Claim CH120:
Archaeology supports the accuracy of the Bible. The Bible's historical
account has many times been substantiated by new archaeological
information.
Source:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here?
Brooklyn, NY, pp. 207-214.
Response:
- Archaeology supports at most the general background of the Bible and
some relatively recent details. It does not support every biblical
claim. In particular, archaeology does not support anything about
creation, the Flood, or the conquest of the Holy Land.
If a few instances of historical accuracy are so significant, then an
equal claim for accuracy can be made for the Iliad and Gone with
the
Wind.
- Archaeology contradicts significant parts of the Bible:
- The Bible contains anachronisms. Details attributed to one era
actually apply to a much later era. For example, camels, mentioned
in Genesis 24:10, were not widely used until after 1000 B.C.E.
(Finkelstein and Silberman 2001).
- The Exodus, which should have been a major event, does not appear in
Egyptian records. There are no traces in the Sinai that one would
expect from forty years of wandering of more than half a million
people. And other archaeological evidence contradicts it, showing
instead that the Hebrews were a native people (Finkelstein and
Silberman 2001; Lazare 2002).
- There is no evidence that the kingdoms of David and Solomon were
nearly as powerful as the Bible indicates; they may not have existed
at all (Finkelstein and Silberman 2001; Lazare 2002).
Many claims that archaeology supports the Bible, especially earlier
ones, were based on the scientists trying to force the evidence to fit
their own preconceptions.
Links:
Lazare, Daniel, 2002. False testament: archaeology refutes the
Bible's claim to history. Harper's 304(1822) (Mar.): 39-47.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1111/1822_304/83553507/p1/article.jhtml?term=bible++!2Barchaeology
References:
- Finkelstein, Israel and Neil A. Silberman, 2001. The Bible Unearthed,
New York: Free Press.
- Lazare, 2002. (see above)
Further Reading:
Bimson, J. J. and D. Livingstone, 1987. Redating the Exodus. BAR 13(5):
40-53.
Finkelstein, Israel and Neil A. Silberman, 2001. The Bible Unearthed,
New York: Free Press.
Miller, Laura, 2001 (7 Feb.). King David was a nebbish. Salon.com,
http://dir.salon.com/books/feature/2001/02/07/solomon/index.html
Moorey, P. R. S., 1991. A Century of Biblical Archaeology.
Westminster/John Knox Press.
created 2003-5-7, modified 2004-4-8