In this issue we shall begin to
consider some of the archaeological findings that correlate with various New
Testament persons, places, and events. Because the events of the New Testament
are more recent than those of the Old, and because increased use of papyrus
permitted more lengthy writings, as well as the copying of writings, there is a
goodly amount of documentation of biblical names and places in the writings of
contemporary Jewish and Roman historians.

But first, before we go to the
New Testament, let us mention an item "hot off the press."

King David

It was reported in the August 2,
1993 issue of The Baltimore Evening Sun that "an Israeli
archaeologist has discovered a fragment of a stone monument with inscriptions
bearing the first known reference outside the Bible to King David and the
ruling dynasty he founded, the House of David…. The broken monument, or
stele, was found in the ruins of a wall at Tel Dan, the site of an ancient city
in northern Israel near the Syrian border…."

The Aramaic text referred to a
"king of Israel" and a king of the "House of David." The
archaeologist surmises that this probably was a victory monument erected in the
first quarter of the ninth century B.C. by the Syrian King Ben-hadad after he
"smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maachah" (1 Ki. 15:20). If this
be the case, the "king of Israel" would be Baasha and the king of the
"House of David" would be Asa (1 Ki. 15:9-24).

The article adds that Dr. Abraham
Biran, the archaeologist, "said, There has never before been found a
reference to the House of David other than in the Bible.’ Other scholars agreed
and noted that no reference to David himself had ever appeared before in
non-biblical texts."

Now, let us turn to the New
Testament and begin with an event that involved some well-known descendants of
King David.

The Taxation Enrollment

"And it came to pass in
those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which
is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be
taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child" (Luke 2:1-5).
Until the early part of the twentieth century, this passage was judged by many
biblical scholars to be in total conflict with the known history of the day.
There was no evidence in historical records of a general census of the Roman Empire at that time. However, as a result of archaeological findings by Sir William
Ramsay, it is now known that there were periodic censuses of this sort in the
Roman Empire at that time, and the evidence suggests that the practice indeed
began during the reign of Caesar Augustus (31 B.C.-14 A.D.).  (The preceding
was abstracted from M. F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, and
from G. E. Wright, Biblical Archaeology.)

Jesus Christ

Was there really a man named
Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, raised in Galilee, and put to death by
crucifixion in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago? Of course every Christian
accepts by faith the biblical record concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. But what
can we say to the skeptic who believes that the Bible is mostly a collection of
myths and that there never existed such a person? Is there evidence outside of
the Bible for the existence of Christ?

Yes, indeed there is! Pliny
(61-114 A.D.), governor of Bithynia in northern Turkey, wrote a letter
concerning Christianity to the Emperor Trajan in 112 A.D. He referred to the
social problems arising from the rapid growth of Christianity. Pagan temples
had to close down for lack of customers and the demand for sacrificial animals
had ceased. He described the Christians’ habit of meeting on a certain fixed
day (i.e., Sunday) before it was light and sang a hymn to Christ as God. He
stated, further, that their lives were exemplary:one could not find adultery,
theft, or dishonesty among them.

Tacitus, the renowned historian
of the Roman Empire, wrote early in the second century about the Christians:
"The name Christian comes to them from Christ, who was executed in the
reign of Tiberius by the Procurator Pontius Pilate."

The Jewish historian, Josephus,
wrote the following concerning Christ in the latter part of the first century:
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as
receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and
many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of
the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those who loved him
at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third
day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and then thousand other
wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from
him, is not extinct at this day" (Antiquities of the Jews,
XVIII.iii.3).

Archaeological digs have yielded
the Christian symbols of the cross and the fish dating to the first century
(see accompanying article for further details). And in 1945, Israeli Professor
E.L. Sukenik discovered a sealed tomb outside Jerusalem containing five
caskets. The style of decoration of the caskets, plus a coin found in the tomb,
indicated a date of about 50 A.D. On two of the caskets the name of Jesus
appears; one reads in Greek, "Jesus, help"; the other, in Aramaic,
‘Jesus, let him arise." These inscriptions point to Jesus as "the
resurrection and the life," who can help even when a loved one has died,
and who can raise the Christian dead from their graves.  (The preceding was
abstracted from Michael Green, Runaway World.)

Herod and Pontius Pilate

"Then Herod, when he saw
that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and
slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof,
from two years old and under" (Matt. 2:16).

"There were present at that
season some that told Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with
their sacrifices" (Luke 13:1).

From sources outside the Bible,
Herod the Great, ruler of Palestine, is known as a Jewish Nero who bathed his
own house and kingdom in blood. His jealousy of power and insane suspicion of
any supposed rivals led him to murder many members of his own family, including
his wife and one of his sons. The biblical account of his ruthless murder of
the infants of Bethlehem and its environs was totally consistent with his
general character.

Herod the Great died of a
loathsome disease in 4 B.C., shortly after the Bethlehem slaughter. Caesar
Augustus divided his kingdom between two of his sons, Archelaus (4 B.C.-6
A.D.), governor of Judea (Matt. 2:22), and Herod Antipas (4 B.C.-39 A.D.), tetrarch
of Galilee (Luke 3:1,19; 9:7-9; 13:31; 23:6-12).

Caesar Augustus was succeeded as
head of the Roman Empire by his son-in-law, Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:l ) who
reigned from 14 to 37 A.D. During his reign Pontius Pilate was appointed
governor of Judea (26-36 A.D.), one of the successors of Archelaus.

The report in Luke 13:1 of
Pilate’s cruelty is supported by reports of a similar character by the
contemporary Jewish historians, Philo and Josephus. Listen to Josephus’ report
of one particular incident:"After this [Pilate] raised another
disturbance by expending that sacred treasure which is called Corban [referred
to in Mark 7:11] upon aqueducts, whereby he brought water from the distance of
four hundred furlongs. At this the multitude had great indignation; and when
Pilate was come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and made a clamor
at it. Now when he was apprised beforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his
own soldiers in the armor with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal
themselves under the habits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords,
but with staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then gave the signal
from his tribunal. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them
perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to
death" (Wars of the Jews, II.ix.4).

Lysanlas, Tetrarch of Abilene

"Now in the fifteenth year
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,… and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene…” (Luke 3:1).

An inscription has been found in
Abila, the capital of the region of Abilene northwest of Damascus, Syria, dating from the reign of Tiberius Caesar, that mentions Lysanias as tetrarch of the region at
the time.  (The preceding and portions of the previous section were abstracted
from M. F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament.)

The Pool of Bethesda

"Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market [or sheep gate, JND] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew
tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of
impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the
water:whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was
made whole of whatsoever disease he had" (John 5-2-4).

Near the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, rebuilt by Herod the Great, was a sanctuary for the sick. It was situated at the
Sheep Pools— two large pools filled with rainwater from the nearby slopes. The
temple priest used the water for ritual washing of the animals to be offered on
the temple altar. The Gospel account speaks of one pool (perhaps only one was
used by the sick people) with five porticos or covered colonnades in which the
sick people lay. Excavations in the 1960’s uncovered the architecture of the
pool area, revealing two rectangular pools, each with two porticos, separated
by a narrow central colonnaded causeway which formed the fifth portico.  (The
preceding was abstracted from John Romer, Testament.)

Crucifixion

Despite Jewish and Christian
references to crucifixion, we have not—until recently—had firsthand evidence of
that gruesome punishment. In 1968 discovery was made of a first century A.D.
tomb in Jerusalem that contained the bones of a crucified man. The two nails
used for the hands were actually driven through the wrists. (This is not
inconsistent with the biblical account of the crucifixion of Christ; the Greek
word, cheir, in Luke 24:39,40 and John 20:20,25,27, may refer to either
the hand or the arm, and thus includes the wrist.) One nail seems to have been
used to attach the two legs to the cross together through the heel bone, and
the legs were broken, in correspondence with John 20:31.  (The preceding was
abstracted from Raymond Brown, Recent Discoveries and the Biblical World.)

Grave-Robbing Ordinances

Archaeological excavation of the
ancient town of Nazareth has yielded an interesting inscription ascribed to
Claudius Caesar (41-54 A.D.). In it the emperor expresses his displeasure at
reports he has heard of the removal of the bodies of the dead from the tomb,
and he gives warning that any further tampering with graves will incur nothing
short of the death penalty. This may very well have been the official reaction
to reports of the crucifixion of Jesus and the empty tomb.  (The preceding was
abstracted from M. Green, Runaway World.)

(To be continued.)