Everything happened somewhere (that is Geography), and sometime (that is History); and when you combine those two ideas into the Land of the Book you get Biblical Archaeology (finding remains of where things happened and when).

1. BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Elements of Biblical Interpretation

2. BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
• The Bible’s History is inspired, so it is the key to piecing together archaeological
findings (maximalist view vs. Minimalist view).
• We piece together findings from archaeology, and then interpret them according to
the eyewitness account God has given us.
• Only the Bible has an unchanging account of history past, present, and future.

3. • Everything happened somewhere (that is Geography), and
sometime (that is History); and when you combine those two
ideas into the Land of the Book you get Biblical Archaeology
(finding remains of where things happened and when).
• ToGod the single most important geographic location on Earth is
where Christ was Dedicated by His parents, where He taught
many of His key teachings, where He was Tried, Condemned,
Crucified & Buried, where He Rose, where He Ascended, where
His Church was born, and where He will Return at His Second
Coming.
• That location for those seven key events to God, is Jerusalem.

4. • So, tounderstand Biblical Archaeology: all of the Land of the Book,
and especially Jerusalem, are very important.
• To explain simple Biblical Archaeology, we would take the Scriptures
and apply the historical framework God's Word presents, and sort
all of the various archaeological remains into their Biblical Context.
• To use Jerusalem as an example, the surface of the ground would
be the present and then the deeper you go, the more levels of past
Biblical History you would pass through.
• If
we were to show Jerusalem’s layers by recognized secular time
periods it would look like this:

5. State
of
Israel
1948-­‐present:
prophecy
ful,illed
British
1917-­‐1947
AD:
Post-­‐WWI
Occupation
Ottoman
1517-­‐1917
AD:
Turkish
Empire
Mamluk
1250-­‐1517
AD:
Renaissance
to
Reformation
Crusader
1099-­‐1250
AD:
Crusades
to
Renaissance
Arab
Muslim
638-­‐1099
AD:
Dark
Ages,
rise
of
RCC
Byzantine
324-­‐638
AD:
monastic
period,
Church
Councils
Roman,
Late
200-­‐324
AD:
Persecution,
church
growth
Roman,
Middle
70-­‐200
AD:
Jerusalem’s
fall,
Post-­‐Apostolic
Fathers
Roman,
Early
63
BC-­‐70
AD:
N.T.
events,
early
church,
Epistles
Hasmonean
141-­‐63
BC:
Maccabeans
to
Pompey
Hellenistic
332-­‐141
BC:
Alexander’s
Four
Generals
Persian
539-­‐332
BC:
Daniel,
Ezra,
Alexander
the
Great
Iron
Age
1200-­‐539
BC:
Samuel,
Saul,
David
to
Daniel
Bronze
Age,
Late
1550-­‐1200
BC:
Bondage,
Moses,
Exodus,
Judges
Bronze
Age,
Middle
2000-­‐1550
BC:
Patriarchs
to
Bondage
in
Egypt
Bronze
Age,
Early
3300-­‐2000
BC:
Abraham
visited
Jerusalem
The
Global
Cataclysmic
Flood
transformed
every
part
of
the
surface
of
the
Earth.
Pre-­‐Flood
World:
Secular
terms
(Chalcolithic
4500-­‐3300
BC
&
Neolilthic
8500-­‐4500
BC)

6. BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY HELPS US
SEE THE PAST
• God’s Word describes 2,938 people;
• God’s Word describes hundreds of places; and
• God’s Word describes countless events.
are SEEN more clearly, and the implications of what happened are clearer when
• All
seen through the lens of Biblical Archaeology.

7. ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES

8. ISRAEL:
JUDGES
TO
SAMUEL

9. ISRAEL:
SAUL
TO
DAVID

10. ISRAEL:
830BC

11. HIGH PLACES: GESHUR GALILEE

12. PAUL’S
CONVERSION
ACTS 9:11

13. STREET CALLED STRAIGHT?
• What would that mean, if anything? Without digging down to that time we’d not really
know.
• It was the Main Street of the Roman World.
• Every city had one.
• They were the main north-south axis.
• They were called the Cardo (Greek for “heart”)

14. Gerasa
Mt. 8:28

15. Gerasa ruins from south

16. Gerasa oval plaza panorama

17. Gerasa oval plaza

18. Gerasa oval plaza columns

19. Gerasa Cardo

20. Gerasa entrance to Temple of Artemis

21. Gerasa western baths

22. Beth Shean
Mt. 4:25

23. Beth Shean aerial from southwest

24. Beth Shean aerial from northeast

25. Palladius Street at Beth Shean

26. Roman ruins at Beth Shean

27. Beth Shean amphitheater

28. Medeba Map

29. MADABA, JORDAN

30. Medeba map, Jerusalem

31. Medeba map, north of Jerusalem

32. Medeba Map, southwest of Jerusalem

33. JERUSALEM:
BYZANTINE
PERIOD

34. JEWISH QUARTER
MT. 8:20

35. Tanner's Gate and Valley Cardo at night

36. Cardo looking southwest
Cardo looking southwest

37. Cardo from south
Cardo from south

38. Cardo from north
Cardo from north

39. Cardo shopping area from south
Cardo shopping area from south

40. JERUSALEM HOUSE

41. PAUL AT THESSALONICA
• Acts 16:22-24 Paul beaten with rods
• Acts 16:40 Paul starts walking
• Acts 17:1 Paul walks 97 miles to Thessalonica
• 1 Th. 21-4 Paul defends his reliability

42. Beth Shean aerial from northeast

43. Palladius Street at Beth Shean

44. Roman ruins at Beth Shean

45. CITY OF DAVID FINDS
• Azaliah son of Meshullam, scribe in the Temple in Jerusalem: Mentioned in 2 Kings
22:3 and 2 Chronicles 34:8. A bulla reading "belonging to Azaliabu son of
Meshullam." is likely to be his, according to archaeologist Nahman Avigad.[76]
• Gedaliah son of Pashhur, an opponent of Jeremiah. A bulla bearing his name was
found in the City of David [82]
• Gemariah, son of Shaphan the scribe. A bulla was found with the text "To
Gemaryahu ben Shaphan". This may have been the same person as "Gemariah son
of Shaphan the scribe" mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10,12.[83]

46. OLD CITY JERUSALEM

47. Hazor
Joshua 11:1-11

48. Hazor upper city aerial from west

49. Hazor upper city aerial from west

50. Hazor Solomonic gate

51. JERUSALEM: BETHESDA