This is a compilation of the 24-part series presented in the Good Newsmagazine over the past several years. This document is only available as an

electronic file. It is not available in print or hard-copy at this time.

The Bible andArchaeologySections 13-24

The Bible andArchaeologySections 13-24

Article Reprint Series on The Bible and ArchaeologyThe Good News (ISSN: 1086-9514) is published bimonthly by the UnitedChurch of God, an International Association, 5405 DuPont Circle, Suite A,Milford, OH 45150. © 2002 United Church of God, an International Asso-

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Can You Believe the Bible?

William Ramsay didn’t set out to prove the Bible’s accuracy. Infact, the young Oxford graduate and budding scholar set sail in1879 from England for Asia Minor convinced that, based on his

university studies, the New Testament—and the book of Acts in particular—was largely a hoax. After all, his professors had taught him that the Bible hadbeen written much later than it claimed to be, so its stories had been fabri-cated long after the fact and weren’t to be taken seriously.

The focus of his work was ancient Roman culture. But the more he duginto it, literally and figuratively, the more he came to see that the myriad oftiny details in the book of Acts—place names, topography, officials’ titles,administrative boundaries, customs and even specific structures—fit per-fectly with newly discovered historical and archaeological finds. He wasgradually convinced that, to use his own words, “in various details the narra-tive showed marvelous truth.”

Contrary to all his earlier education, he was forced to conclude that Luke,the author of Acts, was “a historian of the first rank” and that “not merely arehis statements of fact trustworthy; he is possessed of the true historic sense. . . This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”

In an outstanding academic career Ramsay was honored with doctoratesfrom nine universities and eventually knighted for his contributions to mod-ern scholarship. He shocked the academic world when in one of his bookshe announced that, because of the incontrovertible evidence he had discov-ered for the truthfulness of the Bible, he had become a Christian. Several ofhis works on New Testament history are considered classics.

When confronted with the evidence of years of travel and study, SirWilliam Ramsay learned what many others before him and since have beenforced to acknowledge: When we objectively examine the evidence for theBible’s accuracy and veracity, the only conclusion we can reach is that theBible is true.

The evidence from archaeology is only one proof of Scripture’s accuracy,and that’s the focus of this series of articles. We offer you a sampling of theevidence that’s available—documentation showing that details of the people,places and events described in the Bible, many of them mentioned only inpassing, have been verified by archaeologists and historians. Many excellentbooks have been published in recent years that verify the dependability ofScripture, and no doubt more will follow as new discoveries come to light.

What are the implications of this for you? All the evidence in the worlddoes us no good if we are not willing to believe the Bible enough to put it to the ultimate test—that of doing what it tells us to do.

James, the half brother of Jesus, reminds us that mere belief is notenough, because even the demons believe. Instead he tells us we must putour beliefs into action if we are to please God (James 2:19-26).

In The Good News we regularly offer articles such as those in this issue to help build your faith. But be sure that you don’t neglect the articles thatshow you how to put your faith and belief into action. God is interested tosee how you respond to the truth He makes known to you. Ultimately that isthe far more important test.

—Scott Ashley

The Downfall of Judah:Exile to Babylon

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n this series The Good News examines archaeo-logical finds that confirm and clarify the historicalrecord of the Bible. Several earlier articles dis-

cussed the time of the divided kingdom of the Israel-ites after they split into the kingdoms of Israel andJudah after the death of King Solomon. Two articles

described the history of the northern kingdomof Israel, and the last issue portrayed the

early years of the southern kingdom ofJudah. We continue with an examination

of the last years of Judah as a kingdom.Around 710 B.C. Judah found itself

in a dangerous position. A decadebefore, Judah’s fellow Israelites in the kingdom of Israel had been con-quered by Assyria. The Assyriansrepopulated the land with othersbrought in from distant parts of theAssyrian Empire.

Judah’s territory had been largelydevastated by Assyrian armies.Only a great miracle had saved theinhabitants of Jerusalem from thesame fate that had overtaken theirnorthern cousins.

Meanwhile, more winds ofchange were beginning to stir in theregion. A new power, Babylon, wasrising in the east. Could the tiny,weakened kingdom of Judah surviveits precarious position between pow-erful and warring Assyria, Babylonand Egypt?

The amazing story of Judah’s sur-vival is one of the themes of the OldTestament.

Hezekiah’s fateful mistake

Soon after Jerusalem’s miraculousdeliverance from the Assyrians, Judah’sKing Hezekiah fell ill. After Godhealed Hezekiah, a Babylonian princesent representatives with a message andgift of congratulations for the monarch.

“At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan,king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Heze-kiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick”(2 Kings 20:12).

Hezekiah’s response to what he naively inter-preted as a neighborly act of kindness and reconcilia-tion would prove costly in the end.

“And Hezekiah was attentive to them [the Baby-lonian ambassadors], and showed them all the houseof his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices andprecious ointment, and all his armory—all that wasfound among his treasures. There was nothing in hishouse or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did notshow them. Then Isaiah the prophet went to KingHezekiah, and said to him, ‘What did these men say,and from where did they come to you?’So Hezekiahsaid, ‘They came from a far country, from Babylon’. . . Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word ofthe LORD: “Behold, the days are coming when allthat is in your house, and what your fathers haveaccumulated until this day, shall be carried to Baby-lon; nothing shall be left”’” (verses 13-17).

Although Hezekiah proved righteous and faithfulas king, he foolishly tried to impress his visitors byshowing them the kingdom’s wealth and weaponry.The Bible reveals that at this time God withdrewfrom Hezekiah “in order to test him, that He mightknow all that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:31).God allowed Hezekiah to make this thoughtlessdecision. Thus the setting was established for thefuture Babylonian invasion of Judah and its rich capital, Jerusalem.

Manasseh: vassal of the Assyrians

After Hezekiah’s death his son Manasseh inher-ited the throne. It wasn’t long before the young kingdeparted from his father’s righteous example andexposed himself as a wicked ruler. “Manasseh wastwelve years old when he became king, and hereigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did evilin the sight of the LORD . . .” (2 Chronicles 33:1-2).

“So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitantsof Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whomthe LORD had destroyed . . . And the LORD spoke to

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The mighty Assyrian king Esarhaddonis depicted as towering over capturedrulers of Egypt and Tyre. Ropes passthrough the lips of both prisoners as they plead for mercy. A similar fate befell Judah’s King Manasseh, who wastaken away “with hooks” into captivity.

Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the LORD brought uponthem the captains of the army of the king ofAssyria, who took Manasseh with hooks,bound him with bronze fetters, and carriedhim off to Babylon” (verses 9-11).

Two Assyrian records corroborateManasseh’s submission to the Assyrians.“The name, ‘Manasseh, king of Judah’appears on the Prism of Esarhaddon . . . andon the Prism of Ashurbanipal” as among 22rulers who paid tribute to Assyria (The NewBible Dictionary, 1996, p. 724).

The biblical narrative describing KingManasseh as being carried off “with hooks”(verse 11) refers to nose rings used to leadprisoners by ropes. It was a painful, humili-ating and degrading punishment for thosewho would defy the mighty Assyrian kings.

Mighty capital of a mighty empire

The Assyrian Empire, with Nineveh asits capital, appeared invincible at the time.James Muir graphically describes thisempire at the time of the prophet Nahum(668 B.C):

“Assyria’s expansion across western Asiacould be likened to an octopus whose tenta-cles stretched from the Persian Gulf to the

Nile, and whose head was Nineveh. At thattime, Nineveh was considered one of themost beautiful cities in the world. Recently,three of its kings had adorned the city withthe wealth of their conquests and had builtfabulous palaces. These were made of brick,and on the walls of the palaces were exquis-itely crafted bas-reliefs which depicted theirgreat victories. The great walls which sur-rounded the city measured twelve miles in circumference” (Archaeology and theScriptures, 1965, pp. 182-183).

In spite of Nineveh’s greatness, Nahumforetold not only the city’s destruction butpredicted that it would never be rebuilt.“‘Behold, I am against you,’says the LORD

of hosts; ‘I will lift your skirts over your face,I will show the nations your nakedness, andthe kingdoms your shame. I will cast abom-inable filth upon you, make you vile, andmake you a spectacle. It shall come to passthat all who look upon you will flee fromyou, and say, “Nineveh is laid waste! . . .”’”(Nahum 3:5-7).

After its destruction, in 612 B.C, thismighty metropolis of the ancient world van-ished from view. “Nineveh disappeared soquickly from sight,” according to one author,“that when the Greek general Xenophon and

his ten thousand soldiers passed over the sitein his famous reconnaissance of the PersianEmpire, he didn’t realize the ruins of Nin-eveh were under his feet. What had hap-pened? When Nineveh was put to the torch,everything was burnt, and gradually whatwas left became an artificial mound coveredwith grass” (Arnold Brackman, The Luck of Nineveh, 1978, p. 21).

Although few would have believed it atthe time, Nahum’s remarkable predictioncame to pass just as he had foretold. Nin-eveh was rediscovered only in 1845 byBritish archaeologist Austen Henry Layard.As a result, many treasures from its ruinsadorn the galleries of great museums in several countries.

A scribe who made an impression

After Assyria fell, Babylon ascended torule the region. With the rise of King Neb-uchadnezzar (605-562 B.C), the days of thekingdom of Judah were numbered. Never-theless, God sent faithful messengers towarn the nation’s leaders to return to worshipof the one true God before it was too late.Nehemiah said later, “Yet for many yearsYou had patience with them, and testifiedagainst them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.Yet they would not listen; therefore You gavethem into the hand of the peoples of thelands” (Nehemiah 9:30).

One of those prophets was Jeremiah,who lived while the Babylonians werethreatening Jerusalem. His faithful scribe,Baruch, wrote down someof Jeremiah’sprophecies.“Then JeremiahcalledBaruchthe son of Neriah;and Baruchwrote on ascroll of abook, at theinstructionof Jeremiah,all the wordsof the LORD

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Prisoners from Judah play their lyres while guarded by a soldier. This scene from anAssyrian palace is reminiscent of the words of Psalm 137:1-3 describing Judah’s cap-tivity in Babylon : “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we rememberedZion.There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors . . . said, ‘Sing usone of the songs of Zion!’” (New International Version).

January/February 1999 19

Thisimpression from the seal ofBaruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, isdramatic proof of the exis-tence of this biblical charac-ter. A fingerprint, possiblythat of Baruch himself,appears on the left side.

20 The Good News

to him” (Jeremiah 36:4).Archaeologists recently found a clay

impression from Jeremiah’s time bearing notonly Baruch’s name, but apparently even hisfingerprint!

Tsvi Schneider, who in 1991 served asassistant librarian at Hebrew University’sInstitute of Archaeology, writes about a sealwith Baruch’s name on it: “The first andbest-known biblical name to be identified ona bulla [a lump of clay bearing a seal impres-sion] is Baruch son of Neriah. Baruch wasthe scribe, loyal friend and political ally of the prophet Jeremiah. The inscription is in three lines and reads: ‘Belonging toBerekhyahu/son of Neriyahu/the scribe.’Thebulla refers to Baruch by his full given name. . . Baruch son of Neriah, the seal impres-sion tells us, was a scribe. Four episodes inthe Book of Jeremiah mention Baruch, sonof Neriah the scribe” (Biblical Archaeologi-cal Review, July-August 1991, p. 27).

The librarian explains that the names of three other people from Jeremiah’s day,including Baruch’s brother, appear in otherclay impressions and seals. “It is interestingthat chapter 36 of the Book of Jeremiah alsocontains the names of two other peoplewhose seals have been impressed in surviv-ing bullae: ‘Yerahme’el son of the king’and‘Gemariah son of Shaphan.’”

The seal of Seriah, Baruch’s brother, hasbeen found as well. Seriah’s name appearsseveral times in Jeremiah 51 (verses 59-64).“The seal reads, in two lines, ‘Belonging toSeriahu/Neriyahu’ . . . Seriah was thebrother of Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe; bothSeriah and Baruch were the sons of Neriahand grandsons of Mahseiah (Jeremiah32:12, 51:59)” (Biblical ArchaeologicalReview, p. 30).

These remarkable finds confirm evensome of the tiniest details of the Bible—that four people mentioned in the book ofJeremiah were real people who lived inJerusalem at the time.

The fall of Jerusalem

The Bible’s account of the conquest ofJerusalem is also confirmed by Babylonianrecords. First, let’s notice the biblical record:“And the LORD God of their fathers sentwarnings to them by His messengers, rising

up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on Hisdwelling place. But they mocked the mes-sengers of God, despised His words, andscoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of theLORD arose against His people, till there wasno remedy. Therefore He brought againstthem the king of the Chaldeans [Babyloni-ans] . . .” (2 Chronicles 36:15-17).

“Then they burned the house of God [the temple], broke down the wall of Jeru-salem, burned all its palaces with fire, anddestroyed all its precious possessions. Andthose who escaped from the sword he car-ried away to Babylon, where they becameservants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the wordof the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah . . .”(2 Chronicles 36:19-21).

Jerusalem was actually conqueredtwice. The city was first captured but notdestroyed. Later it fell a second time, in587 B.C., when it was destroyed as theBible describes. The city was put to thetorch, its palaces and temple burned and its walls demolished. The Bible faithfullydescribes both defeats but does not specifywhen the city was conquered the first time.

In 1887 several Babylonian tablets, whicharchaeologists call The Babylon Chronicles,were deciphered. They provided dates of thereigns of many Babylonian kings. Moretablets, deciphered in 1956, give the dates of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and activities.Regrettably, one tablet is missing that couldaccount for the years 594-557 B.C. Otherthan this gap, the tablets document his reign.

The Archaeological Commentary on theBible explains the significance of the 1956find: “Until 1956, the date of the first con-quest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians wasnot known. But in that year, severalcuneiform tablets were deciphered whichgave an exact date for the first conquest—in 597 B.C.” (1979, pp. 143-144).

Exile to Babylon

Like the Assyrians, the Babyloniansdeported vanquished peoples to maintaintighter control over conquered territories. As their cousins in the northern kingdom ofIsrael fell into captivity by Assyria more thana century earlier, Judah’s inhabitants now

were taken to Babylon.The situation seemed hopeless. Judah

was devastated, and the Babyloniansforcibly removed most of its citizens. Yet,in spite of their situation, God through Hisprophets encouraged the people not to giveup hope that they would one day return totheir homeland. He not only sent prophets toJudah but to Babylon as well. Men such asDaniel and Ezekiel, who both lived in Baby-lon, spoke of a coming restoration of Judah.

Speaking through Jeremiah, God heldout hope for His people: “Thus says theLORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all whowere carried away captive, whom I havecaused to be carried away from Jerusalemto Babylon: Build houses and dwell inthem; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Takewives and beget sons and daughters . . . thatyou may be increased there, and not dimin-ished. And seek the peace of the city whereI have caused you to be carried away cap-tive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in itspeace you will have peace . . . After seventyyears are completed at Babylon, I will visityou and perform My good word towardyou, and cause you to return to this place”(Jeremiah 29:4-10).

After these encouraging words, the exilesflourished as a community in Babylon. Theywere so successful that after the 70 prophe-sied years of their exile the majority decidedto stay. These circumstances nurtured thegrowth of two large Jewish enclaves in thatpart of the world, one in Babylon and theother in Jerusalem.

Archaeological evidence demonstratesthe kind of favorable conditions that Godpromised Judah’s inhabitants in Babylon.“In 1933, E.F. Weidner, the Assyriologist,took in hand to look through the tablets andsherds in the basement rooms of the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum . . . Among this dulladministrative rubbish Weidner suddenlyfound some priceless relics of red tape in theancient world. On four different receipts forstores issued, among them best qualitysesame oil, he came upon a familiar biblicalname: ‘Ja’-u-kinu’—Jehoiachin! There wasno possibility of his name being mistaken,because Jehoiachin was given his full title:‘King of the [land of] Judah’. . . Jehoiachin,

Continued on page 28

the deposed king of Judah, lived with hisfamily and his retinue in the palace of Neb-uchadnezzar in Babylon. We may concludefrom Weidner’s discovery that the biblicalaccount in the Second Book of Kings maybe thus supplemented: ‘And for his diet,there was a continual diet given him of theking of Babylon, every day a portion, untilthe day of his death, all the days of his life’(Jeremiah 52:34)” (Werner Keller, The Bibleas History, 1980, pp. 303-304).

The Bank of Murashu & Sons

The enterprising inhabitants of Judah,who had come to Babylon as a defeated andcaptive people, were given considerable lee-way by the equally industrious Babylonians.Historian Petra Eisele explains: “Althoughnot much is known of the lives of the Jewishexiles in Babylon, enough is known to con-firm their plight was not as harsh as theirslavery had been in Egypt during Moses’time. In Babylon they did not live as prison-ers or slaves, instead as a ‘semi-free’people. . . After the Persians conquered Babylon in539 B.C. and granted the Jews the right toreturn to their native land, only a minority of these supposedly ‘poor prisoners’ tookadvantage of this generous offer. Many didnot want to sacrifice the comforts and richesthey had acquired in this ‘foreign’ land and face the uncertainties of going back to their ‘homeland.’

“As the clay tablets of commercial doc-uments in the fifth century B.C show, evenafter the end of the exile, the Babylonianbanks were firmly in the hands of theJews. There was one Jewish banker whosefirm, Bank of Murashu & Sons, hadgreatly expanded into the real estate busi-ness. It had its headquarters in nearby Nip-pur, and had approximately 200 branchesthroughout the country!” (Babylon, quotedin Editorial EDAF, 1980, p. 70).

With thriving centers in Babylon andJerusalem, the Jewish people were betterequipped to survive the conquests of the Per-sians, Greeks and Romans. Several centurieslater, in the New Testament period, theyremained firmly established in Israel.Against all apparent odds, God’s promisethat Judah’s inhabitants would not remain in their Babylonian captivity was fulfilled.

As we will also see in future articles,archaeology has discovered much from thisperiod to confirm the biblical record. GN

The Kingdom of Judah: Exile & Restoration

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he Good News has traced the history of the OldTestament from Genesis through the captivity ofthe kingdoms of Israel and Judah. This series has

shown that archaeological finds have confirmed andilluminated the biblical account. In this issue we pickup the story with conditions and circumstances thatallowed the descendants of the kingdom of Judah to return to their homeland.

Although many of the survivors of the Babylonianinvasion of Judah were exiled to Babylon for 70 years,they were not forsaken by God. In fact, some of thegreatest Bible prophecies were made at that time, notjust to give hope to those suffering captives but to comfort God’s people throughout the ages.

Daniel’s astounding prophecies

When Judah was defeated by the Babylonians,Daniel was one of the young princes taken captiveand educated in Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’scourt. The details of Babylonian customs and its gov-ernmental system described in the book of Daniel fit nicely with historical records and subsequentarchaeological finds.

The New Bible Dictionary says about the book ofDaniel: “The author gives evidence of having a moreaccurate knowledge of Neo-Babylonian and early Per-sian history than any known historian since the 6th cen-tury BC . . . He knew enough of 6th century customs torepresent Nebuchadnezzar as being able to make andalter the laws of Babylon with absolute sovereignty(Daniel 2:12-13, 46), while depicting Darius the Medeas being helpless to change the laws of the Medes andPersians (Daniel 6:8-9). Also, he accurately repre-sented the change from punishment by fire under theBabylonians (Daniel 3) to punishment by the lions’denunder the Persians (Daniel 6), since fire was sacred tothem” (1982, p. 263, “Daniel, Book of”).

During the period Daniel served in Nebuchadnez-zar’s court, he received a series of prophecies fromGod. These remarkable predictions described the finalyears of the Old Testament era, the Intertestamentalperiod, the days of the New Testament and up to theestablishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

God revealed to Daniel that four kingdoms would

rule a great part of the world from Daniel’s time tothe coming of God’s Kingdom. Although parts ofthese prophecies, in Daniel 2-12, are in mostly sym-bolic language, God does reveal the identity of thefour kingdoms.

The first was Babylon, the dominant kingdom ofDaniel’s time (Daniel 2:37-38). Afterwards wouldcome the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians(Daniel 8:20) followed by the Greek Empire (verse21). Finally the Roman Empire would arise and defeatthe Greeks and absorb parts of the previous empires(Daniel 2:40; 7:7, 23).

Although this final empire would experience periodicdeclines through the centuries, it would not permanentlydisappear. Rather, at successive intervals it would revivein the form of several incarnations of the “Holy RomanEmpire.” God revealed to Daniel that the last revivalwould be guided by a world dictator and a religiousleader who would govern with 10 rulers under them.They would rule until the establishment of the Kingdomof God at Christ’s return (Daniel 2:41-44; 8:23-26).

Prophecy of Babylon’s downfall

When Daniel received this prophecy, Babylon’spower was at its peak. Nebuchadnezzar could boast of his massive building projects that had enlarged andbeautified Babylon. “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty powerand for the honor of my majesty?” he proudly andrhetorically asked (Daniel 4:30). The existence of Neb-uchadnezzar’s massive building projects is confirmedby archaeology.

Excavators at the beginning of this centuryunearthed some of the remains of this vast city. A his-torian summarizes the finds: “In 1899 the GermanOriental Society equipped a large expedition under thedirection of Professor Robert Koldewey, the architect,to examine the famous ruined mound of ‘Babil’on theEuphrates. The excavations, as it turned out, tooklonger than anywhere else. In eighteen years the mostfamous metropolis of the ancient world, the royal seatof Nebuchadnezzar, was brought to light, and at thesame time, one of the Seven Wonders of the World,the ‘Hanging Gardens,’ loudly extolled by Greek trav-

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ellers of a later day, and ‘E-temen-an-ki,’the legendary Tower of Babel. In the palace of Nebuchadnezzar and on the Ishtar Gate, which was situated beside it,countless inscriptions were discovered”(Werner Keller, The Bible as History,1980, p. 302).

Regarding Nebuchadnezzar, the sameauthor mentions: “Hardly any othermonarch in the past was such an assiduousbuilder. There is scarcely any mention ofwarlike activities, conquests and campaigns.In the forefront there is the constant buildingactivity of Nebuchadnezzar. Hundreds ofthousands of bricks bear his name, and theplans of many of the buildings have beenpreserved. Babylon in fact surpassed all thecities of the ancient orient: it was greater

than Thebes, Memphis and Ur, greater eventhan Nineveh” (Keller, p. 316).

It seemed impossible for this great city to be suddenly conquered. Yet Daniel pre-dicted its demise the same night it fell to thePersians. He interpreted the mysterioushandwriting on the wall of the palace andtold the king: “‘Your kingdom has beendivided, and given to the Medes and Per-sians’ . . . [and] that very night Belshazzar,king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom . . .”(Daniel 5:28-31).

About 100 years later the Greek histo-rian Herodotus (484-420 B.C.) confirmedDaniel’s account of the fall of Babylon:“The Persians, drawing off the river[Euphrates] by a canal into the lake, which

was till now a marsh, he [Cyrus] made thestream to sink till its former channel couldbe forded. When this happened, the Per-sians who were posted with this intentmade their way into Babylon by the chan-nel of the Euphrates, which had now sunkto about the height of the middle of a man’sthigh . . . The Persians thus entered the city. . . and the inhabitants who lived in the cen-tral part of Babylon were unaware of theenemies’presence due to the great size ofthe city and since they were celebrating a festival. They continued dancing andexchanging gifts until they were suddenlytold of their sad fate. In this manner wasBabylon conquered” (History, book 1,paragraphs 191-192).

Cyrus’s acts foretold

True to Bible prophecy, these eventsoccurred when the 70 years of exile expired.Cyrus the Persian, allied with the Medes,conquered the Babylonian Empire and freedthe descendants of the kingdom of Judahwho had been taken into captivity. Severalprophets foretold the fall of Babylon. Isaiaheven mentioned Cyrus by name years beforehe rose to defeat the Babylonians.

Some 200 years before Cyrus was born,God said through Isaiah: “I am the LORD . . .who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, andhe shall perform all My pleasure, saying toJerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to thetemple, “Your foundation shall be laid”’

“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, toCyrus, whose right hand I have held—tosubdue nations before him and loose thearmor of kings, to open before him the dou-ble doors, so that the gates will not be shut. . . I will give you the treasures of darknessand hidden riches of secret places, that youmay know that I, the LORD, who call you byyour name, am the God of Israel” (Isaiah44:24, 28; 45:1-3, emphasis added).

In a day when conquerors were ruthlesswith their captives, Cyrus is known in history as a considerate ruler who offeredrelative freedom to the peoples previouslyconquered by the Babylonians.

About a century ago, a clay cylinderinscribed with a decree from King Cyruswas found in the ruins of Babylon. Calledthe Cyrus Cylinder, it is on display in theEr

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The Ishtar Gate, the main entrance into Babylon, built during the reign of the bib-lical King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.), has been restored in Berlin. Enameledtiles, mythical animals, lions and gods embellish the gate, which was dedicated toIshtar, the Babylonian fertility goddess. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, destroyedJerusalem and the temple and took the people captive to Babylon, where theyspent 70 years in exile as punishment for their disobedience to God.

March/April 1999 19

20 The Good News

British Museum. Its language is similar tothe decree given by Cyrus in the Bible. Themain difference is Cyrus’s use of Babylon-ian wording for God. He declares that hewas liberating the peoples because a partic-ular “God” had pronounced his name andchosen him in a miraculous way.

Writing from a Babylonian perspective,Cyrus said: “Marduk [the Babylonian namefor the chief god] scanned and lookedthrough all the countries, searching for arighteous ruler willing to lead him. He pronounced the name of Cyrus, king ofAnshan, and declared him to be the ruler of the world . . . and ordered him to marchagainst his city Babylon . . . Without anybattle, he made him enter his town Babylon,sparing Babylon and calamity . . . I gatheredall their inhabitants and returned them totheir habitations. Furthermore, I resettled . . .all the gods . . . in their former chapels”J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts,1969, p. 316).

Return from exile

The biblical version of the decree,recorded in Ezra 1, reveals the prophecy’sfulfillment: “Now in the first year of Cyrusking of Persia, that the word of the LORD bythe mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus kingof Persia, so that he made a proclamationthroughout all his kingdom, and also put itin writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king ofPersia:All the kingdoms of the earth theLORD God of heaven has given me. And Hehas commanded me to build Him a house atJerusalem which is in Judah.

“Who is among you of all His people?May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and buildthe house of the LORD God of Israel (He isGod), which is in Jerusalem. And whoeveris left in any place where he dwells, let themen of his place help him with silver andgold, with goods and livestock, besides thefreewill offerings for the house of Godwhich is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-4).

Josephus, the first-century Jewish histo-rian, records the reactions of the Jews whenCyrus entered Babylon:

“This [prophecy] was known to Cyrus byhis reading the book which Isaiah left behind

him of his prophecies; for this prophet saidthat God had spoken thus to him in a secretvision: ‘My will is, that Cyrus, whom I haveappointed to be king over many and greatnations, send back my people to their ownland, and build my temple.’

“This was foretold by Isaiah one hundredand forty years before the temple wasdemolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus readthis, and admired the divine power, anearnest desire and ambition seized upon himto fulfil what was so written; so he called forthe most eminent Jews that were in Baby-lon, and said to them, that he gave themleave to go back to their own country, and torebuild their city Jerusalem, and the templeof God . . .” (Antiquities of the Jews, BookXI, Chapter I, Section 2).

Thus the history of the descendants ofthe kingdom of Judah, the Jews, continuedto be recorded in what would become theBible. However, their brethren of the otherIsraelitish tribes, taken into captivity earlierby the Assyrians, had by now largely losttheir identity in the former Assyrian Empire,just as foretold in prophecy (1 Kings 17).

Persian period: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

The Old Testament period ends duringthe era of Persian rule. Several Bible booksaccurately describe the Persian customs of the time. While the books of Ezra andNehemiah relate the return of the Jews tothe land of Judah, the book of Estherrecounts the story of a young Jewish girlnamed Esther who became the queen ofKing Xerxes I.

Nehemiah’s story begins with his serviceto the Persian king. “And it came to pass inthe month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was beforehim, that I took the wine and gave it to theking . . .” (Nehemiah 2:1). While the title ofcupbearer doesn’t sound important today, itwas one of the highest government posts ofthat time.

The International Standard Bible Ency-clopedia explains: “[The cupbearer was] an officer of high rank at ancient orientalcourts, whose duty it was to serve the wineat the king’s table. On account of the con-stant fear of plots and intrigues, a person

must be regarded as thoroughly trustwor-thy to hold this position . . . His confiden-tial relations with the king often endearedhim to his sovereign and also gave him aposition of great influence” (1979, Vol. I,p. 837, “Cupbearer”).

Archaeologists have discovered a list of salaries paid to the highest Assyrian officials. This record reflects the generalvalues of similar posts in the Persianadministration. After the commandinggeneral, the prime minister and the palaceauthority came the cupbearer, who earnedthe fourth-largest salary in the kingdom.

Nehemiah had enough wealth accumu-lated when he arrived as Jerusalem’s newgovernor that he had no need to tax the localpopulace. Indeed he apparently took it onhimself to personally provide for a largenumber of his Jewish countrymen. “And atmy table,” he writes, “were one hundred andfifty Jews and rulers, besides those whocame to us from the nations around us. Nowthat which was prepared daily was one oxand six choice sheep. Also fowl were pre-pared for me, and once every ten days anabundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spiteof this I did not demand the governor’s pro-visions, because the bondage was heavy onthis people” (Nehemiah 5:17-18).

Queen Esther saves the Jews

Even though thousands of Jews success-fully resettled the territory of the formerkingdom of Judah, many remained dis-persed throughout the chief cities of the Per-sian Empire. The book of Esther gives us aglimpse of the influence the Jewish commu-nity had in the empire between 500 and 450B.C., as well as the problems that influencesometimes engendered.

One of the Persian officials, Haman, com-plained to the king about the Jews: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersedamong the people in all the provinces ofyour kingdom; their laws are different fromall other people’s, and they do not keep theking’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for theking to let them remain” (Esther 3:8). “Andthe king said to Haman, ‘The money and thepeople are given to you, to do with them asseems good to you’” (verse 11).

Continued on page 31

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As the book that honors her namerecounts, thanks to Queen Esther’s courageand faith, God miraculously intervenedand caused her people to be spared. Thebook of Esther was obviously written bysomeone familiar with the procedures and customs of the Persian court of themid–fifth century B.C.

Much archaeological evidence of thisJewish influence has been found through-out the territory of the Persian Empire.Assyriologist Georges Conteau writes:

“Hundreds of clay tablets have beenfound dating back to the beginning of thePersian period which deal with a prosperousJewish enterprise, Murashu and Sons.When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jeru-salem in 587 BC, he deported some of thenoble families to Babylon, and the Murashufamily was among them.

“The family of exiles prospered in the cityof Nippur and reached its maximum influ-ence and wealth under the Persian rule ofArtaxerxes I (564-424 BC) and Darius II(423-405 BC). Many of the documents of thefirm are written in both cuneiform and Ara-maic characters so they can be more easilyunderstood by a wider audience. Most dealwith contracts, payments or rentals” (DailyLife in Babylon and Assyria, 1958, p. 95).

We have already seen in this article thatthe Persian customs and history of theaccount of Esther also ring true. Speaking of Esther, The Interpreter’s Dictionary ofthe Bible notes: “The author employs thecustomary formula for the beginning of anhistorical account . . . [and] his references toPersian customs show considerable accurateknowledge . . . More recently cuneiformevidence has been found to show that therewas a Persian official named Marduka(Mordecai) in Susa [Shushan] at the end ofthe reign of Darius I or the beginning of thereign of Xerxes” (1962, Vol. II, p. 151,“Esther, Book of”).

In the book of Esther, Mordecai isEsther’s uncle and is a high governmentofficial who is ultimately named as primeminister to the king.

We will continue the story with a fascinat-ing era: the Intertestamental period, the timebetween the testaments, when the eventsdescribed in the books of the Old Testamenthistory were completed but before the eventsthat introduced the four Gospels. GN

ArchaeologyContinued from page 27

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his series has traced the history of the OldTestament from Genesis through the captiv-ity of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah,

describing archaeological finds and historicalaccounts that have confirmed and illuminatedthe biblical account. In this issue we show more evidence that confirms theaccuracy of the Bible accountsby picking up the story with theIntertestamental period: thetime between the testaments,when the events described inthe books of the Old Testamentwere completed but before theevents that introduced the fourGospels.

During this 420 years severalcrucial prophecies were ful-filled, dramatizing the authen-ticity of God’s Word and settingthe stage for another prophesiedevent: the appearance of theMessiah.

The Old Testament comes toa close shortly after the events in the books of Daniel, Ezra,Nehemiah and Esther. However,Daniel’s prophecies continue to forecast eventswithin the Intertestamental period.

Alexander the Great in prophecy

In a vision, God revealed to Daniel that thekingdom to rise after the Persians would be theGreeks under Alexander the Great. Gabriel, theangelic messenger from God, explained to Daniel:“The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. And themale goat is the kingdom of Greece. The largehorn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in

its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of thatnation, but not with its power” (Daniel 8:20-21).

The Persian kingdom rapidly came to an end in 333 B.C. when Alexander the Great defeated the armies of Darius III at Issus. Yet, 10 years later,true to the prophecy in Daniel 8, Alexander unex-

pectedly died and the GreekEmpire divided into four parts,each headed by one of his fourgenerals.

God’s people were miracu-lously saved and liberatedwhen, according to Josephus,Cyrus saw his name and featsprophesied in the Bible. Thewritings of Josephus alsoinclude an account of Alexan-der the Great sparing Jerusalemfrom destruction after he sawhis exploits prophesied inScripture.

When Alexander descendedon the Middle East, it was nat-ural that almost everyoneresisted him. Those who didwere mercilessly trampledbefore him. Neighboring

Phoenicia felt Alexander’s wrath when he utterlydestroyed Tyre. It seemed the same fate awaitedrebellious Jerusalem, which had backed the haplessPersians crushed by Alexander at Issus.

Surprising showdown at Jerusalem

Josephus recounts how Alexander’s troops sur-rounded the city and readied themselves to attack.Suddenly the city gates swung open, and out camethe high priest with his entourage.

Josephus writes: “. . . For Alexander, when hesaw the multitude at a distance, in white garments,while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and

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The rise of the Grecian empire ofAlexander the Great was prophe-sied by Daniel well before Alexan-der rose to conquer most of theknown world of his day.

The Intertestamental Period: Daniel’s Prophecies

Come to Pass

During this periodseveral crucial

prophecies were ful-filled, dramatizingthe authenticity of

God’s Word and set-ting the stage for

another prophesiedevent: the appear-

ance of the Messiah.

the high priest in purple and scarlet cloth-ing, with his mitre on his head, having thegolden plate whereon the name of Godwas engraved, he approached by himself,and adored that name, and first saluted thehigh priest . . . whereupon the kings ofSyria and the rest were surprised at whatAlexander had done, and supposed himdisordered in his mind. However, Parme-nio alone went up to him, and asked himhow it came to pass that, when all othersadored him, he should adore the high priestof the Jews?

“To whom he replied, ‘I did not adorehim, but that God who hath honouredhim with his high priesthood; for I sawthis very person in a dream, in this veryhabit [clothing], when I was at Dios inMacedonia, who . . . exhorted me tomake no delay, but boldly to pass over thesea thither, for that he would conduct myarmy, and would give me the dominionover the Persians; whence . . . now seeingthis person in it, and remembering thatvision . . . I believe that I bring this armyunder the divine conduct . . .’

“. . . And when the book of Daniel wasshewed him, wherein Daniel declared thatone of the Greeks should destroy theempire of the Persians, he supposed thathimself was the person intended; and as hewas then glad, he . . . bade them ask whatfavours they pleased of him; whereuponthe high priest desired that they . . . mightpay no tribute on the seventh year. Hegranted all they desired . . .” (Antiquities of the Jews, XI, viii, 5).

Antiochus IV Epiphanes and theabomination of desolation

Thus began the Greek reign over Judea,which would last 150 years. In chapter 11,Daniel prophesied the changes in fortunethe Jews would know under the Greeks.After Alexander died Judea became part of the realm of General Ptolemy, who gov-erned from Egypt. By and large the periodwas peaceful for the Jews.

However, the intermittent wars betweenthe Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucidsof Syria for complete control of the GreekEmpire came to a head in 198 B.C. In thatyear the Ptolemies saw defeat. Judea thencame under the dominion of the Seleucids.

Shortly after the Seleucid line of theGreek Empire began governing Judea, aking arose who was to fulfill several direprophecies recorded in Daniel. Accordingto historians, Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the ruler who set up the first “abomi-nation of desolation” mentioned in Daniel8 and 11.

Daniel 8:8-13 describes this time:“Therefore the male goat [the Greek

Empire] grew very great; but when hebecame strong, the large horn was broken

[Alexander the Greatsuddenly died at the

apex of his power], and in place of it fournotable ones came up toward the fourwinds of heaven [Alexander’s kingdomwas divided among his four top generals]”(verse 8).

“And out of one of them came a littlehorn [Antiochus IV Epiphanes] whichgrew exceedingly great toward the south[Egypt], toward the east [Mesopotamia],and toward the Glorious Land [Judea] . . .He even exalted himself as high as thePrince of the host; and by him the dailysacrifices were taken away, and the placeof His sanctuary [the temple at Jerusalem]was cast down . . . Then I heard a holyone speaking . . . ‘How long will thevision be, concerning the daily sacrificesand the transgression of desolation . . .?’”(verses 9-13).

The International Standard Bible Ency-clopedia says of Antiochus Epiphanes:“His career with respect to Palestine isrecorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees, andremarkably predicted in [Daniel] 11:21-35” (Vol. I, p. 145, “Antiochus IV Epi-phanes”). The books of 1 and 2 Maccabees

are not included in the traditional Hebrewcanon of Scripture but are valuable as his-torical accounts. Both books were writtenbefore the birth of Christ.

Antiochus’s cruel reign

A brief history of the three years of the“abomination of desolation” under Anti-ochus Epiphanes is to be found in TheBible Knowledge Commentary:

“This part of the vision anticipated therise of a ruler in the Greek Empire whosubjugated the people and land of Israel,desecrated her temple, interrupted her wor-ship, and demanded for himself the author-ity and worship that belongs to God. Hedesecrated the temple and abolished thedaily sacrifice.

“Antiochus sent his general Apolloniuswith 22,000 soldiers into Jerusalem on

what was purported to be a peace mis-sion. But they attacked Jerusalem on theSabbath, killed many people, took manywomen and children as slaves, and plun-dered and burned the city. In seeking toexterminate Judaism and to Hellenize the Jews, he forbade the Jews to followtheir religious practices (including theirfestivals and circumcision), and com-manded that copies of the Law be burned.Then he set up the abomination thatcauses desolation.

“In this culminating act he erected onDecember 16, 167 BC an altar to Zeus on the altar of burnt offering outside thetemple, and had a pig offered on the altar.The Jews were compelled to offer a pig onthe 25th of each month to celebrate Anti-ochus Epiphanes’birthday. Antiochuspromised apostate Jews great reward ifthey would set aside the God of Israel andworship Zeus, the god of Greece. Many inIsrael were persuaded by his promises andworshiped the false god. However, a smallremnant remained faithful to God, refusingto engage in those abominable practices.Antiochus IV died insane in Persia in 163BC” (Logos Library System, 1997).

The precision of Daniel’s description of events of this period (given more than300 years earlier) have led many Bible critics to redate the book of Daniel to afterthese events took place. They would not

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AntiochusEpiphanes, shownhere on a silver coin of hisempire, tried to stamp out Jewish reli-gious practices, abolished the Jerusalemtemple sacrifices and desecrated thetemple by sacrificing swine on the altar.

Continued on page 31

20 The Good News

admit that the events had been prophesied.However, thanks to the discovery in 1948of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which includeparts of every Old Testament book exceptEsther, the traditional date of Daniel hasgained additional support.

Explains Gleason Archer, professor ofOld Testament and Semitic studies at Trin-ity Evangelical Divinity School: “In orderto avoid the impact of the decisive evi-dence of supernatural inspiration withwhich Daniel so notably abounds, it wasnecessary for rationalistic scholarship tofind some later period in Jewish historywhen all the ‘predictions’had already beenfulfilled, such as the reign of AntiochusEpiphanes (175-164 BC) . . . With thewealth of new data from the manuscripts of the Dead Sea caves, it is possible to set-tle this question once and for all” (Encyclo-pedia of Bible Difficulties, 1982, p. 282).

Thanks to this new linguistic evidence,Dr. Archer proceeds to show the accuracyof the traditional dating of Daniel (around530 B.C.).

Jews lose their independence to Rome

In 164 B.C., with the heroic leadershipof the Maccabean family, the Jews over-threw their Syrian oppressors. For a century they enjoyed their Jewish indepen-dence under the rule of the Maccabeandescendants. However, in 63 B.C. theRoman general Pompey conquered Judea,making it Roman territory.

Several decades later the Jews wouldsuffer greatly when the Romans choseHerod the Great as king of Judea. Hereigned from 37 to 4 B.C. His last yearsbring the Intertestamental period to a closeand usher in the New Testament era.

Continue reading The Good News forother articles in this series examining howarchaeological evidence confirms theauthenticity of God’s Word.

If you would like to learn more aboutBible prophecy, including the manyprophecies of Daniel that remain to be ful-filled, be sure to request your free copiesof the booklets Is the Bible True? and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy.Both are free for the asking when you contact our office in your country (or thecountry nearest you) listed on page 2. GN

ArchaeologyContinued from page 27

b y M a r i o S e i g l i e

he Good News has traced some of the manyhistorical and archaeological findings that con-firm and clarify the biblical record of the Old

Testament, a record that spans some 4,000 years. We continue that survey into the New Testament era.

How much has archaeology confirmed about theNew Testament period? Are the many names men-tioned in the New Testament real people? Can theirexistence be verified by credible historical evidenceother than the Bible?

Although the time in question is much briefer—less than a century—archaeology has much to tellus about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth andHis apostles. As we examine this period, the physi-cal evidence supporting the biblical record multi-plies. Let’s begin this fascinating archaeologicaljourney into the New Testament world.

Appropriately, the Old Testament ends with God’spromise to send a messenger to prepare the way forthe Messiah. In Malachi, apparently the last prophe-tic book of the Old Testament to be written, the finaltwo chapters record a dramatic prophecy: “‘Behold,I send My messenger, and he will prepare the waybefore Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will sud-denly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He iscoming,’says the LORD of Hosts” (Malachi 3:1).

It should come as no surprise that the story flowof the New Testament begins where the last of theOld Testament prophets leaves off—with the arrivalof the messenger foretold by Malachi. This shows a continuation from the Old to the New Testament,bearing in mind that a few hundred years hadpassed in the interim.

At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, an angel tellsZacharias the priest about the fulfillment of theprophecy in Malachi. The messenger prophesied by God in the Old Testament would be his son John(the Baptist), who would prepare the way for theChrist. The angel told him: “Do not be afraid,Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wifeElizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call hisname John . . . He will also go before Him in the

spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of thefathers to the children,’and the disobedient to thewisdom of the just, to make ready a people preparedfor the Lord” (Luke 1:13, 17).

Thus, at the start of Luke’s gospel, the stage isset for the first coming of the Messiah.

Herod the mighty king

One of the first people to appear in the New Tes-tament account is King Herod. Matthew takes us tothe court of Herod the Great: “Now after Jesus wasborn in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herodthe king, behold, wise men from the East came toJerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. WhenHerod the king heard this, he was troubled, and allJerusalem with him . . .

“Then Herod, when he had secretly called thewise men, determined from them what time the starappeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said,‘Go and search carefully for the young Child, andwhen you have found Him, bring back word to me,that I may come and worship Him also” (Matthew2:1-3, 7-8).

Was Herod a real figure, and was he the king atthis time? Yes. Secular history and archaeologyhave confirmed his existence and reign beyond adoubt. He is known in history as Herod the Great.Under the Romans this non-Israelite king had ruledthe province of Judea (most of the area of the for-mer kingdoms of Israel and Judah) for almost 40years when Jesus Christ appeared on the scene.Herod was a great builder and left his name onmany monuments. He was a famous figure in Jewish and Roman history.

John McRay, archaeologist and Wheaton College professor of New Testament, summarizesHerod’s reign: “Archaeological excavations haveuncovered a surprisingly large amount of evidencepertaining to Herod the Great . . . Herod the Greatwas an Idumean who, in 41 B.C., was granted pro-visional rule of Galilee by Mark Antony [the friend

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Jesus Christ: The Early Years

Although the timeframe is much

briefer—less thana century—

archaeology hasmuch to tell us

about the life andtimes of Jesus of

Nazareth and His apostles.

of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra’s last lover]. . . In 30 B.C. Octavian (Caesar Augustus)affirmed Herod’s rule over Judea, Samaria,and Galilee . . . Herod remained in poweruntil his death in 4 B.C.; thus Christ wasborn in Bethlehem prior to that date”(Archaeology and the New Testament,1997, p. 91).

One of the main reasons Herod isreferred to as Herod the Great has to dowith his extensive and exquisite buildingprojects. F.F. Bruce, former professor ofbiblical criticism and exegesis at the Uni-versity of Manchester in England, says,“Had Herod done nothing else, he wouldhave made a secure niche in history forhimself as a great builder” (New TestamentHistory, 1972, p. 20).

He is known to have initiated construc-tion projects in at least 20 cities or towns in Israel and more than 10 in foreign cities.Two inscriptions pertaining to Herod havebeen found in Athens. One reads: “Thepeople [erect this monument to] KingHerod, lover of the Romans, because of hisbeneficence and good will [shown] byhim.” The other said: “The people [erect

this monument to] King Herod, devout andlover of Caesar, because of his virtue andbeneficence” (ibid., p. 92).

Josephus, a first-century Jewish histo-rian, confirms Herod’s great constructionprojects outside Israel: “And when he hadbuilt so much, he shewed the greatness ofhis soul to no small number of foreigncities . . . And are not the Athenians . . . fullof donations that Herod presented themwithal!” (Wars of the Jews, Book I, ChapterXXI, Section 11).

Of his notable building achievementsinside Israel, six are generally acclaimed asthe most notable: (1) his renovation of thetemple and expansion of the temple plat-form in Jerusalem; (2) Herodium, hispalace-fortress near Bethlehem, encased ina manmade mountain; (3) his magnificentpalace at Jericho, equipped with a swim-ming pool more than 100 feet long; (4)Masada, a mountain fortress where he builttwo palaces (the site was later immortalizedas the last holdout of the Jews in defense oftheir country against the Romans); (5) Cae-sarea, a manmade port city built under hissupervision that became the official head-

quarters of the Romans; and (6) Samaria,the capital of the former kingdom of Israel,which he rebuilt and renamed Sebaste.

Of the six, all except Herodium andMasada are mentioned in Scripture.

From studying the remains of Herod’svast building programs, archaeologists andarchitects have nothing but praise for thebeauty, massiveness, ingenuity and practi-cality of his projects. For instance, at thebase of the Temple Mount in Jerusalemarchaeologists discovered, among othermassive foundation stones, one block thatweighed 415 tons. In comparison, thelargest blocks in the Great Pyramid ofCheops in Egypt weigh only 15 tons, andthe megaliths in Stonehenge, England,weigh only up to 40 tons.

Herod the cruel king

Herod was known not just for his greatbuilding, political and military skills but forhis great cruelty. The Bible gives us an indi-cation of his utter disregard for human lifein its record of his reaction to hearing of thebirth of Jesus.

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The Jerusalem temple was but one of the enormous con-struction projects of Herod the Great. The partial modelabove, from Jerusalem’s Tower of David Museum, showshow the southwest corner of the temple platform andthe magnificent staircase that provided access to the

temple from the lower city likely appeared in JesusChrist’s day. Large areas of the platform’s massive retain-ing walls are still visible today, most notably at the West-ern Wall, right, now dominated by the Dome of theRock, built by Muslims on the former temple platform.

20 The Good News

had been born, Herod was greatly disturbedby this potential threat to his power andthrone (Matthew 2:1-3). When his schemeto identify the newborn Messiah failed(verses 7-8, 12), Herod lashed out violently.

“Then Herod, when he saw that he wasdeceived by the wise men, was exceedinglyangry; and he sent forth and put to death allthe male children who were in Bethlehemand in all its districts, from two years oldand under [the approximate age of Jesus],according to the time which he had deter-mined from the wise men” (verse 16).

The massacre in Bethlehem was not out of character for Herod. A.T. Robertson,chairman of New Testament interpretationat Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,shows us Herod’s savagery. Dr. Robertsondescribes Herod’s cruelty even towardthose in his own family:

“Those familiar with the story of Herodthe Great in Josephus can well understandthe meaning of these words. Herod in hisrage over his family rivalries and jealousiesput to death the two sons of Mariamne [hiswife] (Aristobulus and Alexander), Mari-amne herself, and Antipater, another sonand once his heir, besides the brother andmother of Mariamne (Aristobulus, Alexan-dra) and her grandfather John Hyrcanus.He had made will after will and was now ina fatal illness and fury over the question ofthe Magi. He showed his excitement andthe whole city was upset because the peo-ple knew only too well what he could dowhen in a rage over the disturbance of hisplans” (Word Pictures in the New Testa-ment, Bible Explorer Software, 1997).

The New Testament description ofHerod the Great is thus confirmed by whathistorians and archaeologists have foundconcerning his rulership, building projects,political strength and uncontrollable wrathtoward anyone threatening his kingship.

Caesar Augustus’s census

Luke, the meticulous historian, intro-duces other famous personages in hisaccount of the birth of Christ. “And it cameto pass in those days that a decree went outfrom Caesar Augustus that all the worldshould be registered. This census first tookplace while Quirinius was governing Syria.

So all went to be registered, everyone to hisown city” (Luke 2:1-3).

Caesar Augustus, or Octavian, wasJulius Caesar’s adopted son. He ruled theRoman Empire for 57 years (43 B.C. toA.D. 14) and established an era of peaceand stability that would facilitate thegrowth of Christianity.

Archaeologists have made greatprogress in discovering how and when aRoman census was taken. Ancient papyruscensus decrees have been found for theyears 20, 34, 48, 62 and 104. These showthey normally took place every 14 years,although local counts at times were takenmore frequently.

A papyrus in the British Museumdescribes a census similar to Luke’saccount, taken in 104, in which peoplewere ordered to return to their birthplaces.It reads: “Gaius Vibius Mazimus, Prefect of Egypt: Seeing that the time has come forthe house to house census, it is necessary tocompel all those who for any cause whatso-ever are residing out of their provinces toreturn to their own homes, that they mayboth carry out the regular order of the cen-sus and may also attend diligently to thecultivation of their allotments” (FrederickG. Kenyon, Greek Papyri in the BritishMuseum, 1907, plate 30).

For many years some scholars haddoubted the Bible’s accuracy since theythought Luke had erroneously referred toanother Quirinius who ruled a decade afterChrist’s birth. But now the biblical accounthas been confirmed by further evidence.

Researcher Randall Price writes: “Somerecent archaeological evidence has providednew insights into the time and place of thebirth of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke gives thetime of birth with a specific reference to acensus decreed by Quirinius, the governor of Syria (Luke 2:2). While inscriptional evi-dence reveals that there was more than oneruler with this name, a Quirinius within thetime frame of Jesus’birth has been found ona coin placing him as proconsul of Syria andCilicia from 11 B.C. until after 4 B.C.” (TheStones Cry Out, 1997, p. 299).

Joseph’s occupation in Nazareth

Once Herod died, Joseph and Mary

brought Jesus back to Israel and returned to their home in Nazareth. Joseph was askilled craftsman who worked not onlywith wood but with stone masonry.

“The Greek word tekton, translated‘carpenter’ in Mark 6:3, has the rootmeaning of ‘artisan,’ that is, a skilledworker who works on some hard materialsuch as wood or stone or even horn orivory . . . In Jesus’ day construction work-ers were not as highly specialized as intoday’s work force. For example, the tasksperformed by carpenters and masonscould easily overlap” (Richard A. Batey,Jesus & the Forgotten City: New Light on Sepphoris and the Urban World ofJesus, 1991, p. 76).

Jesus learned the trade from Joseph and lived in the area of Nazareth most ofHis life. Although Nazareth was a smallGalilean village of no more than a few hun-dred inhabitants, Joseph and Jesus likelyfound steady work in the city of Sepphorisfour miles away.

About the time of Jesus’birth, HerodAntipas—son of Herod the Great and rulerover Galilee who would later order the exe-cution of John the Baptist—chose Seppho-ris as his capital. “For more than threedecades while Jesus grows up in nearbyNazareth a huge construction project con-tinues, as Sepphoris rapidly becomes thelargest and most influential city in theregion . . . Joseph and Jesus knew of theconstruction of the new capital and wouldhave been acquainted with artisans andother workers employed on the site”(Batey, p. 70).

Recent archaeological excavations inSepphoris show it to have been a bustling,prosperous city during the years Jesus grew up in nearby Nazareth. This historicalrecord helps us better understand the back-ground of Christ’s teachings, whichincluded illustrations drawn not just fromfarming and animal husbandry, but alsoconstruction, rulers and nobility, the theater,government, finance and other aspects ofcity life.

In the next article in this series we willcontinue with important background infor-mation that helps us better understand thelife and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. GN

b y M a r i o S e i g l i e

n the September-October Good News we exam-ined historical and archaeological evidence thathelps us better understand the time in Judea

when Jesus Christ was born and grew up in thehousehold of Joseph and Mary. We continue withthe beginning of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

After briefly discussing Jesus’childhood, theGospels go right into His ministry. According toLuke, “Jesus . . . began His ministry at about thirtyyears of age . . .” (Luke 3:23).

Archaeologists generally date the start ofChrist’s ministry to the year A.D. 27. “The begin-ning of Jesus’public ministry,” writes archaeologyprofessor John McRay, “is dated by synchronisms[chronological arrangements of events and people]in the Gospel of Luke (3:1-2). A date of A.D. 27seems likely . . . The dates mentioned by Luke arerather well established . . .” (Archaeology and theNew Testament, 1997, p. 160).

Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown

At first Jesus Christ’s ministry centered on thehill country of Galilee and Nazareth, His home-town. “So He came to Nazareth, where He hadbeen brought up. And as His custom was, He wentinto the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stoodup to read” (Luke 4:16).

During the last century archaeological excava-tions have confirmed the New Testament descrip-tion of Nazareth as a small, insignificant village.The Gospels record that one of the disciples,Nathanael of nearby Cana, quipped, “Can anythinggood come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). So fararchaeologists have found it to have been an agri-cultural village with wine and olive presses, cavesfor storing grains and cisterns for water and wine.

However, Jesus’ministry in Nazareth was short-lived. When Jesus entered the synagogue andrevealed He was the Messiah, the townspeoplerejected His message and tried to kill Him. “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard thesethings, were filled with wrath, and rose up andthrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the

brow of the hill on which their city was built, thatthey might throw Him down over the cliff. Thenpassing through the midst of them, He went Hisway. Then He went down to Capernaum . . .”(Luke 4:28-31).

The Bible reveals that some members of Jesus’own family did not believe in Him and were embar-rassed when He cast out demons. At one point theythought He had lost His mind. “Then the multitudecame together again [seeking healing], so that theycould not so much as eat bread. But when His ownpeople heard about this, they went out to lay hold ofHim, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind’ . . . ThenHis brothers and His mother came, and standingoutside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multi-tude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him,‘Look,Your mother and Your brothers are outsideseeking You.’But He answered them, saying, ‘Whois My mother, or My brothers?’And He lookedaround in a circle at those who sat about Him, andsaid, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! Forwhoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother’” (Mark 3:20-21, 31-35).

Jesus ended His ministry in Nazareth with thewords, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet isaccepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24).

Relocation to Capernaum

Having been rejected in His hometown ofNazareth, Christ moved to Capernaum, one of the towns around the harp-shaped Sea of Galilee.This region had a large population sustained by a thriving agricultural and fishing industry.

“Their soil,” wrote the Jewish historian Jose-phus, “is universally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that itinvites, by its fruitfulness, the most slothful to takepains in its cultivation. Accordingly it is all culti-vated by its inhabitants, and no part lies idle” (Warsof the Jews, Book III, Chapter III, Section 2). Jesusdrew many of His parables and illustrations fromdaily life and activities around the lake.

The site of Capernaum, which means “village

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Although the timeframe is brief—less

than a century—archaeology hasmuch to tell us

about the life andtimes of Jesus of

Nazareth and His apostles.

of Nahum,” was identified in 1838 and wasextensively excavated during this century.What have archaeologists found?

John Laughlin, professor of religion atAverett College, Danville, Va., participatedin excavations at Capernaum. He com-ments: “What is known indicates that atthis time Capernaum was a small villagelocated on the shore of the Sea of Galileewith a population of probably no morethan 1,000 people. The few architecturalremains indicate the buildings were spa-cious and well constructed of dressedstones and large amounts of plaster. Thissuggests that the village flourished eco-nomically during Jesus’ time. Its locationon the crossroads of important traderoutes, the fertile lands surrounding it andthe rich fishing available all contributed to its economic development” (BiblicalArchaeological Review, September-October 1993, p. 59).

The synagogue at Capernaum

“Then He went down to Capernaum, acity of Galilee, and was teaching them onthe Sabbaths . . . Now He arose from thesynagogue and . . . when the sun was set-ting, all those who had any that were sickwith various diseases brought them to Him;and He laid His hands on every one of themand healed them” (Luke 4:31, 38, 40).

Archaeologists have found at Caper-naum the remains of a beautiful limestonesynagogue dated to the fourth or fifth cen-tury. Yet what caused more excitement wasthe discovery in the 1960s that beneath thisbuilding was the foundation of an earliersynagogue built of basalt, which is com-mon to that area, that apparently dates toChrist’s time.

The Gospels even include the detail ofwho built the synagogue in Capernaum.“Now when [Jesus] concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, Heentered Capernaum. And a certain centu-rion’s servant, who was dear to him, wassick and ready to die. So when he heardabout Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews toHim, pleading with Him to come and healhis servant. And when they came to Jesus,they begged Him earnestly, saying that theone for whom He should do this wasdeserving, ‘for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue’” (Luke 7:1-5,emphasis added throughout).

It was a tradition among the Jews tobuild a new synagogue on the foundation of the older one. “Pottery found in andunder this basalt floor,” explains archaeolo-gist Hershel Shanks, “clearly dates thebasalt structure to the first century A.D. orearlier. Since the site of a synagogue rarelychanged in antiquity, this basalt building,

which closely follows the plan of the laterlimestone synagogue, must also be a syna-gogue, and very likely the one in whichJesus preached” (Biblical ArchaeologicalReview, November-December 1983, p. 27).

Peter’s house discovered?

Between this synagogue and the nearbylake, excavators discovered what manybelieve to be the remains of the house of the apostle Peter. Along with his brotherAndrew, Peter made his living as a fisher-man on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18).Matthew records that Peter had a house inCapernaum in which Jesus healed hismother-in-law (Matthew 8:5, 14-15).

In 1968 the excavators of the synagogueinvestigated the remains of a nearby octag-onal structure with mosaic floors. Duringthe Byzantine period such structures oftenwere constructed over what were thought to be significant religious sites.

Archaeologists dated the structure to the fifth century. Beneath it they found anearlier church that they dated to the fourthcentury based on writings and inscriptionson the walls. The central hall of this church“was part of an earlier house built, accord-ing to the excavators, in the mid-first century A.D.” (McRay, p. 164).

“The first century house was builtaround two courtyards with the outsideentrance opening directly into one of thecourtyards. A taboun (round oven) wasfound in this courtyard, which indicates itwas used as the main family room. Thesouthern courtyard may have been used foranimals or as a working area. In either sizeor building material, the house is not unlikeall the other houses found in Capernaum”(McRay, pp. 164-165).

In other ways, however, the house wasdistinctly different. At some point early inits history the house’s large center roomhad been plastered, making it the onlyhouse in Capernaum yet discovered to haveplastered walls. The walls and floor werelater replastered twice.

“During the mid-first century the potteryused in the room ceased to be of the typicaldomestic variety. Only storage jars and oillamps were found after this point. Thus theuse of the room must have changed fromnormal residential living. More than oneSc

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This beautiful limestone synagogue in Capernaum was built in the fourthor fifth century on the foundation of an earlier first-century structure. Theearlier structure was likely the very synagogue in which Jesus Christ taught.

hundred fifty inscriptions were scratchedon its walls in Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, Ara-maic, and Latin from this time until thefourth century . . .

“Sometime after the first century twopillars were erected to raise the roof of thelarge central room, creating an impressivelyhigh ceiling. The fifth-century octagonalchapel was built with the center of its con-centric walls directly over this room. Evi-dence now available suggests that thischapel was built over a first-century housewhich was set apart in the middle of thatcentury as a public area. It was made into achurch and at some point came to be vener-ated as the house of Peter. It would not be

prudent to apply the data beyond that”(McRay, pp. 165-166).

Around the Sea of Galilee

The Gospels record even such detail asmeteorological conditions around the Seaof Galilee. “Now when they had left themultitude, [the disciples] took [Jesus] alongin the boat as He was. And other little boatswere also with Him. And a great windstormarose, and the waves beat into the boat, sothat it was already filling” (Mark 4:36-37).

Since most of Christ’s disciples livedaround the Sea of Galilee, it is not surpris-ing many of them were fishermen. TheGospels faithfully describe the life, workand occasional dangers of fishing in the

lake. Why did dangerous storms sometimesarise on what normally should have been alarge, placid inland lake?

“We do not realize,” explains biblicalgeographer George Adam Smith, “that thegreater part of our Lord’s ministry wasaccomplished at what may be truly calledthe bottom of a trench, 680 feet below sealevel . . . The cold currents, as they passfrom the west, are sucked down in vorticesof air, or by the narrow gorges that breakupon the Lake. Hence sudden storms arise[for] which the region is notorious” (TheHistorical Geography of the Holy Land,1931, p. 286).

Some who have doubted the biblical

accounts of sudden storms on the lakehave been caught by surprise. WilliamBarclay notes: “Dr. W.M. Christie, whospent many years in Galilee, mentioned acompany of visitors who were standing onthe shore of Lake Galilee, and, noting theglassy surface of the water and the small-ness of the lake, expressed doubts as to the possibility of such storms as thosedescribed in the gospels. Almost immedi-ately the wind sprang up. In twenty min-utes the sea was white with foam-crestedwaves. Great billows broke over the tow-ers at the corners of the city walls, and thevisitors were compelled to seek shelterfrom the blinding spray, though now twohundred yards from the lakeside. In less

than half an hour the placid sunshine had become a raging storm. This is whathappened to Jesus and His disciples oncertain occasions” (Daily Bible StudyCommentary, Bible Explorer Software).

Discovery of a fishing boat of Jesus’s time

A few years ago archaeologists exca-vated a fishing boat dating to around thetime of Christ.

“An example of the sort of boat Jesusand the disciples used was found buried in mud on the northern shore of the Sea ofGalilee in January 1986,” notes archaeolo-gist John McRay. “It is the first work boatfound on an inland lake in the entireMediterranean area. The boat, datingbetween the first century B.C. and the endof the first century A.D., was excavated thatFebruary and found to measure 26.5 feetlong, 7.5 feet wide and 4.5 feet high. Itwould have accommodated about fifteenaverage-size men of Jesus’Galilee . . .Originally it had a mast for sailing and twooars on each side. Jesus and his disciplescould easily fit into such a boat and theiruse is mentioned or inferred often in theGospels” (McRay, p. 170).

Many details in the Gospels, such asfishing methods and the use of differentnets, reflect an accurate description ofJesus’ time. When Christ said, “The king-dom of heaven is like a dragnet that wascast into the sea” (Matthew 13:47), Hewas referring to the most common methodof commercial fishing in His day—using a seine.

Historian and Jewish fisherman MendelNun, who in 1993 had lived near the Sea ofGalilee for 50 years, writes: “The seine, ordragnet, is the oldest type of net. Untilrecently, it was the most important fishingmethod on the lake . . . [The parable of thedragnet] exactly fits the function of theseine. It is spread into the sea, then draggedto the shore; in the process all kinds of fishare caught, which the fishermen sitting onthe shore sort out. The ‘bad’ones refer tothe scaleless catfish, forbidden by Jewishlaw and not even offered for sale” (BiblicalArchaeology Review, November-December1993, p. 52).

20 The Good News

Jesus Christ spent much of the time of His ministry in Galilee. This view,from the traditional site of the Mount of the Beatitudes near Capernaum,looks south over the Sea of Galilee.

November/December 1999 21

Matthew 4:18 describes a different typeof net. “And Jesus, walking by the Sea ofGalilee, saw two brothers, Simon calledPeter, and Andrew his brother, casting anet into the sea; for they were fishermen.”This refers to a cast net, which is used by a single fisherman. It is circular, some 20feet in diameter, with lead sinkers attachedto the edge.

“Like the seine,” comments MendelNun, “the cast net is an ancient device.Complete cast nets have been found inEgyptian tombs dating to the second mil-lennium B.C. Two kinds were used in theSea of Galilee, one for large fish and theother for sardines” (ibid., p. 53).

No wonder this Jewish fishing expertconcludes about the Gospel accounts,

“I am continually surprisedat how accurately the NewTestament writers reflectnatural phenomena on thelake” (ibid., p. 47).

The wedding in Cana

“On the third day therewas a wedding in Cana ofGalilee, and the mother ofJesus was there. Now bothJesus and His discipleswere invited to the wed-ding . . . There were setthere six waterpots ofstone, according to themanner of purification ofthe Jews, containingtwenty or thirty gallonsapiece” (John 2:1-2, 6).

One of the curious partsof the wedding account isthe mention of large stonewaterpots. In the ancientworld such large containerswere normally made ofpottery or wood. It was anenormous and expensiveeffort to carve large potsfrom stone. Was this aperiod when the puritylaws were enforced to thepoint that these pots werecommon in Israel?

“Until recently thisquestion plagued historians of the era calledthe late second Temple period,” writesIsraeli archaeologist Yitzhak Magen.“Indeed, recent excavations have confirmedthat Jews of all social and economic levelswere deeply concerned with ritual purity inthis period . . . Stone vessels were consid-ered immune from impurity, and their pop-ularity during this short period providesstrong evidence of heightened interest inritual purity among all Jews . . .

“Large vessels—sometimes made from stone blocks weighing almost 800pounds—were manufactured on massiveheavy-duty lathes. Some of these vessels. . . may have been used to store rituallyclean water for washing hands, as illus-trated in the New Testament story of Jesus’

transformation of water into wine at Cana,in Galilee . . . Stone vessels have beenunearthed at more than 60 sites” (BiblicalArchaeological Review, September-October 1998, pp. 49-50).

Even such incidental details as the largewaterpots mentioned in the Gospels havebeen explained by archaeological findingsand discovered to have been in commonuse at the time.

Jacob’s well and Mount Gerizim

“So he came to a city of Samaria whichis called Sychar, near the plot of groundthat Jacob gave to his son Joseph. NowJacob’s well was there” (John 4:5-6).

“Jacob’s well,” explains ProfessorMcRay, “is one of the few sites whose identity is agreed upon by Jews, Christians,Muslims, and Samaritans alike.” It is still in use. “During annual visits over the pasttwenty years,” he adds, “I have alwaysfound cold, refreshing water in the well”(McRay, p. 181).

Nearby, on the northern top of MountGerizim, archaeologists have found whatappears to be the remains of the temple ofMount Gerizim mentioned in John 4:20.The building was 66 feet long by 66 feetwide by 30 feet high and was in the centerof a large courtyard.

“The discovery of this monumentalstructure dating from the Hellenistic periodon Mount Gerizim above Shechem, thechief city of the Samaritans,” commentsThe International Bible Dictionary, “hasled the excavator to call the complex theSamaritan temple and the unhewn stonehalf cube the Samaritan altar of sacrifice[which present-day Samaritans stillrevere]. The remains of this altar wouldhave been visible to Jesus and the Samar-itan woman from Jacob’s well, as it istoday” (Supplement Volume, 1976, p. 361).

So the scene from John 4 of Jesus andthe Samaritan woman, with Jacob’s welland the temple of Gerizim as the backdrop,also reflects a historical setting.

Through these archaeological finds we have covered some areas of Jesus’early ministry. In the next installment we will continue our study of His life and times. GN

This ancient fishing boat, found in the mud of theSea of Galilee in 1986, dates to the time of Christ.The boat is apparently typical of the fishing boatscommonly used at the time and mentioned often inthe Gospels. Several of the disciples were fishermen.

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n the September-October and November-December 1999 issues of The Good News, we

considered some of the many archaeologicalfindings that shed light on Judea in the early firstcentury, when Jesus Christ grew to manhood andbegan His ministry. We continue in this issue withother findings that shed light on and confirm theaccuracy of historical details recorded for us in the Gospels.

While Christ’s early ministry took place primar-ily in Galilee, His later ministry centered on Jeru-salem. In Galilee, in spite of His many miracles andinspired preaching, He was eventually rejected bymost of the townspeople.

“Then He began to rebuke the cities in whichmost of His mighty works had been done, becausethey did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works whichwere done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,they would have repented long ago in sackcloth andashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable forTyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven,will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty

works which were done in you had been done inSodom, it would have remained until this day’”(Matthew 11:20-23).

An unusual pool

The Gospels often note that Jesus and His disci-ples traveled to Jerusalem for the biblical festivalsGod commanded in Leviticus 23 (Luke 2:41-42;22:7-20; John 2:13, 23; 7:1-2, 8, 10, 14, 37-38).John 5 records an event that took place during oneof these feasts, although it doesn’t specify which (to learn more about these biblical feasts, be sure to request your free copy of the booklet God’s HolyDay Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind).

“After this there was a feast of the Jews, andJesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jeru-salem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In theselay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame,paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water . . .

“Now a certain man was there who had an infir-mity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lyingthere, and knew that he already had been in thatcondition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want

18 The Good News

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Jesus Christ’s Later Ministry

Archaeologicalfindings shed

light on and con-firm the accuracy

of historicaldetails recorded

for us in theGospels.

A pool with five porches? For years critics of the Bible thoughtthe apostle John’s description of the Bethesda Pool to be a fabrication—until the area was excavated a century ago. Thereexcavators found the remains of a large double pool, left, with

a central colonnaded causeway dividing the two parts, asshown on a model of the pool, right, based on the ruins uncov-ered there. After almost 2,000 years, John’s description of a pool“having five porches” was proven to be accurate.

to be made well?’The sick man answeredHim, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into thepool when the water is stirred up; but whileI am coming, another steps down beforeme.’Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up yourbed and walk.’And immediately the manwas made well, took up his bed, andwalked . . .” (John 5:1-9).

For years critics questioned John’sdescription of a pool “having five porches,”because such an architectural design wouldbe highly unusual. But that changed whenexcavators began digging in the area abouta century ago.

“. . . When Bethesda was cleared of therubble of centuries and brought once moreto the light of day, [archaeologists discov-ered] a vast double pool covering 5,000square yards to the north of the Templearea. It in fact had five colonnades. Four ofthese surrounded the whole place, but thefifth porch, in which the sick folk lay wait-ing to be healed, stood on a ridge of rockwhich divided the two pools” (WernerKeller, The Bible as History, 1982, p. 423).

The fifth “porch,” which had led someto question or even dismiss John’s account,was this columned walkway separating the two pools. John’s description wasproven accurate.

John McRay, archaeologist and profes-sor of New Testament at Wheaton CollegeGraduate School in Illinois, adds that in theexcavations “many fragments of columnbases, capitals and drums [column sections]were found, which probably belonged tothe five porches (i.e., porticoes or colon-naded walkways) of the pool John men-tions” (Archaeology & the New Testament,1991, p. 187).

The Pool of Siloam

The apostle John mentioned anotherpool in connection with another of JesusChrist’s miracles of healing. “Now as Jesuspassed by, He saw a man who was blindfrom birth . . . He spat on the ground andmade clay with the saliva; and He anointedthe eyes of the blind man with the clay. AndHe said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool ofSiloam’(which is translated, Sent). So hewent and washed, and came back seeing”(John 9:1, 6-7).

This pool, too, has been discovered, and

thousands of visitors to Jerusalem visit iteach year. Professor McRay explains:“[The pool] was built by King Hezekiah inthe eighth century B.C. at the southern endof a long tunnel hecut through solidrock to bring waterfrom Gihon Springto the pool inside thecity walls (2 Kings20:20) . . .

“The appearanceof the pool haschanged through the centuries; it hasbecome consider-ably smaller (50 feetlong by 15 feet wide)than originally. In1897 F.J. Bliss andA.C. Dickie uncov-ered a court about 75 feet square, in thecenter of which wasthe pool. It was prob-ably surrounded by a colonnaded portico. . . After the 1897 excavations, the peopleof the village of Silwan (an Arabic render-ing of Siloam) built a mosque with aminaret over the northwest corner of thepool, and it still stands above the pool”(ibid., p. 188).

Professor McRay notes that “discoveriesof the Well of Jacob (John 4:12), the Pool ofBethesda (5:2) [and] the Pool of Siloam (9:7). . . have lent historical credibility to the textof John . . . These are but a few of the exam-ples that could be produced which put NewTestament contexts squarely in the stream of history and geography” (pp. 18-19).

Conflicts with Pharisaic practices

Of all the human adversaries during Hisministry, the Pharisees caused Jesus themost trouble. They had imposed tediousreligious regulations on the practicing Jew-ish population. Jesus described their effect:“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear,and lay them on men’s shoulders; but theythemselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they doto be seen by men” (Matthew 23:4-5).

Christ denounced the Pharisees’hypoc-risy of enacting many religious laws that

obscured or even contradicted the intent of the laws God had revealed to Israel. Hecompared them to “whitewashed tombswhich indeed appear beautiful outwardly,

but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also out-wardly appear righteous to men, but insideyou are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness”(verses 27-28).

Whitewashed tombs were a commonsight in Israel. The practice of whitewashinggrave sites was based on a ritual establishedby the Pharisees.

Archaeologists have uncovered manyancient tombs and other burial places inIsrael. They range from a simple hole in theground with a stone covering to elaborateburial chambers for the rich. The Interna-tional Standard Bible Encyclopedia says:“For groups without a settled abode, inter-ment must have taken the form of roadsideburials . . . Under Greco-Roman influence,Palestine tombs took on the exterior formsand ornamentation of classic architecture. . . Exposed areas were whitewashed toobviate uncleanness through accidentalcontact at night (Matthew 23:27)” (1979,Vol. 1, pp. 557, 559, “Burial”).

William Barclay gives further informa-tion that helps us understand burial prac-tices of the time: “Here again is a picturewhich any Jew would understand. One ofthe commonest places for tombs was by thePh

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The Pool of Siloam is mentioned in connection with one of JesusChrist’s miraculous healings. Although the remains of the poolhave since greatly changed, it can still be visited. The pool, in thearea of the original City of David, is fed by the Gihon Spring.

wayside. We have already seen that anyonewho touched a dead body became unclean(Numbers 19:16). Therefore, anyone whocame into contact with a tomb automati-cally became unclean. At one time in par-ticular the roads of Palestine were crowdedwith pilgrims—at the time of the PassoverFeast. For a man to become unclean on hisway to the Passover Feast would be a disas-ter, for that meant he would be debarredfrom sharing in it. It was then Jewish prac-tice in the month of Adar to whitewash allwayside tombs, so that no pilgrims mightaccidentally come into contact with one of them and be rendered unclean.

“So, as a man journeyed the roads ofPalestine on a spring day, these tombswould glint white, and almost lovely, in thesunshine; but within they were full of bonesand bodies whose touch would defile. That,said Jesus, was a precise picture of what thePharisees were. Their outward actions werethe actions of intensely religious men; theirinward hearts were foul and putrid withsin” (Daily Bible Study Commentary, BibleExplorer Software).

Christ used this commonly seen featureof the Israelite countryside to drive home a spiritual point.

The Corban vow

Another conflict Jesus had with thePharisees was over their laws and regula-tions that at times directly negated the TenCommandments. One such example wasthe Corban vow.

In a stinging rebuke, Jesus told the Phar-isees: “‘All too well you reject the com-mandment of God, that you may keep yourtradition. For Moses said, “Honor yourfather and your mother”; and, “He whocurses father or mother, let him be put todeath.” But you say, “If a man says to hisfather or mother, ‘Whatever profit youmight have received from me is Corban’—(that is, a gift to God), then you no longerlet him do anything for his father or hismother, making the word of God of noeffect through your tradition which youhave handed down. And many such thingsyou do’” (Mark 7:9-13).

In the 20th century archaeologists havefound dramatic confirmation of this kind of vow. In the 1950s they discovered a stonecoffin inside a Jewish tomb in the KidronValley southeast of Jerusalem. The lid borean inscription stating the contents were“corban.” The inscription reads, “All that

a man may find to his profit in this ossuary[is] an offering (corban) to God from himwho is within it” (McRay, p. 194).

The vow was inscribed in the hope that it would dissuade any potential thief fromtaking any valuable contents, such as jew-elry, by declaring all had been consecratedto God and that the robber would be com-mitting sacrilege to take it and use it for anyother purpose.

But why would Jesus condemn this kindof vow? The passage in Mark points out thekinds of problems that arose. Jesus wascondemning a man-made vow that couldbreak God’s commandments. In the exam-ple He used, some, He said, were declaringpart or all of their possessions “corban,” ordedicated to God. In such circumstances a needy father or mother could not inherit a deceased son’s goods because they hadbeen declared “corban” and thus were consecrated to God.

This vow was based on a nonbiblicalbelief that a person would receive extrafavor from God for such a vow. As timewent along, this kind of vow was also usedas an excuse to avoid helping a parent inneed. As Jesus pointed out, such practicesbroke the Fifth Commandment, which tellsus to honor our parents.

The Bible Knowledge Commentaryexplains: “Jesus showed how these reli-gious leaders had in effect nullified thiscommandment. They could simply affirmthat a particular item had been a giftdevoted to God. Then the item could not be used by an individual but was keptseparate. This was simply a clever way ofkeeping things from passing to one’s par-ents. The person would of course continueto keep those things in his own homewhere they had been supposedly set asidefor God.

“Such action was condemned by Jesusas being hypocritical, for while it appearedto be spiritual, it actually was done to keepone’s possessions for himself. Thus thisfailure to help one’s parents deliberatelyviolated the fifth commandment . . . Suchaction had been described by Isaiah cen-turies before (Isaiah 29:13). Their [thePharisees’] religion had become a matter of action and man-made rules. Their heartswere far from God and consequently theirworship was in vain” (Logos Software).

We will continue this series with the cli-mactic events surrounding Jesus Christ’sarrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. GN

20 The Good News

b y M a r i o S e i g l i e

n recent issues of The Good News we have exam-ined archaeological findings that shed light on theperiod of Jesus Christ’s ministry in Judea in the

early first century.In the four Gospels no period of Christ’s min-

istry is more detailed than the last few days whenHe was arrested, tried and crucified as a commoncriminal. What have archaeologists found that con-firm and illuminate many of the details of Jesus’ lastdays on earth?

Evidence of Caiaphas’s tomb

Events rushed to a crescendo as Jesus and His dis-ciples came to Jerusalem for that final Passover feast.The chief priests began to panic after hearing that innearby Bethany Jesus had resurrected His friendLazarus from the dead (John 11).

How did they react to news of this miracle? “Thenthe chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Manworks many signs. If we let Him alone like this,everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans willcome and take away both our place and nation.’Andone of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year,said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you

consider that it is expedient for us that one manshould die for the people, and not that the wholenation should perish.’Now this he did not say on hisown authority; but being high priest that year heprophesied that Jesus would die for the nation . . .Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death” (verses 47-53).

Amazingly, the tomb of this priest was discoveredin 1990. Israeli archaeologist Zvi Greenhut, whoconfirmed the finding, describes the event:

“It was a cold day at the end of November when I received word at the Antiquities Authority that anold cave had been discovered . . . When I arrived Iobserved that the roof of the cave had collapsed. Buteven while standing outside, I could see four ossuar-ies, or bone boxes, in the central chamber of the cave.To an archaeologist, this was a clear indication thatthis was a Jewish burial cave . . . So it was that wediscovered the final resting place of the Caiaphasfamily, one of whose priestly members presided atthe trial of Jesus” (“Burial Cave of the CaiaphasFamily,” Biblical Archaeological Review, September-October 1992, pp. 29-30).

Two of the 12 stone boxes found had the nameCaiaphas written on the side, and one contained theentire name, “Joseph, son of Caiaphas.” Inside thisbox were the remains of a 60-year-old man, alongwith the bones of a woman and four younger people,probably those of his own family.

Archaeologist Ronny Reich provides furtherdetails of the find: “The most elaborately decoratedossuary found in this cave contains two inscriptionsrelating to Caiaphas . . . The elderly man buried in the highly decorated ossuary was apparently Joseph.It was probably a forefather who had acquired thisnickname [Caiaphas was apparently a nickname that meant “basket,” probably from “basketmaker.”]

“A person named Joseph with the nicknameCaiaphas was the high priest in Jerusalem between18 and 36 A.D. The New Testament provides onlyhis nickname in the Greek form: Caiaphas (seeMatthew 26:3, 57; Luke 3:2; John 11:49, 18:13-14,24, 28; Acts 4:6). Josephus [the first-century Jewish

18 The Good News

I

Jesus Christ’s Arrest, Trial and Crucifixion

What havearchaeologists

found that confirm and illu-minate many of

the details ofJesus’ last days

on earth?

The Gospels tell us the high priest who plotted Christ’s deathwas named Caiaphas. In 1990 archaeologists found thepriest’s family tomb and this ossuary bearing his name.

historian] gives his proper name as well:Joseph Caiaphas, or elsewhere, ‘Joseph whowas called Caiaphas of the high priesthood.’In short, we are explicitly told by Josephusthat Caiaphas was indeed a nickname”(“Caiaphas Name Inscribed on BoneBoxes,” Biblical Archaeological Review,September-October 1992, p. 41).

Archaeologists have thus confirmed theexistence of this important New Testamentfigure. They have also proven the existenceof another leading character instrumental in the events surrounding Jesus’arrest, trialand execution.

The Pilate inscription

Once Jesus was arrested, on Caiaphas’sorders, He was tried before Caiaphas andlater sent to the Roman governor PontiusPilate. The New Testament portrayal of Pilateagrees with other historical accounts. “Philoand Josephus unite in attributing dire and evilpractices to Pilate, so that a dark character isascribed to him” (The Interpreter’s Dictio-nary of the Bible, 1989,Vol. 3, p. 813).

Philo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher(20 B.C.–A.D. 50), described Pilate as “a man of a very inflexible disposition, and verymerciless as well as very obstinate.” He saysPilate’s rule was characterized by “corrup-tion, . . . insolence, . . . cruelty, . . . continualmurders of people untried and uncon-demned, and his never ending, and gratu-itous, and most grievous inhumanity” (The

Works of Philo, translated by C.D. Yonge,“On the Embassy to Gaius,” pp. 301-302).

Years after Christ’s crucifixion Pilate wassent to Rome to undergo a humiliating trialafter ordering the massacre of some Samari-tan pilgrims. Eusebius, the fourth-centuryhistorian, notes that Pilate was found guiltyand exiled. In his shame he later committedsuicide. Such was the end of this proud andcorrupt governor.

For centuries Pilate was known only fromscant historical records and the Gospels. Nodirect physical evidence had been found.Then, in 1961, a stone plaque engraved withPilate’s name and title was discovered inCaesarea, the Roman port and capital ofJudea in Christ’s day. “The two-foot bythree-foot slab, now known as the PilateInscription, was . . . apparently written tocommemorate Pilate’s erection and dedica-tion of a Tiberium, a temple for the worshipof Tiberias Caesar, the Roman emperor during Pilate’s term over Judea.

“The Latin inscription of four lines gives his title as ‘Pontius Pilate, Prefect ofJudea,’a title very similar to that used ofhim in the Gospels (see Luke 3:1). This was the first archaeological find to mentionPilate, and again testified to the accuracy of the Gospel writers. Their understandingof such official terms indicates they livedduring the time of their use and not a cen-tury or two thereafter, when such termswould have been forgotten” (Randall Price,

The Stones Cry Out, 1997, pp. 307-308).

Gruesome evidence of crucifixion

Until recently some scholars consideredthe description of Christ’s crucifixion to befalse. They thought it was impossible for ahuman body to be held up by nails driveninto the hands and feet since the flesh wouldeventually tear away. Instead they thoughtthe victims must have been bound by ropes.

Yet, in 1968, the body of a crucified man dating to the first century was found inJerusalem. Here the true method of crucifix-ion was discovered: His ankles, not his feet,had been nailed and could easily support his weight.

Archaeologist Randall Price explains:“This rare find has proved to be one of themost important archaeological witnesses toJesus’crucifixion as recorded in the Gospels.First, it reveals afresh the horrors of theRoman punishment . . . This method of exe-cution forced the weight of the body to beplaced on the nails, causing terribly painfulmuscle spasms and eventually death by theexcruciating process of asphyxiation . . . Second, it was once claimed that theGospel’s description of the method of cruci-fixion was historically inaccurate . . . Thediscovery of the nail-pierced ankle bonerefutes those who say nails could not havebeen used” (Price, pp. 309-310).

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The Roman governor Pontius Pilate figures prominentlyin the accounts of Jesus Christ’s trial and execution. In1961 a stone plaque bearing his name and official titlewas discovered in Caesarea, Israel. Pilate’s name (Latin

“[PON]TIVS PILATVS”) is visible on the second line. In1968 archaeologists found sobering evidence of the cruelpractice of crucifixion—a human heel bone pierced by alarge iron nail, with a fragment of olive wood attached.

20 The Good News

serious offenses, such as rebellion, treasonand robbery. A famous example of mass cru-cifixions took place in 71 B.C. when Sparta-cus led a slave rebellion against Rome. Heultimately failed, and the 6,000 capturedslaves were crucified.

The Jews knew of crucifixions evenbefore Roman rule, for around 87 B.C. theJewish king Alexander Janneus had 800rebellious Pharisees crucified. Josephus,who witnessed the crucifixion of his fellowJews during the siege of Jerusalem (A.D.66-70), called it “the most wretched ofdeaths.” It continued to be the punishmentfor high crimes until the time of EmperorConstantine, when it was finally abolished.

Was Jesus crucified on a cross?

The exact shape of the stake or cross used to crucify Jesus is not known, since theRomans used several styles.

The Greek word translated “cross” isstauros. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Oldand New Testament Words gives backgroundinformation on the word. “Stauros . . .denotes, primarily, ‘an upright pale or stake.’On such malefactors were nailed for execu-tion. Both the noun and the verb staroo, ‘tofasten to a stake or pale,’are originally to bedistinguished from the ecclesiastical form ofa two beamed ‘cross.’The shape of the latterhad its origin in ancient Chaldea [Babylo-nia], and was used as the symbol of the godTammuz (being in the shape of the mysticTau, the initial of his name) in that countryand in adjacent lands, including Egypt.

“By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. thechurches had either departed from, or hadtravestied, certain doctrines of the Christianfaith. In order to increase the prestige of theapostate ecclesiastical system pagans werereceived into the churches apart from regen-eration by faith, and were permitted largelyto retain their pagan signs and symbols.Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequentform, with the cross-piece lowered, wasadopted to stand for the ‘cross’of Christ.

“As for the Chi, or X, which Constan-tine declared he had seen in a vision leading him to champion the Christianfaith, that letter was the initial of the word ‘Christ’ and had nothing to do with‘the Cross’ (for xulon, ‘a timber beam,

a tree’ . . .).” (1985, “Cross, Crucify”).

The empty tomb

The Gospel writers give many details ofJesus’burial and tomb. “Now when eveninghad come, there came a rich man from Ari-mathea, named Joseph, who himself had alsobecome a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.Then Pilate commanded the body to be givento him. When Joseph had taken the body, hewrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out ofthe rock; and he rolled a large stone againstthe door of the tomb, and departed . . .

“On the next day, which followed theDay of Preparation, the chief priests andPharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying,‘Sir, we remember, while He was still alive,how that deceiver said, “After three days Iwill rise.” Therefore command that the tombbe made secure until the third day’. . . Sothey went and made the tomb secure, sealingthe stone and setting the guard” (Matthew27:57-66).

How do the Gospel accounts match upwith archaeologists’discoveries about first-century burial practices? Several tombs havebeen found around Jerusalem that perfectlyfit the description given by the Gospel writ-ers. “In Roman times the entrance was oftenclosed with a large circular stone, set up onedge and rolled in its groove to the mouth ofthe tomb so as to close it securely. This stonecould then be further secured by a strap, or bysealing. Pilate thus directed that the tomb ofJoseph of Arimathea, in which the body ofJesus was laid, should be carefully sealed andmade as inviolable as possible (Mt. 27:66)”(The International Standard Bible Encyclo-pedia, 1979,Vol. 1, p. 559, “Burial”).

When the Romans wanted to secure atomb, they attached a cord across the circu-lar stone. They secured this strap with waxand stamped it with the seal of imperialRome. To tamper with the seal was to defyRoman authority and risk the death penalty.Guards were then placed around the tombwith orders to defend it at all costs; if anyfell asleep they would pay with their lives.With all these safeguards in place, a tombwas considered to be completely securedand untouchable.

Yet, when Jesus was resurrected and anangel opened the tomb, the Bible recordsthat the guards “shook for fear of [the angel]and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:4).When the guards revived and saw the emptytomb, they immediately sought help fromthe chief priests, for they knew they facedthe death penalty.

“Now while they were going, behold,some of the guard came into the city andreported to the chief priests all the things thathad happened. When they had assembledwith the elders and consulted together, theygave a large sum of money to the soldiers,saying, ‘Tell them [the Roman authorities],“His disciples came at night and stole Himaway while we slept.”And if this comes tothe governor’s ears, we will appease him andmake you secure.’So they took the moneyand did as they were instructed; and this say-ing is commonly reported among the Jewsuntil this day” (verses 11-15).

True to the historical description of Pilate,we see that even the chief priests understoodthat the Roman governor was corrupt andsubject to being bribed.

Conclusion on the Gospels

Through archaeology many details of thedescriptions of Jesus’trial, crucifixion andburial have been confirmed. ArchaeologistPrice considers the all-important implica-tions: “. . . Archaeology has shown us thatthe facts that support faith [in the resurrec-tion of Jesus] are accurate—an identifiabletomb attesting to literal events—faith in theChrist of history does depend upon a his-torically empty tomb for its reality. Whilearchaeology can only reveal the tomb, thepersons and events attending to its historicpurpose (Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, crucifix-ion, and so on), the resurrection is interwo-ven with these facts so as to command thesame consideration” (Price, pp. 315, 318).

We can summarize the purpose of thisseries on the Gospels with an appropriatequote: “Five gospels record the life of Jesus.Four you will find in books and one you willfind in the Land they call holy. Read the fifthgospel and the world of the four will open to you” (Bargil Pixner, With Jesus ThroughGalilee According to the Fifth Gospel, 1992,back cover). GN

b y M a r i o S e i g l i e

s discussed in recent issues of The GoodNews, archaeologists have made manydiscoveries that verify and illuminate

our understanding of the four Gospels. After theGospels, the next section in the New Testament wewill survey is the books of the Acts of the Apostles,or simply Acts.

The book of Acts is simply a continuation ofone of the Gospel accounts. Luke compiled hisGospel about Jesus Christ as the first volume of atwo-part work. In his first manuscript he coveredthe life of Jesus; in the second he described theearly history of the Church Jesus founded.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary notes: “TheActs of the Apostles is the name given to the sec-ond part of a two-volume work traditionally identi-fied as having been written by Luke, a companionof the apostle Paul. Originally the two volumes cir-culated together as two parts of one complete writ-ing” (Richard Longenecker, 1981, Vol. 9, p. 207).

Luke explains to Theophilus, to whom he dedi-cated this work, the purpose of his first tome: “Theformer account I made, O Theophilus, of all thatJesus began both to do and teach, until the day inwhich He was taken up . . .” (Acts 1:1-2). Thephrase former account in this first verse is protonlogos in Greek. It refers to the first papyrus roll of alarger work, called in Greek tomos, from which weget our English word tome.

In the second scroll Luke relates events that tookplace after Jesus “was parted from them [the disci-ples] and carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). Itcovers about the first 30 years of Church history.

A scholar attacks Acts

About a century ago British scholar WilliamRamsay focused on the book of Acts to try to showit was rife with geographical and archaeologicalerrors. After all, many scholars of his day, equippedwith the tools of textual criticism and archaeology,had exposed many errors in other classic writings.This eminent humanity professor diligently preparedhimself by studying archaeology and geography

before departing for the Middle East and Asia Minorin his quest to prove Luke’s history of the earlyChurch was mostly myth.

His quest didn’t turn out as he expected. After aquarter century of research in what is today Israeland Turkey, where he carefully retraced the steps ofthe apostles as described in the book of Acts, thisfamous unbeliever shook the intellectual worldwhen he announced he had converted to Christian-ity. He confessed this radical change of mind andheart was thanks in great part to his surprise at theaccuracy he found in Luke’s narrative in Acts.

After decades of examining the historical andgeographical details mentioned in the book, Ram-say concluded: “Luke is a historian of the firstrank; not merely are his statements of fact trust-worthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense . . . In short this author should be placed along withthe very greatest of historians” (The Bearing ofRecent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of theNew Testament, 1953, p. 80).

He went on to write many books about Acts and the epistles of Paul. Ultimately Ramsay wasknighted for his contributions to the study ofarchaeology and geography.

The tomb of King David

When the Christian Church began on the Day of Pentecost, when its first 120 members receivedGod’s Spirit, thousands of Jewish pilgrims werevisiting Jerusalem worshiping at the time of thatholy festival (Acts 2:1-5).

That day the apostle Peter, filled with the HolySpirit, delivered an inspired sermon to the Jewishcrowd. Thousands heard and repented of their sins.Speaking of the recent resurrection of Jesus, hequoted from one of King David’s prophetic psalms:“For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor willYou allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Acts2:27; Psalm 16:10).

Peter continued: “Men and brethren, let mespeak freely to you of the patriarch David, that heis both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to

18 The Good News

A

The Book of Acts:The Church Begins

After decades ofexamining the

details mentionedin Acts, Sir

William Ramsayconcluded: “Lukeis a historian of

the first rank; notmerely are his

statements of facttrustworthy, he is

possessed of thetrue historic sense

. . . In short thisauthor should be

placed along withthe very greatest of

historians.”

this day” (Acts 2:29, emphasis added).Peter, speaking in the temple area inJerusalem, could point to the nearby tombsof the kings of Israel—specifically David’sburial site.

Although it was not an Israelite or Jew-ish custom to bury the dead in towns orcities, royalty was an exception. The Biblerecords that “David rested with his fathers,and was buried in the City of David”(1 Kings 2:10). Many later Israelite kingswere also buried in Jerusalem, althoughnot all in the designated tombs of thekings. For instance, evil King Jehoram wasburied “in the City of David, but not in thetombs of the kings” (2 Chronicles 21:20).

Several hundred years later, during therestoration of Jerusalem under Nehemiah,the area around the tombs of the kings wasrepaired. “After him Nehemiah the son ofAzbuk . . . made repairs as far as the placein front of the tombs of David . . .”(Nehemiah 3:16).

Josephus, a Jewish historian bornshortly after Peter gave his Pentecost ser-mon, wrote that a few decades earlierHerod the Great had broken into David’stomb at night to plunder its riches, only to discover a previous king had alreadylooted it (Antiquities of the Jews, BookXVI, Chapter VII, Section 1). David’s

tomb was widely known even when Jose-phus wrote his account decades afterPeter’s sermon.

A.T. Robertson notes: “His [David’s]tomb was on Mt. Zion where most of thekings were buried. The tomb was said tohave fallen into ruins in the reign of theEmperor Hadrian [A.D. 117-138]” (WordPictures in the New Testament, BibleExplorer software).

Although archaeologists don’t agree on whether the extensive tomb area discov-ered almost a century ago in the southernend of Jerusalem is the location of thetombs of the kings of Israel, the locationagrees with accounts mentioned in theBible and does have the backing of someprominent scholars.

Hershel Shanks, editor of BiblicalArchaeology Review, writes: “The pro-posed site of David’s tomb, and of othersadjacent to it, is precisely where one wouldexpect to find the burial site mentioned inthe Bible—in the southern part of the Cityof David, an area that would normally beforbidden to burials.

“In 1913 to 1914 a Frenchman namedRaymond Weill excavated this area andfound several tombs that he numbered T1to T8 . . . The most magnificent of thesetombs is T1. It is a kind of long tunnel or

artificially excavated cave 521⁄2 feet long,over 8 feet wide and over 13 feet high . . .The fact that some extravagant, evenostentatious tombs were located preciselywhere the Bible says the kings of Judah,including King David, were buried cer-tainly suggests to a reasonable mind thatthe fanciest of these tombs (T1) may wellhave belonged to King David” (BiblicalArchaeological Review, January-February,1995, p. 64).

Precise identification is difficultbecause the area was heavily quarried in later centuries and only portions of thetombs remain. Whether more research canconfirm this site as David’s tomb or not,we can be confident that during Peter’ssermon given on the Day of Pentecost,when the New Testament Church began,he could point to an area in Jerusalemwhere everyone knew David’s tomb waslocated and could attest that his remainswere still there.

David obviously had not risen from the dead, but now Peter and many otherwitnesses could confirm that it had beenJesus’ tomb, not David’s, that had openedand from which Jesus had come back tolife, confirming He was the Messiah.Thousands of Jewish listeners could notrefute the evidence. This proof, among others, led many to accept Jesus as theMessiah immediately (Acts 2:41).

Gamaliel the wise

During the days and weeks afterPeter’s sermon, the apostles faced violentopposition, including being thrown in jail.

During their trial before their incarcera-tion, many Jewish authorities plotted to killthem, but one of the chief religious leadersspoke up in their defense:

“Then one in the council stood up, aPharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of thelaw held in respect by all the people . . .And he said to them: ‘Men of Israel, takeheed to yourselves what you intend to doregarding these men . . . I say to you, keepaway from these men and let them alone;for if this plan or this work is of men, itwill come to nothing; but if it is of God,you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.’And theyagreed with him, and when they had calledZ.

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Some archaeologists think this area at the southern end of the City of Davidcontains the remains of the tombs of the kings of Judah who reigned in Jeru-salem. The tomb at the top center may be the remains of King David’s tombmentioned by Peter in Acts 2:29. Regrettably, much of the area has beenhacked away over the centuries from quarrying the limestone there.

for the apostles and beaten them, theycommanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go”(Acts 5:34-40).

This Gamaliel, who opposed the apos-tles’ execution, was a teacher of Paul (Acts22:3). He was the grandson of Hillel,the founder of a dominant school of thePharisees, a major branch of Judaism.

Gamaliel’s family name has been con-firmed by archaeological findings. In atomb in the catacombs of Beth-Shearim,near the Sea of Galilee, in a section calledthe Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of thegraves has an inscription in Hebrew andGreek: “This [tomb] is of the RabbiGamaliel.” The Gamaliel of Bible famewas the first of an illustrious rabbinic family bearing his name. This tomb wasthat of one of his descendants.

The historian Josephus and some Talmudic works also mention Gamaliel,describing him as a benevolent and bril-liant man. William Barclay adds: “He wasa kindly man with a far wider tolerancethan his fellows. He was, for instance,one of the very few Pharisees who did notregard Greek culture as sinful. He was oneof the very few to whom the title ‘Rabban’had been given. Men called him ‘TheBeauty of the Law.’When he died it wassaid, ‘Since Rabban Gamaliel died therehas been no more reverence for the Law;and purity and abstinence died out at thesame time’” (The Daily Study Bible Com-mentary, Bible Explorer software). So wesee another biblical figure mentioned in theScriptures confirmed by sources outsidethe Bible.

History confirms still another biblical character

As the gospel spread to the outlyingareas of Israel, Peter arrived in Samaria to preach the Word of God. There he met a magician named Simon, who was bap-tized but was later rejected by Peter andJohn for trying to bribe his way into aposition of power and influence in theChurch (Acts 8:18-24).

Nothing else is directly mentioned inthe Scriptures about this shady character,known in history as Simon Magus.

However, about a century after Simon’sdeath, writings appear that describe hisactivities after the apostles rejected him.

Writing to the Romans, Justin Martyrcomments: “There was a Samaritan,Simon, a native of the village called Gitto,who in the reign of Claudius Caesar [A.D.41-54], and in your royal city of Rome, didmighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art ofthe devil’s operating in him. He was con-sidered a god, and as a god was honored byyou with a statue, which statue was erectedon the river Tiber, between two bridges,and bore this inscription, in the language ofRome: ‘Simoni Deo Sancto’ [To Simon theholy God]. And almost all the Samaritans,and a few even of other nations, worshiphim . . .” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, “TheFirst Apology of Justin,” p. 171).

In 1574 excavators found a fragment ofmarble on an island in the Tiber River withthe inscription “Semoni Sanco Deu Fidio.”Some interpret this as referring to a Sabinedeity, Semo Sancus, but most likely it waspart of the statue Justin Martyr describedas having been dedicated to Simon Magus.

The editors of The Ante-Nicene Fathersmake this point: “It is very generally sup-posed that Justin was mistaken in under-standing this to have been a statue erectedto Simon Magus. This supposition rests on the fact that in the year 1574 there wasdug up in the island of the Tiber a fragmentof marble, with the inscription ‘SemoniSanco Deo,’ etc., being probably the baseof a statue erected to the Sabine deitySemo Sancus. This inscription Justin issupposed to have mistaken for the one hegives above.

“This has always seemed to us veryslight evidence on which to reject so precisea statement as Justin here makes; a state-ment which he would scarcely have haz-arded in an apology addressed to Rome,where every person had the means of ascer-taining its accuracy. If, as is supposed, hemade a mistake, it must have been at onceexposed, and other writers would not haveso frequently repeated the story as they havedone” (ibid., footnote, p. 171).

Whether the base of the statue was dedicated to Simon Magus or not, the his-toricity of this biblical personage is also

confirmed in literature of the second andthird centuries.

Paul in Damascus

After the gospel went to Samaria, itspread northward to Damascus, where adramatic conversion took place—that ofSaul, who became the apostle Paul. Afterhis conversion God told him, “Arise and gointo the city, and you will be told what youmust do” (Acts 9:6).

After Paul arrived in Damascus, Jesusspoke in a vision to Ananias, one of theChristians living there: “So the Lord saidto him, ‘Arise and go to the street calledStraight, and inquire at the house of Judasfor one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold,he is praying” (Acts 9:11).

The street called Straight was one of themain avenues in Damascus. The Exposi-tor’s Bible Commentary explains: “Thestreet called Straight was an east-weststreet that is still one of the main thorough-fares of Damascus, the Derb el-Mustaqim.It had colonnaded halls on either side andimposing gates at each end . . . and pre-sumably was as well known in antiquity as Regent Street in London or MichiganAvenue in Chicago today. The directionsincluded not only the name of the street butalso the house where Saul could be found”(Longenecker, p. 373).

When the Jews persecuted Paul in Damascus, his friends lowered him fromthe city’s walls in a basket (Acts 9:25).Archaeologists have discovered sections ofthis ancient wall, which the Romans built.John McRay writes: “Part of the Romanwall has been found about 1000 feet southof the East Gate (Bab Sharqi) beneathSaint Paul’s Chapel and Window. Underthe present Ottoman gateway, this smallchapel was built by Greek Catholics over a gate from the Roman period. Traditionassociates the spot with Paul’s escape by abasket that was lowered from a window inthe wall (2 Cor. 11:33)” (Archaeology andthe New Testament, 1991, p. 234).

Magnificent Caesarea

Meanwhile in Jerusalem Peter had beenarrested again and this time was sentencedto death by Herod Agrippa, grandson of

20 The Good News

September/October 2000 21

Herod the Great. A few decades ago thisruler, too, was confirmed as a historical fig-ure when Israeli archaeologist BenjaminMazar found scale weights with HerodAgrippa’s name and title that date to thefifth year of his reign.

When Herod Agrippa heard of Peter’smiraculous escape (Acts 12:5-9), he flewinto a rage. “But when Herod had searchedfor him and not found him, he examinedthe guards and commanded that theyshould be put to death. And he went downfrom Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there”(verse 19).

Caesarea was an impressive artificialport built by Herod the Great. Named inhonor of Augustus Caesar, it became theRoman headquarters of Judea. Herod alsohad a magnificent palace there where hewould court Roman officials.

“The city included buildings typical of a Hellenistic city, such as a theater,amphitheater, hippodrome, aqueduct,colonnaded street, and an impressive temple dedicated to Caesar” (The Inter-preter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, Vol.1, p. 480). Most of the remains of thesebuildings have recently been found byarchaeologists, including a stone plaquethat mentions Pontius Pilate [see TheGood News, May-June 2000, p. 25].

“I was on the supervisory staff at Cae-sarea from the beginning of full-scaleexcavations in 1972 until 1982,” writesJohn McKay. “Our work has largely con-firmed the impression given by Josephus inboth his Wars and Antiquities, of the grandscale on which Herod built to satisfy hisown vanity and that of the emperor Augus-tus” (Archaeology and the New Testament,1991, pp. 139-140).

Herod Agrippa’s death

The Bible also records Herod Agrippa’sunexpected death at Caesarea. “NowHerod had been very angry with the peopleof Tyre and Sidon; but they came to himwith one accord, and having made Blastusthe king’s personal aide their friend, theyasked for peace, because their country wassupplied with food by the king’s country.So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royalapparel, sat on his throne and gave an ora-tion to them. And the people kept shouting,‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’Then immediately an angel of the Lordstruck him, because he did not give gloryto God. And he was eaten by worms anddied” (Acts 12:20-23).

Josephus offers additional details in hisindependent account of Herod Agrippa’sdeath: “On the second day of which shows

he put on a garment made wholly of silver,and of a contexture truly wonderful, andcame into the theatre early in the morning;at which time the silver of his garmentbeing illuminated by the fresh reflection ofthe sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a sur-prising manner . . . and presently his flatter-ers cried out . . . ‘Be thou merciful to us; foralthough we have hitherto reverenced theeonly as a man, yet shall we henceforth ownthee as superior to mortal nature.’Upon thisthe king did neither rebuke them, nor rejecttheir impious flattery . . . A severe pain alsoarose in his belly . . . And when he had beenquite worn by the pain in his belly for fivedays, he departed this life . . .” (Antiquitiesof the Jews, XIX, viii, 2).

The two accounts, the Bible and Jose-phus, in this complement each other. Jose-phus does not mention the origin of thestomach pain, but the Bible mentions itwas because of “worms.” Luke, the physi-cian, used the Greek word skolekobrotosin reference to Herod Agrippa’s terminalcondition. The word refers to tapewormsor other intestinal worms, which can blockthe intestinal tract and cause great painand sometimes lead to death, as was thecase here.

We will continue our survey through thebook of Acts in the next installment. GNPh

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The port city of Caesarea Maritima is mentioned severaltimes in the book of Acts. Built by Herod the Great, itwas the major port in the region and a Roman adminis-trative center. Its magnificent amphitheater, left, over-

looks the Mediterranean Sea. Partially restored, today it serves as a popular venue for concerts. An equallyimpressive twin aqueduct, right, supplied the city withfresh drinking water from the nearby hills.

18 The Good News

b y M a r i o S e i g l i e

n this issue of The Good News we proceed withour survey of archaeological and historical find-ings that verify and illuminate the accounts

recorded in the Bible. In our last issue we surveyedthe first 12 chapters of Acts, in which the focus ison the exploits of the original apostles.

We pick up the story as the emphasis shifts tothe travels of the apostle Paul. How accurate arethese accounts? Thanks to the modern tools ofarchaeology, researchers have found much cultural,historical and geographical background materialthat supports the biblical account of Paul’s tripsthrough the Mediterranean world.

Sergius Paulus, governor of Cyprus

“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they [theapostles Paul and Barnabas] went down to Seleu-cia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus . . . Nowwhen they had gone through the island to Paphos,they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jewwhose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the pro-consul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man” (Acts13:4-7, emphasis added throughout).

From Antioch Paul and Barnabas first went toCyprus, Barnabas’s birthplace (Acts 4:36). Histori-ans have confirmed several background detailsabout this account. For example, the Roman oratorCicero mentions in one of his books that Paphoswas indeed the Roman headquarters of Cyprusduring Roman rule (Ad Familiares, XIII.48).

Also, Luke is correct in mentioning that Cypruswas governed by a proconsul when Paul and Bar-nabas visited the island. Before A.D. 22 Cyprus had been administered by a direct representative of the emperor, called a propraetor. But after 22 theisland’s rule was turned over to the Roman senate,whose representatives were called proconsuls.“Annexed by the Romans in 55 B.C.,” notes TheInterpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, “Cyprusbecame a senatorial province in 22 B.C., with agovernor bearing the title of proconsul, as Acts13:7 correctly names Sergius Paulus, who receivedBarnabas and Paul” (1962, Vol. 3, p. 648).

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary adds: “ThatLuke distinguishes correctly between senatorialand imperial provinces and has the former gov-erned by a proconsul on behalf of the senate andthe latter governed by a propraetor representingthe emperor says much for his accuracy, for thestatus of provinces changed with the times”(Richard Longenecker, Vol. 9, 1981, notes on Acts 18:12-13, p. 485).

Archaeologists have also found evidence indi-cating Sergius Paulus was indeed a Roman gover-nor of Cyprus. In 1877 an inscription was uncov-ered a short distance north of Paphos bearingSergius Paulus’s name and title of proconsul.

In addition, in 1887 his name was found on amemorial stone in Rome. “On a boundary stone of [Emperor] Claudius, his name [Sergius Paulus]is found among others, as having been appointed(A.D. 47) one of the curators of the banks and thechannel of the river Tiber. After serving his threeyears as proconsul at Cyprus, he returned toRome, where he held the office referred to”(“Sergius Paulus,” Easton’s Bible Dictionary,Bible Explorer software).

It is also true that in those days proconsuls usedseers for advice. “These were intensely supersti-tious times,” writes William Barclay, “and mostgreat men, even an intelligent man like SergiusPaulus, kept private wizards, fortune tellers whodealt in magic and spells” (Daily Study Bible,1975, Bible Explorer software).

To the Unknown God in Athens

From Cyprus Paul eventually made his way to Athens, the capital of Greek philosophy. “Nowwhile Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit wasprovoked within him when he saw that the city wasgiven over to idols . . . Then Paul stood in the midstof the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I per-ceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objectsof your worship, I even found an altar with thisinscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the

I

Thanks to the modern tools of

archaeology,researchers have

found much cultural, historicaland geographical

background material that

supports the biblicalaccount of Paul’strips through the

Mediterraneanworld.

The Book of Acts:The Message Spreads

November/December 2000 19

One whom you worship without knowing,Him I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:16, 22-23).

Why was Paul so incensed with theidols in Athens? Is this an accurate descrip-tion of the place? A.T. Robertson notes:“Pliny [the Roman writer] states that in the time of Nero [A.D. 54-68], Athens hadover 30,000 public statues besides count-less private ones in the homes. Petronius [a Roman satirist] sneers that it was easierto find a god than a man in Athens. Everygateway or porch had its protecting god”(Word Pictures of the New Testament,notes on Acts 17:16).

What about the altar “to the unknowngod”? Has there been any confirmationthat such altars existed? ArchaeologistJohn McRay mentions: “Pausanias [theGreek historian], who visited Athensbetween 143 and 159 A.D. saw such altars.In describing his trip from the harbor toAthens he wrote: ‘The Temple of AtheneSkiras is also here, and one of Zeus furtheroff, and altars of the ‘Unknown gods’ . . .Apollonius of Tyana, who died in A.D. 98,spoke of Athens as the place ‘where altarsare set up in honor even of unknown gods’. . .” (Archaeology & the New Testament,1991, p. 304).

In 1909 an archaeological expeditionuncovered an altar with the inscription “To unknown gods” in Pergamum, aRoman province. McRay comments thatthe idolatry in Athens was so widespreadthat Athenians built altars to unknown

gods so they would leave no one out. “The adherents of ancient polytheisticreligions,” he says, “characterized as theywere by superstitious ignorance, may havesimply erected altars to unknown gods ‘sothat no deity might be offended by humanneglect’” (ibid.).

Jews expelled from Rome

From Athens Paul traveled a short wayto another Greek city, Corinth. “After thesethings Paul departed from Athens and wentto Corinth. And he found a certain Jewnamed Aquila, born in Pontus, who hadrecently come from Italy with his wifePriscilla (because Claudius had com-manded all the Jews to depart from Rome),and he came to them” (Acts 18:2).

Were Jews expelled from Rome duringthe reign of Emperor Claudius? TheRoman historian Suetonius records such an order: “As the Jews were indulging inconstant riots at the instigation of Chrestus,he banished them from Rome” (Life ofClaudius, 25.4). It is estimated some20,000 Jews eventually were expelled,among them Aquila and Priscilla.

It is worthwhile to note this expulsiondecree is a key date for fixing Paulinechronology. “One example of how archae-ology has contributed to establishing aPauline chronology,” writes ProfessorMcRay, “is that now we can set theapproximate beginning of Paul’s work inCorinth on his second journey. The key is

found in Acts 18:2 where we learn thatwhen Paul arrived in Corinth he foundPriscilla and Aquila, who had lately comefrom Italy, having been banished fromRome in a general expulsion of Jews underClaudius, who reigned from 41-54. Thisevent is referred to by Suetonius and othersand can be dated to A.D. 49” (McRay,pp. 225-226).

Who was this Chrestus who wasresponsible for the Jewish riots? The sub-ject has been intensely debated. Since the name Chrestus and Christus are pro-nounced alike, it is likely that it had to dowith the dissension in the Jewish commu-nity over the newly established Christianityand the teachings of Christ.

F.F. Bruce mentions that Chrestus couldhave simply been a Jewish troublemaker,but he adds: “It is more likely that [Sueto-nius] had the Founder of Christianity inmind, but that, writing some seventy yearsafter the event and not being particularlyinterested in Christian origins, he consultedsome record of the riots and imaginedwrongly that Chrestus, who was men-tioned as the leader of one of the partiesconcerned, was actually in Rome at thetime, taking a prominent part in the strife.In fact, what we have in this statement ofSuetonius is the dissension and disorder inthe Jewish community at Rome resultingfrom the introduction of Christianity intoone or more of the synagogues of the city”(The International Commentary of the C

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The apostle Paul, struck by the rampant idolatry of the Athenians, confrontedthem on Mars Hill. Nearby stood the Parthenon, above, dedicated to the god-dess Athena, and a much smaller temple built to honor the goddess Nike.

20 The Good News

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New Testament, 1974, p. 368, “Acts”).Later Aquila and Priscilla were to

become instrumental in Paul’s ministry.They gave him a job in Corinth (Acts 18:3)and traveled with him to Ephesus (verse19). They then served as hosts for a churchgroup in their home and sent their greet-ings to their Corinthian friends in one ofPaul’s letters (1 Corinthians 16:19). Some-time after Claudius’s death in 54, theyreturned to Rome and were included inPaul’s greetings to the church membersthere (Romans 16:3).

Gallio, proconsul of Corinth

During Paul’s long stay in Corinth hispreaching eventually led to conflict withthe Jews there. “And he continued there ayear and six months, teaching the word ofGod among them. When Gallio was pro-consul of Achaia, the Jews with one accordrose up against Paul and brought him to thejudgment seat” (Acts 18:11-12).

Here Luke mentions another Romangovernor of the time. Has any evidencebeen found to corroborate the existence of Gallio?

It turns out Gallio was prominent inRoman history. He was the brother of the great Stoic writer Seneca, who was

Emperor Nero’s tutor. Gallio came from anillustrious family in Spain that eventuallymoved to Rome. His real name was Mar-cus Annaeus Novatus, but he was adoptedby the orator Lucius Junius Gallio andafterwards bore his adoptive father’s lastname. His brother Seneca, who mentionshim in his writings, said, “No mortal is so pleasant to any one person as Gallio is to everybody.”

It is striking that Luke also describesGallio’s stable and affable personality.After Paul’s persecutors trumped upcharges against Paul, Gallio quickly sawthrough their lies and dismissed the falseaccusations. To prevent such incidentsfrom occurring again, he had the Jewishleaders punished for filing false charges(Acts 18:14-17). This set a legal precedentthroughout the Roman Empire concerningPaul’s mission and the Christian religion.

“If Gallio had accepted the Jewishcharge,” adds The Expositor’s Bible Com-mentary, “and found Paul guilty of thealleged offense, provincial governorseverywhere would have had a precedent,and Paul’s ministry would have beenseverely restricted. As it was, Gallio’srefusal to act in the matter was tantamountto the recognition of Christianity as a reli-gio licita [an authorized religion]; and thedecision of so eminent a Roman proconsulwould carry weight wherever the issuearose again and give pause to those whomight want to oppose the Christian move-ment . . . For the coming decade or so, theChristian message could be proclaimed inthe provinces of the empire without fear of coming into conflict with Roman law,thanks largely to Gallio’s decision” (Lon-genecker, p. 486, notes on Acts 18:14-16).

It is remarkable that archaeological evi-dence has also been found confirming Gal-lio was the proconsul of Achaia, just asLuke had recorded.

“At Delphi,” writes Professor McRay,“archaeologists found a stone which prob-ably was once attached to the outer wall ofthe Temple of Apollo. Inscribed in it is acopy of a letter from Claudius to the city of Delphi, naming Gallio as the friend of Claudius and proconsul of Achaia”(McRay, p. 226).

What happened to Gallio after hisencounter with Paul? Regrettably, afterClaudius died in 54, Nero became theemperor. For a while Nero governedwisely under the tutorship of Gallio’sbrother Seneca. But five years later Nerodid an about-face and gave himself to hispassions and lusts. He expelled his mentorfrom his sight. His debauchery eventuallycaused Nero to become insane, and soonNero was feeling tormented by Seneca’sand Gallio’s integrity and presence, so hehad them both executed in 65.

F.F. Bruce says about Gallio: “He leftAchaia because of a fever and went on acruise for his health (Seneca, Moral Epis-tles, 14.1) . . . In 65, along with Seneca andother members of his family, he fell victimto Nero’s suspicions” (The InternationalCommentary of the New Testament, 1974,p. 374, “Acts”).

Such were the times in Rome. Duringthis same period Nero began his murder-ous rampage of Christians in Rome afterhe falsely blamed them for having set thecity on fire, which historians generallyblame Nero as having started.

We will continue with our survey ofActs in the next article in this series. GN

20 The Good News

The Roman emperor Claudiusexpelled all Jews from Rome. Thisaction is recorded in Acts 18:2.

The emperor Nero greatly perse-cuted early Christians. Paul wasexecuted during his reign.

n the last two installments in this series we covered events from the start of the ChristianChurch to Paul’s first travels through theMediterranean world. In this article we conclude

our discussion of the book of Acts by coveringPaul’s trips to Ephesus, Jerusalem and Rome.

The Ephesian scripts

After visiting Corinth Paul began his return jour-ney to Jerusalem by way of Ephesus, an importantcity of Asia Minor.

“And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth,that Paul, having passed through the upper regions,came to Ephesus . . . And many who had believedcame confessing and telling their deeds. Also, manyof those who had practiced magic brought theirbooks together and burned them in the sight of all.And they counted up the value of them, and it totaledfifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of theLord grew mightily and prevailed” (Acts 19:1, 18-20,emphasis added throughout).

The Greek word used here for “books” is biblos.The word origi-nally referred to“the inner part . . .of the stem of thepapyrus [plant]”and later “came todenote the papermade from thisbark in Egypt, andthen a written‘book,’roll, or vol-ume” (W.E. Vine,Vine’s CompleteExpository Dictio-nary of Old andNew TestamentWords, 1985,“Book”).Since the 1870s

archaeologists have made intensive efforts to findancient papyrus scrolls, especially in Egypt, where

the desert climate can preserve such fragile treasures.They have realized remarkable success, findingscrolls dating back to New Testament times. Amongthe papyrus scrolls discovered are some containingthe wording of magical spells; these scrolls wereused as amulets (charms).

“A number of such magical scrolls have survivedto our day,” notes F.F. Bruce. “There are especiallyfamous examples in the London, Paris and Leydencollections. The special connection of Ephesus withmagic is reflected in the use of the term ‘Ephesianscripts’for such magical scrolls. The spells whichthey contain are the merest gibberish, a rigmarole ofwords and names considered to be unusually potent,arranged sometimes in patterns which were part ofthe essence of the spell, but they fetched high prices. . . The closest parallel to the Ephesian exorcists’misuse of the name of Jesus appears in the Parismagical papyrus, No. 574, where we find an adjura-tion beginning on line 3018, ‘I adjure thee by Jesusthe God of the Hebrews’” (The New InternationalCommentary of the New Testament: The Book ofActs, 1974, pp. 390-391).

The value of such scrolls that were destroyed isgiven in the Bible as “fifty thousand pieces of silver”(Acts 19:19), a sum scholars say would be wortharound $48,000 in modern currency.

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world

Paul’s preaching in Ephesus caused many to turnaway from their idols and pagan practices. This ledto an uprising among the craftsmen who made theirliving making statuettes of the goddess Diana andher temple.

“And about that time there arose a great commo-tion about the Way. For a certain man named Deme-trius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines ofDiana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with the workers of similaroccupation, and said, ‘Men, you know that we haveour prosperity by this trade. Moreover you see andhear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost

18 The Good News

The Book of Acts:Paul’s Later Travels

Luke provides uswith a detailed

and accurateaccount of Paul’sapostolic missions

during the firstdecades of the

Church.

The temple of Diana in Ephesus was one of the sevenwonders of the ancient world. Paul’s preaching broughthim into conflict with those who made a living from activ-ities associated with idolatrous worship of the goddess.

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all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turnedaway many people, saying that they are notgods which are made with hands.

“So not only is this trade of ours in dangerof falling into disrepute, but also the templeof the great goddess Diana may be despisedand her magnificence destroyed, whom allAsia and the world worship. Now when theyheard this, they were full of wrath and criedout, saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’So the whole city was filled with confusion,and rushed into the theater with one accord,having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’stravel companions” (Acts 19:23-29).

The temple of Diana, one of the sevenwonders of the ancient world, was four timesthe size of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.Its ruins were brought to light by the British

archaeologist John T. Wood in 1869. Laterhe found, in remarkably good condition, thehuge theater mentioned in Acts 19:29, whichcould seat more than 24,000 people.

William Barclay comments about thetemple of Diana: “It was 425 feet long by220 feet wide by 60 feet high. There were127 pillars, each the gift of a king. Theywere all of glittering marble and 36 weremarvelously gilt and inlaid. The great altarhad been carved by Praxiteles, the greatest ofall Greek sculptors. The image of Diana wasnot beautiful. It was a black, squat, many-breasted figure, signifying fertility; it was so old that no one knew where it had comefrom or even of what material it was made.

The story was that it hadfallen from heaven” (DailyStudy Bible, 1975, commenton Acts 19:1-7).

Another reference workadds: “Thousands of pil-grims and tourists came to itfrom far and near; around itswarmed all sorts of trades-

men and hucksters who made their living bysupplying visitors with food and lodging,dedicatory offerings, and souvenirs. TheTemple of Artemis [Diana] was also a majortreasury and bank of the ancient world,where merchants, kings, and even citiesmade deposits, and where their money couldbe kept safe under the protection of deity”(Richard Longenecker, The Expositor’sBible Commentary, Vol. 9, 1981, p. 503).

It is not surprising that a lucrative trade of small statues of Diana and her templeexisted in Ephesus. Commenting on verses24 and 27,A.T. Robertson explains: “Thesesmall models of the temple with the statue of Artemis [Diana] inside would be set up in the houses or even worn as amulets . . .Temples of Artemis [Diana] have beenfound in Spain and Gaul [France]” (OnlineBible software, 1995, Word Pictures of theNew Testament).

Throughout Europe archaeologists havefound many statues of the many-breastedgoddess Diana (or Artemis, as she was calledby the Romans). In 1956 an impressivestatue of Diana was discovered in Ephesus;it stands prominently in the museum there.

Into this scene of popular paganismentered the apostle Paul. Demetrius had

accused him of teaching that “man-madegods are no gods at all” (Acts 19:26, NewInternational Version). In other words, Paulhad fearlessly taught keeping the SecondCommandment and avoiding worship ofreligious images. Thanks to the help offriendly government officials in Ephesus,Paul was protected and the crowd wasfinally dispersed.

It is a bit ironic that, although the cult of the goddess Diana gradually died down,another cult eventually replaced her in Eph-esus. “Christianity,” says historian MarinaWarner, “fastened on her [Diana] and addedsuch typical feminine Christian virtues asmodesty and shame to her personality . . .”(Alone of All Her Sex, 1976, p. 47). Diana,continues Warner, “was associated with themoon . . . as the Virgin Mary is identifiedwith the moon and the stars’influence aswell as with the forces of fertility and generation” (p. 224).

At the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431the veneration of Mary became an officialelement of the Roman church. Warner saysabout Diana: “Memories of her emblem, thegirdle, survived in the city [Ephesus] wherethe Virgin Mary was proclaimed Theotokos[Mother of God], three hundred and fiftyyears after the silversmiths, who lived bymaking statuettes of Diana, rebelled againstthe preaching of Paul and shouted, ‘Great isDiana of the Ephesians’(Acts 19:23-40).There could be, therefore, a chain of descentfrom . . . Diana to the Virgin, for one tradi-tion also holds that Mary was assumed intoheaven from Ephesus . . .” (ibid., p. 280).

Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem

From Ephesus Paul hurried to Jeru-salem to stay there “if possible, on the Day of Pentecost” (Acts 20:16). When hearrived he soon went to the temple to wor-ship and fulfill a vow along with four otherJewish Christians.

“Now when the seven days were almostended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in thetemple, stirred up the whole crowd and laidhands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel,help! This is the man who teaches all meneverywhere against the people, the law, andthis place; and furthermore he also broughtGreeks into the temple and has defiled thisholy place.’(For they had previously seenPa

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Elaborate statues of Diana graced tem-ples dedicated to her worship in manyareas of the Roman Empire. Such statuestypically depict her with multiple breastsor eggs, emphasizing her attributes asthe primary fertility goddess. The coin at right depicts her statue in a temple.

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Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they had supposed that Paul hadbrought into the temple)” (Acts 21:27-29).

Paul was arrested on a false charge ofhaving taken a gentile (a non-Israelite) insidethe temple. Next to each temple entrancewas an inscription warning everyone thatonly Israelites were permitted to enter.

Bruce explains: “That no Gentile mightunwittingly enter into the forbidden areas,notices in Greek and Latin were fixed to thebarrier at the foot of the steps leading up tothe inner precincts, warning them that deathwas the penalty for further ingress. Two ofthese notices (both in Greek) have beenfound—one in 1871 and one in 1935—thetext of which runs: ‘No foreigner may enterwithin the barricade which surrounds thetemple and enclosure. Anyone who is caughtdoing so will have himself to blame for hisensuing death” (The New InternationalCommentary of the New Testament: TheBook of Acts, 1974, p. 434).

Paul’s journey to Rome

After Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, theRoman authorities discovered a plot to killhim and hurriedly sent him to nearby Cae-sarea, the Roman capital of Judea. Since hewas a Roman citizen, a rare and prestigiousdesignation in those days, he was entitled to full military protection. In Caesarea he

submitted to several preliminary hearingsthat left him unsatisfied, so he exercised hisright as a Roman to appeal his case to theemperor in Rome.

The voyage to Rome, on a cargo ship,was harrowing. Luke accompanied Paul on the trip. His narrative is a masterpiece of accuracy down to tiniest details. “Luke’saccount of Paul’s voyage to Rome,” explainsThe Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “standsout as one of the most vivid pieces ofdescriptive writing in the whole Bible. Itsdetails regarding first-century seamanshipare so precise and its portrayal of conditionson the eastern Mediterranean so accurate . . .that even the most skeptical have concededthat it probably rests on a journal of some such voyage as Luke describes”(Longenecker, p. 556).

The remains of several ships similar tothe one described by Luke have been foundon the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.They corroborate the precision of Luke’saccount. “These grain ships were not small,”notes Barclay. “They could be as large as140 feet long and 36 feet wide. But in astorm they had certain grave disadvantages.They were the same at the bow as at thestern, except that the stern was swept up likea goose’s neck. They had no rudder like amodern ship, but were steered with two greatpaddles coming out from the stern on each

side. They were, therefore, hard to manage.Further, they had only one mast and on thatmast one great square sail, made sometimesof linen and sometimes of stitched hides.With a sail like that they could not sail intothe wind” (Daily Study Bible, comment onActs 27:21).

On the voyage to Rome, Paul and hiscompany were shipwrecked near the island ofMalta and barely made it to the beach withoutdrowning. There they waited several monthsuntil another ship took them to Rome.

The Appian Way

Luke’s account continues: “And so wewent toward Rome. And from there, whenthe brethren heard about us, they came tomeet us as far as Appii Forum and ThreeInns” (Acts 28:14-15).

According to archaeological and literaryevidence, Luke accurately recounts the waystations to enter Rome from the west, theshortest route from the nearest seaport. “AtNeapolis, Paul and his contingent turnednorthwest to travel to Rome on the Via Appia—the oldest, straightest, and most perfectlymade of all the Roman roads, named after thecensor Appius Claudius who started its con-struction in 312 B.C. During the seven-daystopover at Puteoli, news of Paul’s arrival inItaly reached Rome. So a number of Chris-tians there set out to meet him and escort himback to Rome. Some of them got as far as theForum of Appius (Appii Forum), one of the‘halting stations’built every ten to fifteenmiles along the entire length of the Romanroad system . . . Others only got as far as theThree Taverns Inn, another halting stationabout thirty-three miles from Rome” (ibid.,comment on Acts 28:15).

Luke thus provides us with a detailed and accurate account of Paul’s apostolic mis-sions during the first decades of the Church.The book of Acts ends with Paul waiting forhis case to be heard by the emperor. Fromlater historians we learn that he was set freeand continued his apostolic journeys for sev-eral years until he was again arrested, impris-oned and ultimately beheaded in Rome.

We will continue this series with a look at archaeological evidence that illuminatesdetails of some of Paul’s many letters to congregations and members of the earlyChurch. GN

20 The Good News

This Greek inscription from the temple in Jerusalem warns that only Israelites areallowed to pass this point and enter the inner courts of the temple.

n the previous three installments of this serieswe covered events described in the book ofActs. We now turn our attention to the apostolicwritings, better known as the epistles, addressed

to specific individuals or congregations or largergroups of people.

How accurate are the epistles from an archaeo-logical and historical point of view? We can bethankful that much background information isavailable about these writings that confirms theirauthenticity.

The apostolic letters

One of the first questions that comes to mindwhen examining the epistles is how they comparewith the style and composition of other writings ofthe same era.

In the 20th century archaeologists discoveredmany private letters dating from the apostles’ timethat show the prevailing style of writing and corre-spondence. Written on papyrus, they corroborate

that the apostles’letters are writtenin the style com-mon in those days.

Scholar WilliamBarclay notesabout Paul’s writ-ings: “It is a greatpity that Paul’s letters were evercalled epistles.They are in themost literal senseletters. One of thegreat lights shedon the interpreta-tion of the NewTestament hasbeen the discoveryand the publica-

tion of papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was thesubstance on which most documents were written

. . . The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal fortheir preservation, for papyrus, although very brit-tle, will last for ever so long as moisture does notget at it.

“As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps,archaeologists have rescued hundreds of docu-ments, marriage contracts, legal agreements, gov-ernment forms, and, most interesting of all, privateletters. When we read these private letters we findthat there was a pattern to which nearly all con-formed; and we find that Paul’s letters reproduceexactly that pattern” (Daily Study Bible, BibleExplorer software, notes on Romans 1:1, emphasisadded throughout).

So far some 15,000 papyrus documents havebeen documented that date from 2700 B.C. to NewTestament times and well beyond. From the bibli-cal point of view the most important papyrusscrolls include:

• The 87 papyri containing parts of the GreekNew Testament.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered some 50years ago, which include books and commentariesabout the Old Testament.

• The Septuagint version of the Old Testament (aGreek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures that wasin common use in the time of the apostles).

The New Testament papyrus scrolls date from thelate first to the seventh century and vary in size fromscraps containing a few words to almost completebooks of a Gospel,Acts or the Pauline epistles.

Grant Jeffrey compares the number of biblicalwritings discovered to other works found: “Modernscholars now possess more than five thousand manu-script copies of portions of the New Testament in theGreek language. In addition, there are an additionalfifteen thousand manuscripts in other languages fromthe first few centuries of this era. No other importanttext, whether historical or religious, has more than a few dozen copies that have survived until our generation” (The Signature of God, 1996, p. 88).

From the private letters of the apostles’ time we find their introduction typically included the

18 The Good News

Archaeologyand the Epistles

How accurate arethe epistles from anarchaeological andhistorical point ofview? We can be

thankful thatmuch background

information isavailable about

these writings thatconfirms their

authenticity.

Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, heart of a mightyempire, well before he set foot there. Little did he knowhe would die in Rome several years later. Palatine Hilland the Roman Forum, ruins of which are shown here,were the heart of the city.

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I

identity of the author, the name of the recip-ient, a prayer for the recipient and a greet-ing. The conclusion of such letters reflectsthe apostles’ similar style of identifying therecipients, offering thanks and ending witha blessing.

“The power of the Epistles,” says TheBible Through the Ages, “especially thoseof Paul, lay partly in their adherence to astructure recognized by educated peoplethroughout the Greek-speaking world”(1996, p. 148).

Let’s see a few specific examples of howthese letters fit into the context of those days.

Paul’s letter to the Romans

Throughout his letter to the Romans wesee Paul urging gentile and Jewish Chris-tians in Rome to reconcile their differ-ences. What historical event could have led to disunity that would prompt this kindof admonition?

Paul mentions in this letter that he wouldsend it from one of the ports of Corinth,called Cenchrea, by way of a membernamed Phoebe (Romans 16:1).

In his first visit to Corinth a few years ear-lier, Paul had met the married couple Pris-cilla and Aquila, converted Jews who hadbeen among those expelled from Rome. Weread in Acts 18:2 that the Jews at Rome hadbeen exiled by Emperor Claudius around 49 B.C. After Claudius died, Priscilla andAquila returned to Rome (Romans 16:3).

The content of the epistle to the Romansreflects the new situation of the return of theJewish Christians to the Roman church andthe need for the gentile Christians again toaccept their leadership.

Another indication of the authenticity of the epistle is the mention by Paul of 26people in Romans 16. Scholars note thesenames were quite common during thatperiod. Surprisingly, 13 of them have beenfound in inscriptions or documents con-nected with the emperor’s palace in Rome.

William Barclay notes that, “althoughmany are common names, this fact [theirrelationship with Caesar’s palace] isnonetheless suggestive. In Philippians 4:22,Paul speaks of the saints of Caesar’s house-hold. It may be that they were for the mostpart slaves, but it is still important thatChristianity seems to have penetrated early

into the imperial palace” (Daily StudyBible, comments on Romans 16:5-11,Bible Explorer software).

Thus this mention of Roman, Greek andHebrew names common in those days andthe historical evi-dence of a Christianpresence even inCaesar’s householdgive credence towhat Paul writes inRomans.

The letters to theCorinthians

Paul’s two epis-tles to the Corinthi-ans also fit well with archaeologists’discoveries aboutCorinth and what we learn from classi-cal Greek literature.

Unlike Paul’s letters to people inother areas, in bothof the letters to Corinth he refers to sinsinvolving sexual immorality. Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 that thebrethren were openly tolerating a memberinvolved in a sexual relationship with hisstepmother. Paul instructs the members thereto put that person out of the church until herepents and then warns them not to becomecorrupted by this bad example or allowthemselves to return to their former sins.

He admonishes: “Do you not know thatthe unrighteous will not inherit the king-dom of God? Do not be deceived. Neitherfornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, northieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, norrevilers, nor extortioners will inherit thekingdom of God. And such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Of all the Greek cities, Corinth was theone most known for sexual immorality.“The ancient city had a reputation for vul-gar materialism,” notes The Bible Knowl-edge Commentary. “In the earliest Greekliterature it was linked with wealth andimmorality. When Plato referred to a prosti-tute, he used the expression ‘Corinthiangirl.’According to Strabo, the Greek geog-

rapher, much of the wealth and vice inCorinth centered around the temple ofAphrodite and its thousand temple prosti-tutes. For this reason a proverb warned,‘Not for every man is the voyage to

Corinth!’” (Logos Library System soft-ware, 1985, introduction to 1 Corinthians).

Archaeologists have uncovered theremains of the temple of Aphrodite, the god-dess of love, and other temples dedicated tofertility cults that contributed to the city’srampant immorality. They have also foundruins of the marketplace that indicate thatwine was a popular product. “Around themarket were a good many shops, numbersof which had individual wells, suggestingthat much wine was made and drunk in thecity. [Paul warned] in 1 Cor[inthians] 6:10that drunkards will not ‘inherit’ the kingdomof God” (Harold Mare, The Expositor’sBible Commentary, 1979, p. 177).

The incident of sexual immorality in theCorinthian church appears to have a positiveending. After the members there repented oftheir moral laxity, they obeyed Paul and putthe guilty party out of the congregation. Butin 2 Corinthians 2:3-11 Paul tells them heheard of the sinner’s repentance and urgedthem to forgive and restore him as a member.

Paul’s other epistles and those the otherapostles wrote all reflect the aspects ofeveryday life in the Greco-Roman world of that age. Although critical scholars C

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Paul “continued there [in Corinth] a year and six months,” accord-ing to Acts 18:11. He later wrote two epistles to Church members inthat Greek city, some of the ruins of which are clearly visible today.

May/June 2001 19

have focussed intensely on the apostolicepistles to try to find any discrepancy oranachronism, none has been forthcoming.

The epistle of James

Of all the epistles, James’ is the mostpractical and picturesque. The BibleKnowledge Commentary calls it “a literarymasterpiece . . . that combines the rhyth-mic beauty of Greek with the stern inten-sity of Hebrew” and says that, “in fact, theBook of James probably has more figuresof speech, analogies, and imagery fromnature than all Paul’s epistles together”(Logos Library System software, 1985,introduction to James).

How could Jesus’half brother (Matthew13:55) have developed such a polished lit-erary style? One commentary says abouthim: “The author had been from fifteen totwenty years a member, and for a numberof years, the official head, of the JerusalemChurch, which very early in its history hadmore Hellenists than Hebrews in its mem-bership. In daily contact with such Hel-lenists, James could, in the course of theyears, have attained to considerable profi-ciency the use of the Greek tongue” (TheNew International Commentary of the NewTestament: James, 1974, p. 19).

Another evidence of the authenticity ofthe letter is the mention of Christians stillmeeting in synagogues. James writes of dif-ferent classes of people coming “into yourassembly” (James 2:2). The Greek wordtranslated “assembly” here is sunagoge,an assembly of people. It was natural forJames, as leader of the church in Jerusalem,to refer to the meeting places where Chris-tians gathered as synagogues, since theterm did not have the negative connotationit later took among anti-Jewish groups.

“There is evidence that early JewishChristians sometimes met in synagogues,”says archaeologist John McRay. “The NewTestament letter of James refers to Chris-tians (undoubtedly Jewish) meeting in asynagogue (2:2), but bear in mind that atthis time Jews probably met most often inhomes and rented halls” (Archaeology andthe New Testament, 1997, p. 72).

Peter’s epistles

Peter’s writing style and the background

of his two epistles also conform to the norm for those times. The Expositor’s BibleCommentary states, “First Peter is an epis-tle or letter written in the normal letter formof the [New Testament] world” (EdwinBlum, 1981, p. 213).

But how could Peter, a Galilean fisher-man, write in the fine Greek style of theseepistles?

“The parallels between this first letterand Peter’s sermons recorded in Acts aresignificant,” answers The Bible KnowledgeCommentary. “Peter’s public ministryspanned more than 30 years . . . He livedand preached in a multicultural world. It is reasonable to believe that after threedecades Peter could have mastered the lan-guage of the majority of those to whom heministered. Certainly Peter had the timeand talent to become an outstanding com-municator of the gospel via the Greek lan-guage” (Logos Library System software,introduction to 1 Peter).

Peter ends his first epistle with a refer-ence to his location: “She who is in Baby-lon, elect together with you, greets you; andso does Mark my son” (1 Peter 5:13).

Some commentators regard the men-tion of Babylon as a cryptic way of refer-ring to Rome, but the historical evidenceshows that the actual city of Babylon had a thriving Jewish community duringthose days.

The Scriptures indicate most of Peter’smission dealt not with gentiles but withJews. Paul mentioned that “the gospel forthe uncircumcised [gentiles] had been com-mitted to me, as the gospel for the circum-cised [Jews] was to Peter” (Galatians 2:7).

“Many have wondered,” writes historianWilliam McBirnie, “if this [reference toBabylon] did not mean Rome, which wasfrequently called ‘Babylon’by the earlyChristians. The actual city of Babylon,however, still was of importance. It was a great center of Jewish colonists and was a powerful center when Peter ministeredthere for a time. The Eastern churches tracetheir lineage to Babylon, and hence toPeter, to this day” (The Search for theTwelve Apostles, 1973, p. 57).

John’s writings

John’s Gospel and epistles have an

unusual style and are among the mostrespected by scholars.

“No two works in the whole range ofliterature,” wrote Sir William Ramsay,“show clearer signs of the genius of onewriter, and no other pair of works are socompletely in a class by themselves, apartfrom the work of their own and everyother time” (Alexander Ross, The NewInternational Commentary of the New Tes-tament: The Epistles of James and John,1974, p. 110).

John penned his epistles toward the endof the New Testament period. They reflectthe later struggles of the remaining apostlesagainst gnostic groups and other opponentsof God’s law (antinomians) who were influencing Church members and seducingmany away from the truth. Archaeologyhas helped us better understand some of the issues that John faced.

“The extensive Gnostic library that was found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in1945,” states John McRay, “has providedus with new information regarding heresyin the early church and about the nature of the canon of the New Testament at thistime” (p. 18).

Thanks to the discovery of material documenting some of the gnostic beliefs,the issues John mentioned have been confirmed to be historical.

Conclusion

This concludes the brief overview ofwhat archaeology and history tell us aboutthe apostolic epistles.

Grant Jeffrey sums up the historical find-ings: “The tremendous advances in histori-cal research and biblical archaeology in thelast century have convinced most scholarsin the last two decades that the Gospels and Epistles were written within thirty-fiveyears or less of the events which theydescribe . . . In an article for ChristianityToday, Jan. 18, 1963, W.F. Albright [the so-called dean of modern archaeology] wrote:‘In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jewbetween the forties and eighties of the firstcentury A.D.’” (pp. 86-87).

In the next installment we will concludethis archaeological survey by covering thelast book of the Bible, Revelation. GN

20 The Good News

n our long-running series “The Bible and Archae-ology,” we have gone through the Scriptures fromGenesis through the Epistles reviewing many of

the surprising archaeological finds that confirm andilluminate the biblical record. We conclude the serieswith a look at archaeological and historical evidencerelating to the last book of the Bible, Revelation.

Many people view Revelation, sometimes calledthe Apocalypse, as a mysterious book of strange sym-bols and images. Yet it has a clear and definite histori-cal background. The apostle John, who wrote it underthe inspiration of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1), men-tions where it was written and that it was addressed to congregations in seven cities in Asia Minor.

How do the descriptions of these places comparewith discoveries about them from history andarchaeology?

Exiled to Patmos

We learn from John that he wrote Revelationfrom the island of Patmos (verse 9), in the AegeanSea 40 miles off the coast of Asia Minor (modern-

day Turkey). Patmos is a small island of only 24square miles (62 square kilometers), with a coastlinein the shape of a horseshoe.

Was it customary in the Roman Empire for con-victs to be exiled to an island? The Roman historianTacitus (A.D. 56-120), in his book Annals, mentionsthe policy of banishing political prisoners to smallislands (Sections 3:68; 4:30; 15:71).

Patmos, a rocky, volcanic and sparsely populatedisle, was an appropriate place to send captives. Banishment was a terrible punishment that ofteninvolved whippings and being bound in chainsbefore the prisoner was sent off for years of hardlabor in rock quarries. At John’s advanced age itwould have been a harrowing ordeal. Yet he men-tions it as an honor to participate “in the tribulationand kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (verse 9).

During the time of John’s exile, traditionally 94-96, history records violent persecution againstChristians under the reign of the Roman emperorDomitian (81-96). This despot declared himself agod and demanded the worship of his subjects—with the exception of Jews. This meant that once ayear each head of household had to appear beforeauthorities, burn incense to the emperor and declare,“Caesar is lord.” Those who refused were brandedas traitors and either sentenced to death or exiled.

Since Christians confessed they had only oneLord, Jesus Christ, they were mercilessly hounded.John, the last living apostle of the original 12,apparently was banished for this reason.

A message to seven churches

While on Patmos, John received a long and com-plicated vision from Jesus Christ (verses 1-2, 10-20)with the instructions: “. . . What you see, write in abook and send it to the seven churches which are inAsia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thy-atira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea”(verse 11).

How accurate are the descriptions of these sevencities mentioned in the book of Revelation accord-ing to archaeology and history? Interestingly, Jesus

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The Book of Revelation:History and Prophecy

Many people viewRevelation, some-

times called theApocalypse, as a

mysterious book ofstrange symbols

and images. Yet ithas a clear and

definite historicalbackground.

Seven cities mentioned in Revelation apparently formed anancient postal route connected by Roman roads stretching from the port city of Ephesus to Laodicea. John received his visions whileexiled on the island of Patmos off the coast of modern-day Turkey.

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used some of the characteristics of each cityto spiritually evaluate its congregation andto prophesy the history of His Church up to His second coming.

The first church: Ephesus

The port city of Ephesus was a short voyage from Patmos. Therefore one couldlogically send a letter there and then on tothe remaining six cities Christ mentioned.

Archaeologists have uncovered theremains of the Roman roads that stretchedfrom Ephesus to Laodicea. “It is no acci-dent,” notes John McRay, “that the letters in Revelation 1-3 are arranged in this samesequence. Beginning with Ephesus, the roadsfollow a geographic semicircle, extendingnorthward, turning to the east, and continuingsouthward to Laodicea—thus connecting thecities on what must have functioned as anancient postal route” (Archaeology and theNew Testament, 1997, p. 242).

The apostle Paul had founded a largechurch in Ephesus, and now Jesus addressedthe members there with a prophetic messagethat applied to them and was predictive ofthe Church’s future. Jesus had told John:“Write the things which you have seen, andthe things which are [at the present time],and the things which will take place after this

[in the future]” (verse 19, emphasis addedthroughout). Hence part of the message ofRevelation would apply to John’s time, andpart would be for future generations.

Christ recognizes the effort of the Ephe-sian brethren, in spite of many obstacles, tokeep the faith and carry out the commissionHe had given them. “I know your works,your labor, your patience,” He told them,“and that you cannot bear those who areevil” (Revelation 2:2).

In Ephesus was much evil to avoid—within and without the congregation. It wasthere that Paul had warned the “elders of thechurch” (Acts 20:17): “For I know this, thatafter my departure savage wolves will comein among you, not sparing the flock. Alsofrom among yourselves men will rise up,speaking perverse things, to draw away thedisciples after themselves” (verses 29-30).

Moreover, the Ephesian brethren had toresist the many temptations the immenselypopular pagan temple worship offered them.Archaeologists have found at Ephesus theruins of one of the seven wonders of theancient world, the temple of Diana, orArtemis, also mentioned in the Bible (Acts19:27). Thousands of priests and priestessesserved the temple; many of the priestesseswere dedicated to cultic prostitution.

Centuries earlier Heracleitus, an Ephe-sian philosopher, described the inhabitantsthere as “fit only to be drowned[,] and thereason why [they] could never laugh orsmile was because [they] lived amidst suchterrible uncleanness.” Such was the reputa-tion of ancient Ephesus. It would have beendifficult to live as a Christian in the midst of such an immoral city.

Knowing this, Christ gives the brethrenthe hope that if they persevere in the faiththey will receive something that all the temple worship of Diana could never givethem—the gift of eternal life. “To him whoovercomes,” He promised, “I will give to eat from the tree of life [symbolizing eternallife], which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).

Smyrna: Center of emperor worship

The next city on the ancient postal circuitwas Smyrna, about 40 miles north of Eph-esus. It was a flourishing city and the maincenter of emperor worship.

Jesus tells the church in Smyrna: “Donot fear any of those things which you areabout to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days” (verse 10).M

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The port city of Ephesus played a prominent role in apostolic times and is mentioned in six New Testamentbooks. Although it was home to a large Christian congre-gation addressed by the apostle John in the book of Rev-elation, Ephesus was also a center of idolatrous worshipof the goddess Diana, whose temple (right) was one ofthe seven wonders of the ancient world. It also boastedtemples for the worship of several Roman emperors,including Hadrian (above), Augustus and Domitian.

These words had not only a propheticsense but a literal fulfillment in John’s day as well. The brethren in Smyrna knew theywere special targets of the persecution underDomitian, for the city’s history had shownan unwavering loyalty to Rome. It wasproud that it had been declared a “free city,”which meant its residents had the right togovern their own affairs.

“Long before Rome was undisputed mistress of the world,” comments WilliamBarclay, “Smyrna had cast in its lot with her, never to waver in its fidelity. Cicero [theRoman orator] called Smyrna ‘one of ourmost faithful and most ancient allies’ . . .Such was the reverence of Smyrna forRome that as far back as 195 B.C. it was the first city in the world to erect a temple to the goddess Roma” (Letters to the SevenChurches, 1957, p. 29).

The only way Church members could goabout peacefully in this place was to carry acertificate showing they had offered incenseto the emperor and proclaimed him lord.Among the ancient papyri letters thatarchaeologists have found is one with such a request and another with an accompany-ing certificate declaring: “We, the repre-sentatives of the Emperor, Serenos and Hermas, have seen you sacrificing.”

Many of the Christians in Smyrna would die because of fierce persecutions.So Christ encourages and reminds themthat He is offering them something Caesarworship could never provide—the chance to live forever. He exhorts them: “He whoovercomes shall not be hurt by the seconddeath” (verse 11).

Pergamos: “Where Satan’s throne is”

Next on the Roman mail route was Per-gamos, the Roman capital of Asia Minor.This city would never reach the commercialgreatness of Ephesus or Smyrna, but it wasthe indisputable center of religious, medicaland artistic culture of the region. The city’sfamous library, with 200,000 parchmentrolls, was rivaled only by the library inAlexandria, Egypt.

Christ tells the church at Pergamos:“I know your works, and where you dwell,where Satan’s throne is” (verse 13). Again,this prophecy had a literal fulfillment as well

as serving as a description of a future timefor the Church.

The mention of Satan’s throne in Per-gamos likely refers to the famous worship ofits most popular deity, the serpent god Askle-pios Soter, whose Latin equivalent means“the man-instructing serpent and savior.”The serpent god was none other than Satan,whom Revelation describes as “that serpentof old, called the Devil” (Revelation 12:9).

Pergamos was so renowned for the wor-ship of this god, who supposedly healed the sick, that this deity was called “thePergamene god.” Many of the coins discov-ered in Pergamos have the serpent as part of their design.

The remains of the shrine to Asklepioshave been uncovered by archaeologists. “A 450-foot segment of the widest sectionwas excavated and reconstructed so visitorsto the site can experience a beautifulapproach to the Asklepieion,” notes JohnMcRay. “Dedicated to Asklepios Soter, thegod of healing, the Asklepieion was a kindof Mayo Clinic of the ancient world . . .Numerous treatment rooms, sleeping rooms(for incubation and autosuggestion in psy-chiatric treatment), meeting rooms, andtemples were located here . . . Patients com-ing to the shrine believed that Asklepioswould heal them. There was no perceiveddissonance between science and religion inthe ancient world“ (McRay, pp. 271-272).

“From all over the world,” adds WilliamBarclay, “people flocked to Pergamos forrelief of their sicknesses. R.H. Charles hascalled Pergamos ‘the Lourdes of the ancientworld’ . . . Thus, pagan religion had its cen-ter in Pergamos. There was the worship ofAthene and Zeus, with its magnificent altardominating the city [now partially recon-structed in the Pergamum Museum inBerlin]. There was the worship of Askle-pios, bringing sick people from far and near,and above all there were the demands ofCaesar worship, hanging forever like apoised sword above the heads of the Chris-tians” (The Daily Study Bible, notes on Rev-elation 2:12-17, Bible Explorer Software).

Origin of serpent worship in Pergamos

How did serpent worship begin in

Pergamos? Some historians trace it to thecollapse of the Babylonian Empire, whensome Chaldean priests established their reli-gious center in Pergamos. “The defeatedChaldeans fled to Asia Minor, and fixedtheir central college at Pergamos,” notes his-torian William Barker in his book Lares andPenates of Cilicia (1853, p. 232).

Certainly the Old Testament identifiesSatan’s chief seat of activity as being inancient Babylon, where the doctrines of itsmystery religion “made all the earth drunk”(Jeremiah 51:7). This would make its reli-gious successor, Pergamos, the temporarynew “Satan’s seat” of the Babylonian mystery religion.

“That seat,” comments Alexander His-lop, “after the death of Belshazzar [the lastBabylonian king], and the expulsion of theChaldean priesthood from Babylon by theMedo-Persian kings, was at Pergamos,where afterwards was one of the sevenchurches of Asia. There, in consequence,for many centuries was ‘Satan’s seat.’

“There, under favor of the deified kingsof Pergamos, was his favorite abode andwas the worship of Asklepios, under theform of the serpent . . . Pergamos itselfbecame part and parcel of the RomanEmpire, when Attalus III, the last of itskings, at his death, left by will all his domin-ions to the Roman people in 133 BC” (TheTwo Babylons, 1959, p. 240).

In this way, the Roman emperors hadbecome the heirs of “Satan’s seat” duringJohn’s day. Later, when the Roman Empirecollapsed, its successor, the Holy RomanEmpire, would inherit the role. It is note-worthy that Revelation 17:4-5, 18 revealsthat in the end time a powerful religious sys-tem from the ancient past will again reignover the nations and be identified as “Mys-tery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of har-lots and of the Abominations of the Earth.”

Pressure to compromise in Thyatira

Some 40 miles east of Pergamos layThyatira, a city important for its commercein wool and textiles.

When the city was excavated from 1968to 1971, its architectural remains showed ithad the typical Roman style of colonnadesand public buildings and a temple to the

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July/August 2001 21

goddess Artemis. The city was especiallyfamous for its fine woolen cloth, usuallydyed in a shade that came to be called Thyatiran purple. It was from Thyatira that Lydia, a seller of purple and convert to Christianity, had come (Acts 16:14).Inscriptions at the site reveal the existenceof trade guilds, many of them associatedwith the powerful textile industry.

Christ says about this congregation:“I know your works, love, service, faith,and your patience; and as for your works,the last are more than the first. Neverthe-less I have a few things against you,because you allow that woman Jezebel,who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexualimmorality and eat things sacrificed toidols” (Revelation 2:19-20).

Since Thyatira was a religious center,and the home of powerful guilds demandingreligious participation of their workers intheir banquets, it was difficult for Christiansto resist falling into idolatry.

“The strong trade guilds in this city,”says Leon Morris, “would have made it verydifficult for any Christian to earn his livingwithout belonging to a guild. But member-ship involved attendance at guild banquets,and this in turn meant eating meat whichhad first been sacrificed to an idol. Whatwas a Christian to do? If he did not conformhe was out of a job . . .

“The teaching of Jezebel [probably a

symbolic name] apparently reasoned that an idol is of no consequence, and advisedChristians to eat such meals. That thesemeals all too readily degenerated into sexuallooseness made matters worse. But we canunderstand that some Christians would wel-come a heresy of this type. It enabled themto maintain a Christian profession whilecountenancing and even engaging inimmoral heathen revels” (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 1975, p. 71).

Christ reminds the Thyatiran brethrenthey must come out of that worldly society,no matter how enticing it appeared, and notcompromise with the truth. He promises tothose of Thyatira who remain faithful thatthey will be arrayed, not in Thyatiran pur-ple, a cloth used mainly by Roman royalty,but at His coming with the spiritual mantleof rulership over the nations.

He tells them that “he who overcomes,and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘Heshall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’svessels’—as I also have received from MyFather” (Revelation 2:26-27).

Sardis: Warning to watch

Poised above the rich Hermus Valley,Sardis was 30 miles south of Thyatira. Thecity appeared as a gigantic watchtower andwas considered impregnable. Five roadsconverged below it and contributed to

Sardis’s status as a great commercial center.The wealth of the city—which had been the capital of the Lydian Empire under theopulent King Croesus—was legendary.

Christ exhorts this church, “Be watchful,and strengthen the things which remain, thatare ready to die, for I have not found yourworks perfect before God” (Revelation 3:2).

The Sardian brethren could readily iden-tify with a warning to be watchful. The onlytwo times Sardis had been conquered werewhen its citizens had become overconfidentand failed to watch.

Once, when King Cyrus of Persiabesieged the city, the Sardians, nestled intheir fortress high above, paid little atten-tion to the invader. Cyrus could not find away to get up to the citadel and evenoffered a reward to the soldier who discov-ered a pathway. Sometime later a vigilantPersian soldier spied a defender who hadaccidentally dropped his helmet fromabove. The careless soldier climbed down asecret pathway to retrieve it, and that nightthe Persians led their troops up the samepathway and to the top. To their surprise,the site was completely unguarded. Thewatchmen had gone home to sleep, think-ing there was no need to keep guard atnight—and so Sardis fell.

Incredibly, several centuries later thesame sequence of events occurred when a Greek general besieged the city. After ayear’s siege the Greeks appeared to lose allA

rtTo

day

Pergamos, Roman capital of Asia Minor, was the centerfor worship of the serpent god Asklepios Soter, whichsupposedly had great healing powers. This god’s massiveshrine, the Asklepieion (left), attracted visitors from all

over the known world. Such corrupt worship led John torefer to Pergamos as the city “where Satan’s throne is.”Like other major Roman cities, it erected temples foremperor worship, including the Trajaneum (right).

hope of conquering the city. Then one of the Sardian soldiers dropped a helmet andretrieved it. That night the Greeks led somemen up the steep cliff. When they reachedthe top, the place was again unguarded.Sardis’s inhabitants had forgotten their lesson, and their city fell again.

Christ uses this lesson to drive home a powerful spiritual point to His Church:“Therefore if you will not watch, I will comeupon you as a thief, and you will not knowwhat hour I will come upon you” (verse 3).

Faithfulness in Philadelphia

About 25 miles southeast of Sardis laythe city of Philadelphia, newest of the sevencities. An imperial road passed through itfrom Rome to the east, so it became knownas “the gateway to the East.”

Christ says to this church: “These thingssays He who is holy, He who is true . . .Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast whatyou have, that no one may take your crown.He who overcomes, I will make him a pillarin the temple of My God, and he shall go outno more” (Revelation 3:7, 11-12).

Christ emphasizes His loyalty to His truefollowers and reminds them to be equallyfaithful to Him. If they persevere in HisWord, He will give them a crown that theymay rule with Him in His Kingdom.

We find a definite theme of brotherlyfidelity in this section. The Philadelphianbrethren could well identify with this admonition.

Philadelphia means “brotherly love.”The city was named after the love the kingwho founded the city held for his brother.The city was established by Attalus II (159-138 B.C.), who was called Philadelphus(“brother lover”) in honor of his loyal affec-tion toward his brother, King Eumenes II of Pergamos. During his brother’s lifetimeAttalus II was his most loyal assistant. Hesuccessfully commanded his brother’sforces in several wars and later became the trusted ambassador to their ally, Rome.There he won respect and admiration fromthe Romans for his brotherly fidelity.

The New Bible Dictionary comments:“As Philadelphus was renowned for hisloyalty to his brother, so the church, thetrue Philadelphia, inherits and fulfills his character by its steadfast loyalty to

Christ” (1982, “Philadelphia,” p. 926).

Laodicea: Warning to repent

The last city on the route was Laodicea,45 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Withthree main roads crossing it, the city wasone of the richest commercial centers in theworld. The Laodiceans were famous forproducing shiny, black wool clothing andboasted of an outstanding medical centerthat specialized in eye ointments. With thewealth amassed, it had also become thebanking center of the region.

Christ says to this church: “I know yourworks, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then,because you are lukewarm, and neither coldnor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.Because you say, ‘I am rich, have becomewealthy, and have need of nothing’—and donot know that you are wretched, miserable,poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you tobuy from Me gold refined in the fire, thatyou may be rich; and white garments, thatyou may be clothed, that the shame of yournakedness may not be revealed; and anointyour eyes with eye salve, that you may see”(verses 15-18).

Archaeologists have discovered the mainaqueduct going to Laodicea, and severalmiles of it can still be traced. The waterpiped in from the south had so many miner-als that the Roman engineers had coversinstalled so they could remove the mineraldeposits before the pipes clogged.

“For all its wealth, the city had poorwater,” says The Expositor’s Bible Commen-tary. “The water either came from the nearbyhot springs and was cooled to lukewarm or came from a cooler source and warmedup in the aqueduct on the way” (notes onRevelation 3, Zondervan software).

Christ uses the Laodiceans’ lukewarmand distasteful water to point out that theirpoor spiritual state is equally offensive toHim. He warns them that, if they do notrapidly improve their spiritual condition, Hewill reject them. He detests the Laodiceanattitude of compromising with God’s laws.By contrast, He later describes those whoare faithful to Him as “those who keep thecommandments of God and the faith ofJesus” (Revelation 14:12).

Further, even if their clothing were

world renowned, Christ tells them their“spiritual garments” were in pitiful condi-tion. He recommends they focus instead onbuying from Him the spiritual clothing oftrue righteousness that He later describes as “fine linen, clean and bright, for the finelinen is the righteous acts of the saints”(Revelation 19:8).

Jesus next tells those brethren, who wereblind to their true spiritual condition, that the“Phrygian powder” concocted in their med-ical center as an eye ointment was useless.Instead, He advised them to use His truespiritual eye salve so they can clearly see and repent of their compromising attitudes.

Lastly, Christ warns them not to put theirtrust in their physical wealth but in Him,who can develop the true gold that comesfrom overcoming trials and building righ-teous spiritual character. This solid advice isof lasting value to the entirety of the Church at any time in its history.

Conclusion

This concludes our archaeologicalreview of the last book of the Bible. Wehope this series has been a satisfying journey through the Bible and that it hasstrengthened your faith.

Throughout this series we have con-firmed what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, forreproof, for correction, for instruction inrighteousness, that the man of God may becomplete, thoroughly equipped for everygood work.” GN

22 The Good News

Recommended Reading

To learn moreabout the book ofRevelation andwhat it revealsabout the past,present andfuture, be sure to request yourfree copy of TheBook of Revelation Unveiled. Contactany of our offices listed on page 2, orrequest or download it from our Website at www.gnmagazine.org.