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    Biblical Archaeology
    Biblical Archaeology
    Biblical Archaeology
    Ebook150 pages3 hours

    Biblical Archaeology

    By John H. Sailhamer

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    About this ebook

    What is biblical archaeology? How does it help scholars with biblical interpretation? After all this time, are there still artifacts and literary documents being uncovered?

    These are just some of the questions that this handy little book will answer. When busy people want to know more about the Bible and the Christian faith, the Zondervan Quick-Reference Library offers an instant information alternative in a manageable length.

    Covering the basics of the faith and Bible knowledge in an easy-to-use format, this series helps new Christians and seasoned believers alike find answers to their questions about Christianity and the Bible.  

    The information in Biblical Archaeology is presented in units of one or two pages, so that each section can be read in a few minutes, covering the topic of archaeology as it pertains to:

    • Early Genesis and the creation account.
    • The patriarchs.
    • The exodus.
    • The united monarchy.
    • The divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
    • The exilic and post-exilic period.
    • The Gospels.
    • The early church.

     

    The Zondervan Quick-Reference Library makes important knowledge affordable, accessible, and easy to understand for busy people who don’t have a lot of time to read or study.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateMay 11, 2010
    ISBN9780310861164
    Biblical Archaeology
    Author

    John H. Sailhamer

    John H. Sailhamer is professor of Old Testament at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Brea, California and was formerly senior professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.. His other works include An Introduction to Old Testament Theology and The NIIV Compact Bible Commentary.

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      Book preview

      Biblical Archaeology - John H. Sailhamer

      halft

      Zondervan Quick-Reference Library

      Biblical Archaeology

      Biblical Prophecy

      The Books of the Bible

      Christian Theology

      Early Church History

      How We Got the Bible

      The Life of Christ

      Old Testament History

      0310203937_Title

      ZONDERVAN

      Biblical Archaeology

      Copyright © 1998 by John H. Sailhamer

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

      ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86116-0

      Requests for information should be addressed to:

      Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Sailhamer, John

      Biblical archaeology / John H. Sailhamer.

      p.        cm. — (Zondervan quick reference library)

      ISBN: 0-310-20393-7 (softcover)

      ISBN: 978-0-310-20393-7 (softcover)

      1. Bible—Antiquities. 2. Bible—Evidences, authority, etc. 3. Bible O.T.—History of Biblical events. I. Title. II. Series.

      BS621.S25       1988

      220.9'3—dc21                                                                                           97-45993

      CIP

      All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      Interior design by Sue Vandenberg Koppenol

      Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Abbreviations

      Introduction

      Archaeology and Genesis 1–11

      The Patriarchs

      Exodus, the Conquest, and the Judges

      The United Monarchy

      The Divided Kingdom (Israel)

      The Divided Kingdom (Judah)

      The Exile and the Postexilic Period

      The Life of Christ

      The Early Christian Church

      About the Publisher

      Share Your Thoughts

      Abbreviations

      Introduction

      What Is This Book?

      The Zondervan Quick-Reference Library: Biblical Archaeology is a new and unique reference tool. Simply put, it is a complete and succinct commentary on the prophetic element of the Bible; each unit of this discussion you can read approximately in one minute. You do not need to wade through a lot of information, for this book goes right to the point—the exposition of the major issues of biblical archaeology itself. It not only takes into account the latest in biblical scholarship, it also shows the relevance of biblical archaeology to the Bible.

      Because we get so much of our information in daily life quickly and efficiently, we are becoming increasingly accustomed to having information or knowledge about the Bible given to us in the same way. Though the need for fast delivery systems often undercuts the role of thoughtful reflection in our society, our habits have changed. We have adjusted to the routines of everyday life around us. There is therefore a legitimate need for a more efficient way to build our knowledge of the Bible and its content—if only as a starting point for more in-depth and reflective understanding. It is a truism in learning that once we get a sense of what a particular Bible theme is about, the details of that theme make more sense.

      A regular use of the Zondervan Quick-Reference Library: Biblical Archaeology should lead to a more knowledgeable study of God’s Word. It can, of course, be used along with traditional Bible study tools, and this book is not intended to replace them. Rather, our aim is to supply the legitimate need (or appetite) for efficiency in obtaining Bible knowledge. It is a convenient starting point.

      The Zondervan Quick-Reference Library: Biblical Archaeology has two distinct features: (1) a series of introductory pages, intended to bring the reader up to speed on the study of biblical archaeology; (2) a series of brief comments on all the major archaeological finds relevant to the Bible. Each page, which covers a single topic, is intended to be read on its own. The book as a whole may also be read consecutively to obtain a complete picture of how archaeology relates to the Bible.

      What Is Biblical Archaeology?

      Biblical archaeology is a branch of the science of archaeology. As a science, archaeology studies human remains. Its task includes procedures both of uncovering those remains and of interpreting their meaning. The various kinds of human remains can be classified under two basic categories:

      • Artifacts, which are the nonliterary objects that are the product of human activity. These include isolated objects such as bones, weapons, pottery, and jewelry, as well as larger projects such as houses, streets, and city walls.

      • Literary sources, which are written documents, usually uncovered along with, or associated with, artifactual remains. Written documents can survive in the form of monuments, ostraca (small pieces of broken pottery, often used as a writing surface), and papyri (an ancient form of paper).

      Artifacts are usually more difficult to interpret than literary documents. If they are complete enough, the latter in large measure provide much of their own interpretation. Ancient writers, like modern ones, wrote to be understood. That does not mean, however, that we can always clearly understand the ancient languages of the biblical periods. We know a great deal about them, but more texts are being uncovered each year and much more must still be learned about those already discovered. The study of ancient languages and texts is called philology.

      When it comes to the interpretation of artifactual evidence, the archaeologist has to rely on procedures and techniques of study that have evolved over the years. It is often difficult to interpret the raw data uncovered by the shovel. By itself a broken piece of pottery tells us little about the historical events of the day in which it was made. But this does not mean that such an artifact is useless for historical purposes. Archaeologists use various pottery styles to help in dating and identifying artifacts. We can know ancient cultures and people from the distinctive style of pottery they manufactured and used.

      Moreover, since ancient cities were often destroyed in times of war and invasion, the various destruction levels uncovered at the site of an ancient city have also become a standard means for dating and identifying artifacts. Major historical events, such as the invasion of a land by a hostile power, often leave clear traces of destruction that can be further linked to other artifacts at the site of an ancient city. When both pottery styles and destruction levels at a specific site are linked to other cultural and literary remains, we can learn a significant amount about the lives of the ancient Near Eastern peoples who inhabited the lands of the Bible.

      What Is the Contribution of Biblical Archaeology?

      The science of archaeology has contributed to the study of the Bible in two important ways.

      (1) Archaeology has produced a wealth of information relating to the world of the Bible. We probably know more about the ancient world than most of those who lived at that time. Such information has enabled students of the Bible to understand more fully the events about which the biblical writers wrote. We are still, of course, dependent on them for their interpretation of the events. They were inspired. But by means of the additional information about those events and places available through archaeology, we can view the Bible within a wide, and more ancient, perspective.

      The patriarch Abraham, for example, looms large in the narratives of the Bible. The Bible recounts only those aspects of Abraham’s life that relate to the specific message the author wanted to get across to his readers—Abraham’s simple faith and trust in God. Many details of his life and culture are thus left out. Though not essential for understanding the biblical author’s intent, archaeology can help fill in many of the details that lie behind the texts of Scripture.

      Are such details important for better understanding the Bible? Some biblical scholars believe they are. We believe, however, that the biblical texts are sufficiently clear to the alert reader of the Bible. The authors give us enough information to interpret the texts. When, for example, God promised Abraham that he would one day become a great nation, Abraham asked for a sign (Gen. 15:8). God gave him a sign in the form of a rather strange ceremony, in which animals were cut in two and laid along a pathway. God then sent a burning light to pass between the animals’ parts (15:9–17). Biblical scholars have often sought to explain this ceremony by referring to similar ceremonies in the ancient world. Though such a procedure may help explain what the custom meant to Abraham within the context of his world, we should be careful not to let such general information influence the meaning that the biblical author intended. The author in this case has fortunately given us his own inspired interpretation of the strange custom. In the very next verse he informs us that in sending a burning light through the pieces of the slain animals, the LORD made a covenant with Abram (15:18). If we had not been told that this was a covenant ceremony, it is doubtful we would know it from archaeology.

      (2) The science of archaeology has helped to demonstrate the historical reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible. Before the rise of the study of biblical archaeology, we really had little means for testing the accuracy of the Bible. The Bible was assumed to be true merely because it was accepted as God’s Word. Archaeology has provided a much-needed tool for testing the Bible’s own trustworthiness in recounting events from the ancient past.

      Is the Bible Historically Reliable?

      Beginning some two centuries ago, the Bible has been submitted to an increasingly closer

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