Conclusion Of Digging Up The Evidence

Did Nineveh-the great city of Assyria mentioned in the Bible-really exist? As recently as the early 19th century, some Bible critics refused to believe so. But in 1849, Sir Austen Henry Layard unearthed ruins of King Sennacherib's palace at Kunyunjik, a site that proved to be part of ancient Nineveh. The critics were thus silenced on that score. But these ruins had more to tell.

On the walls of one well-preserved chamber was a display showing hte capture of a well-fortified city, with captives being marched before the invading kin. Above the king is this inscription: "Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, sat upon a nimedu-throne and passed in review the booty (taken) from Lachish (La-ki-su)."

This display and inscription,which can be viewed in the British Museum, agree with the Bible's account of the capture of the Judean city of Lachish by Sennacherib, recorded at 2 Kings 18:13, 14. Commenting on the significance of the find, Layard wrote:"Who would have believed it probable or possible, before these discoveries were made, that beneath the heap of earth and rubbish which marked the site of Nineveh, there would be found the history of the wars between Hezekiah (king of Judah) and Sennacherib, written at the very time when they took place by Sennacherib himself, and confirming even in minute details the Biblical record?"

Archaeologists have dug up many other artifacts-pottery, ruins of buildings, clay tablets, coins, documents, monuments and inscriptions-that confirm the accuracy of the Bible. Excavators have uncovered the Chaldean city of Ur, the commercial and religious center where Abraham lived. (Genesis 11:27-31) The Nabonidus Chronicle, unearthed in the 19th century, describes Babylon's fall to Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.E., and event narrated in Daniel chapter 5. An inscription (fragments of which are preserved in the British Museum) found on an archway in ancient Thessalonica contains the names of city rulers described as "politarchs," a word used by the Bible writer Luke. (Acts 17:6, footnote) Luke's accuracy was thus vindicated in this-as it had already been in other details.-Compare Luke 1:3.

Archaeologists, however do not always agree with one another, let alone with the Bible. Even so, the Bible contains within itself strong evidence that it is a book that can be trusted.

Next time: Can This Book Be Trusted?-Presented With Candor

A Book For All People, 1997