What can Geology tell us about Earthquakes in the Bible? - Dr. Steve Austin (Conf Lecture)

okay today at this uh last lecture i'd like to talk to you about bible earthquakes or earthquakes of the bible the land of the bible is a is a region that's full of earthquakes and you can see on this map the tectonic map of the holy land and the middle east you can see the the region the region is accompanied by the dead sea transform fault the dead sea transform fault right in here see it running north south through the holy land from the dead sea up through the sea of galilee up into lebanon and turkey and that dead sea transform fault is the main side of the of the earthquakes associated with the uh the holy land we have terminology the hebrew word rash is a shaking or even a roar sound it's an audible kind of uh understanding of an earthquake the greek word seismos is a shaking or commercial commotion or a storm and it could even be referred to like the the storm on the sea of galilee the themes associated with the the ra ash the in hebrew and seismos in greek are judgment deliverance and communication you might think about the as you read the earthquake accounts they're usually mentioned with one or two of these themes sometimes three judgment deliverance and communication that's the understanding of why the message god both speaks and acts in history for example um it god is not just like the wizard of oz uh he makes a lot of noise and sitting behind a curtain and pulling a whole bunch of levers god is actually involved in history and so the historical involvement in geologic process and tectonic process by the by using earthquakes as part of the message of the bible god not only speaks but he authenticates what he speaks and then their view to signs of the time these are the beginning of birth pangs the the statement of jesus matthew 24 these are the beginning of birth pangs earthquakes and then the motif there's a giant motif that's developed in the bible around earthquakes uh it's it's a colossal theme that is uh um um taken up frequently by bible writers the seismic theophany motif how's that for some fancy uh theological understanding uh joel chapter 2 isaiah chapter 24 zechariah 14. when god comes down it's going to be associated his coming with an earthquake and uh joel 2 isaiah 24 zechariah 14 zechariah 14 when messiah comes to the to the mount of olives the mount of olives will be cleaved half to the north half to the south and then the land will be lifted up on his site jerusalem will be lifted up and zechariah 14 10. you shall flee as you fled before the earthquake in the days of uzziah king of judah so that this seismic theophany motif is in scripture and we might talk and remember how that's happened and ultimately the eschaton the ultimate uh redemption of creation we're gonna receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken okay earthquakes they're described in the bible of course there's displacements observed in geologic features that may be referenced to bible events like grand canyon features like that i'll suggest damage seen in archaeological excavations that might reflect on bible earthquakes and then disturbances within dead sea sediment layers i'll talk about the dead sea sediment layers as recording a record of earthquakes associated with bible events here's my seven greatest earthquakes of the bible creation week day three several thousand years ago on day three what happened he gathered together the waters into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so the gathering together of waters he called seas in the dry land okay and that day three of creation week the global flood genesis flood uh sodom gomorrah might is on my list of seven uh mount sinai in the giving of the law about a thousand 450 bc on sinai what happened moses went up and the earth quaked and there was a seismic event associated with the giving of the law amos's earthquake 750 bc there's a significant earthquake at the time of the appearance of the writing prophets and during uzziah's reign there was a big earthquake and then qumran earthquake 31 bc it's not mentioned in the bible but its presence has been understood and it's the historic context for the writing of new testament so earthquakes famines and pestilences were seen as signs of the times and they were thinking about the coming of the lord and then the crucifixion earthquake april 3 33 a.d that's uh on my list of seven greatest earthquakes let's talk about some of those early earthquakes associated with creation week grand canyon basement rocks and grand canyon flood strata and grand canyon plateau uplift all of that has something to do with global tectonics the basement rocks you can see the tilted uh strata in the bottom of grand canyon what does that really what's that associated with probably flood tectonics and then we've talked about the strata of grand canyon being some kind of the flood deposits the 4 000 feet of flat lying layers granny canyon basement rocks we have zoaster granite fish new shifts and we have on top of those those early buried strata probably represent uh creation week and early uh strata and then there's probably pre-flood ocean floor sitting there and then there's there's rock that's deposited by the flood and so there's a tectonic upheaval associated with the breaking up of the fountains of the deep something like that is associated with the strata and then grand canyon plateau uplift the plateau of the colorado plateau is a quarter million square mile area and that's lifted what a mile and a half above sea level okay so that's big uh tectonics and big displacements and obviously uh associated with earthquakes grand canyon provides evidence of tectonic events associated with creation week and the global flood i think that needs to be stated and as we look at the earth and understand its formation from the framework of scripture that comes to mind damage seen in archaeological excavations excavations like at the south east of the dead sea in jordan excavations in the upper jordan valley like north of the sea of galilee and then excavations in the judean foothills like east west of jerusalem those are some things to talk about here's one of the sites called babadra babadra is a site along a highway going from the the valley of the fault and dead sea up to carrick and here's wadi carrick and you can see this elliptical site right here that's the site of babadra and that's been excavated in earlier years and that excavation showed uh what appear to be burn strata and broken uh and strata but you see back of the site on the western side there's the dead sea down there southeastern corner of the dead sea babadra is this has this walled city the walled city looks like it's been hit by an earthquake and here's the site of the south wall and you can see symmetrical collapse it was a wall about 20 feet wide and it looked like symmetrical collapse that that seems to me to be evidence of an earthquake battering rams from armies wouldn't do that and it would not naturally form that way without earthquake so collapsed area the south wall of babadra might be associated with the what maybe sodom gomorrah event possibly okay that's something to think about and i want to do more work on that but it looks like some of those cities were knocked down and burned an unusual scripture zechariah 14 verse 4 and 5 and the mount of olives will be split in two from east to west forming a great valley and half of the mountain moving north and half moving south you will flee by my mountain valley you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of uzziah king of judah that's zechariah 14 14 4 and 5. and isn't that interesting i was reading this verse in a class uh in 1977 to some uh archaeology and history students and uh when i got to that passage you will flee by my mountain valley you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of usa i said that must have been a big earthquake uh kind of equip as i was as i was giving a lecture i said man that must have been a big earthquake because zechariah is writing after the exile the return of the exiles after the 70 years of captivity and he's writing 230 years after the the event described in the days of king uzziah i remember talking to students and saying how many of you remember anybody talking to you about the san francisco earthquake of 1906 and nobody could raise their hand but in the the context of the statement everybody 230 years later remembered what the earthquake in the days of usa so that was a must have been a major earthquake i said something like that that was a big earthquake and then one of the students got up and said hey i'm going to jerusalem and i'm studying at the institute for homeland studies and i want to investigate the the days of of isaiah and so that's going to be the historic specialty i'm working on and so i'll let you know what i find and so so i said somebody ought to go to israel and check it out and look for it and here's my st this student well most students you know you when you have a student like that you say blessings on you go and and get your education and you don't expect to hear back from them and uh and and uh sometimes they don't say and do what you they said they would do well anyway this student named gordon franz would write me every six months about archaeological sites where he was seeing cracked rock and he was talking to me and asking me for my evaluation and he would talk to dig directors uh about it and so he started finding earthquake evidence i thought in what's called iron 2b strata and so uh after about um well after 10 or 15 years we had a long bibliography and he became uh very influential and in his studies and so gordon franz and i with a professor at san diego state wrote an article called amos's earthquake an extraordinary middle east seismic event of 750 bc there's the the journal article and we we wrote about it and we included a bunch of earthquake damage from from amos's time the deformed wall at hot sore the dig director uh uh noted that there was a leaning wall in this uh um at this level level uh in in um uh in in the stratum the iron two b stratum and it dated to about fifty seven fifty bc the time of uzia and the time of amos and so this is uh interesting uh and and was recognized by yadine the excavator to be earthquake evidence um then there was discovery and digging going on at the outer wall the north side of the tel gezer geser is one of the foothill cities on the eastern side western side of jerusalem down by tel aviv anyway tell gezer the the geyser excavations show this interesting displacement of the rocks you see the the rocks on the wall like there that uh those ashlars are displaced off their foundation and then you look you can see the rest of the wall is sitting inclined and then the top of the wall has fallen backwards into the city looks like a gigantic shaking and collapse of the wall and the and bill deaver the excavator uh commented on this in one of his journals it looks like an earthquake and he assigned it to about 750 bc then uh eine huseva i now say the south of the dead sea was a fortress built in uzziah's time because it has a a gate with a chambered gate and that fortress has israelite style but look at this it has cracked blocks in the foundation and the foundation failure shows you that it's a leaning pier in the tower or or the the gate and so this leaning structure is best understood to be earthquake evidence and you can see that some of the damage associated with that well there's a lot of earthquake uh sites uh in mid 8th century bc but there's the book of amos the outline of the book of amos the extraordinary speech of the rancher farmer from taco toccoa to the rich and affluent leaders of israel and of course he says prepare to meet thy god o israel and what is book of amos about it's about the judgment of god coming on the nation of israel but it's not on the the people of israel it's on the land of israel and if you do a study of amos you can see the uh the nature of the uh of of the judgment delivered anyway um the final vision is the vision of a collapsing temple and it sounds like an earthquake and and of course the preamble and the superscript of the book of amos is really interesting the superscript says what in the days of uzziah king of judah during the days of jeroboam king of israel the vision of amos of toccoa which he saw concerning israel two years before the earthquake and so the book of amos is dated by the earthquake and so many uh bible scholars are understanding amos to contain a lot of earthquake imagery the book superscript describes earthquake amos 1 2 a seismic theophany motif because joel picks that up and he quotes the the preamble to the book of amos and adds a seismic theme to it the god's actions are directed at the earth amos amos 213 and i'll talk more about that in a minute uh bethel's altars and houses are going to be destroyed the surviving relatives among the dead will say hush we dare not mention the word of the lord because it's obvious it wasn't an invading army that destroyed the cities it was the uh it was a some some other event like an earthquake god breaks in pieces of the big and little houses the trembling and heaving and subsiding imagery in the book of amos and the vision of the collapsing temple the last evidence of in amos is uh amos 2 13. it describes what it is that god is going to do to israel behold i am weighted down beneath you as a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves that's the new american standard okay but if you look at niv then now then i will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain an interesting translation how about a better translation because in the original hebrew there's under you i will not crush you but under you so now then i will crush under you what the ground as a cart crushes what the ground when loaded with grain and so that that translation can be offered so amos is um understood to be an earthquake uh the earthquake theme the earthquake sits about 750 to 760 bc somewhere in there and then it there's turmoil in the succession of kings and of course uh 30 years later less than 30 years later 20 years later there's uh there's the last king of israel hosea and then israel is in the captivity 723 bc do you know what size i think about magnitude 7.8 to 8 something like that who wrote the superscript of the book of amos i went to david noel friedman david noel friedman was judaic studies professor at san diego state or san diego university california san diego i took him out to lunch and asked him who wrote the superscript the book of amos and you know what he said he said isaiah and i said back to him which isaiah isaiah 1 2 or 3. you know you've written about there's three isaiahs that read and the the document of isaiah was redacted in the after the exile to bring help establish jewish culture back in israel and which of those isaiahs wrote the superscript to amos and he said we've been fooling ourselves there's only one isaiah and so he denounced his earlier explanations of of the writing of isaiah and he said isaiah was the disciple of amos and the style of amos and the stu is reflected in the his disciple amos and that led to some interesting discussions because amos cites the book of deuteronomy liberally and he had written that the the torah was redacted uh and after the exile and many that was a popular theory and so how could amos be quoting a document was which was uh not in existence obviously he said we're fooling ourselves there's there uh the the torah was in existence before the exile uh mikvahot is a ritual pool and you see these things in israel um the holy land and and so ritual purification that kind of thing here's the mikvah oat at qumran that's the village where the dead sea scrolls are buried and you see this fault offset it's thought to be the earthquake of 31 bc that's the earthquake described in josephus spring of uh 31 bc the uh the the stairway into the mikva oat this uh this ritual bath has been offset by earthquake over one foot of shifting of the archaeological structure and that is a big earthquake the length of the fault damage the rupture length is about a hundred kilometers on the western side of the dead sea going north to jericho so this earthquake that devastated the village of qumran is probably part of a really long uh earthquake event and so it's probably magnitude 7 earthquake that uh took out the the village of qumran and cut the caused damage to the water source in spring likely okay well i'm interested in dead sea mud and there's you see the dead sea and here's the image of the dead sea and i've spent my time studying the mud of the dead sea at ein feshkha at wadi darga in getty and down at wadi zellum and also on the lissan peninsula those are the areas where i've studied mud and you see this northern basin is been drawn down lately in the last 50 years because of agricultural use anyway but studying uh that leaves the the mud exposed along the edge of the dead sea and so i've been studying the mud and gullies and this is a at in getty a core that was drilled uh about 20 feet depth into the mud and next to it is a gully and so i've studied the gully and i studied the core and um dating of fragments by c-14 puts an approximate date on some of these things so there's earthquakes in recent time 1927 going down into 1458 a.d and then down about five feet is a thousand years ago and then down about 10 feet is the earthquakes of about 2 000 years ago there's a 31 bc earthquake and there's a 33 a.d earthquake or something closely assigned about 33 a.d so i assume that's the earthquake at the cross there's herod's earthquake of 31 bc described in josephus and down below there is amos's earthquake 750 bc and there's also an earthquake about a 1010 bc another earthquake about 1400 bc could that be what uh jericho possibly and then there's also an earthquake down about 20 50 bc and that's like what i've sketched from the core that that possibly could be uh the time of sodom and gomorrah so i'm studying mud and here's what you see uh dead sea mud looks like it's called laminite it's look how laminated it is and when you see it it it's it's very very detailed in its lamination you can see the laminations and where you see these stirred up and contorted layers that's caused by a certain type of earthquake wave and so that's a seismite that's the seismic evidence here's a real big one right here looks like uh almost uh an inch thick and it goes over the through the whole line of the outcrop and so those are the things that we spend our time studying and this leads to the notion that the earthquake disturbance layers are preserved here's how it is laminated sediment is deposited then the earthquake wave comes through and it shakes the sediment water interface and liquefies the sediment deforms it crinkles it does whatever it does and then it it the earthquake is finished and then more laminated sediment comes on top and that's how it makes these size mites here's the real detail and boy they have some real good detail on the nature of the stirring or the and the thickness you can get some idea the seismic intensity or the acceleration at the site the the mud layer that's disturbed is called a seismite a mud layer which has been deformed by earthquake and the seismites are really interesting they have kind of a kind of a story to tell you can you can see what happened at this particular site the uh the earthquake came up to the surface and broke the the continuity of the lamine and then it really broke them and shaded the laminae and then as the earthquake stirred there was a mud layer final mud layer that was suspended and then landed to make the seismite that's the kind of the interesting evidence okay so bible earthquakes could be seen in dead sea sediment core and especially these gullies the gullies along the the shore this one at the southeast corner of the dead sea this is where i'm uh studying one of these gullies right here and uh so that that's ongoing study and there uh there's 30 feet of exposure in one gully that i'm studying and i think i penetrate all the way back to abraham's time so it'd be interesting and there's here's a 31 bc looks like there's 33 a.d up there you can see a little bit more of what that was like plus or minus five years i think would be the dating on this relative to what's underneath it and you know what was the earthquake at the cross like if it was an earthquake directly under jerusalem then i can tell you what it was like i've been on an epicenter of an earthquake twice and so when the earthquake comes you hear you feel all the waves and uh doug has been on the epicenter of earthquake he knows what it feels like but anyway the the earthquake uh sounds like a cannon going off essentially and then what happens is you hear the earthquake going away if if that was the case i can see why the the centurion would say surely this man was the son of god when he saw the the synchronization of the events at the cross the darkening of the sky the earthquake the uh veil of the temple being torn and then it was simultaneous with the beginning of a lunar eclipse and so all of that the earthquake associated with the cross and of course there's an earthquake associated with the resurrection of christ at the tomb three days later okay jesus talked about earthquakes in the olivet discourse jesus answered watch out that no one deceive you for many will come in my name claiming i am the christ and will deceive many you will hear of wars and rumors of war you'll but see to it that you are not alarmed such things must happen but the end is still to come nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom there will be famines and earthquakes in various places all these are the beginning of birth bangs that's uh matthew 24 4 through 8. and um when jesus says these are the beginning of birth pangs many have interpreted that to be some type of earthquake sign preceding christ coming well i don't think there's a strong earthquake sign in that context i think those are the non-signs of the pr to to do the um to precede the real science but hal lindsey in his book he says there's a continuous increase in earthquakes history shows a number of killer quakes remained fairly constant and then it rose in 70s there were 51 in 80s or as 86 and in 90s 96 there have been more than 150 earthquakes and so the uh i don't think he's playing fast right with his data and grant jeffries also has similar statements about we're living in a time of increasing frequency and intensity of earthquakes so i plotted earthquake frequency and intensity over the 20th century through the 20th century with a a a uniformly calibrated database and it suggests that there's some type of 35-year cycle in the frequency of earthquake of big earthquakes but is slightly declining i've drawn the best fit horizontal line through the our best fit linear aligned through the data and slightly decreasing from 1900 when we we got earthquakes seismographs going through the 20th century a slight decrease and that's uh that that seems to be the the best interpretation of earthquakes declining tectonics with time since the the flood was not long ago uh that was magnitude 7 and larger earthquakes here's magnitude 6.5 and greater we have a good database from about 1931 through the 20th century and what do you see there the same kind of thing more cyclic uh activity and and a general overall decreasing trend so big earthquakes appear to be decreasing in frequency intensity through the 20th century and are not an earthquake sign but there may be earthquake signs in the book of revelation i'm not going to deny that and then here's the frequency of magnitude 5.0 earthquakes and and since 1975 we've got a complete catalog of magnitude five earthquakes and there appears to be a declining trend there so big earthquakes are declining in frequency and intensity which agrees with my view of what what tectonics is like through time here's what we've learned we've talked about uh many prophecy teachers affirm a pronounced increase in the frequency intensity of earthquakes in the 20th century but global and regional data earthquake data indicate decrease in the frequency intensity of 27 20th century earthquakes and regionally earthquakes appear to be in a lull okay and there are there are regions which we are wondering when are we going to have more earthquakes like california we haven't had a big earthquake in california in a long time and we think the uh the cycle of uh should be something like a big earthquake every 150 years so uh there's no earthquake sign being worked out kind of the earthquake deaths worldwide are not significantly higher than earlier centuries we're actually building better buildings earthquakes don't kill people buildings kill people but in the future there'll be a big earthquake hebrews chapter 12 says i will shake not only the earth but also the heavens and armageddon earthquake that's what i call it something like that there'll be earthquake in the future so here's my finish on bible earthquakes conclusion they're described in the bible there's a displacements observed in geologic features so there's geologic evidence of bible earthquakes there's damage seen in archaeological sites which it appears can be calibrated with bible earthquakes and that might relate to earthquakes like sodom gomorrah like the earthquake at herod's earthquake 31 bc and also the earthquake at uh associated with writing a book of amos what i call amos's earthquake it's about 750 bc and then we see disturbances in dead sea sediment layers that's my lecture

Channel: Is Genesis History?

Views: 30,573

Keywords: is genesis history, steve austin, seismology, earthquake, seismite, geology, creation science, creationism, young earth creationism, seismic activity, apologetics, bible

Id: trWo1BgegUI

Length: 36min 37sec (2197 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020