Does Archaeology Support the Bible?

[Politesse]

I think archaeology supports a meaningful reading of the Bible. We have certainly learned a lot about the cultures of the Ancient Near East through archaeological study, giving us a much more accurate idea about the social, cultural, and political contexts of the Scriptural books than study of the Bible itself in isolation had ever been able to offer.

 

[74x12]

What evidence?

Semitic(or very similar) settlements in Egypt from that time period. Whole towns actually. Also, with the adjusted time line we do see devastation of cities like Jericho in the correct time.

If interested you should watch the documentary called Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus.

 

[Salvador]

Much of the Bible is simply bronze age mythology that shouldn't be taken to heart.

The alleged biblical plagues infesting Egypt would have totally devastated Egypt, yet this devastion of Egypt is never mentioned anywhere outside of the Bible. An Egypt weakened by plagues, death of its firstborn sons, and drowning of its army would have been noticed by its neighbors and such a devastated Egypt likely would have been taken advantage of by one of its neighboring rivals, yet none of that ever happened. Egypt's rivals certainly wouldn't have had an incentive to cover up such disasters to Egypt of biblical proportions.

The consensus of modern scholars is that the Bible does not give an accurate account of the origins of Israel.

Reference: Davies, Philip R. (2015). In Search of 'Ancient Israel': A Study in Biblical Origins. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780567662996.

There is no indication that the Israelites ever lived in Ancient Egypt, and the Sinai Peninsula shows almost no sign of any occupation for the entire 2nd millennium BCE (even Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites are said to have spent 38 years, was uninhabited prior to the establishment of the Israelite monarchy).

Reference: Redmount, Carol A. (2001) [1998]. "Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt". In Coogan, Michael D. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. OUP.ISBN 9780199881482.

In contrast to the absence of evidence for the Egyptian captivity and wilderness wanderings, there are ample signs of Israel's evolution within Canaan from native Canaanite roots.

Reference: Barmash, Pamela (2015b). "Out of the Mists of History: The Exaltation of the Exodus in the Bible". In Barmash, Pamela; Nelson, W. David. Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations. Lexington Books. pp. 1–22.ISBN 9781498502931.


While a few scholars discuss the historicity, or at least plausibility, of the Exodus story, the majority of archaeologists have abandoned it, in the phrase used by archaeologist William Dever, as "a fruitless pursuit.

References: Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E. (2011). Biblical History and Israel's Past. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802862600. Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3927120375.

 

[74x12]

The alleged biblical plagues infesting Egypt would have totally devastated Egypt, yet this devastion of Egypt is never mentioned anywhere outside of the Bible. An Egypt weakened by plagues, death of its firstborn sons, and drowning of its army would have been noticed by its neighbors and such a devastated Egypt likely would have been taken advantage of by one of its neighboring rivals, yet none of that ever happened. Egypt's rivals certainly wouldn't have had an incentive to cover up such disasters to Egypt of biblical proportions.

You should watch documentary Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus

It gives evidence for those plagues from Egyptian writing and Egypt's rivals seem to have indeed noticed and invaded. There is reason to believe this happened right before the Hyksos invasion.

The problem is that archaeologists insist that the Exodus should have happened in the time of Ramses II. But the evidence for the Exodus comes from the middle kingdom period. Some people are now arguing that the evidence indicates the Exodus did happen but in the middle kingdom instead of the new kingdom period.