Archaeology and the Bible
Because the Bible was seen as a primary source for the
history of the ancient Near East, the earliest archaeological research stood
firmly within the context of the Biblical tradition. It was concerned not so
much with proving the truth of the Bible as with illustrating the Biblical
record.
In 1975 archaeologists announced that they had
uncovered what they are reasonably certain was the home of Saint Peter the
Apostle in Capernaum, where the Lord Jesus Christ had Himself stayed (Matt.
8:14). They found a cluster of rooms built around two courtyards, the largest
of which had become a house-church in very early Christian times and was later
incorporated into a fourth century Byzantine church built over and containing
the entire site. This matched a description by the pilgrim, Egeria, writing in the
380s: "In Capernaum the house of the Chief of the Apostles has been made
into a church, with its original walls still standing. Underneath the ancient
mosaic floor of this church the archaeologist found hard evidence of Saint
Peter's residence, with graffiti such as “Lord Jesus Christ, help thy
servant” and "Christ have mercy," together
with numerous inscriptions of Saint Peter's name in both Latin and Greek.
"Some scholars believed that the ... church was built to memorialize Jesus
temporary residence in Capernaum.”
The pilgrim Egeria
recorded that this was the same house "where the Lord healed the
paralytic," who was lowered through the roof (Mark 2:15). And in fact,
archaeologists found that the original house -- under the church -- with its
simple walls of stone, could not have supported a masonry roof.
"Instead," they say, "a crisscross of tree branches was used .
This kind of roof could have been easily removed in order to lower the invalid
down into the room below, where the Saviour waited.
This is but one small
glimpse of what archaeology is discovering, year by year. Yet, when I was in
college more than thirty years ago, a history professor told his class that
there “was almost no evidence to support anything in the Bible, that it was all
myth, pious fable. In fact, he said there was never even a figure called
Pontius Pilate. "And," he added smoothly, "the title of
'procurator,' Pilate's supposed title in the New Testament, is the wrong title
for a Roman official in his position." I remembered this pompous professor
years later when archaeologists announced the discovery of a marble inscription
bearing the name of Pontius Pilate, with the very title given to him in Holy
Scripture.
Even the pavement
of the courtyard of Pilate's residence in Jerusalem survived the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 AD and all of the centuries since then. This pavement's
rediscovery "was the result of years of work on the part of the
archaeologist, Fr. L. H. Vincent. His success was due to the exact description
given in Saint John's Gospel.... This was where Jesus stood before Pilate while
the mob howled outside. It was on this pavement, too, that the scourging took
place.” The pilgrim or
visitor to Jerusalem today can see this for himself. Also interesting is that
the long lost tomb of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at
the time of the Lord's trial before the Sanhedrin (John 18:12-14), has been
recently identified.
Like many modern
sciences, archaeology is in a constant state of change and development.
Evidence supporting many statements in Scripture are continually being
uncovered; to date, nothing has been discovered that contradicts these sacred
texts. Although there are modernist biblical scholars who attribute much of the
Scripture to myth and legend, and teach others to believe this, it remains a
fact although seldom mentioned -- that archaeologists, far from disproving
Scripture, are in a continuing process of confirming it. It seems that while
modern man has descended ever more deeply into the darkness of unbelief, it has
pleased God's mercy to reveal more and more factual evidence that supports
Christian belief.
And yet the
attempts to 'dymythologize" the Bible are continuing today, and some of it
tries to mask itself as the "science" of archaeology. In fact, it is
its own belief system and has nothing to do with true science Popularly called
the "new archaeology,'' this field is filled particularly with British and
American archaeologists who use "the jargon of anthropology …. looking
upon archaeology as part of the social sciences." Fearful of being
tied or associated with any kind of theology or religion, these "new
archaeologists" are trying to secularize the field of biblical
archaeology. Thus, Michael Wood, the popular writer and television
anthropologist, blithely asserts that "what the Bible calls paradise --
Eden -- was simply the Sumerian [or ancient Babylonian] word for 'Edem,' the
wild grassland of southern Iraq.” He does not mention that many other reputable
scholars disagree, or that many theologians themselves do not believe Eden was
even an actual physical, geographical location in this fallen world, but was a
mystical, spiritual reality that still exists.
An objective
observer really canot escape the conclusion that the work of archaeology in
Israel and the surrounding Middle East is, by its very nature, quite unique.
One can, of course, be involved in "digs" without being guided by
theological concepts; but at the same time, one must not be guided by any kind
of anti-biblical prejudices, either -- i.e., the common view that the Old
Testament must be historically inaccurate (something which has by no means been
proven) and is only "great literature." The fact is, recent
"wide-scale archaeological activity in Israel and Jordan has revealed a
tremendous quantity of data, its opulence and variety out of all proportion to
the small size of the country. Hundreds of archaeological projects of different
character and scope are carried out each year. The digestion of the data
uncovered is overwhelming even for professional archaeologists, not to mention
scholars of related subjects.''
Another discovery
concerns the accuracy and age of the Old Testament accounts. A particular mound
in the Jordan Valley had already been generally accepted as the Old Testament
Succoth, where Jacob built for himself a home. A few have supposed that it
might actually be Penuel, where Jacob had wrestled with the angel. But in 1967
"traces of letters on tiny pieces of plaster among the debris the workers
were cleaning up" on this site proved extremely important. The cursive
Aramaic inscription contained a reference to "the seer Balam, son of
Beor" who is mentioned in the Book of Numbers. Dated to the eight century
BC --- nearly 3000 years ago -scholars say that this is now "the earliest
extant example of a prophetic text.''
The discovery of
the Bethesda Pools is a good example of how biblical archaeology corroborates
the Gospel narratives in defiance of the secular bias of so many scholars.
Experts long doubted the existence of the pool with its "five
porticoes" as described in Saint John's Gospel, "because a pentagon
was not found in ancient architecture. Perhaps the five porticoes were just a
symbol for the five books of the Pentateuch. Then archaeologists began to
dig--one of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes exactly where Bethsaida would have
been. And sure enough, there are five places for porticoes: north, south, east,
west, and one portico in the center between the two huge pools."
A recent book,
Eyewitness to Jesus by Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona, gives us a
particularly close and gratifying look at some new hard evidence that confirms
a very early date for the Gospel of Saint Matthew. These authors -- one is a
leading German papyrologist -- first explain how the forensic and philologic
experience of more traditional scholars has been ignored or cast aside in favor
of the so-called "new" scholarship. For example:
"One of the
most persistent myths about the origins and transmission of the Gospels
concerns the length of time it took for them to be received and digested and
used. For over a century, it has been assumed that it took the recipients of
the first Gospel at least ten years to produce a sequel. Thus, it has been
taken for granted that St. Matthew's Gospel must have been written in the
eighties of the first century .
Although these
particular writers are by no means Protestant Fundamentalists or Orthodox
Christians, they carefully lay out the evidence and then decisively conclude
that modernist scholars are wrong and that "the authors of the Gospel
could hear far more than the faintest whisper of Jesus' voice. Indeed, the
first readers of St. Matthew may have heard the very words which the
"Nazarene preacher spoke during his ministry; may have listened to the
parables and waited respectfully for answers. The voice they heard was not a
whisper..." Of course, traditional Orthodox Christians have never doubted
that the Scriptures contain the words of authentic Revelation, but many others
have not been so sure. Some of this dangerous, non-believing
"scholarship" is just now beginning to infect some of the New
Calendar Orthodox seminaries -- at the very time when it is slowly but surely
being challenged and even completely revised in our secular institutions of
higher learning.
Other interesting
work being done today concerns the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the recently
deciphered papyrus fragments speaks astonishingly and explicitly of a prophet
in the tine of King David who would be put to death. "This meant that
during or even prior to the time of Jesus [the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls]
believed in a Messiah who would suffer and be put to death... 'We've known for
a long time that there are connections between ideas contained in the Scrolls
and Christianity,' said University of Chicago archaeologist Michael Wise ...
'However, this particular idea -- the idea of a dying Messiah -- is new and
explosive.'' Explosive because,
of course, it lends still more credence to the New Testament accounts, and this
would be anathema to both believing Jews and non-believing scholars who think
that the New Testament was just made up out of whole cloth several decade~
after the actual events themselves.
Concerning the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, extensive archaeological work has
now established "the history of the building and of the site on which it
rests... The results of all this excavation and research have now been
published in a three-volume final report ... proving that the site was a
turn-of-the-era cemetery .... The fact that the Christian community in
Jerusalem was never dispersed during this period, and that its succession of
bishops was never interrupted, supports the accuracy of the preserved memory
that Jesus had been crucified and buried here.''
In fact, we are constantly gaining.
Source: http://www.roca.org/OA/143-144/143m.htm
Source: http://www.roca.org/OA/143-144/143m.htm
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