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Introduction to Biblical
Archeology
GE 24:10
Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his
master, and set out with a variety of good things of his
master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to
Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
GE 24:11
He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the
well of water at evening time, the time when women go
out to draw water.
GE 24:12
He said, “ O LORD,
the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success
today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.
GE 24:13
“Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters
of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;
GE 24:14
now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let
down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers,
‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may
she be the one whom You have appointed for Your
servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have
shown lovingkindness to my master.”
JOS 15:61
In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin and Secacah,
JOS 15:62
and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities
with their villages.
Joshua
15:61-61 (NASB)
Abu Simbel:
Abu Simbel is a temple built by Pharaoh Ramses II (1304
– 1238). It is carved in the solid rock above the banks
of the Nile River between the First and Second
Cataracts. Ramses II built the Great Temple to honor
himself and the gods of the state. The four seated
statues of Ramses are about 20 meters in height. At the
feet of Ramses stand the statues of his favorite
children. Many stelae were found at the southern end of
the temple, including the famous Marriage Stela. This
stela describes the arrival of the Hittite princess to
Egypt to marry Ramses following the treaty with the
Hittites. The sun shines on Ramses II’s statues only two
days out of each year: Oct 22 and Feb 22. These two days
were his birthday and his coronation day. The walls
depict scenes, which show Ramses’ greatness in battle.
Ramses was particularly proud of his victory at the
battle of Kadesh and depicted this on numerous monuments
including this temple.
MOABITE STONE
(also called the MESHA STELE):
A basalt stone, bearing
an inscription by King Mesha (king of Moab), which was
discovered at Dibon, Jordan by Klein, a German
missionary at Jerusalem, in 1868. It is 3 1/2 feet high,
2 feet wide and rounded at the top. It consists of
thirty-four lines, written in Hebrew-Phoenician
characters. It was set up by King Mesha as a record and
memorial of his victories. It records: (1) Mesha’s wars
with Omri, (2) his public buildings, and (3) his wars
against Horonaim. This inscription in a remarkable
degree supplements and corroborates the history of King
Mesha recorded in
2 Kings
3:4-27. This
ancient monument, recording the heroic struggles of King
Mesha with Omri and Ahab, was erected about B.C. 850.
PILATE INSCRIPTION:
It
wasn’t long ago when many scholars were questioning the
actual existence of a Roman Governor with the name
Pontius Pilate, the procurator who ordered Jesus’
crucifixion. In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by
Dr. Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre
near Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) and uncovered this
interesting limestone block. On the face is a monumental
inscription, which is part of a larger dedication to
Tiberius Caesar, which clearly says that it was from
“Pontius Pilate, Prefect of
Judea.”
Siloam Inscription:
The pool of Siloam was
originally constructed by King Hezekiah who ruled from
716-687 B.C. as recorded in 2 Kings 20:20:
2Ki 20:20
As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his
achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by
which he brought water into the city, are they not
written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
2
Kings 20:20 (NIV)
An inscription was discovered in 1880 at the sight of
the pool of Siloam describing how two teams of Jewish
tunnelers digging towards one another, finally met to
finish the construction of the tunnel. The discovery is
known as the Siloam inscription and can be found at the
Istanbul Archaeological Museum in Turkey. The
inscription reads:
“The account of breakthrough is as follows. While the
tunnelers were working with their picks, each toward the
other, and while there was still 5 feet of rock to go
through, the rock split to the south and to the north,
and the voices of each were heard calling one to
another. And at that moment the laborers broke through
striking pick against pick. Then the water began to flow
from the spring to the pool for a distance of 1,900
feet. And the height of the tunnel above the heads of
the laborers was 160 feet.”
In the gospel of John chapter 9 it is recorded that
Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth at the
Pool of Siloam.
Jn 9:1
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.
Jn 9:2
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jn 9:3
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus,
“but this happened so that the work of God might be
displayed in his life.
Jn 9:4
As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who
sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Jn 9:5
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Jn 9:6
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud
with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
Jn 9:7
“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” So the
man went and washed, and came home seeing.
John 9:1-7
ABRAHAM, ABRAM:
THE
FATHER OF A MULTITUDE.
The original name of the youngest son of Terah was
Abram, meaning “father of height.” The name Abraham was
given to him when the promise of a numerous progeny was
renewed to him by God
(Gen. 11:26; 17:5, 9).
Abraham’s place in the Bible’s portrait gallery is
altogether unique and unapproachable. He stands out as a
landmark in the spiritual history of the world. Chosen
of God to become the father of a new spiritual race, the
file leader of a mighty host, the revelation of God
found in him one of its most important epochs. In
himself, there was not much to make him worthy of such a
distinction. His choice was all of grace. Abraham’s life
is given us in detail, and we know him as we know few
men of the Bible. He was from the great and populous
city of
Ur, and
therefore a Gentile although he became the first Hebrew.
He was a rough, simple, venerable Bedouin-like sheep
master. He uttered no prophecy, wrote no book, sang no
song, and gave no laws. Yet in the long list of Bible
saints he alone is spoken of as “the father of the
faithful” and as “the friend of God”
(Isa. 41:8).
Let us briefly sketch his story and character.
I. He was
born in Ur of the Chaldees, of parents who were heathen.
Little is known of him until he was seventy years old, a
striking proof that he had yielded himself to God before
he left his heathen home for the far-off land of Canaan.
II. He
received a distinct revelation from God, and of God, but
we are not told how and when. This, however, we do know:
He gave up a certainty for an uncertainty and went out
not knowing whither he went. Willingly he surrendered
the seen for the unseen.
III. He
was taught the lesson of patience, of waiting upon the
Eternal God. It was many years before the promise of God
was fulfilled to him—promises three in number—of a
country, Canaan; of posterity, as the stars
of heaven; of a spiritual seed, through whom all
the families of the earth would be blessed.
IV. He
believed as he waited. His soul fed upon the promises of
God. He believed God in the face of long delay and also
amid difficulties that seemed insuperable. This is why
he is called “the father of all them that believe.”
V. He was
renowned for his active, working, living faith
(Gen. 15:6).
Abraham believed in God and it was counted to him for
righteousness.
VI. He was
subject to failures. His character, like the sun, had
its spots. Abraham’s conduct to Hagar on two occasions,
in sending her away, is painful to remember. Then his
departure from Canaan into Egypt when the famine was on
was surely not an act of faith. The falsehood which on
two occasions he told with regard to Sarah his wife
gives us a glimpse into a natural character somewhat
cowardly, deceitful and distrustful
(Gen.
12:19; 20:2).
VII. He
was called to offer up special sacrifices. The first is
fully described in Genesis fifteen, where the five
victims offered in sacrifice to God were symbolic and
typical of the whole Mosaic economy to come. Then we
have the offering up of Isaac, an act of faith on
Abraham’s part and yet a trial of faith
(Gen. 22).
What a demand God made! But Abraham did not withhold his
only son of promise. What God wanted was Abraham’s
heart, not Isaac’s life. So when the knife was raised to
slay Isaac, a provided substitute appeared. After this
sacrifice Abraham received the testimony that he had
pleased God.
The Bible
offers us many types of Christ, Isaac being one of the
chiefest, but Abraham is the only type in Scripture
of God the Father. Abraham so loved God as to give
up his only son, and centuries before Christ was born
entered into the inner heart of
John 3:16.
After serving God faithfully, Abraham died when 175
years of age.
AHAB:
FATHER’S BROTHER.
The son of Omri, and his successor as the seventh
king of Israel
(1 Kings
16:28-33).
Ahab was
an able and energetic warrior. His victories over the
Syrians pushed the borders of his kingdom to the border
of Damascus. Great renown became his, also great wealth
indicated by the ivory palace he built for himself
(1
Kings 21:1; 22:39).
Success,
however, made him greedy for still more. Not since
Solomon’s time had a king been so victorious as Ahab,
and what was a little matter like Naboth’s vineyard to
one who had grasped so much? With his wealth, Ahab
bought all he wanted. One tenant, however, could not be
bought out. Sentiment, affection and tender memories
were more to Naboth than all the king’s money. Ahab
established idolatry. He was a dangerous innovator and a
patron of foreign gods
(1 Kings
16:31-33; 21:26).
He was a
weak-minded man, lacking moral fiber and righteousness
(1
Kings 21:4).
He was the
tool of his cruel, avaricious wife
(1 Kings
21:7, 25).
His doom, along with that of Jezebel, was foretold by
Elijah
(1 Kings
21:22)
and by Micaiah
(1 Kings
22:28).
HEZEKIAH:
JEHOVAH IS STRENGTH
or
A STRONG SUPPORT
IS JEHOVAH. Also given as Hizkiah, Hizkijah,
Ezekias. Son and successor of Ahaz as king of
Judah
(2 Kings
16:20).
He is referred to in over one hundred references in 2
Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Hosea and Micah.
Hezekiah was one of the best kings who ever sat upon the
throne of Judah, and is distinguished as the greatest in
faith of all Judah’s kings
(2 Kings
18:5).
This good king is to be admired when one remembers his
family background. Having such a wicked, apostate father
as Ahaz, the wonder is that his son became the noble
king he did. With Hezekiah’s ascent to the throne at the
age of twenty-five there began a period of religious
revival in which he was encouraged by the noblest and
most eloquent of the Hebrew prophets, Isaiah, who knew
how to carry his religion into his politics. Hezekiah
was a man who prayed about the difficulties and dangers
overtaking him. What faith and confidence in God he
revealed when he spread Sennacherib’s insolent letter
before the Lord. Both Hezekiah and Isaiah defied mighty
Assyria, God using one angel to slay one hundred and
eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. The king knew
how to pray about personal matters as well as military
dangers. When smitten with a fatal illness, he turned
his face to the wall and prayed. Isaiah, his friend and
counselor, came to him with a message from God that he
would not die but live. “I will add unto thy days
fifteen years.” Hezekiah asked with all his heart
that he might live, and God continued his life. At the
time of his sickness, Hezekiah had no son, and this fact
possibly added to his desire to live. Three years after
his recovery Manasseh was born, who became a curse upon
the earth and an abomination in the sight of the Lord.
Here, then, was one of the results of Hezekiah’s
answered prayer. It might have been better for Judah if
Hezekiah had died without such an heir. Many prayers we
offer are mistakes. God graciously grants our requests
but “brings leanness to our souls”
(Ps.
106:15).
Perhaps Hezekiah’s sin began in his unwillingness to go
to heaven when God sent for him
(2 Kings
20:1-3).
Hezekiah’s
simple faith in God was the source and secret of his
strength. He believed God ruled among the armies of
heaven and of earth. His faith was the intuitive
perception that God was near—a real Personality and not
a mere tendency making for righteousness. The loss of
faith is ultimately the loss of moral power. One of the
main lessons of Hezekiah’s life is, have faith in God.
Hezekiah
lost favor with God because of pride. After all the
divine blessings showered upon him, he allowed his heart
to be lifted up with pride. Vanity and self-sufficiency
led the king astray. His heart became obsessed with his
household treasures. He turned from God to goods.
“Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit
done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore
there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem”
(2
Chron. 32:24, 25).
Sin never ends with the person committing it.
The four crises Hezekiah faced were: 1) The crisis of
choice, and he chose to forsake the idols of his father
and purge the kingdom of idolatry
(2 Chron. 28:23, 25; 2 Kings
18:22); 2) The crisis of invasion
(2 Chron. 32:1-19).
Prayer brought deliverance (2
Chron. 32:20, 21); 3) The crisis of sickness.
Obedience furnished the foundation of the king’s prayer
for healing (Isa. 38:1-5);
4) The crisis of prosperity. Alas, Hezekiah manifested
pride when he displayed his treasures to the ungodly
(Isa. 39).
ISAAC:
HE LAUGHETH
or
LAUGHING
ONE.
The son of Abraham and Sarah, who was born at
Gerar when Abraham was one hundred years of age and
Sarah was about ninety years old
(Gen.
17:19, 21; 21:3-12; 22:2-9).
Isaac is one of the few cases in the Bible in which God
selected a name for a child and announced it before he
was born. In the Old Testament we have Isaac, Ishmael,
Solomon, Josiah, Cyrus and Isaiah’s son; in the New
Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus.
Isaac’s
beautiful and suggestive name, “he laughed,”
commemorates the two laughings at the promise of God—the
laughing of the father’s joy and the laughing of Sarah’s
incredulity which soon passed into penitence and faith
(Gen. 21:6).
Isaac was the child of the covenant, “I will establish
My covenant with him.” To three patriarchs in
succession was this covenant specifically given: to
Abraham, as he left Chaldea
(Gen. 12:3);
to Isaac, when in Canaan during the famine
(Gen. 26:4);
to Jacob, at Bethel
(Gen.
28:14).
Isaac, however, was the first to inherit the covenant,
and to him God gave the whole inheritance of Abraham
(Gen. 24:35).
We have no
record of Isaac’s early life apart from the fact that he
was circumcised when eight days of age
(Gen. 21:4).
Doubtless as a lad he became God’s child in heart and
life, ever mindful of the covenant he was heir to. When,
according to Josephus, Isaac was twenty-five years of
age, he was taken from Beer-sheba to the land of Moriah,
where, as the burnt offering, Abraham presented him to
God. While we have Abraham’s unquestioning faith in his
submission to the divine command to offer up his only
son, we must not forget Isaac’s supreme confidence in
his father and also his willing consent to become the
victim
(Gen.
22:12; 26:5; Heb. 11:17).
Thus in Isaac we have a type of Him who gave Himself
for our sins. From the day of his surrender to
death, Isaac became a dedicated man. “The altar
sanctified the gift.”
When his
mother Sarah died, Isaac was a man of thirty-six, and
was deeply grieved over the death of his mother. Comfort
was his when he took Rebekah as his wife to help fill
the vacant place in his heart. To the credit of Isaac it
must be said that he was the only one of the patriarchs
who had but one wife. It is also perfectly clear from
the ancient idyll, one of the most beautiful in all
literature, that Isaac left the choice of his wife to
God. When the caravan bearing Rebekah neared home, Isaac
was in the fields meditating or “praying,” as the
margin expresses it
(Gen.
24:63).
For many
years Isaac and Rebekah were childless, but God heard
Isaac’s prayers and Rebekah gave birth to twins, Jacob
and Esau. Isaac seems to have outlived his wife, and
died at the age of 180
(Gen.
35:28).
For some fifty years Isaac was almost blind, a sad and
pitiful lot for God’s chosen one.
The character of Isaac, beautiful though it was in many
ways, yet carried a few blots. He followed his father,
Abraham, in deceitfulness when he called his wife his
sister, bringing upon himself the rebuke of Abimelech.
He also loved “savory food,” which should have been
alien to a man so calm and still, lord of his passion
and himself. Then in the matter of Esau and the
blessing, Isaac surely rebelled against the Lord’s
purpose.
Among the commendable features of his character, mention
can be made of Isaac’s submission
(Gen. 22:6, 9);
meditation (Gen. 24:63);
instinctive trust in God (Gen.
22:7, 8); deep devotion
(Gen. 24:67; 25:21); peaceableness
(Gen. 26:20-22);
prayerfulness (Gen. 26:25); faith
(Heb. 11:16, 17). “The
fear of Isaac” (Gen. 31:42,
53), means the God tremblingly adored by the
patriarch.
JEZEBEL:
(1 Kings
16:31; 18:4-19; 19:1, 2; 21:5-25; 2 Kings 9)
Name Meaning:
This heartless woman with a bloody history belied the
name she bore, for Jezebel means, “chaste, free from
carnal connection”; but by nature she was a most
licentious woman. She was a voluptuary, with all the
tawdry arts of a wanton woman. Thus no name could have
been more inappropriate for such a despised female.
Family Connections: She was the daughter of Ethbaal,
king of the Zidonians, and both king and priest of Baal
worshipers. Their gods were Baal and Ashtaroth or
Astarte, with their innumerable number of priests, 450
of whom Ahab installed in the magnificent temple to the
Sun-god he had built in Samaria. Another 400 priests
were housed in a sanctuary Jezebel erected for them, and
which she fed at her own table. It was this heathen
woman who married Ahab, king of Northern Israel, and who
in so doing was guilty of a rash and impious act, which
resulted in evil consequences. As a Jew, Ahab sinned
against his Hebrew faith in taking as his wife the
daughter of a man whose very name, Ethbaal, meant, “A
Man of Baal.”
MESHA
(Vulgate: Messa):
Meaning: Middle district. A king of Moab, the son
of Chemosh-Gad, a man of great wealth in flocks and
herds
(2 Kings 3:4).
After the death of Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead, Mesha shook
off the yoke of Israel; but on the ascension of Jehoram
to the throne of Israel, that king sought the help of
Jehoshaphat in an attempt to reduce the Moabites again
to their former condition. The united armies of the two
kings came unexpectedly on the army of the Moabites, and
gained over them an easy victory. The whole land was
devastated by the conquering armies, and Mesha sought
refuge in his last stronghold, Kir-harasheth. Reduced to
despair, he ascended the wall of the city, and there, in
the sight of the allied armies, offered his first-born
son a sacrifice to Chemosh, the fire-god of the
Moabites. This fearful spectacle filled the beholders
with horror, and they retired from before the besieged
city, and recrossed the Jordan laden with spoil
(2 Kings 3:25-27).
The exploits of Mesha are recorded in the Phoenician
inscription on a block of black basalt found at Dibon,
in Moab, usually called the “Moabite stone.”
OMRI:
A BUNDLE OF CORN, IMPETUOUS
or
JEHOVAH
APPORTIONS. Father of Ahab, captain of the
host, afterwards made king instead of Zimri who had
slain Elah
(1 Kings
16:16-30; 2 Kings 8:26; 2 Chron. 22:2; Micah 6:16).
Omri was one of the most important kings of Israel and
the founder of a dynasty. He reigned for twelve years.
PONTIUS PILATE:
This man was
probably connected with the Roman family of the Pontii,
and called “Pilate” from the Latin pileatus, i.e.,
“wearing the pileus”, which was the “cap or badge of a
manumitted slave,” indicating that he was a “freedman,”
or the descendant of one. He was the sixth in the order
of the Roman procurators of Judea (A.D. 26-36). His
headquarters were at Caesarea, but he frequently went up
to Jerusalem. His reign extended over the period of the
ministry of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ, in
connection with whose trial his name comes into
prominent notice
(Matt
27:19,27,28; Luke 23:2,4,11,12; John 18:33,37,38, 19:2).
Pilate hated the Jews whom he ruled, and in times of
irritation freely shed their blood. They returned his
hatred with cordiality, and accused him of every crime,
misadministration, cruelty, and robbery. References to
him, however, are found in the
Acts 3:13;
4:27; 13:28, and
in 1
Tim. 6:13. In
A.D. 36 the governor of Syria brought serious
accusations against Pilate, and he was banished to
Vienne in Gaul, where, according to tradition, he
committed suicide.
REBEKAH, REBECCA:
Scripture References—Genesis
22:23; 24; 25:20-28; 26:6-35; 27; 28:5; 29:12; 35:8;
49:31; Romans 9:6-16. Name Meaning—Rebekah
is another name with an animal connection. Although not
belonging to any animal in particular, it has reference
to animals of a limited class and in a peculiar
condition. The name means a “tie rope for animals” or “a
noose” in such a rope. Its root is found in a noun
meaning a “hitching place” or “stall” and is connected
with a “tied-up calf or lamb,” a young animal peculiarly
choice and fat. Applied to a female, the figure suggests
her beauty by means of which men are snared or bound.
Thus another meaning of Rebekah is that of
“captivating.” If, then, Rebekah means “a noosed cord,”
the loop was firmly around Isaac’s neck. When Isaac took
her as his bride he forgot his grief for his dead
mother, and lived happily with his wife for twenty years
during which time they had no children.
Family Connections:
Rebekah is first mentioned in the genealogy of the
descendants of Nahor, Abraham’s brother
(Genesis
22:20-24).
When the pilgrims set out from the Ur of the Chaldees,
Nahor was one of the party, and settled down at Charran
where Terah, his father, died. Among Nahor’s sons was
Bethuel who, by an unknown wife, became the father of
Rebekah, the sister of Laban. Rebekah married Isaac the
son of Abraham, by whom she had two sons, Esau and
Jacob.
SHEM, SEM:
RENOWN,
or NAME.
A son of Noah, and ancestor of Christ
(Gen. 5:32).
From his name, it is to be inferred that Shem was a
distinguished person. The men of Babel sought to make
themselves a name
(Gen. 11:4)
and become, thereby, rivals of Shem. The greatness of
Shem arose from the fact that he was a forerunner of
Christ. Shem’s name meaning “renown” foreshadowed the
greater name “above every name” before which every knee
shall bow
(Luke 3:36).
In offering praise to God, Noah said, “Blessed be the
Lord God of Shem”
(Gen. 9:26).
TIBERIUS:
SON OF TIBER.
The stepson of Augustus and third Emperor of
Rome, A..
14-37
(Luke 3:1).
His full name was Tiberius Caesar Augustus. A Souter
reminds us that Tiberius was “an able general and a
competent Emperor, but the unhappy experiences of his
early life made him suspicious and timorous, and he put
many of his rivals or supposed rivals to death. In his
later years he was much under the influence of a
villainous schemer, Sejamus.”
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Knowledge
of Israel’s history is important if one is to understand
the message of the Old Testament. Both message and
history are inseparably intertwined. Israel’s history is
divinely ordained as preparatory for the coming of
Christ. One cannot understand Him without knowing of
those events, which called for and led to His coming.
Archaeology is a tool that can help one understand
biblical history better.
Definition
of Biblical Archaeology
name Pontius Pilate, the procurator who ordered Jesus’
crucifixion. In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by
Dr. Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre
near 
writings.
The
father of modern archaeology was Sir William Flinders
Petrie (1853-1942). Along with the scientific approach
he took with archaeology he identified two very
important concepts: