nor what happened after.

In other words, a DIRECT find like the Pilate stone cannot show more than that Pilate the Roman Prefect was there.controlling Idumea, Judea and Samaria.

Yeah?

I understand about direct evidences.

I was simply explaining to you about circumstantial evidence and corroborating evidence.

Yes, the direct evidence of Pilate stone can only show that Pilate was the prefect of that region (as described in the Bible). HOWEVER, that is only one evidence for the historicity of the Bible regarding that one particular information (Pontius Pilate).

As shown by archeology - there are many archeological finds that support the historicity of the Bible - and those are all corroborating evidences for the historicity of the Bible.

 

[tosca1]

Archeology may have discovered the first extra-biblical evidence for the prophet Isaiah!

Isaiah’s Signature Uncovered in Jerusalem

Just south of the Temple Mount, in the Ophel excavations, archaeologist Eilat Mazar and her team have discovered a small seal impression that reads “[belonging] to Isaiah nvy.” The upper portion of the impression is missing, and its left side is damaged. Reconstructing a few Hebrew letters in this damaged area would cause the impression to read, “[belonging] to Isaiah the prophet.”

The upper portion of the impression is missing, and its left side is damaged. Reconstructing a few Hebrew letters in this damaged area would cause the impression to read, “[belonging] to Isaiah the prophet.” If the reconstruction stands, this may be the signature of the Biblical prophet Isaiah—the figure we encounter in the Books of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah.

Mazar’s team found the seal impression in an undisturbed area of Iron Age debris (dated to the eighth–seventh centuries B.C.E.) right outside the southeastern wall of the royal bakery, a structure that had been integrated into the city’s fortifications and had operated until the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. All of the excavated dirt from this area of the Ophel was wet-sifted, meaning that it was placed on a sifting screen and washed with water. This process revealed multiple finds—including Isaiah’s seal impression and an impression of the Judahite king Hezekiah—which had been missed during traditional excavation methods.

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org...the-bible/prophet-isaiah-signature-jerusalem/

 

[tosca1]

Here's another corroborating evidence to the historicity of the Bible.

Two governors of Jerusalem are mentioned in the Bible.

"And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city." (2 Kings 23:7)

"Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God." (2 Chronicles 34:8)

Governor of Jerusalem's Seal Impression From First Temple Era Found Near Western Wall

The bible mentions the Governor of Jerusalem, a high appointment by the king, in the contexts of the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah

Governor of Jerusalem's seal impression from First Temple era found near Western Wall




The discovery supports the biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.”

 

[QuestioningMind]

Interesting finds that relate to things written in the Bible have been discovered by archeology. And, they're still digging....and still discovering....

Here are some of the discoveries:





https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org...-bible-royal-seal-of-hezekiah-comes-to-light/

Not sure what the significance of this post is. 2000 years from now archaeologists may very well be digging through ancient New York City. Just because they come across findings that relate to things that were mentioned about New York City in the comic series Spiderman wouldn't in any way shape or form indicate that all of the supernatural abilities attributed to Spiderman in the comics actually existed as well.