[NYer]

Aerial photograph of Khirbat Qeiyafa at the end of the 2010 season, looking northeast.

[NELSON111]

I don't think I could even begin to list all the things skeptics said the Bible was wrong about...and was later proved true by archeologists.

The only thing that will convince some skeptics of the authenticity of the Bible is death.

[Lazamataz]

I hate everything.

[MarineBrat]

There’s that pesky “Common Era” again. Dates BEE CEE EEE. Yuck! I wonder what is “common” about our era...

[Yashcheritsiy]

“Atheists, Liberal ‘Christians’ Hit Hardest”

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Although we would like to have more information, there is very ample information to illustrate that the pre-Babylonian history of Israel recorded in the Bible is authentic. Here are just a few items:

Within the past decade, there was a stele (known as the Tel Dan Stele) found at Dan in Israel. It dates to the eighth or ninth century B.C. In it the king of Syria mentions victories over Israel and also the "house of David". (At this time, after the death of Solomon, there were two Israelite kingdom: the northern kingdom of Israel--with ten tribes--and the southern kingdom of Judah--with two tribes. The southern tribe contained both the city and the lineage of David.)

The Tel Dan Stele:



The Assyrians in their records did not refer to Israel as "Israel". They referred to it as "Omri-land". Omri was a powerful ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C. He is mentioned in the Old Testament in the books of I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, and in the book of Micah.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser is a record of the exploits of the ninth century B.C. Assyrian ruler by that name. On the Obelisk is a picture of King Jehu of Israel (or his delegate) doing obeisance to the Assyrian ruler. The picture contains this caption: "The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears." King Jehu is mentioned in the Old Testament books of I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, and in the Book of Hosea.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser with King Jehu of Israel:



Many other examples could be provided.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Note: gratuitous use of straw man “some skeptical scholars”. In what, the 17th Century?

There has been almost continual archeological excavations going on in the Middle East since the 19th Century, probably a bit earlier, the vast majority of which was done by either religious scholars investigating religious archaeology, or secular scholars investigating secular archeology. While there was considerable overlap, there was very little interest in “debunking” as compared to confirming what had been written, which was not an easy task.

The French campaign in Egypt and Syria under Napoleon Bonaparte (1798–1801) caused an explosion in Egyptology (including the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the first great breakthrough in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics), that was to a great extent driven by religious scholar archeologists looking for traces of the Hebrews in Egypt as well as creating a Pharaonic timetable in hopes they could have some idea of when this all took place.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a single scholar in archeology who for a moment thought that the Davidic and Solomonic kingdoms were mythical. While nothing remains of the 1st Temple (Solomon) but its dimensions, there seems to be few doubts that the 2nd Temple was accurate to the 1st, excepting the additional features added by Herod the Great.

[zeugma]

Thanks for posting. BFLV