Biblically Compatible Archaeology and Geography

 by Steven A. Austin, Ph.D. * The Bible is often regarded as a book of stories based on a primitive people's understanding of the world around them. As such, many people--and even some Christians--believe that it is not a reliable source of history. But science continues to prove them wrong. An Ancient Earthquake The Kings of Israel and Judah ruled during the period of time designated as the Iron Age by archaeologists. Widely separated archaeological excavations in the countries of Israel and Jordan contain late Iron Age (Iron IIb) architecture bearing damage from a great earthquake. 1 Masonry walls best display the earthquake's effects, especially those with broken ashlars or displaced rows of stones, walls that are still standing but are leaning or bowed, and collapsed walls with large sections still lying course-on-course. Earthquake evidence is seen prominently at Hazor, Israel's largest ancient city. In excavations beginning in 1955 by a...

by Rich Deem Introduction Biblical commandments Skeptics have claimed that Old Testament writers exaggerated or made up the existence of the Hebrew kingdoms described in the Old Testament, including kings David and Solomon. However, recent archeological evidence has shown that the written Hebrew language was in existence by the 10 th century B.C . The archaeological site of Khirbet Qeiyafa is the location of a massively fortified city of megalithic stones 6-9 feet tall. 1 In 2008, two city gates were discovered, which was very unusual for cities of that time (which usually had only one gate). This unusual characteristic clearly identified the city as being the biblical Sha‛ărayim, which has the meaning of "double gate." 2 The city is mentioned three times in the Old Testament ( Joshua 15:36 , 1 Samuel 17:52 and 1 Chronicles 4:31 ). 3 The existence of written Hebrew commandments at Khirbet Qeiyafa suggested that the peoples at the site were following t...

Part Two by Everette Hatcher III 2001 / March-April 5 Did the Book of Daniel err when it presented Belshazzar as the King of Babylon (Dan. 5)? William Sierichs, Jr., asserted that Belshazzar “was never the king” ( TSR, Vol. 9.6, p.2), and Dave Matson made this same point twice ( TSR, Vol. 9.6, p. 12, Vol. 10.1, p. 15). Moreover, Sierichs and Matson are not the only ones who hold this view (E.W. Heaton, The Book of Daniel, Torch Bible Commentaries, London: SCM, 1956, p. 63; Brodrick D. Shepherd, Beasts, Horns, and the Anti-Christ, Grassy Creek, NC: Cliffside Publishing House, 1994, p. 23; Russell, p. 83). Earlier I quoted the critic Philip Davies concerning this. Davies noted, “This is still sometimes repeated as a charge against the historicity of Daniel, and resisted by conservative scholars. But it has been clear since 1924 (J. A. Montgomery, Daniel, International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh: T and T Clark, New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1927, pp. 66-67) that ...

.... In Ramessides, Medes and Persians I outlined detailed reasons for identifying Tiglath-Pileser III with Cyrus, Shalmaneser V with Cambyses, and Sargon II with Darius I. The striking correspondences in the lives of all of these, repeated generation for generation in parallel sequence, made it increasingly unlikely that the identifications could be mistaken. Yet even one striking mismatch could potentially invalidate the whole scheme. I then came to the next “pairing” – Sennacherib with Xerxes. Would these two also show clear-cut and convincing correspondences? A random search of the internet produces the following for Xerxes and Sennacherib: “Like the Persian Xerxes, he [Sennacherib] was weak and vainglorious, cowardly under reverse, and cruel and boastful in success.” (WebBible Encyclopedia at www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/sennacherib.html). The writer of these words did not suspect any connection between the two kings, much less that they were the same person. Ne...

A query from France: Dear Damien, Do you know “The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse” by Patrick Heron (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2004).? It offers many interesting views on mythologies and Egypt. I read it because I am writing an article on “the days of Noah” (Mt24:36-38 or Lc17:26) . Transhumanism looks terribly similar, if not much worse, to the deeds of the Nephilim before and after the Flood. So I am just curious to know if you, perchance, have any opinion on this author and his theses. I wish you a holy and merry Christmas ! .... Damien Mackey replies:   .... I once went to a lecture where it was even suggested that the Egyptians may originally have come from the Moon. As I see it, the Nephilim came into being when the originally good Sethite line (the children of God) began to mingle with the corrupt Cain-ites. Their progeny were the Nephilim hybrids. This was all pre-Flood (c. 2300 BC), of course, well before the Pyramids...

 Dr. John Bimson’s important article, “Hatshepsut and the Queen of Sheba: A Critique of Velikovsky’s Identification and an Alternative View” ( C and C Review, Vol. VIII, 1986), exposed as untenable, in the eyes of many revisionists, Velikovsky’s identification of Hatshepsut with the biblical Queen of Sheba. This was due to a series of strong arguments against Velikovsky’s reconstruction – some of these being irrefutable. Amongst the most telling of Bimson’s points were those that pertained to the famous Punt expedition, that Velikovsky had attempted to identify with the biblical visit by the Queen of the South to King Solomon in Jerusalem. Not only was Hatshepsut no longer a queen by the time of the Punt expedition – {she was actually in her Year 9 as pharaoh (king)} – but it appears from the Deir el-Bahri inscriptions that she did not actually accompany the Egyptian expedition to the land of Punt. The biblical queen, on the other hand, had most definitely visited King Solomon a...

 Egypt's lost pyramids: Spied from space by satellite, 17 tombs buried by sands of time     By Fiona Macrae UPDATED: 23:49 GMT, 25 May 2011 Comments ( 77 ) Share More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements found Findings are a major boost to relatively new science of space archaeology Indiana Jones found success with little more than a bullwhip and a fedora. These days however, if you want to make your mark as an archaeologist, a bit of space technology works wonders. Satellites have helped locate 17 pyramids and 3,000 ancient settlements hidden underground in Egypt. More than 1,000 burial sites were also discovered thanks to infra-red technology capable of probing beneath the desert sands from 450 miles above the Earth. Pyramid of Djoser: Many more are thought to be buried underground. The cameras on the satellites are so powerful that they can precisely image objects on Earth that are less than one metre in di...