The Bible and archaeology

Does archaeology support the Bible?
Discoveries by archaeologists have made us more aware of the way things were in the Middle East in ancient times. This process has often confirmed the Bible’s historical accuracy. Some archaeologists have used their findings to question the biblical record. Often, however, their more sensational claims have not been supported by the mainstream academic community.

Such archaeological discoveries of things mentioned in the Bible include -

• The names of government officials, kings, cities and festivals
• Towns, cities and landmarks

For example:

Evidence for the story of Samson
The book of Judges says that Samson destroyed a Philistine temple by standing amid its two central pillars and pushing them down, with one hand on each (Judges 16.25-31). The account was often dismissed as a folk tale.

However, excavations in 1972 of a Philistine temple near Tel Aviv revealed that it was held up by two wooden pillars - just like the one in the Bible. Not only that, they were close enough together to be touched at the same time, as Samson is said to have done.

Evidence for King David
Some scholars used to think that King David, who once defeated Goliath, was a mythical figure. However, a series of finds have provided archaeological evidence that he did indeed exist. The most striking of these was the discovery of a stone slab at Tel Dan in Israel in the early 1990s.

The slab, produced by a foreign king, commemorated his victories over Israelite kings of the ‘House of David’. Most scholars believe that this is evidence that David was the founder of a royal dynasty, as described in the Bible (2 Samuel chapter 7).

Evidence for Pontius Pilate
Until 1961, there was no archaeological evidence that Pontius Pilate had been governor of Judaea, as stated in the New Testament (Luke 3.1). Then excavations at an ancient theatre on the Israeli coast uncovered an inscription with both Pilate's name and title.

The stone with the inscription is now kept in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.