Straight Dope on Medicine: Biblical Evidence

How are decisions rendered in a court of law?

Answer: Evidence and Narrative.

Evidence means the physical facts. These can include fingerprints, time marked video footage, records, and seized property. However, there must be a story or narrative that explains the course of events. The physical data must match the explanation for it to be plausible.

There is evidence for the Biblical story.

1. Pilate inscription.

In Caesarea, archaeologists uncovered a stone that had a Latin inscription on it. It confirmed that Pontius Pilate was Prefect of Judea.

2. Hezekiah’s Tunnel

Here it is.[i]

3. Taylor Prism

In 1830, Robert Taylor uncovered a 15-inch-tall cylinder. There are 500 lines of written text on this clay cylinder.

The cylinder told a story uttered by the king of Assyria

4.  David Inscription

For years, scholars and historians charged that David was an invented character. No evidence existed for his reality. David and everything told about him were fictitious, made-up.

Then evidence was unearthed bearing witness for the historicity of David. In 1993, in Tel Dan, Abraham Biran discovered a stone that recorded David.

It was inscribed with a phrase of an Israelite king “from the house of David.”

5. Moabite Stone

This gem was found 1868. It is black basalt. Mesha, the king of Moab, etched some information in 850 B.C.

Mesha declared that he d be victorious over Omri. He couldn’t fulfill that “desire.” Omri was a formidable king.

6. Nazareth House

 Rene Salm wrote a book in 2006 that he claimed destroyed Christianity once and for all. He fancied himself the “uber” destroyer. How could he achieve such a grandiose outcome? There is no Nazareth.

Without a Nazareth, there could be no Jesus, and therefore no Christianity. Case closed!

Wait a couple of years. In 2009, archaeologists discovered a small house in the Biblical city of Nazareth. This was no small doing because Nazareth was a very, very small village.

The house was only about 900 square feet.

8. Cyrus Cylinder

Cylinders must have been all the rage in ancient Middle East. Everyone was writing on them. In my opinion, they could have made greater use of conic sections.

But that is neither here nor there. Back to the subject at hand. Hormuzd Rassam brings us this relic.

He found this corn cob like cylinder in Babylon.

The cylinder preserved Cyrus’s declaration of human rights.

Rebuilding sanctuaries was out of the norm and deserved special consideration. This constituted “outlandish” generosity and compassion. And Cyrus wanted everyone to know. His reputation would be unmatched.

One of those sanctuaries was the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been utterly destroyed. Cyrus declared that it would be rebuilt and all the personnel who serviced the structure would be installed.

Ezra 1:9 corroborate the Cyrus cylinder.

9. Pool of Siloam

 In 2004, the majestic, stepped entrance to this pool was uncovered. It helps validate the account in the gospel of John.

10. Hittite Tablets

As with David, the Hittites were believed not to exist.

Now we know better.

In 1906, Hugo Winckler made a shocking discovery that shook the anti-Hittites to their core.

He excavated 10,000 clay tablets that attested to the history of the Hittites. Hittite Nation!