ebi-1 biblical archaeology

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGYElements of Biblical Interpretation

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

• The Bible’s History is inspired, so it is the key to piecing together archaeological findings (maximalist view vs. Minimalist view).

• We piece together findings from archaeology, and then interpret them according to the eyewitness account God has given us.

• Only the Bible has an unchanging account of history past, present, and future.

•Everything happened somewhere (that is Geography), and sometime (that is History); and when you combine those two ideas into the Land of the Book you get Biblical Archaeology (finding remains of where things happened and when).

•To God the single most important geographic location on Earth is where Christ was Dedicated by His parents, where He taught many of His key teachings, where He was Tried, Condemned, Crucified & Buried, where He Rose, where He Ascended, where His Church was born, and where He will Return at His Second Coming.

•That location for those seven key events to God, is Jerusalem.

• So, to understand Biblical Archaeology: all of the Land of the Book, and especially Jerusalem, are very important.

• To explain simple Biblical Archaeology, we would take the Scriptures and apply the historical framework God's Word presents, and sort all of the various archaeological remains into their Biblical Context.

• To use Jerusalem as an example, the surface of the ground would be the present and then the deeper you go, the more levels of past Biblical History you would pass through.

• If we were to show Jerusalem’s layers by recognized secular time periods it would look like this:

State  of  Israel  1948-­‐present:  prophecy  ful,illedBritish  1917-­‐1947  AD:      Post-­‐WWI    Occupation

Ottoman  1517-­‐1917  AD:      Turkish  EmpireMamluk  1250-­‐1517  AD:  Renaissance  to  ReformationCrusader  1099-­‐1250  AD:  Crusades  to  RenaissanceArab  Muslim  638-­‐1099  AD:  Dark  Ages,  rise  of  RCC

Byzantine  324-­‐638  AD:  monastic  period,  Church  CouncilsRoman,  Late  200-­‐324  AD:    Persecution,  church  growth

Roman,  Middle  70-­‐200  AD:    Jerusalem’s  fall,  Post-­‐Apostolic  FathersRoman,  Early  63  BC-­‐70  AD:  N.T.  events,  early  church,  Epistles    

Hasmonean  141-­‐63  BC:  Maccabeans  to  PompeyHellenistic  332-­‐141  BC:  Alexander’s  Four  Generals

Persian  539-­‐332  BC:  Daniel,  Ezra,  Alexander  the  GreatIron  Age  1200-­‐539  BC:  Samuel,  Saul,  David  to  Daniel

Bronze  Age,  Late  1550-­‐1200  BC:  Bondage,  Moses,  Exodus,  JudgesBronze  Age,  Middle  2000-­‐1550  BC:  Patriarchs  to  Bondage  in  Egypt

Bronze  Age,  Early  3300-­‐2000  BC:  Abraham  visited  Jerusalem

The  Global  Cataclysmic  Flood  transformed  every  part  of  the  surface  of  the  Earth.  Pre-­‐Flood  World:  

Secular  terms  (Chalcolithic  4500-­‐3300  BC  &  Neolilthic  8500-­‐4500  BC)

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY HELPS US SEE THE PAST

•God’s Word describes 2,938 people;

•God’s Word describes hundreds of places; and

•God’s Word describes countless events.

•All are SEEN more clearly, and the implications of what happened are clearer when seen through the lens of Biblical Archaeology.

ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES

ISRAEL: JUDGES

TO SAMUEL

ISRAEL: SAUL TO

DAVID

ISRAEL: 830BC

HIGH PLACES: GESHUR GALILEE

PAUL’S CONVERSION

ACTS 9:11

STREET CALLED STRAIGHT?

•What would that mean, if anything? Without digging down to that time we’d not really know.

• It was the Main Street of the Roman World.

• Every city had one.

•They were the main north-south axis.

•They were called the Cardo (Greek for “heart”)

GerasaMt. 8:28

Gerasa ruins from south

Gerasa oval plaza panorama

Gerasa oval plaza

Gerasa oval plaza columns

Gerasa Cardo

Gerasa entrance to Temple of Artemis

Gerasa western baths

Beth SheanMt. 4:25

Beth Shean aerial from southwest

Beth Shean aerial from northeast

Palladius Street at Beth Shean

Roman ruins at Beth Shean

Beth Shean amphitheater

Medeba Map

MADABA, JORDAN

Medeba map, Jerusalem

Medeba map, north of Jerusalem

Medeba Map, southwest of Jerusalem

JERUSALEM: BYZANTINE

PERIOD

JEWISH QUARTERMT. 8:20

Tanner's Gate and Valley Cardo at night

Cardo looking southwest

Cardo looking southwest

Cardo from south

Cardo from south

Cardo from north

Cardo from north

Cardo shopping area from south

Cardo shopping area from south

JERUSALEM HOUSE

PAUL AT THESSALONICA

• Acts 16:22-24 Paul beaten with rods

• Acts 16:40 Paul starts walking

• Acts 17:1 Paul walks 97 miles to Thessalonica

• 1 Th. 21-4 Paul defends his reliability

Beth Shean aerial from northeast

Palladius Street at Beth Shean

Roman ruins at Beth Shean

CITY OF DAVID FINDS

• Azaliah son of Meshullam, scribe in the Temple in Jerusalem: Mentioned in 2 Kings 22:3 and 2 Chronicles 34:8. A bulla reading "belonging to Azaliabu son of Meshullam." is likely to be his, according to archaeologist Nahman Avigad.[76]

• Gedaliah son of Pashhur, an opponent of Jeremiah. A bulla bearing his name was found in the City of David [82]

• Gemariah, son of Shaphan the scribe. A bulla was found with the text "To Gemaryahu ben Shaphan". This may have been the same person as "Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe" mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10,12.[83]

OLD CITY JERUSALEM

HazorJoshua 11:1-11

Hazor upper city aerial from west

Hazor upper city aerial from west

Hazor Solomonic gate

JERUSALEM: BETHESDA