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Research

Discoveries that confirm the Bible

Kings, cities and officials the Bible names, found in the ground: from the House of David to Pontius Pilate.

The Bible is not set "once upon a time." It names real kings, real cities and real officials, and that means it can be checked. Archaeology can never prove faith, but again and again the ground has agreed with the Bible, sometimes after experts were sure it was wrong. Here are some of the best-established finds.

Israel and its kings

The Merneptah Stele (about 1208 BC, found in Egypt in 1896). Among the peoples Pharaoh Merneptah boasts of defeating, it names Israel: the oldest mention of Israel outside the Bible.

The Tel Dan Stele (9th century BC, found in northern Israel in 1993 and 1994). An Aramaic victory inscription that mentions "the House of David", David's royal dynasty. Before it was found, many scholars treated David as a legend.

The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone (about 840 BC, found in Jordan in 1868, now in the Louvre). King Mesha of Moab describes his revolt against Israel and names Omri, king of Israel. Compare 2 Kings 3:4-5: "And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster..."

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (about 825 BC, found at Nimrud in 1846, now in the British Museum). One panel shows Jehu, king of Israel, bowing before the Assyrian king. It is the only known picture of an Israelite king.

Hezekiah and the Assyrians

Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Siloam Inscription. 2 Kings 20:20 says Hezekiah "made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city." The tunnel, more than 500 metres long through solid rock, can still be walked today. An inscription found in it in 1880 describes the two crews of diggers meeting in the middle.

Sennacherib's Prism and the Lachish reliefs. The Assyrian king's own record lists the cities of Judah he captured and says he shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage." He never claims to have taken Jerusalem, just as 2 Kings 19:32 says: "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there." His palace carvings of the siege of Lachish are in the British Museum.

Hezekiah's royal seal impression (announced in 2015, from excavations below the Temple Mount). A clay impression, smaller than a fingernail, that reads "Belonging to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah."

Babylon and Persia

The Nabonidus Cylinders (found at Ur in 1854). For centuries Belshazzar, the king of Daniel 5, was missing from Babylonian king lists, and critics doubted he existed. These cylinders, written by King Nabonidus, name his eldest son Belshazzar. Nabonidus spent years away from Babylon and left his son ruling there, which explains why Belshazzar could only offer Daniel the rank of "third ruler in the kingdom" (Daniel 5:29).

The Cyrus Cylinder (found in Babylon in 1879, British Museum). Records how Cyrus of Persia let conquered peoples return home and restore their temples, matching his decree for the Jews in Ezra 1.

The New Testament

The Pilate Stone (found at Caesarea in 1961). A dedication inscription naming "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea."

The Caiaphas ossuary (found in Jerusalem in 1990). A carved bone box inscribed "Joseph, son of Caiaphas," most likely the high priest who tried Jesus (the historian Josephus gives his full name as Joseph Caiaphas).

The Pool of Bethesda. John 5:2 describes a pool "having five porches." Excavations near the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem found two large pools with colonnades on four sides and one across the middle: five.

The Pool of Siloam (rediscovered in 2004 during sewer repairs). The broad stone steps of the pool where Jesus sent the blind man to wash (John 9:7).

The Gallio and Erastus inscriptions. An inscription at Delphi dates Gallio's time as governor of Achaia to about AD 51, the Gallio of Acts 18:12. A pavement inscription in Corinth names an Erastus who paid for it, very likely the Erastus of Romans 16:23.

A note on honesty

We have listed only well-established finds. Some popular claims (such as the exact site of Sodom, or the date of the Exodus) are still debated, and we say so when we mention them. As GotQuestions.org puts it, archaeology will never "prove" the Bible to someone who will not believe, but it keeps confirming the record the Bible gives.

Sources

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