Supplemental Notes:

Digging Up
the Truth
Biblical Archaeology

Skeptics ridicule and historians mock, but

each time the archaeologist’s spade pen-
etrates the soil of history they are silenced.

Join Chuck Missler and the real-life Indiana

Jones, Bob Cornuke, as they take you on an
overview of the archaeological proof for the
Bible.

This briefing is an incredible tool that will

strengthen and equip you in your “defense
of the faith.”

© 2001 Koinonia House Inc.

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 Digging Up the Truth Archaeological Confirmations
Biblical Archaeology • Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak,
recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in
Technologies Thebes, Egypt (1 Kings 14:25-26).
• Revolt of Moab against Israel, recorded on the
• Spade and Shovel Mesha Inscription (2 Kings 1:1; 3:4-27).
• Systematic Methods
• Fall of Samaria to Sargon II, king of Assyria, as
– Grids
recorded on his palace walls (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24;
– Pottery
• Advanced Technologies 18:9-11).
– Ground-Penetrating Radar • Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II, as recorded on his
– Microgravity Sensors palace walls (Isaiah 20:1).
– Thermographic (Infrared) Scanning • Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib
– Conformal Laser Microscopy against Judah, as recorded on the Taylor Prism
– DNA? (2 Kings 18:13-16).
• Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib, recorded on the
Cuneiform Tablets Lachish reliefs (2 Kings 18:14, 17).
• Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons, as
• In the 19th century, tens of thousands of clay recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon (2
tablets were found in numerous sites throughout Kings 19:37).
Mesopotamia. • The fall of the walls of Jericho (“Score One For
• What was needed was a means to decipher the Bible,” Time, March 5, 1990).
them…the Rosetta Stone.
• Fall of Nineveh as predicted by the prophets
Nahum and Zephaniah, recorded on the Tablet of
Records from Prehistory Nabopolasar (Zeph 2:13-15).
• Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, king of
• Creation Sagas
Babylon, recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles
– Ashurbanipal Library
– 7 Tablets (2 Kings 24:10-14).
• Noah’s Flood • Captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in Babylon,
– Gilgamesh Epic recorded on the Babylonian Ration Records (2
– 33 Versions; only 2 do not coincide with Bib- Kings 24:15-16).
lical record. • Fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians, re-
corded on the Cyrus Cylinder (Daniel 5:30-31).
Sumerian Kings List • The identity of Belshazzar as the son of Nabonidus
on the cornerstone of a temple in Ur.
• Lists kings who reigned for a long periods of time. • Freeing of captives in Babylon by Cyrus the Great,
• Then a great flood came. recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-
• Then lists Sumerian kings who reigned for shorter 4).
periods of time (same pattern as Genesis).
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Cyrus II (“The Great”) Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose
right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open be-
• Established the Medo-Persian Empire.
fore him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall
– Cyrus’ father: Cambyses I (600-559 B.C.), was
not be shut;
king of Anshan (E. Elam).
– Cyrus’ mother: Mandane, a daughter of
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places
Astyages, king of Media.
straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass,
• 550 B.C.: Attacked his father-in-law, the corrupt
and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Astyages.
– Captured Ecbatana without a battle.
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and
• Welded the Medes and Persians into a unified
hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know
nation that continued for two centuries.
that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am
the God of Israel.
The Conquest of Babylon
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I
• October 12, 539 B.C., Cyrus’ general captured have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed
Babylon without a battle. thee, though thou hast not known me.
• The Persians diverted the River Euphrates into a
canal upriver so that the water level dropped “to I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no
the height of the middle of a man’s thigh,” which God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not
thus rendered the flood defenses useless and en- known me:
abled the invaders to march through the riverbed Isaiah 45:1-5
to enter by night (Herodotus).

The Letter to Cyrus Cyrus’ Response

• Cyrus was duly impressed.
• When Cyrus made his grand entrance, Daniel pre-
• He freed the captives and even gave them incen-
sented him with an ancient scroll of Isaiah, which
tives to return to their homeland and rebuild their
contained a personal letter addressing him by
temple.
name (Josephus, Antiquities, XI, I, 2).
• Isaiah had died 150 years before Cyrus was born.
Cyrus’ Proclamation
Letter to Cyrus
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy
“The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the
rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and
kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to
shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusa-
build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in
lem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy
Judah. Who is there among you of all his people?
foundation shall be laid.
his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusa-
Isaiah 44:27, 28

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 lem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the
LORD God of Israel (he is the God) which is in
Jerusalem.”
Ezra 1:2, 3
The Cyrus Cylinder
“...without any battle, he entered the town, spar-
ing any calamity; ... I returned to sacred cities on
the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which
have been ruins for a long time... and established
for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all
their former inhabitants and returned to them their
habitations.”
British Museum in London
New Testament Discoveries/Confirmations
• The existence of Jesus as recorded by Josephus,
Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Tal-
mud, and Lucian.
• Forcing Jews to leave Rome during the reign of
Claudius (A.D. 41-54), as recorded by Suetonius
(Acts 18:2).
The Galilean Fishing Boat
• In 1986 a Roman-era fishing boat was discovered
in the Sea of Galilee near a kibbutz N of Ginosar.
• 26 ft. long, 7 ft. wide, of Lebanese cedar & oak.
• Radiocarbon-dated to 15 B.C. ± 85 years.
• 1995: on display at Yigal Allon Museum.
High Leverage Discoveries
• Behistun Mountain
• Rosetta Stone
• Dead Sea Scrolls
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Dead Sea Caves/Qumran
• 1,100 ancient documents
• 100,000 fragments
• Over 200 copies of books of the Bible
– Every book except Esther
• Complete Isaiah
The Magdalen Papyri
• Unearthed in Upper Egypt by Charles B. Huleatt
and bequeathed to his Alma Mater, Magdalen Col-
lege, Oxford, in 1901.
• In 1953 the British papyrologist Colin H. Roberts
related it to the late 2nd century.
• It would be 40 years later that advanced technol-
ogy would reveal it to be contemporaneous with
the Apostle himself.
Advanced Technology to the Rescue
A Scanning Laser Microscope can differentiate be-
tween 20 micrometer layers of the papyrus, measur-
ing the height and the depth of ink, as well as the
angle of the stylus used by the scribe.
A High-Tech Reexamination
• Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede, Director of the Insti-
tute for Basic Epistemological Research in
Paderborn, Germany, using a scanning laser mi-
croscope, compared it with four other manuscripts,
– at Qumran (dated to 58 A.D.)
– at Herculaneum (dated prior to 79 A.D.)
– at Masada (dated to between 73-74 A.D.)
– At Egyptian town of Oxyrynchus (65-66 A.D.)
Oldest Known NT Manuscript
• Dr. Thiede concluded that this is either an origi-
nal of Matthew’s Gospel, or an immediate copy,
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 written while Matthew and the other disciples • Noah’s Ark
and other eyewitnesses were still alive. – Turkey or Iran?
• Dated on basis of physical evidence rather than • The Ark of the Covenant
literary theory or historical suppositions. – Where is it?
– Does it have a prophetic role?

Geographic Myths Unseated/Self-Imposed The Dark Side

Traditions
• Holy Grail Legends
• Garden Tomb • Splinters from Noah’s Ark?
– vs. Church of the Holy Sepulchre • Brazen Serpent
• Mt. Sinai in Arabia? – Nehustan
– Jabel Al Lawz vs. Jabel Musa • Shroud of Turin?
• St. Paul’s Bay in Malta? • Fetishes: shackle and restrict growth …even if
– vs. Southern site authentic!
• Mt. Ararat in Turkey?
– vs. East of Babylon Brazen Serpent
Recent Finds • Brazen Serpent (Num 21:4-9).
• Jesus’ Self-reference (John 3:14).
• 1993: “The House of David” and “King of Israel” – Rock (1 Cor 10:4).
found on inscriptions at Tel Dan in the Golan • 1st Time (Ex 17:6, 7).
Heights. • 2nd Time (Num 20:8-13).
• 1996: Wine jug inscribed with King Herod’s name – Genesis 22.
found at Masada. – Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15.
• 2000: Confirmations of James as the leader of • Nehustan (2 Kings 18:4).
the church in Jerusalem. • Aesculapius Legend?
* * *
The Temple in Jerusalem
• To be rebuilt: Jesus (Mt 24:15); Paul (2 Thess Bibliography
2:4); John (Rev 11:1, 2).
• Traditional, Northern and Southern Conjectures. Halley’s Bible Handbook, Zondervan Publishing House,
Grand Rapids MI 24th edition, 1965.
The Major Challenges Ceram, C.W., Gods, Graves, and Scholars, Alfred A.
Knopf, 1951. Originally published in German as Götter,
• The Temple Gräber and Gelehrte by Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg-
– Where specifically? Stuttgart, 1949.
• Mt. Sinai Cornuke, Robert, and Halbrook, David, In Search For
– Is it in Arabia? The Mountain of God, Broadman & Holman Publish-
ers, Nashville TN, 2000.
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Thiede, Carsten Peter, and D’Ancona, Matthew, The
Jesus Papyrus, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1996.
Price, Randall, The Stones Cry Out, Harvest House Pub-
lishers, Eugene OR, 1997.
See also, Bob Cornuke’s website: www.baseinstitute.org
Lambert Dolphin’s: www.ldolphin.org
Also: www.ChristianAnswers.net
Background on Bob Cornuke
(excerpted from his website)
As an international explorer and author, Bob
Cornuke has followed the Exodus route of Moses;
dived the Red Sea in search of Pharaoh’s chariots;
searched for the lost Ark of the Covenant in Israel
and Ethiopia; traveled to eastern Turkey on several
expeditions with Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin;
researched and explored extensively in Iran; has
searched underwater in Malta for the anchors from
Paul’s shipwreck (Acts 27); and, has undertaken a
number of other remarkable expeditions.
Most recently, Bob’s research and amazing findings
regarding Mt. Sinai have garnered worldwide ac-
claim by scholars and captured the enthusiastic in-
terest of the media and general public. The recent
book In Search of the Mountain of God (by Bob
Cornuke and David Halbrook, Broadman and
Holman, 2000), recounts the story of Bob and his
friend Larry Williams and their incredible expedi-
tion into the inhospitable desert of NW Saudi
Arabia—in search of the true Mount Sinai—the
Mountain of God.
Undaunted after being lost in the vast desert, and
blistered by intense heat and hobbled by injuries,
Cornuke and Williams succeeded in reaching the re-
mote, forbidden mountain. Their experiences, docu-
mented by photographs and other evidence, have
led many scholars to now conclude that Jabal al
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Lawz is the true Mount Sinai—the “Holy Mountain”
where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Af-
ter slipping away from the mountain under a cloak
of darkness, they were subsequently arrested, jailed
and questioned as spies—with guns to their heads.
But Cornuke and Williams escaped from jail, eluded
their captors, and managed to make a successful
high-speed run for the border. These daring exploits
have been hailed by the news media as more excit-
ing than the Indiana Jones adventure movies—es-
pecially since the events really happened.
No stranger to excitement, Cornuke was previously
a police officer and member of the famed Costa Mesa
SWAT team in the Los Angeles area of California.
Serving also as a crime scene investigator assigned
to major crime scenes, Bob gained invaluable train-
ing and experience in investigative and scientific re-
search techniques. He has now turned his efforts
toward Bible archaeology, using his skills and inge-
nuity to unlock the doors to sites traditionally out of
reach to scholars and archaeologists.
Originally sought out by astronaut James Irwin
(Apollo 15) as a security advisor, Bob was later re-
cruited to join the expedition as they searched for
the remains of Noah’s Ark in eastern Turkey. His
assignment was to provide protection for Irwin’s team
as they operated in the Kurdish terrorist-held re-
gion, but upon completion of the Mount Ararat ex-
pedition, Cornuke and Irwin found themselves
colleagues and close friends. Bob later became vice
president of Irwin’s “High Flight” foundation, an ex-
ploration consortium dedicated to the search for
Noah’s Ark. Several years after Irwin’s death,
Cornuke founded BASE Institute to expand on the
mission of his mentor and friend. When not travel-
ing the world, Bob lives in Colorado with his wife
and children where he directs the efforts of the staff
and volunteers of the Bible Archaeology, Research
& Exploration Institute (BASE).
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 Commentaries on Tape
Chuck Missler’s Expositional Commentar-
ies are now available from Koinonia House.
Each volume consists of eight cassette tapes
and includes notes, diagrams, and a compre-
hensive bibliography. Write for a complete
list.

Monthly News Journal

Personal UPDATE, a monthly news journal high-

lighting the Biblical relevance of current
events, is also available by writing:

Koinonia House
P.O. Box D
Coeur d’Alene, ID
83816-0347
1-800-KHOUSE-1
www.khouse.org
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