Transcript
I want to share four discoveries with you that should increase your confidence in the Bible. They're all to do with Old Testament stories.
The first one is the discovery of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. He was the Assyrian king. This is a really cool, big, black artefact that contains the first depiction of an Israelite: the king of Israel called Jehu.
You find the story of Jehu in the book of 2 Kings, chapters 9 and 10. He's the king who famously called for the guards to cast Jezebel out of the tower, where she was killed and then eaten by dogs.
But Jehu is a king whose identity was not established anywhere else outside the Bible until this discovery. In 1846, a man by the name of Austen Henry Layard found the Black Obelisk.
And so we have this record. The translation of the inscription goes like this:
“The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri. I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase,” and so forth.
Jehu's identity is established by the Assyrians, not just the Bible.
Secondly, Sennacherib's Prism. This was found sometime in the early 1800s, possibly in 1830, in the city of Nineveh, and it dates to 691 BC.
It is really, really fascinating. It tells the story, from Sennacherib's own perspective, of his military conquests. One of these is his victory over Judah.
In it, he describes conquering the lands around Judah and then approaching Jerusalem, where he finds King Hezekiah, the king of Judah. He describes how he sets his siege works against the city and ultimately keeps Hezekiah in that city like a bird in a cage.
What's really interesting about that, however, is that it really lines up with the Bible account.
In the Bible account, turn to either 2 Kings 18 and 19, Isaiah 36–37, or even 2 Chronicles, chapter 32, and we get the story of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem.
What happens during this time is that he conquers the lands around Judah. Judah gives tribute to Sennacherib, but he's never actually able to conquer the city of Jerusalem itself.
God intervenes, and the armies are sent away. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, where he's ultimately murdered by his two sons.
He never actually conquers the city. The most he can do is besiege it and put Hezekiah into that city like a bird in a cage.
It's an amazing discovery, and it really points to the accuracy of this biblical account.
The third discovery I want to share is what's called the Cyrus Cylinder.
It was discovered by a man called Hormuzd Rassam in Babylon in 1879.
In it, Cyrus says:
“I returned the images of the gods who had resided there to their places, and I let them dwell in eternal abodes.”
Cyrus is talking about his decrees and his permission for the peoples under his rule to return to their homelands and re-establish temple worship to their gods.
Now, this is interesting because that is exactly what Cyrus did with the Jews.
If you read Ezra, chapter 1, or the very end of 2 Chronicles, you'll find that Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem, rebuild their temple, and re-establish the worship of their God, Jehovah, in their homeland.
So, we have a discovery that just matches and complements the Bible account.
The final discovery I want to share is what's called the Nabonidus Cylinder.
It was discovered in the 19th century, and it dates to the Babylonian reign of Nabonidus.
In it, we read these words. Nabonidus says:
“As for Belshazzar, the eldest son, my offspring, my offspring.”
This little phrase in the middle of the Nabonidus Cylinder establishes the identity of a king that many people doubted was even real: Belshazzar of Babylon.
In Daniel, chapter 5, we meet him. At the end of that account, Daniel is offered the third place in the kingdom.
Now, other Babylonian records help us build out the story of Nabonidus. What seems to have happened is that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon, but he was elsewhere for whatever reason.
He was away from the city of Babylon and left the rule of the city and that realm to his son, Belshazzar. This meant that whenever Belshazzar turned to Daniel to give him a place in the kingdom, the best he could do was to give him third place.
I just find these really, really fascinating discoveries. They give us little, unique details and insights into the Bible account.
But most of all, they give me confidence as I read the Old Testament that I am not reading make-believe. I'm not reading stories set in imaginary worlds.
The Bible is rooted in real places, real events, and real people.
And while archaeology can't prove that the Bible is the Word of God, it can certainly give us confidence to open it up and read it for ourselves.
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