I was introduced to biblical archaeology back in seminary. (“What do you mean, Indiana Jones isn’t real?!”) I learned that archaeology is not essential to prove the veracity of the Scriptures, yet archaeology has unearthed many evidences that affirm the Bible’s reliability.

Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser has listed fifteen of what he considers to be the top finds from biblical archaeology, including:

1. Ketef Hinnom Amulets

In 1979, two tiny silver scrolls were discovered in a cave near Jerusalem. These scrolls date from the 7th to 6th century BC. It took three years to develop a method to unroll the scrolls without causing them to disintegrate. Quoting from Numbers and Deuteronomy, they are the oldest Old Testament text fragments known to date!

3. Dead Sea Scrolls

“Probably the most sensational manuscript discovery of our times,” these scrolls, fragments and documents date back to the 2nd century BC and contain portions or entire texts of every Old Testament book except Esther. This discovery showed the remarkably accurate preservation of the Old Testament:

“…after a gap of 1000 years in textual copying tradition … only three words in the whole book of Isaiah showed any difference—and those differences were variations in spelling comparable to the difference in English and American spellings of “honour” versus “honor.”

You can read about the other fascinating finds here: PDF

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About Ben Kwok

Ben is part of a church plant team establishing the Rouse Hill Church. He holds a Master of Divinity degree. Ben and his wife Diahanna live in Sydney, Australia with their four young children.

4 Comments

  1. Jason Harris 22 October, 2009 at 9:10 am - Reply

    Wait… Indiana Jones isn’t real?! So much for getting my education from watching movies…

  2. Ben 22 October, 2009 at 2:38 pm - Reply

    reminds me of the time our church showed The Ten Commandments movie (with Charlton Heston). Afterward, a young person commented “I learned something new tonight: I had never realized that Moses had been in love with an Egyptian princess!”. something new indeed…

  3. Jason Harris 22 October, 2009 at 3:02 pm - Reply

    lol… It’s a good thing Hollywood is so scrupulous about historical accuracy…

  4. Jonathan Laden 23 October, 2009 at 4:28 am - Reply

    It’s still open & free for now! Ten top finds of Biblical Archaeology from the Biblical Archaeology Review 200th issue.
    Ten top finds

    No one agrees on these lists, of course.

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