10 Exciting Archaeology Finds that Support the Bible

With thousands of dig sites in Israel, scientists are constantly coming across exciting archaeology finds that support the Bible.

There are books upon books about biblical archaeology. There is even a monthly magazine that reports on archaeological findings that relate to the Bible.

I will link you to some of my favorite archaeology books at the end of this article. But for now, I want to share 10 exciting and relevant artifacts when it comes to the Bible.

When I decided what I believed about this great world, archaeology certainly had zero impact on what I came to believe. I could feel the presence of God before anyone even told me about him, and that was enough for me.

As we get older, we hear so many competing messages about the world and faith.

The atheist voices can feel like the loudest ones. God always held true for me, in spite of what the world had to say about the Christian faith.

So archaeology never led me to faith, but it sure is neat to see these clues to the past, dug up by people who are even more enthused by this process than I am. Even a simple 2,000 year old wine jug becomes a marvel to me. It helps me envision what the wine jugs used by Jesus to turn the water into wine looked like.

Archaeology can excite us, deepen our understanding, puzzle us, and offer its own clues to the past.

These findings can absolutely help validate your faith.

This list of archaeological finds is by no means an exhaustive list. These are just ten that I found inspiring.

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10 of the Many Archaeology Finds that Support the Bible

#1. The Silver Scrolls

The infographic I made above gives you all of the most important details. The discovery of the silver scrolls proved that yes, the Bible is indeed ancient. The silver scrolls contain scripture from Numbers and Deuteronomy, and they date back to the 6th-7th century BC.

To learn more about these spools found at Ketef Hinnom, read the full article I wrote about them here.

To see a picture of what they look like, go here. I would love to share the photo, but alas I do not have the rights.

When a writing is published is so important because when the writing is published close to the time that things happen, there are living witnesses. So you cannot get away with publishing cleverly made up tales. Only the truth can hold water when published near or during the time it happens.

The apostles of Jesus who wrote their accounts wrote from their real experience as well.

History proves you cannot pretend history never happened. Archaeology discoveries further prove that we should take what the Bible says seriously. It is quite sobering.

#2. The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls have to be the most famous of modern archaeology finds that support the Bible. These scrolls were discovered in 1947, in the limestone caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain parts of every single book of the Old Testament, except for Esther. The Isaiah scroll contains the entire book of Isaiah, written 1000 years before any other copy that we had of Isaiah. It is the earliest known complete copy of any book of the Bible. And this is what is amazing to me: that copy of Isaiah is basically the same as the copy of Isaiah that you have now. God’s word remains unchanged.

The Isaiah scroll dates back as early as the second century B.C.

A fragment of the book of Samuel dates back to the third century B.C. and is written in biblical Hebrew.

The oldest Qumran Bible fragments are of Exodus and Samuel.

This discovery was such a big deal because before the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, the oldest copies of the Old Testament only dated back to the eleventh century AD. What a huge difference!

Now no one can say that the Bible was written in modern times. We know too much now. These Old Testament works were already alive and well over two hundred years before Christ was born.

Not everything discovered in the caves was scripture. There are also commentaries on the scriptures, small notes, additional books, and lists.

They investigated thirty more caves after the original Dead Sea Scroll discovery. This turned up 10 more caves containing ancient manuscripts. All eleven caves are in the area near the ancient settlement of the Khirbet Qumran. (Source 1, page 103)

These scrolls are in different languages, some in Aramaic, some in Hebrew, and others in Greek. Notably, the Genesis Apocryphon preserves the accounts of the patriarchs in Aramaic. (Source 1, p. 37)

The Messianic Testimony

The Messianic Testimony was written in the first century B.C., so before Jesus. It lists all of the Old Testament passages that refer to the coming Messiah. The list also references the coming Messiah as a three-part office: prophet, priest, and king.

I would like to see a copy of that list. Wouldn’t you? Alas, I could not find one on the internet, but I did not look hard. Let me know in the comments if you find it.

Thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls, we know that the Hebrew text that we have today of the Old Testament is completely accurate.

These scrolls testify to the reliability of scripture. We have a “faithful copy of the original words penned by the original author, handed down for generations.” (Source 1, p. 46)

Want to learn more about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Check out this article from The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

My “Source 1” for both the Silver Scrolls and the Dead Sea scrolls:

The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible, by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler. ©2013, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon.

#3. King Hezekiah & Hezekiah’s Tunnel

The Bible goes into great detail about many of the things that King Hezekiah did during his lifetime, which was about 726-697 BC.

You can read about King Hezekiah in the Bible in 2 Kings 18 and in 2 Chronicles 29-32. Plus, we have found many artifacts from Hezekiah as well.

King Hezekiah went to great lengths to prepare for attack from Sennacherib of the Assyrians in 701 BC. Hezekiah reinforced the wall of Jerusalem with an added on outer wall. Then he diverted the water from the Gihon Spring into the city. This ensured the people in Jerusalem would have water during a long siege from the Assyrians.

Evidence of that broad wall and Hezekiah’s water tunnel are still there today. The wall was an impressive 23 feet wide and 27 feet high.

Young people checking out the tunnel in 1880 discovered a Paleo-Hebrew inscription carved into the tunnel. This is one of the oldest Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions ever found. It dates to the 8th century B.C.

The inscription reads:

“The axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to cut… and on the day of the tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax and flowed water from the source to the pool for 1200 cubits.”

8th century Paleo-Hebrew inscription

We have several more artifacts from Hezekiah.

Hezekiah’s royal seal was found. Plus, the Annals of Sennacherib, dating to 701 BC, tell the story of the Assyrian siege on Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s point of view. It is written in Akkadian cuneiform. If you would like to see a cool photo of it and learn more, see this on historyofinformation.com.

For more on the story of King Hezekiah and how God defeated the Assyrian Army for him without the Israelites having to even fight, go here. You can find it in 2 Kings, chapter 19.

I love that of all the battles, we have both sides of that one recorded.

Source: The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible, by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler. ©2013, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon.

#4. Oldest Copy of John’s Gospel

The oldest copy of the gospel of John was written in Greek on papyrus in AD 150-200. The entire book did not survive, but most of it did. Actually there are several other copies of parts of John that are about that old. You can learn more here.

This is incredible because it dates the copy back to very near the actual lifespan of the apostle John. If John died in the year AD 99, as it is believed, then this copy dates almost all the way back to his lifetime. Now that is a reliable source.

#5. Tomb of Jesus

There are a couple of different places that claim to be the location of the tomb of Jesus. According to my extensive reading in many books and study Bibles, the one in the picture above is extremely accurate. This was probably exactly where they laid him.

This tomb, that no gets to really see, is under a monument inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem. At the time that they crucified Jesus, this was all outside the city gates. But for modern day Jerusalem, it is inside the city.

In 2016, they restored the enclosure again. A marble cover inside dates back to the AD 300s. This site has been venerated as the tomb of Jesus since at least the 300s. For more on that, see this article.

The Garden Tomb is far more aesthetically pleasing, so it is also a good place to visit to picture what it might have looked like.

I read in Under Jerusalem, by Andrew Lawler, that this other tomb was full of skulls that they dug out in the 1800s and the date does not match the timeline that it could have been an unused tomb in the time of Jesus.

For more photos of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, you can see my article on it here.

#6. The Most Ancient New Testament Manuscripts

I learned the most about these copies of the New Testament gospels from this web page of the Bible Archaeology Report. They were “all written within a lifetime of Jesus”. I love that.

Much like the Dead Sea scrolls, they are tattered looking papyrus fragments. One of these manuscripts was discovered in an ancient garbage dump in Egypt!

All total, there are eleven manuscripts that possibly date back to the 2nd century, and four of them definitely do.

The oldest complete copy of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus. The Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten in Greek in the 4th century AD.

There are no ancient manuscripts as well documented and copied as the Bible. See the article I wrote here to learn more about the reliability of scriptures.

#7. Tel Dan Inscription

The Tel Dan inscription is the first historical evidence of King David, outside of the Bible.

The Tel Dan Inscription is a stone from the 8th century BC. The stone is carved in Aramaic. It tells how the Aramean king from that area defeated the “king of the House of David.”

The writing also described defeating the King of Israel, just as the Bible says that Israel was divided into two kingdoms: Judah (the house of David) and Israel.

Source: Biblearchaeology.org

#8. The Pool of Siloam

The pool of Siloam was uncovered in 2004 when a repair team was excavating a damaged sewer line. (Source: Los Angeles Times) Coins in the original plaster of the pool helped provide an accurate date for the construction of the pool.

In the Bible the pool of Siloam is the place where Jesus healed the blind man. You can read that story in John, chapter 9.

To see a photo of the pool of Siloam today, go here.

#9. Abraham’s Altar at Mamre

¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by ^[d]the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.

Genesis 13: 18

The Bible tell us that Abraham settled at Mamre, where the great trees are, and he set up an altar to the Lord there. Archaeologists believe they have identified Mamre as well as the site where Abraham probably placed his alter. There are even giant holes marking where the large trees once grew.

I read about this in Joel Kramer’s book, Where God Came Down, the Archaeological Evidence. In the book, he provides extensive graphs of the different layers and history of the site.

Joel Kramer also made a video at this very site near Hebron, and I am attaching it below in case you’d like to see.

#10. St. Peter’s House

This is one of my FAVORITES because I actually got to go see this one in person. The ancient town of Capernaum lies in ruins to this day, and we know that Capernaum is where Peter lived, from Matthew 8.

The archaeological evidence surrounding Peter’s particular house is astounding. Not only was it written on the walls that it was Peter’s house. But you can archaeologically see the progression of how this completely ordinary 1st century house was plastered up and turned into a real church. Ordinary dishes were exchanged for larger vessels to serve crowds.

Eventually, in the 1900s, Peter’s house was preserved under this giant church:

It is believed that Jesus stayed in Peter’s house for prolonged periods of time. Then later, Peter’s house became a church. Since the entire village of Capernaum still lies in ruins, we have great access to see it all.

These are a few of the photos I took when we visited, and you can see more in my full post on why Capernaum was our favorite city to visit in Israel.

Actually, I was delighted to find that Joel Kramer has a YouTube video tour the site of Peter’s house as well:

#11. Would you like to read more short articles on Biblical Archaeology finds?

Here are a few more I think you would appreciate.

–The Rosetta Stone enabled people to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs better. With that knowledge, we could understand that ancient Egyptians also referenced stories that agree with what the Bible says.

–The Moabite Stone, also known as the Mesha Stele, mentions going to Israel in battle. It even mentions some of their names. You can read a lot more about that here.

–City of David Stepped Stone Structure.

–Walls of Jericho

I am linking below a couple of my favorite Bible Archaeology books, if you would like to read more.

These two books will tell you far more about archaeology finds that support the Bible.

#1. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible, by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler. ©2013, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon.

This one covers just about everything discovered prior to 2013.

#2. Where God Came Down, the Archaeological Evidence, by Joel P. Kramer. ©2020, Published by Expedition Bible–an imprint of Sourceflix Inc., Utah.

Where God Came Down is very up to date and written in an easy to read style. The author, Joel Kramer, has an M.A. in archaeology from the University of the Holy Land. Plus, he has participated in many digs in Israel himself. This is an excellent source.

#3. The Evidence Study Bible, NKJV, Commentary by Ray Comfort. Bridge-Logos Publishers; Illustrated edition (March 1, 2011)

#4. Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, & Timelines, Rose Publishing ©2015

This is all just a drop in the bucket of all the artifacts and places that have been uncovered related to the Bible.

Every year, archaeologists find more Biblical evidence in Israel. It is astounding. At this point, skeptics can no longer say that the Bible is a fairy tale book. It is a historical account. Now what you do with that knowledge is up to you.

I personally felt drawn to read the Bible for myself to figure out what I believed, and I strongly recommend that to everyone. Get to know the God of the Bible, the parts that you do understand and the parts that are hard to grasp.

I hope this helps you want to dig deeper into what you think of your own personal relationship with God.