Top Ten Discoveries of 2019 in Biblical Archaeology Part Two: Digging for Truth Episode 82

hi this is Scott Lancer the director of associates for biblical research and we're here today with another episode of digging for truth and I'm so pleased to be here with you today my special guest today is Brian Wendell staff member of ABR and Brian is also the pastor of Island Bible Chapel and so Brian welcome again today for this is going to be part two of our top 10 series of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology for 2019 welcome thanks so much Scott it's great to be back I'm looking for cuz top 5 here these are the the really exciting ones that's right that's right we're counting down so we're we're actually starting in this episode we're starting at number five and we're counting down to the did I get that right number five right and we're gonna start right off jump in here again we have been told we talked in the last episode about the criteria that's used when we make these choices and again if you could just update everybody again on that it's important for people to know you know why we we make choices that we make because there are there are thousands of artifacts thousands of possibilities for the top 10 list so it's important to talk about that and then if you would Brian just review what we covered in our first episode the the first five and numbers 10 through 6 of those important discoveries if you could just review those for us today that sounds good well I'm every year I sift through about 200 news reports of discoveries and studies about discoveries in biblical archaeology and so it's tough to narrow that down to to just top 10 but the way I do that is with a criteria so so the first piece of criteria is this it has to be a discovery that is related directly related to a person a place or an event in Scripture or to the composition of Scripture itself and so and then the second one is that it must be discoveries or new studies as opposed to just an announcement they're often announcements in the world of Biblical Archaeology and I just I narrow my focus down that way and so in the last episode we began counting down from 10 through 6 so number 10 was the wall that's been identified as Raya Baum's wall that was built at lakish that as described in second chronicles 11 number nine was some discoveries again of a wall that archaeologists made at kiriath-jearim which they believe identifies it or helps identify it as the city the town of the new testament town of Emmaus number eight was that really exciting discovery about Philistine DNA that suggests that the Philistines are indeed sea peoples who came from the Aegean region and specifically one of the areas was the island of Crete number seven was a Moabite altar that was inscribed that may reference the battle of misha the rebellion of misha that's described in second Kings 3 and finally a monumental staircase that was unearthed at hats or which is just stunning in nature mm-hmm yeah and those discoveries are really cool really important and we love them but now we're going to get into the the the best of the five discoveries that are the best that you've identified and this is e this is your list this is a list that you've come up with in making these determinations and I would want all of our viewers to know that you're your top 10 lists are published they're going out really all over the world I guess recently dr. stripling told us that it was being translated into Hebrew is getting some you know it's being seen published in Israel very very exciting Bryant let's talk about the number five discovery on your list the seal impression of its Royal steward discovered in Jerusalem so let's talk about that yeah let's start by talking about seal impressions so the the technical term for a seal impression is abullah it's a small little wee piece of clay that they would use to seal documents and other things and they would impress a seal often a ring into it and it would dry and then when the person opened the letter for example they would discard that and throw it away but here's the thing oftentimes in antiquity even though it went into the refuse this the building that it was in an administrative centre for example might be destroyed and destroyed destroyed by fire which would then harden these little seal impressions so that thousands of years later we discover them and we can actually read them because they often have writing or images on them and so a seal impression was discovered this past year that dates to the 7th century BC it was discovered by the City of David sifting project now the earth that they were sifting came from some excavations from 2013 beneath Robinson's arch near the western wall and the bulla itself is only 1 centimeters in size but it bears the Hebrew inscription that reads Adonai ahooo who was over the house now the name Adonai ahooo occurs three times in Scripture and the most famous one of those would be David's son one of David's son who was known by that name the shortened form of that name Adonai yah and the title though the one who was over the house means royal steward and it's used in Scripture - in the book of Isaiah 22:15 now some have suggested that there's a link between this bula and a very famous tomb that was discovered in is in Jerusalem 150 years ago that also dates to the seventh century and some say well maybe this is the seal of the owner of that tomb other people say no that tomb was the tomb of the famous steward shebna who was deposed from office for carving a grave for himself as described in Isaiah 22 regardless the the bula is important for a couple of reasons first of all it affirms the title of royal steward that is a biblical title and second of all even though we can't identify the exact individual what we can say is that it confirms that this name was in contemporary usage at the time that the Bible says it was that's excellent well those are really great affirmations of biblical words and phrases and again we see this this beautiful illustration of how the details in the scripture are affirmed in the biblical archaeological record well Brian this is uh this is number five and we'll be back in just a couple of moments to review number four and number three in this countdown of the top ten discoveries in 2019 the top ten discoveries in biblical archaeology 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 for 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 we're so glad you've joined us today we're here with Brian Wendell and Brian and I are counting down the top 10 discoveries and Biblical Archaeology in 2019 Brian we are down to number four and that is the evidence for of Babylonian destruction that was unearthed at Jerusalem and this was this was an exciting discovery so many many wonderful discoveries coming out of digs in and around Jerusalem let's talk about this one yeah the Bible describes how the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem and specifically it says that they burned the house of the Lord by fire they burned the Kings house and all the houses in Jerusalem every great house they burned down that's in 2nd Kings chapter 25 and evidence for the dist Babylonian destruction in Jerusalem has been found before but the stunning nature of this discovery was what brought it to the top of most of the lists the top 10 lists that came out this year for discoveries in biblical archaeology so in August 2019 the Mount Zion archaeological project announced they had discovered this evidence they had been digging in an Iron Age structure within the old city walls and they unearthed this layer of ash that contained arrowheads and pot shards and lamps and even a piece of gold and silver jewelry now the arrowheads are a type called Skippy and arrowheads and they're known to have been used by Babylonian soldiers and they've been discovered at other sites as well when the jewelry may have been a tassel or an earring of some kind it seems to depict a silver bunch of grapes attached to a gold clasp and it it testifies to the biblical description of the wealth of Jerusalem at this period of time when Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the city and and the dating of that destruction layer you can't just find a layer of ash and say oh that destruction layer is for this um it was dated using the pottery that was found in it and so what's really interesting here is is shamone Gibson dr. Gibson who was the archaeologist who was excavating here said this about the find he said it's the kind of jumble that you would expect to find in a ruined household following a raid or a battle household objects lamps broken pottery that had been overturned and shadowed arrowheads and even a piece of jewelry that might have been lost and buried in the destruction it's exactly the kind of thing that you would expect to find if this description is in fact true and we of course believe that it is that the Bible is a historically reliable document and here we have some more evidence a friend of mine often says it's not proof but it is evidence and this evidence mounts and mounts that that this description of the destruction of Jerusalem is historically accurate yes and there hasn't been a lot of discoveries related to this destruction so this particular discovery in recent times is extremely important for those of us who love the Bible and believe the Bible certainly but it's also important for the world of archaeology because here's some very very strong evidence indeed all right well Brian let's move on to the number three discovery and once you go ahead and explain that one to us well this one is really exciting because one of the great mysteries in biblical archaeology has been where is the city of best side of the town of the side or Bethsaida it seems to have been lost to history and there have been two sites that have been the leading candidates for that site one is that tel and the other is ala ROG now for years and years and years decades in fact at Tel was the only site being excavated and so the excavators there could make many claims about it being Bethsaida and had it named Bethsaida and the problem is a lot of people who who take scripture seriously and literally said well it's too far away it's it's a mile and a half three kilometers from the shoreline I mean Bethsaida literally means the house of the fishermen right the fisherman's village and so they said maybe this other site is is a better candidate while a few years ago Ella Raj began to have excavations there and what they have discovered is occupation from the first century now the problem with that tell is that there isn't a lot of evidence of occupation there at the time of Jesus and specifically Josephus tells us that Bethsaida was turned into a Roman polis and given the name Julius and so you would expect to see evidence of urbanization and the types of things that you would find in a Roman polis you don't see that at a tell but what they're starting to uncover at lrish are those very things a Roman bathhouse from the first century evidence of Jewish occupation there with pottery and stone vessels and fishing implements hundreds of stone weights this past year they found a chalk stone weight mold that fishermen would have used but the big find this year at ala ROG was the stunning mosaic floors from a structure they've identified as a Byzantine church now why this is important is that there was an ancient pilgrim who wrote called Willibald his name was Willibald and he wrote about seeing a Byzantine church at-at Bethsaida built over the house of Andrew and Peter and what the excavators that Ella Raj are suggesting is that they have discovered this Byzantine church now we don't know if it was actually built over the house of Peter and Andrew but what it would suggest if this is the case is that this may indeed be the village of Bethsaida finally found now the excavations are still in their infancy and they need to they need to go on and and and the the structure needs to be excavated fully I spoke to the lead excavator one of the lead excavators from El Arash he's they're planning to do that this coming year is to try and excavate the entire Byzantine church and some have suggested maybe at tel and ala ROG together sometimes two sites in antiquity worked together to be a particular Roman polis maybe like Julius we're not sure but what we can say is this at this point the exciting's that Ella Raj are really really the excavation the findings there are really exciting and I think we may be now on the right track to finding the lost city of Bethsaida and you know when you make a decision on what or if you you state which which location you think is the correct identity immediately those on the other side challenge that but it might be a mixture of both ideas and figuring out how these sites give us the full picture of the correct location well very very interesting stuff for sure Brian and we will be right back with our next segment of digging for truth 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 Brian Wendell and we are covering the top ten discoveries in Biblical Archaeology for 2019 and it's hard to believe Brian but we're already down to number two and this one is especially close to our hearts here at AVR because this is a discovery that was made by our dig director Scott stripling this past year so Brian let's let's talk about that well that sounds good and I know right off the bat people are going to accuse me of a bias and I admit my bias read heard that but I really do a thing that ABR's discovery of three altar horns at Shiloh were among the most significant discoveries in biblical archaeology this year so let me explain the Bible says that Shiloh was the location of the Israelite tabernacle for over 300 years that it was the site where Israelites worshipped and it describes it in terms that it really was almost like that the first capital of of the nation of Israel now critics have argued that any evidence of worship at Shiloh is Canaanite worship and that if the Israelites came they came much later than the Bible describes but what the ABR excavations have been showing is that there is a clear transition from Canaanite culture to what we believe is Israelite culture right at the time that the Bible says that that happened and ABR's excavations have been showing that there is evidence of worship at that site by the Israelites remember last year we talked in last year's list about the find of the ceramic pomegranate pomegranate being a motif that was in the on the helm the hem rather of Aaron's robe and in the decor of the first temple and this year three altar horns were discovered during the excavations at Shiloh the different dimensions for them but the horns two of them the elevations are virtually identical the third slightly different all three horns came from the general area of a monumental Iron Age building that was situated in oriented east-west it's the same area where they found the ceramic pomegranate last year and I thought most is the third scarab I'm in addition there have been other artifacts that have been found a ritual chalice and numerous pithoi or these large storage jugs now why are those important those are important because the Bible says that they were to bring their tithes to the tabernacle to Shiloh and we believe that these large pethau jugs would have held the grain and the and the different types of tithes that they would have brought but these altar horns are really key and really in my opinion lead the the the artifacts that have been found so far by ABR showing that the Israelites did indeed worship the Lord at Shiloh I mean the Bible says they did and then we're finding these cultic artifacts with the term cultic we use of course in in archaeology just to mean that people were worshipping with them and and moreover it is really showing that the biblical description of Shiloh as a Temenos as a sacred precinct early in Israel's history is historically accurate yes yes and all the evidence there is all adding up the bone deposits the amazing buildings that they've discovered there and there's many many insights that are yet to come from our dig there at Shiloh and I know ABR's thrilled to be leading that that excavation they're thrilled the dr. stripling and his team have been able to make these extraordinary discoveries it's really important for people to understand how how significant Shiloh is and so as we continue that dig I know there's going to be many many more really interesting artifacts that will be brought to light well Brian let's let's move on to the number one Discoverer in 2019 and why don't you share with us what that discovery is well the number one find in my opinion was another bula a seal impression likely of an actual person named in Scripture so archaeologists in Jerusalem discovered a twenty six hundred year old bula with a paleo Hebrew inscription on it that read belonging to Nathan Malak servant of the king now both the title a servant of the king and the name Nathan Nathan Mallick are found in Scripture with Nathan Mallick being mentioned in second Kings 2311 as an official in the court of King Josiah now this bula is really important because it was discovered in situated in the 6th century likely by the Babylonians we talked about that earlier and given the size of the building and the finely cut ashlar stones and the polished floor plastered floor archeologists are saying this was an administrative building of some kind and within it they found this bula now scholars can't be certain 100% that this is the bula of the Nathan me lack in the Bible but there are four things that would suggest that it actually is number one is the rarity of his name and number two is the fact that it was found in a First Temple era administrative building number three the reign of Josiah is very close to the destruction of Jerusalem and finally it refers to a person who was indeed a royal official Christopher Ralston who is a Anna Pig refer and very cautious and how he approaches things wrote this he said the data converges to make it probable that the figure of the Bible and the figure of this bulla are one in the same as for me he writes I am entirely comfortable considering it most likely or virtually certain that second Kings 23 and this bula refer to the same person it is an exciting thing when you find a personal object from an actual person named in the Bible and this is likely what this is so in my opinion that was number one discovery of 2019 Amen yeah these these this top-10 list is so exciting so interesting Brian I know that do want to encourage people we talked about Shiloh we want to get them to go to our website and check out their opportunities to dig there this coming season you only have about 20 seconds here Brian what how would you summarize this how can people find more information out about biblical archaeology sure there's lots of information out there and there are some good sites and there are some questionable sites but I would suggest that ABR's website is solid people go to Bible archaeology org lots of articles and the breaking news tab and then my own blog Bible archaeology report I do a lot of summarizing and my blogs are designed to be read in five to seven minutes so a little shorter articles sometimes so both of those sites are good reputable sites that they can find information on very good Brian thank you for being with us today it's been a joy and I encourage everyone to pray for a br and to keep digging and we're glad to have you here today Brian and thank you everyone for joining us on digging for truth [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Associates for Biblical Research

Views: 13,461

Keywords: Adoniyahu bulla, Bible, Archaeology, Old Testament, New Testament, Apologetics, Christianity, Jesus, II Kings 25, Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem, El-Araj, Bethsaida, Shiloh, Altar Horns at Shiloh, Nathan Melech Bulla

Id: kkBC5dqk-Vk

Length: 26min 2sec (1562 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 01 2020