Top Ten Discoveries of 2019 in Biblical Archaeology (Part One): Digging for Truth Episode 81

hi this is Scott Lancer the director of associates for biblical research and we're here today for another wonderful episode of digging for truth and we're so glad that you've joined us today I'm here in the studio I'm in the studio but my guest is here from Canada Bryan window Bryan is a pastor in Canada at the island Bible Chapel Bryan tell us where you're where you're located up there in Canada well Scott it's good to be here I am located on beautiful st. Joseph Island which I think is one of the most beautiful places God ever created amen amen well I it's so great to have you with us again today and for another couple of exciting episodes today we're going to be doing the top discoveries in biblical archaeology in 2019 and we're going to be doing two shows today but in this first episode we're going to be zeroing in on on some of those amazing finds Bryan before we get started I wanted to just talk a little bit about the things that you're involved in you've been a pastor at Island Bible Chapel since 2015 and you've always had a love for archaeology you've started a website and you're engaged in a number of things in support of the a be our mission why don't you share a little bit with us about that briefly sure well I'm in 2015 I started I got connected with a BR and one of the things that I do for a br is every week I track all of the stories that come out in the world of biblical archaeology and then I do a breaking news updates so people could go to the a B our website Bible archaeology org and click on the breaking news tab you'll find the latest happenings from the world of Biblical Archaeology so that's what I do for a br and then I also have my own website that I run a blog at Bible archaeology report.com and every week I blog about different things and I also summarized at the end of every month the top fines of the month and I also do a top ten list at the end of every year which is what we're going to look at today mm-hmm very good very good well we are excited to have brian on the staff of ABR brian i think we ought to jump right in here and begin this discussion of these top ten discoveries in 2019 now every year we do this I guess this is our is this our second or third year we've done this I've I've forgotten I think this might be our third year doing this that's it's that's scary well listen with with these top finds we always like to give a little bit of background and explanation for our viewers as to what the criteria is for determining these important discoveries yeah so there are a number of us who come out with top ten lists every year and readers who read my top ten list or who read Gordon go VIIRS top ten list at Christianity today or Todd Bolin's top 10 list at Bible places calm well notice that there's some differences some of the finds are obviously on all of our lists although maybe in a different order some make only one list or two of our lists and the reason for that really comes down to I think criteria number one and number two the importance that each of us place on a certain find so the criteria that I use is this that that to make my top 10 list a find has to be directly related to people places or events that are in Scripture or to the composition of Scripture itself so rather than just a general find that helps us with some Bible background I've narrowed my list a little bit the second is that the discoveries must be discoveries or new studies about discoveries as opposed to announcements so in October 2019 for example there was an announcement that the tomb of the kings in Jerusalem had reopened and that's an important first century tomb but it didn't make my list because it was just an announcement I should note too that I've also said studies this year because I've added studies to my list because sometimes the importance of a discovery really becomes knowing through a report that is made or or a journal article that is written our friend dr. Scott stripling often says this the goal of archeology is not excavation its publication if we destroy the evidence and don't make our findings available to others we've done more harm than good so I added studies this year as well so that's the criteria that's good that's good Brian yeah and your top 10 lists and some of your other blogging work has really gotten a lot of attention lately and that's exciting you know it is exciting yes yeah yeah and so while we could go on and on about all these cool things that are happening but let's jump in with our top 10 list and we're going to be counting down from number 10 down to number one and so Brian what was the number 10 discovery on your list let's talk about that a little bit rheya bones wall discovered it lakish so let's let's talk about that sure well they've been excavations at lakish ongoing lakish is an ancient city it's located about 25 miles south of Jerusalem in the Judean Hills and it's probably most famous for the siege that the Assyrian King Sennacherib laid to it in 701 BC when he invaded Israel lakish was one of the cities that Sennacherib conquered but before that before it was an Israelite city in the Late Bronze Age it was a Canaanite city and in the 12th century BC it was destroyed and abandoned for 200 years and archeologists recently were excavating layer 5 at the Iron Age level and trying to determine whether it was a fortified city or was it merely a village and and in April 2019 go safar Finkle the head of the institute of archaeology at hebrew university of jerusalem announced that they had discovered a fortification wall that dated to the 10th century BC the excavators claimed that they found evidence that that layer 5 at lakish was indeed a fortified city and they'd using carbon dating on olive pits that they discovered beneath the foundation the floor that stretched to the wall and it dated to 920 BC now here's where things get really interesting that is precisely the time of Solomon's son Raya bald when he ruled and in second chronicles 11 5 to 10 we read that Raya bone when he lived in Jerusalem built cities of defense he fortified cities throughout Judah including the city of lakish and so if this dating and if the interpretation are correct what the archaeologists have likely found is the wall the fortification wall that the Bible says rheya bomb built at lakish that's very very exciting yeah Brian that's a that's a great place for us to start you know we're going to be spending time here looking at this amazing evidence from biblical archaeology that affirms the Bible number 10 this first discovery that we're discussing is a great example of that of a find that connects directly with the Bible very very exciting well we're coming down to the end of our first segment here and we're excited to be sharing these things of biblical archaeology with Brian Wendell and we will be right back in a culture of intense Bible denying skepticism associates for biblical research exists to strengthen followers of Jesus by affirming the authority of the Bible our archaeological fieldwork and original research form a strong foundation in upholding the reliability of the scriptures or anyone asking if they can really trust the Bible please visit our website and partner with us by joining our prayer team or financially supporting this ministry and thank you for standing with us [Music] welcome back to digging for truth today we're discussing the top ten finds of 2019 with a B our staff member Brian Wendell and Brian we just had time in the first segment to cover the number ten discovery but let's keep going we're going to go down to number nine now and that discovery is what archaeologists are claiming about evidence that points to the identification of the city or the town of Emmaus and of course Emmaus is well known for those who read the New Testament this is where Jesus talked about all that the Old Testament spoke of about his life and ministry and all those sorts of things and so let's talk about Emmaus because it's I think it may s has kind of captivated the minds of many Christians you know where is it you know oh why does the scripture talk about the walking on the road to Emmaus let's let's talk about this town yeah it's an important town in the New Testament even though we only catch a small glimpse of it when Jesus met a couple of his followers on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection something amazing happened and so people have tried to figure out where exactly is Emmaus and several towns have been suggested and most recently in September 2019 a group of archaeologists who were working at kiria theorem uncovered clues that they say might point to it being the biblical site of a mass specifically what they found was a fortification wall that's about twenty-two hundred years old it's three meters thick sand stands up to two metres tall still in some places and the walls were dated to the Hellenistic era by means of pottery and some testing that that tested when the material was last exposed to sunlight and here's where things get interesting it's a bit of a it's a bit of a detective work that these these scholars have done the walls date to the time of the Seleucid general bikinis who defeated judas maccabees in the in the battle of alasa and according to first Maccabees 9 and Josephus's antiquities this Seleucid general built a group of protective fortresses around Jerusalem and while most of the places that have been found that have been listed can be identified north and south and east of the city the fort that is named to the west of the city has not been found yet but this is where it's interesting it's not listed as curious your aim what its listed is as is Emmaus and so the scholars the archaeologists have found this Hellenistic fort west of Jerusalem dates to the time of the Seleucid general they say isn't it interesting here we have a site and the only site we know of west of it would be Emmaus and so they've suggested that kiriath-jearim and the adjacent city of abu goosh the village of abu goosh might be identified with Emmaus they point out that it matches the biblical description of being about sixty stadia or seven miles from Jerusalem now here's the thing that you and I both know Scot whenever something like this comes out there are other people who come out and and comment on it and offer their opinions and and so other scholars have pointed out there's not yet enough concrete evidence to save sure that curious URI is Emmaus others say there are other sites nearby that might be it but our friend Gary Byers has pointed out that there are some Roman error remains nearby Abu goosh which would date to the time of the New Testament and he said he's always kind of liked the thought of of it being there he thinks that that might be biblically missed so it was an interesting combination of archaeology and detective work looking at ancient historical documents very good very good well I think there's going to be more that's going to be brought out about this important story in the in the years ahead here all right well let's let's keep moving here we want to talk about and again we're counting down so we're going to cover number eight the number and number eight in our top ten discoveries of 2019 let's talk about the new DNA study that suggests the Philistines came from Crete I found this story really fascinating it kind of confirmed or at least is lending credence to what many of us have believed about the where the philistines originated from so brian let's talk about that yes Scott I love this story too because I love when new technology works hand in hand with archaeology and this is certainly the case here archaeologists have been excavating the cemetery the ancient cemetery at Ashkelon for many years now and they were able to obtain DNA samples from a number of skeletons from from the teeth from from the bones of these skeletons and they they took the DNA from it and they and they found that 25 to 70 percent of the DNA matched people from the Aegean regions and the surrounding areas and the report that they put out that they published up said this it said of the 51 tested models we find four plausible ones the best supported one infers that this group of Iron Age individuals tested derives around 43% of their ancestry from Greek Bronze Age Crete now that's really interesting but then they they took samples of later skeletons and found that they had DNA that was similar to the local Levantine population which suggested intermarriage here's where things get interesting the Bible says that the Philistines came from the coast land of calf tur that's in Jeremiah 47 4 and many Bible scholars believe that that is the island of Crete and so we have now this affirmation if these results are correct that the Bible's description and the DNA evidence is lining up to suggest that that's exactly where Philistine people's came from and that once they got to that coastline near the Mediterranean and became neighbors with the Israelites and the other populations there they started intermarrying and we see that in Scripture too right we see Hebrew people like Samson marrying the Philistines so it was a really interesting and exciting find to to see this this new technology and the ancient text line up together yeah yeah I think I'm hoping we're going to see more research being drawn from DNA evidence I think this was really really cool and I understand that some of these examined the the DNA that was examined tells us that some came from Europe some came from from Crete but they're coming there sea peoples that came across the Mediterranean to settle there in Palestine well very good Brian we're wrapping up here at the end of our second segment and we're so glad everyone has joined us today watching this really interesting episode of digging for truth as we count down the top ten finds of 2019 we'll be right back Bible and spade is a non-technical quarterly publication published by the associates for biblical research written from a scholarly and conservative viewpoint Bible and Spade supports the inerrancy of the biblical record and as it must read for both the serious Bible student and anyone asking if they can really trust the Bible archaeological evidence properly interpreted upholding the history of the Bible subscribe today at Bible archaeology org [Music] welcome back to digging for truth I'm here today with our special guest Brian window and Brian we are counting down the top 10 discoveries in Biblical Archaeology in 2019 and we're counting down to number seven and that that discovery is the inscribed altar and an inscribed altar may reference a biblical battle so what battle is that Brian and give us a little more background on this discovery sure well the biblical battle that would be referenced is the rebellion of Misha the king of Moab that's described in 2nd Kings chapter 3 so an altar an inscribed altar was found in the ancient city of uttereth and it may reference this battle of Misha king of Moab and and the altar itself was discovered in 2010 in a Moabite sanctuary in that city and it was published in the journal Levant in 2018 but it hit the internet in 2019 to a wider audience and so that's why it's included on this year's list and the altar bears an inscription that records a quantity of bronze that was likely being offered from the looted people as an offering there and it also describes a truth as as the desolate city and 4004 and men who were scattered and abandoned in great numbers in both the inscription in the archaeological context in which the altar was found date to the eighth or ninth century BC now here's where things get interesting the Moabite stone or the Mesha inscription is a very famous archaeological artifact in fact Scott we talked about that in our in our episode on the top ten discoveries of all time relating to the Old Testament where it describes Misha's rebellion albeit from the Moabite perspective and it goes on on that inscription to say now the people of god had dwelt in the region of a Tirat for a long time in the king of israel built a table for them but I fought against the city and I took it so it appears that this inscribed altar from adder auth and the Misha inscription are referencing the same event in fact the archaeologists suggests that the altar was set up to commemorate Misha's successful rebellion against the Israelites and so if this interpretation is correct then it would confirm that the Moabites did succeed in conquering uttereth during misha's rebellion and it would also demonstrate some more general things like the fact that the Moabites had their own scribe and their own text and some of the literacy of that ancient people as well so this find may indeed actually reference the the biblical battle described in 2nd Kings chapter 3 of misha's rebellion that that is such an interesting discovery and insight and once again Brian these bits and pieces all start fitting together of this big jigsaw puzzle and so we it's it's a wonderful thing I know for many pastors out there who may be watching you know they say well what what kind of affirmations do we have of the biblical accounts we have so many and so well let's keep going let's keep on sharing them we're down to number the number 6 discovery the monumental staircase unearthed that hot sore we often talk about hots or what's special about this particular discovery well one of the things that's really spectacular about this discovery is just the incredible condition that this monumental staircase was found in I mean if you see pictures of it looks literally like it was built yesterday and yet it was built thousands of years ago and and it's just the this monumental staircase really does testify to the grandeur of the ancient city of hats or which is described in the Bible as the head of the Canaanite kingdoms and and hats are is a really important City for dating both the conquest and the period of the judges because the Bible described two different times that the Israelites conquered the city of hats or once obviously during the conquest in the fifteenth century but also during the 13th century during the time of of deborah and barak now some of the reports that came out follow the 13th century conquest and so they were saying this was covered in a destruction by Joshua in the 13th century but we would say no the biblical chronology would say the conquest was in the 15th century this destruction that covered this monumental staircase was likely during the time of Deborah and barracks conquer of the city and so just an amazing thing and of course I'm always excited about hats are because they have been looking for years for the royal archive of hats or and they think these monumental staircases may lead from the courtyard right into the palace complex and so it's going to be some exciting times excavating there in the future amen to that amen to that well Brian it in the last two minutes we have here together we're going to be well we're going to be in another episode talking about the rest of the top ten list but let's talk as we conclude here today for this episode why is it him why is all is all of this important why is all this important and where can people go to stay up to date on the latest discoveries in biblical archaeology sure well I've often say there there are at least two reasons that archaeology is is really important and tracking all of these discoveries are really important the first is obviously time and time again what we're seeing is that they affirm that the Bible is a historically accurate document that when these discoveries are properly understood they line up with what scripture says and we have a hundred and fifty over a hundred and fifty years now of excavations and the lands of the Bible and there are literally hundreds and hundreds of discoveries that affirmed things that are in the Bible but the second reason that it's important is because it illuminates Scripture for us it helps provide some of the background to the people and the places that we read about in the biblical text and so those are are really important things and every year we see new ones and so I just get really excited about following the world of Biblical Archaeology and so if your viewers want to what they can do is they can go to Bible archaeology org ABR's website click on the breaking news tab at the top every week there's a new update on what's happened in the world of implica larkey ology and then they can go to my blog if they want Bible archaeology report com I summarize the top three at the end of every month very good Brian well it's great to have you here today this has been a great little excursion into these top ten finds for 2019 and we're so glad all of you have joined us today and we hope you'll come back to watch the next episode of digging for truth [Music] 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Channel: Associates for Biblical Research

Views: 32,932

Keywords: Bible, Archaeology, Apologetics, Digging for Truth, Rehoboam, Emmaus, Ashkelon, Moabites, Hazor

Id: 8lq7Z7pM1mU

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2020