Archaeology

History and Babel, Abraham, Moses, Samson and Delilah

Numerous archaeological and historical discoveries confirm supernatural events and personalities found in the word of God. Most of the subjects we’ll visit this week are already covered in some detail on GodSaidManSaid. This additional information will contribute to our store of knowledge that says God IS! These supernatural events and personalities have been consistently rejected by the skeptics, but only to their own discrediting.

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History and Babel, Abraham, Moses, Samson and Delilah

Article#: 1077

Do you want peace?  Peace is a precious gift of God that is fully accessible even (and especially) in the din of the world’s clamoring voices, its demands, and confusion.  This peace is not the peace one enjoys on a carefree stroll through the woods on a sunny autumn day.  Rather, it is peace on the inside that functions gloriously in the most stressing of circumstances.  This peace is the product of total surrender to God and His omnipotent Word.  The Bible declares, in the majority-text Authorized King James Version, Romans 8:6-7:

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

If you lack peace, you lack surrender—unconditional surrender.  Whatever that troubling circumstance is, it must be brought before God in prayer and unconditionally surrendered at the feet of Christ.  Jesus said in the beautiful book of Matthew 11:28-30:

28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

It must be noted that this perfect peace is not attainable by the unsaved.  This supernatural peace is one of the nine fruits of the Spirit of God.  It is only enjoyed by the born-again.  Have you been born again?  Have you unconditionally surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ?  Do it now and find the peace that passes understanding.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for simple instructions to find instant entry into the Kingdom of God, and for peace.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 11:7-9:

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

GOD SAID, Genesis 17:5:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

GOD SAID, Exodus 17:6:

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

GOD SAID, Numbers 22:4-6:

4 And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:

Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.

GOD SAID, Judges 16:27-30:

27  Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

28  And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

29  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30  And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

MAN SAID: The Bible is simply myth.  There is no God.

Now THE RECORD.  It is critically important to know that God’s Word is true and righteous altogether.  Faith in God and His Word is the only door to eternal life and eternal purpose.  GodSaidManSaid is dedicated to the defense of the Word of God, proving its veracity time after time.  Presently there are 389 subjects on GodSaidManSaid, in text and streaming audio, and every Thursday evening, God willing, it grows by one.  Build your life upon the rock.

While reading T. J. Dailey’s book, Mysteries of the Bible, I fell upon numerous archaeological and historical discoveries that confirm supernatural events and personalities found in the Word of God.  Most of the subjects we’ll visit today are already covered in some detail on GodSaidManSaid.  This additional information will contribute to our store of knowledge that says God IS!  These supernatural events and personalities have been consistently rejected by the skeptics, but only to their own discrediting.

The following is from the introduction to Mysteries of the Bible:

Timothy J. Daily earned his doctorate in theology from Marquette University and studied at Wheaton College and the Institute of Holy Land Studies, Jerusalem.  He has taught theology, biblical history, and comparative religion in the United States and Israel including the Biblical Resources Study Center, Jerusalem, and Jerusalem Center for Biblical studies.  [End of quote]

Was there a place in time when all the world spoke one language?  Was there a place in time—a very fixed and abrupt place—where, due to man’s disobedience, God confounded the language of man?  The answer, of course, is yes.  This information can be reviewed in the following GodSaidManSaid features:

Babylon That Great City

QandA, Bastardy, Languages, Babel, Dragons

Tower of Babel

Tower of Babel II

An ancient pagan (not Hebrew, but pagan) Mesopotamian text dating back 2400 years called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta confirms the confounding of the common language of man.  Dr. Dailey records the account under the subject of “The Tower of Babel.”  It reads:

Once upon a time there was no snake, there was no scorpion,

There was no hyena, there was no lion,

There was no wild dog, no wolf,

There was no fear, no terror,

Man had no rival.

In those days, the lands of Subur (and) Hamazi,

Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship,

Uri, the land having all that is appropriate

The land Martu, resting in security,

The whole universe, the people in unison

To Enlil in one tongue spoke.

(Then) Enki, the lord of abundance (whose) commands are trustworthy,

The lord of wisdom, who understands the land,

The leader of the gods,

Endowed with wisdom, the lord of Eridu,

Changed the speech in their mouths, brought contention into it,

Into the speech of man that (until then) had been one.  [End of quote]

That was a pagan, not Biblical, writing.

The father of Israel is Abraham, who lived approximately 4,000 years ago.  He is known as the Father of faith.  The seed of faith that dwelt in him was Christ.  Did this man Abraham truly exist?  Was he just a figment of Hebrew folklore, as the skeptics claim?  Dailey records the following:

At Karnak, archaeologists have deciphered a stela, or standing stone, on which Pharaoh Sheshonq describes his triumphant campaign against Israel.

Most of the perhaps 150 names on the stela have eroded and are unreadable.  Of those that remain, perhaps 70 names come from the Negev, a desert in southern Israel.  One of those has been identified by Egyptologists as the equivalent of the Hebrew “Abram.”  The phrase where the name occurs reads: “The fort [or fortified town] of Abraham.”

Is the “Abram” of Fort Abram the biblical patriarch?  Possibly.  After all, the biblical Abraham lived in the Negev where this “Fort Abram” was located.  [End of quote]

The Fort of Abraham—just one more testimony that God’s friend Abraham did exist.

For more information on Abraham, click onto the following subjects:

Archaeology Keeps On Saying Yes!

Stars, Sand, and Abraham

The King’s Highway

The Roots of Terrorism

There was a great man of God by the name of Moses.  His existence has been challenged and the great miracles he performed by the hand of God have been ridiculed.  Is the Bible record true?  Imagine, the children of Israel are in the desert without water—the very sentence of death—and God instructs Moses to strike a rock.  Moses obeys and out of that rock poured enough water to supply the needs of an estimated two million-plus people as well as the needs of their livestock.  Could it be?  Again from the book, Mysteries of the Bible:

While this action may be unimaginable to the modern mind, Bedouins of times past or present would realize exactly what happened.  In the desert wadis of the Sinai, the scarce rainfall filters down and collects in porous layers of limestone.  These layers are exposed at the base of the mountains, but just as water deposits can eventually clog a faucet, the water cannot escape because of a thick build-up of limestone crust.  Bedouins know how to look for these hidden water sources.

There are accounts of this phenomenon in recent times.  In the 1930s, Major C. S. Jarvis, the British Governor of the Sinai, was leading a camel expedition through a dry wadi when his men came across a trickle of water coming out of the limestone rock.  Trying to dig into the ground where he though there might be a pool of water, one of his men by mistake struck the rock instead.  To everyone’s surprise and delight, the hard crust fell away and out of the crevice shot a powerful stream of water.  [End of quote]      

For more information on Moses, click onto the following GodSaidManSaid features:

Moses

Moses Challenged

Nehushtan

What about the man Balaam who is found in the Scriptures?  Mentioned 66 times in the Bible, he was an Old Testament soothsayer who had the ability to place a curse.  Balak, the king of the Moabites, called upon Balaam to attempt to curse Israel.  Is this just another grandiose Bible story, or does secular history say yes?  Dailey reports the following:

These references to Balaam throughout the Bible indicate that he exercised a profoundly negative influence lasting for centuries after his death.  But do any other ancient records mention him? 

Interestingly, archaeologists have uncovered an inscription that appears to shed some light upon this mysterious figure.  Discovered in 1967 at Deir Alla in Jordan, the inscription consists of 50 lines of text written on an ancient plastered wall that may have been damaged in an earthquake during the reign of King Uzziah and the prophet Amos around 760 B.C.  The message, written in Aramaic and thought to have been composed much earlier, is titled “Warnings from the Book of Balaam the son of Beor.  He was a seer of the gods.”  The text relates a vision of impending divine judgment for Moab.

Scholars have found a number of parallels between the inscription and the biblical account.  Deir Alla is located approximately 25 miles from where the Israelites were camped on the plains of Moab across the Jordan River.  Some scholars have suggested that Deir Alla was in the same location as ancient Pethor, mentioned in the Bible as Balaam’s home.

Balaam was known as the “cursing prophet” because he was summoned by Balak for the purpose of cursing Israel.  The inscription indicates that he continued to be revered by the people of Midian for hundreds of years.  For the people of God, he served as a warning against false religion.  [End of quote]

For more information concerning Balaam, click onto the following subjects:

Balaam’s Curse

Christmas...Can You Believe It (Part One)? 

Hauntings, Dead Spirits, and Ghosts

Remember Samson and Delilah?  Samson, who was endowed with supernatural strength from God, lived around 3,000 years ago.  He was a judge of Israel.  Because of his disobedience against God, his great strength departed and he was captured by his archenemies, the Philistines.  They put out his eyes and put him to work grinding meal.  On the last day of Samson’s life, the Philistines were feasting unto their gods when they brought forth Samson to humiliate him for the pleasure of the crowds.  Judges 16:27-30:

27  Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

28  And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

29  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30  And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Dr. Dailey weighs in with the following:

But is it possible that such a thing could actually have happened?  Archaeological excavation of the Philistine cities provides us with some illuminating evidence related to the biblical story.  Philistine temples have been uncovered at Tel Qasile in northern Tel Aviv and Tel Miqne, the ancient Ekron.  Interestingly, the roofs of both temples were supported by twin central pillars made of wood resting on stone bases.  The pillars were about six feet apart, making it theoretically possible for them to be dislodged, thus collapsing the roof.

It would take a person of superhuman strength to accomplish such a feat, which certainly fits the description of Samson before he was compromised by Delilah.  The Bible states that his hair, which was the source of his might before the Philistines cut it off, had grown back in prison.  [End of quote]

God’s Word is true and righteous altogether.

GOD SAID, one language confounded at Babel.

GOD SAID, the great man Abraham.

GOD SAID, Moses and the rock.

GOD SAID, Balaam the cursing prophet.

GOD SAID, Samson.

MAN SAID: The Bible is simply myth.  There is no God.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Dailey, T. J., Ph.D., Mysteries of the Bible, Publications International LTD, 2004, pp2,29-31,36,56,78,86

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