Historical Evidence Supporting The Bible

Historical Reliability For The Bible

 

How many books in the bible?

66 (39 OT / 29 NT)

 

How many years it took to write the bible?

Answer: over 1500 years

 

How many authors?

40+ (kings, military leads, peasants, philosophers, fisherman, tax collectors, poets, musicians, statesmen, scholars, shepherds)

What languages?

Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek

 

What continents?

Asia, Africa, Europe,

 

How many manuscripts or copies of the bible have been found?

25000+

 

How many people believe the bible has been accepted by scientists and anthropologists to be an accurate and reliable document?

 

 

Message Outline

 

Intro to apologetics and why it is important

–        belief that our faith is not a myth

 

 

Scripture 1 Peter 3:15: – Peter says to have a ready defense for the hope we have.

 

The Credibility and Authenticity of the Bible – is it really real?

 

The Bible is unique in comparison to all other pieces of literature…

  • In continuity:
    • Written over 1500 years ago by more than 42 authors from all different social standings
    • Written on 3 continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) in different physical locations (wilderness, exile, etc
    • Written at different times (times of war, times of peace, stable, unstable
    • Written in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, & Greek)
    • Wide variety of literary styles (poetry, prophecy, song, romance, prose, narrative, law, etc)

 

Although diverse, 1 major story line—the redemption of man by God

 

  • Survival:
    • Through persecution:
    • Roman Empire tried to destroy the replication of the bible and smash Christianity
    • In the 18th century, Voltaire declared that in 100 years from his era that the Christianity would be extinct
      • Voltaire’s printing press would be used 50 years later by the Geneva Bible Society to mass produce bibles

 

  • Reach of the Bible:
    • Constant and unyielding circulation–#1 book sold, only book to sell in the billions
    • Also most translated Book—over 2200 languages (make up 90% of communication)
    • No other book has influenced more literature
    • No other book has influenced civilization and society more

 

Important to understand what format the bible was written on and how it survived:

–        Papyrus: Most common medium for the manuscripts

o      Made from the papyrus plant and stripped to reeds

o      Reeds set in two layers perpendicular to each other

o      Hammered until dried and turned white

o      Some scrolls as long as 144 feet long!

–        Parchment (from animal skin)

–        Vellum (calf skin)

–        Tablets (wax, stone, clay)

 

Is the New Testament Reliable? Is it a historical document and not simply inspiration?

 

Why the New Testament is deemed reliable

–        Stands up to reliability test for ancient literature (3 principles)

o      Bibliographical test (is the copy accurate, and did the person really write it)

§       Nearly 25,000 copies of the NT manuscripts

§       Closest 2nd is Homer’s Illiad

§       No other document of antiquity even comes close in numbers and attestation

o      Internal Evidence Test (No contradiction, written as eye witness account)

o      External Evidence (events line up with unrelated sources of the time)

§       Non christian historical materials confirm the testimony in the document

·       Tacitus – First century roman dude considered one of the most accurate historians of the ancient world.

o      Source for the great fire in Rome and Nero

·       Suetonius and Josephus

·       Roman Historians

 

–        Archaeology supports the NT

o      The Nazareth Decree – 1878 that no graves shall be extracted or removed

o      Crucifixion Victims – 1968 an ancient burial site uncovered 35 bodies that were victims of crucifixion exactly how Jesus was reported to have been.

o      Coins (denarius) small silver coins with Cesar on one side.

o      Silver (or shekels) – Jesus sold for 30 pieces of silver

o      Widows Mite (two very small copper coins)

 

Conclusion: The New Testament is historically trustworthy. If one discards the bible as being unreliable, then one must discard almost all literature of antiquity.

 

 

Old Testament Historically Reliable?

 

The OT has been shown to be historically reliable in 3 major ways

§       Accuracy of the copying process through history

§       Hard evidence discovered through archeology

§       Document evidence (from uncovered hard evidence)

 

For longest time, the oldest OT manuscripts were dated 900 AD

–        how accurate are they compared with earlier first century copies

–        Because the text has been copied so many times, can it be trusted

 

1947 Along comes a Bedouin shepherd boy named Muhammed

Looking for his goat along the west side of the dead sea (8 miles south of Jericho)

–        Threw a stone deep into a hole along a cliff and heard a shattering noise

–        Floor of the cave,  found several jars containing leather scrolls wrapped in linen

–        Scrolls been preserved for nearly 1900 years (originally placed in secret at 68 AD)

–        Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls – spanned from 3rd Century BC to 1st Century AD

o      Good ole Muhammed looking for his goat uncovers one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever.

§       Complete OT Isaiah, thousands of fragments that make up every OT book except Esther

§       Complete book of Isaiah – of 166 words in Isaiah 53, three letters were in discrepancy and did not change meaning.

 

Findings From Dead Sea Scrolls:

–        40,000 fragments – used to reconstruct more than 500 books of the bible

–        proved to be word for word identical with standard Hebrew text – more than 95% of the text identical.

–        5% variation attributed to slips of the pen and spelling variation.

o      We had several hundred manuscripts, but not BC

–        Confirmed Historical Accuracy of kings

o      Mentions names of 26 foreign kings

§       Even the changes in spelling as phonetics changed through the years updated with these names

o      Recorded 40 names, 22 dynasties from Egypt in Chronological order and accurate time period

§       Confirmed Babylonian documents

§       To get that correct is 1 in 750,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (21 zeros)

 

 

Additional textual support:  Both support Dead Sea Scroll accuracy–

1.     The Septuagint (meaning : “70”)—3rd century BC

Greek translation of Hebrew Scripture (285-246 BC)

2.     Samaritan Pentateuchal—5th century BC

Archeological evidence

–        Jericho—excavated in the 30s, finding: when walls fall, they fall inward, but when Jericho was found, the walls had fallen outward, as said in Joshua 6:20 “The wall fell down flat….they were made to fall outward.”

–         Sodom & Gemorrah—all 5 cities mentioned in the Bible have been discovered to be cities of commerce in the geographical areas the scripture describes.  There is evidence in the layers of sedimentary rock that the cities were destroyed by intense heat.

–        No Archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference.

–        Scores of findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the bible.

 

Historical reliability:

            Tablets (1000+ referencing Bible) found at Elba, an ancient Syrian city

Elba was a city discovered in the 70s.  A royal palace was found containing 15,000 tablets and fragments.  These tablets, dating from as far back as the 3rd millennium before Christ, confirm biblical towns, names and religious practices

            Joseph’s Tomb—archeologists believe they have confirmed the tomb of Joseph, as described in Joshua 24:32 to be buried in Palestine.

 

 

Later we’ll take the historical context of the supernatural predications made of the messiah in the OT with history and the NT.

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