The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Ebla Tablets Discovered in Northern Syria beginning in 1964 (17,000+ tablets) Previously critics argued that Genesis couldn’t have been written until the time of Ezra (400 B.C.). Ebla disproved liberal assumptions by showing things recorded in Genesis were recorded elsewhere nearly 2,000 years earlier!

Ebla Creation Hymn Discovered in 1975, dated to 2300 B.C.: “Lord of heaven and earth: the earth was not, you created it, the light of day was not, you created it, the morning light you had not [yet] made exist.” (source: G. Petinato) Note that creation is attributed to one God, and order is the same as Genesis 1:1-5, inferring even creation out of nothing, not re-forming something from an eternal primitive substance.

Ebla Creation Tablet • A different tablet contains these words: ‘There was no heaven, Lugo [their word for “the Great One”] formed it. There was no earth, [the Great One] formed it. There was no sun, [the Great One] formed it. There was no moon, [the Great One] formed it.’ *Note the same order as Genesis 1:1 and 1:14

Genesis 1 • Compare Gen 1:1 to other later ancient accounts where Moses grew up: • ‘Common motifs in creation myths include a spontaneous generation of gods and the deification of nature (e.g., of the sun and the moon) … Egyptian myth, for example, may pay special attention to the creation of the Nile’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 5)

Genesis 1 • Compare Gen 1:1 to other later ancient accounts where Moses grew up: • ‘Egyptian creation myths tend to assert that a primordial mound or “Island of Creation” arose from a primeval ocean … a sacred stone was said to mark the very spot where Re-Atum, in the form of a “Bennu” bird, alighted and initiated the creative process’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 5)

Genesis 1 • Compare 1:7-10 to ancient stories of origin of heavens / earth, sky / land: • ‘creation myths relate battles between gods and … a primeval, watery chaos … a god defeats a primeval monster and divides its body into two parts, which become heaven and earth or earth and seat, etc.’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 5)

Genesis 1 • Compare 1:7-10 to ancient stories of origin of heavens / earth, sky / land: • Enuma Elish (Akkadian creation story dated 750-200 B.C.): ‘Apsu threatens to kill the lower gods because of the noise they make, but he himself is slain … Tiamat (sea monster) deploys against the gods a gruesome army of monsters (lion-men, scorpion-men and the like) …

Genesis 1 • Compare 1:7-10 to ancient stories of origin of heavens / earth, sky / land: • Enuma Elish (Akkadian creation story dated 750-200 B.C.): ‘Marduk defeats Tiamat and splits her body like a fish for drying. From one half he fashions the heavens and from the other he forms the earth. From the blood of Kingu … Marduk created men’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 888)

Genesis 1 • Compare 1:26-27 to other ancient stories of origin of mankind: ‘Humans in creation myths from various sources are typically created as drudges to perform the gods’ “dirty work.” Some myths depict humans as the gods’ slaves, whose primary function it is to feed them …’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 5)

Genesis 1 ‘The Genesis account implicitly challenges [all of these] claims of these ancient creation myths by affirming God’s unity and sovereignty, by portraying the heavenly bodies and the great sea creatures as his creation [v. 21] and by presenting humans as God’s stewards – and indeed image bearers – rather than as an afterthought born of divine need or laziness.’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 5)

Egyptian Belief on Origins • Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22) and in Genesis he gives the God-inspired true account that later stories departed and deviated from. Egyptian views of creation include: • An egg/flower appeared, sun/god born • Four children: Shu, Tefnut (atmosphere), Geb (earth), Nut (sky) • Geb had 4 children (Osiris, Isis, Nepthys, Seth) • Osiris married Isis, governed earth

Egyptian Belief in Origins • Seth murdered Osiris, cut victim in pieces, buried pieces • Isis revived Osiris, unable to return to earth, underworld god/judge • Earth flat disk afloat on river of ocean • Sun traversed the heavens like charioteer, sailed around the earth in golden bowl at night (contrast Biblical statements in Job we saw last time, from 2000 A.D., that the earth is a sphere and that it rotates and that God hangs the earth on nothing. God inspired Scripture!)

Genesis 2 - Genesis 2:1-3 is the ancient origin for the 7-day work-week (the one part of calendars not determined by sun, moon, or stars, like days, months, years, seasons, Gen. 1:14) - ‘At the site of Eridu, situated near what was considered to be an ancient shoreline at the head of the Persian gulf, clay tablets have been found that tell of a garden in the neighborhood in which grew a sacred palm tree … Some consider this area to be the location of ancient Eden’ [2:8, but see Genesis 7] Archaeological Study Bible, p. 7

Genesis 2 Compare Gen 2:7 with ancient Chinese language

Genesis 2 Compare Genesis 2:8-18 with Chinese language

Genesis 2 - v. 18-22 are the only full account of the creation of woman in all of ancient Near Eastern literature - unlike other ancient literature discovered by archaeology, the equality and dignity of woman (and yet her equal-but-different role as designed by God) is unique to the biblical record and is markedly different from religious writings made by mere men even just hundreds of years ago in regards to wives/women (Qu’ran Book of Mormon, etc.)

Genesis 3 -3:15 is the first prophecy of Messiah: “He will crush you [or bruise, addressing Satan] on the head, and you will crush his heel” -Archaeology has learned Roman crucifixion actually did drive spikes through what the Hebrews would call the heel, crushing the bone. They have found bones of a crucified man with Roman spikes driven through and crushing the heel. This little detail of the heel being pierced and crushed was prophesied 4,000+ years before the crucifixion of Christ!

Genesis 4 - 4:20-22 reveals early man was quite sophisticated (developing musical instruments, animal husbandry, tools of bronze and iron, etc.) which was once the opposite of secular theories. But evidence of ancient man’s great engineering skills and other abilities in some cases exceed today’s - 4:26 says men began to call on the name of Yah-weh from earliest times. Critics once scoffed at Yah as a late Jewish invention, but the Ebla tablets found 4,000+ years ago!

Genesis 5 -Critics once mocked the Bible’s lifespans for men being hundreds of years before the flood as having no ancient evidence/support -However archaeology has found a Sumerian King List with parallels to the biblical record, including extraordinarily long reigns of kings before a flood and then after the flood, life-spans decreased very similar to Genesis (“Aka reigned 625 years … Mes-kiag-gasher reigned 324 years”, etc., then more “normal” lifespans). -Some of the names and places archaeology has verified as historical around 2500 B.C.

Genesis 5 • ‘life was later shortened to 120 years as a punishment from God (Gen. 6:3) [or alternately, there would be 120 years until the flood] … The Bible is not alone in speaking of hundreds of years life spans among ancients. There are also records from ancient Greek and Egyptian times that speak of humans living hundreds of years.’ – Geisler, When Critics Ask, p. 39

Genesis 6 • Gen. 6-8 may have the most extrabiblical support of any event in ancient history? • Over 270 stories from all around the world tell of some big boat that delivered their ancestor(s) from a flood, including Indians from North America, South America, isolated island peoples, all continents and cultures, all with similar elements and differences that would be expected if passed down orally from a common original source many centuries earlier

Genesis 6 Sumerian Clay Tablet-Gilgamesh Epic A Worldwide Flood –2,000 B.C.

Genesis 6 ‘Gilgamesh searches for a man named (the equivalent of the Biblical Noah)…Enki, the god of waters … directing him to construct an enormous boat and load it with pairs of animals.’ -Archaeological Study Bible, p. 13

Genesis 6

Genesis 7 Sumerian Flood Story (1900– 2300 BC?): “a flood will sweep over the cult-centers;To destroy the seed of mankind ... [about 40 lines missing] All the windstorms, exceedingly powerful, Attacked as one, At the same time, the flood sweeps over … After, for seven days and seven nights, The flood had swept over the land, And the huge boat had been tossed about by the windstorms on the great waters …”

Genesis 7

Note Chinese word for boat

Genesis 8 in an ancient coin?

A bronze coin, struck for Septimius Severus, AD 192- 211. The reverse legend mentions the city's chief magistrate, who probably was Jewish. Noah's name, given in Greek as NOE, appears on the ark. Historian Numorum, B. V. Head, no. 313, page 667.

Close-up of coin

Genesis 8 compared to Gilgamesh Epic • ‘When the waters finally subside, the boat boat lodges atop a tall mountain. and lodges atop a mountain. [The man] sends out a dove, a swallow, and a raven, the last of which fails to return, apparently having located nourishment. The man then disembarks [no pun intended] and offers lavish sacrifices to the gods … An Akkadian account dating to around 1600 B.C. recounts basically the same tale … except that the Noah-character is named Atra-hasis’ (Archaeological Study Bible, p. 13)

Where other flood stories don’t hold water - In the Gilgamesh Epic, the ark is a cube of 120x120x120 cubits and would not be able to withstand flood / waves and only 7 days of rain are recorded (not enough to flood earth) - In another, the ark is built from just one tree - In some of the ancient stories the water subsided in one day, another impossibility

Conclusion • The Bible alone presents the original historical accounts that other cultures added inaccurate, unscientific, and mythological elements to. • The Bible alone can withstand the most intense scrutiny and holds its own in areas of history, science, and archaeology. • Archaeology experts say: • “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference” (Glueck - Jewish archaeologist) • “Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details [of the Bible]” (Albright - great US archeologist)

Conclusion • We can’t prove the Bible by archaeology, but it repeatedly has disproven its critics • Archaeology doesn’t create our faith, it confirms our faith • Archaeology alone can’t save an unbeliever, but it can strengthen a believer’s faith

The Dead Sea Scrolls