The Historical Reliability Of The Old Testament

After the troubled times of the judges, Saul, David, and Solomon ruled Israel. “The House of David” is named on an Aramean stele from Dan, and likewise on the stele of Mesha, king of Moab. Less than 50 years after David, the place-name “Heights of Davit” (Egyptians used t for final d) is included in the geographic list of Palestine drawn up for Shoshenq I (“Shishak” ca 924 BC). The design of Solomon’s temple reflected trends that were current in neighboring Syria, though the temple’s décor was modest by comparison. Solomon’s wisdom-writings fit his epoch in format and content.

After Solomon’s death (930 BC), Israel and Judah split into two kingdoms. The Assyrians advanced southward and came into repeated contact with Hebrew rulers. Thus Ahab and Jehu of Israel are mentioned in texts of Shalmaneser III, while his successors mention Jehoash, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea. We have Hebrew seals identifying servants of Jeroboam II and Hoshea. From Judah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah are included on official seal-impressions, while Assyrian records name (Jeho)-ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. All these kings appear in the same sequence and epochs in both biblical and Assyrian records.

Mesha of Moab left a stele mentioning Omri and Ahab of Israel. In turn, the narratives in Kings and Chronicles mention, in correct periods and order, the following kings of Egypt: Shoshenq I [Shishak], Osorkon IV [So], Taharqa [Tirhakah], Neco (II), and Hophra [Apries]. Also mentioned are Assyrian rulers Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser (V), Sargon (II), Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon. Finally, the Babyloni-an rulers Merodach-baladan (II), Nebuchadrezzar (II), and Evil-merodach are named. Various events are documented in both biblical and external sources through 200 years for Israel and 340 years for Judah. The falls of Samaria (722/720 BC) and Judah (605-597 BC) are mentioned in Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles respectively.

The House of David Inscription is the earliest reference to David outside the Bible. This inscription was part of a victory monument erected by an Aramean king in the ninth century bc. He celebrates victories over a “king of Israel” and a king of the “House of David”—a reference to Judah. This artifact was discovered in 1994 at Tell Dan in Northern Israel. It resides currently in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

We have discovered ration-tablets from Babylon for the banished Judean king Jehoiachin and his family for 594-570 BC. The well-documented Persian triumph in 539 BC enabled many exiles to return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, just as the OT says. Other biblical figures now verified through archaeological discoveries include: Sanballat I of Samaria from Aramaic papyri; the later family of Tobiah of Ammon from tombs at Iraq al-Amir; and Gashmu/Geshem as an Arabian king in Qedar, from a bowl belonging to his son Qaynu.

The historicity of the OT should be taken seriously. As for the OT text itself, the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca 150 BC-AD 70) provide good evidence of a carefully transmitted core-text tradition through almost a thousand years down to the Masoretic scribes (ca eighth-tenth centuries AD). Thus, the basic text of OT Scripture can be established as essentially soundly transmitted, and the evidence shows that the form and content of the OT fit with known literary and cultural realities of the ancient Near East. For more, see K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament.