THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS & Archaeological discoveries

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Comment by mike on September 21, 2009 at 6:05pm

Have you read a book by GRANT R. JEFFERY called JESUS The great debate ?
He covers the dead sea scrolls, the tomb of caiaphas etc.

Some of his claims seem a bit off , but the sections dealing with the discoveries of tombs are very interesting.

GOD BLESS

Comment by Mary O on June 14, 2009 at 10:31am

Hi Bob,

I thought you might find these websites interesting:

http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/
http://biblicalarcheology.net/
http://www.bible-history.com/resource/ar_bib.htm

God bless!
Mary O.

Comment by Bob B on May 8, 2008 at 6:41am

The bones of Caiaphas
Reach back to your early Sunday School days. Who was Caiaphas (kay' uh fuhs)? He was the High Priest, and head of the Sanhedrin (The Jewish Court) that condemned Jesus.

In 1990, bulldozers were clearing in the Peace Forest south of Jerusalem, to build a children's water park. Suddenly the blade hit part of an ancient tomb. As is the law in Jerusalem, work stopped and experts were called in the examine the tomb. Inside the tomb they found several ossuaries. Ossuaries are boxes, usually carved from limestone, which are designed to hold the bones of a body after death. After a person died, the body was placed on a special shelf in the tomb and was left there for a year to decompose. Then the tomb was reopened, and the bones would be placed in a bone box or "ossuary." As other family members died, their bones would be added to the ossauary.

It is thought that certain bible verses refer to this practice such as "gathering to their fathers" (Judges 2:10); (Kings 22:20); or "buried with his fathers" (2 Kings 8:24) or "slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 13:13).

One of the many ossuaries in this ancient tomb was very ornate, every square inch filled with beautiful and detailed etching. Some of the original paint still remained-- a bright orange color. On the back of the ossauary is written the name "Caiaphas" two different times and with two different spellings. The Jewish Historian, Josephus also spells the name two different ways in his Greek writings.

The box believed to hold the bones of Caiaphas also holds the bones of six other individuals. Studies of the bones showed that the box contained bones of two boys, 13 and 18, an adult woman, 2 infants, a child between 2 and 5, and a 60 year old man! After the bones were studied they were reburied on the Mount of Olives.

Comment by Bob B on May 8, 2008 at 6:37am

Did King David Really Exist?
Who has never heard of King David? There are probably not too many Christians who have not heard of King David. What many Christians probably do not realize is that, until recently, other than David's occurrence in the Bible, there has never been actual proof that he ever existed. Over the years this has given fuel to certain groups wishing to view the Bible as a huge trip into the allegorical. However, all of this changed in 1993. Recently, your author learned for the first time what I am going to attempt to tell about here. You might think that given your faith, it doesn't really matter whether there is proof of David or not. But think for a moment of the implications of our Bible being definitively proven by actual physical evidence. It would be like having your cake, and someone putting icing on it!!!

In 1993 (as told in the March/April 1994 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review), Avraham Biran and his team of archaeologists unearthed a piece of stone with fragments of writing on it. In the writings was the words "House of David" It was the first mention of David in ancient inscription outside the Bible. The fragment was found at Tel Dan which lies by the head waters of the Jordan River, near Israel's northern border. The large piece of basalt was part of what must have been a large monumental inscription. It contains 13 lines, but no single line is complete. The surviving letters are clear, however. Line 9 contains the words "House of David". After the complete translation, it was determined that the fragment was part of a victory stela erected in Dan by an Aramean boasting a military victory over the House of David. Many questions are raised as well as many possibilities upon comparing the fragment with the Biblical history. For instance the victory of the Aramean would conflict with the episode in the Bible. However as BAR points out, there were probably many battles and not all were recorded in the Bible. We do know that Israel must have regained control of Dan. This find would perhaps seem simple and to the point, but that is far from the truth. The find began a debate in earnest.

Comment by Bob B on May 8, 2008 at 6:33am

bonebox.jpg - 11kb

After nearly 2,000 years, historical evidence for the existence of Jesus has come to light literally written in stone. An inscription has been found on an ancient bone box, called an ossuary, that reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” This container provides the only New Testament-era mention of the central figure of Christianity and is the first-ever archaeological discovery to corroborate Biblical references to Jesus.

The bone box had been purchased by a private collector from an antiquities dealer. The box had been looted from its original burial location somewhere close to Jerusalem several years earlier. Unfortunately, the bones had been removed and the exact location of the burial is unknown.

The Aramaic words etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70 A.D., according to noted paleographer André Lemaire of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (popularly known as the Sorbonne University) in Paris, who verified the inscription’s authenticity. The ossuary has been dated to approximately 63 A.D. Lemaire details his full investigation in the November/December 2002 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, the leading popular publication in its field.

Comment by Bob B on April 2, 2008 at 7:23pm

The Case For Christ From Archeological & Historical Records

Comment by Bob B on April 2, 2008 at 7:18pm

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Comment by Bob B on April 2, 2008 at 7:08pm

Flavius Josephus (37-97 AD), court historian for Emperor Vespasian:

“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.” (Arabic translation)

Comment by Bob B on April 2, 2008 at 6:53pm

This is the stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia

Comment by Bob B on April 2, 2008 at 6:48pm

Archaeological discoveries confirm Biblical history all the time.
A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

Photo: Edwin Trebels courtesy of Dr. Eilat Mazar

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.
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