The significance of this find is that it completely refutes and destroys the assumptions of the higher critics assertions that Exodus was not written by Moses and that the miraculous events recorded by Moses did not take place. They cannot say these inscriptions were made later to refute these discoveries because, as we have already documented, they were discovered centuries before the higher critics came along. It should also be noted that the higher critics of the Old Testament have never in the past 100 years ever come up with one shred of evidence historically or archaeologically to give support or credence to anything they have spoken against the authorship of Moses or the historical reliability of his writings, not one!

The fact that Israel was established as a nation in Canaan territory long before David’s reign is confirmed on an Egyptian stone inscription dated 1213 to 1203 BC called the Merneptah Stela Stone. This stone stands seven-and-a-half-feet high. It was discovered in the temple of Pharaoh Merneptah at Thebes in Egypt. Pharaoh Merneptah ruled Egypt at this time and on this stone stated that he had invaded the West Bank of Canaan and defeated the Jewish inhabitants of the land.^309/73

Most ancient historian’s writings are nothing more than fiction and hearsay without careful reseach and checking of facts. The Bible, however, shows just the opposite: the writers were careful and very accurate to the events of the day, chronology, sequence and concerning personalities involved.

In the past century one of the areas of the Bible that has been hard to confirm archaeologically has been the life of David the King of Israel until recently. Between 1993 and 1994 some archaeologists discovered several stone fragments while digging at Tel Dan in Galilee in Northern Israel which confirmed not only David’s existence but the fact that he was King over Israel in the tenth century BC.²³⁵

On an Inscription known as the Stela of King Mesha of Moab is inscribed the name of Omri King of Israel. His name also appears on the rock inscriptions of three kings of Assyria, the annals of both Tiglath-Phileser III and Sargon II, and the Black Obelisk of King Shalmaneser III.

Other Assyrian inscriptions found in Nineveh confirm other kings of Israel: Ahab, Jehu, Joash, Menehem, Pekah, and Hoshea. Other inscriptions found by archaeologists confirm Kings of Judah: Ahaziah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Jehoiachin. Scholars also found records of the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon 606 to 562 BC that mentioned Jehoiachin a king of Judah.

In 1846 an explorer by the name of Austen Henry Layard discovered a six-and-a-half-feet-high Black Obelisk in the ruins of Nimrud, present day Iraq. The Obelisk was a for-sided stone inscription that recorded the conquest of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser II over several kingdoms including King Jehu of Israel about 841 to 814 BC The Obelisk also refers to Omri, the son of Jehu which confirms the record of the Book of Kings in the Bible.^309/74

Archaeologist Nahman Avigad of Hebrew University with other scholars discovered the remains of the wall of King Hezekiah built when the Assyrian army attacked Israel in 701 BC. The Bible tells us that King Hezekiah built this wall in Jerusalem to resist the Assyrian armies (2 Chronicles 32:2-5). So urgent was the building of this wall that they cut through portions of homes to build it (Isaiah 22:10). This is exactly what the archaeologists found to be the case concerning this wall.

On view in an Israeli Museum are one of two clay seals in existence called bullae which bear the impression of the actual seal used by Baruch who was Jeremiah the Prophet’s personal scribe. The other seal is owned by Shlomo Moussaieff of London.

Another seal at the beginning of this century was found with the inscription, "Belonging to Shema servant of Jeroboam." This indicates that this belonged to an official of King Jeroboam of Israel. Other seals have been found confirming the Biblical records about King Uzziah (777 to 736 BC) and King Hezekiah (726 to 697 BC).^309/76

Another seal was discovered in Jerusalem which dates from the seventh century BC. On it was the inscription: "Belonging to Abdi Servant of Hoshea." It belonged to Abdi who was a high official of King Hosea who was the last king of northern Israel before the Assyrian army conquered it in 721 BC.^309/76-77

King Nebuchadnezzar had a policy of displacing peoples that he conquered and resettling them in distant parts of his empire. Israel was one of these people. However Ezra in Ezra 1:1-3 tells us that after King Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonian Empire he immediately reversed this policy and made a decree allowing all captive peoples to go back to their homelands. This included the people of Israel. Some explorers in the last century found an ancient clay cylinder which had this decree by King Cyrus inscribed on it.^309/77-78

These findings completely refute the arguments of the Documentary Hypothesis that Israel’s laws evolved over several hundreds of years and that the Torah had several editors rather than the one Jesus Himself confirmed: Moses. The historical and archaeological evidence do not support the Documentary Hypothesis but instead expose the complete lack of historical research and scholarship it is based on.^236/185 M.J. Lagrange, a man who was involved in biblical and archaeological endeavors in Jerusalem for nearly 40 years, wrote:

"It is a fact that the historical work of Welhausen is more than compromised. The evolution which starts from fetishism to rise to monolatry and then to monotheism, or from a very rudimentary rustic worship to complicated social and sacerdotal institutions, cannot be maintained in face of the evidence of the facts revealed by the recent discoveries."^252/312-313

Josh McDowell sums up the value of these historical and archaeological finds:

"Its significance for the Bible-based Christian lies in the fact that it disproves three main presuppositions of liberal scholars: that there was no alphabet in Moses’ day; that society’s moral level was not high enough to have given rise to the laws of Deuteronomy; and that the different names of God within the Torah show that there were several writers of these books." ^233/25

Dr. Nelson Glueck, the most outstanding Jewish archeologist of this century, wrote in his book, Rivers in the Desert, this fascinating statement.

"It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries."^313/31

1. Albright W.F. The Archacology of Palestine. Baltimore: Penguin Books, revised 1960.

2. Glueck, Nelson. Rivers in the Desert. New York, Grove, 1960.

3. Free, Joseph P. & Vos, Howard F. Archaeology and Bible History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

4. Jeffrey, Grant R. Armageddon:  Earth's Last Days. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Frontier Research Publications, © 1997 by Grant R. Jeffrey.

5. McDowell, Josh. Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Vol. 2. San Bernardino: Here’s Life Publishers, 1981.

6. McDowell, Josh. Evidence For Faith Series on tape.

7. Price, Randall. The Stones Cry Out. Eugene, Organ: Harvest House Publishers, Copyright © 1997 by World of the Bible Ministries, Inc.

8. Unger, Merrill F. Archaeology and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954.