Table of Contents

Beyond Today: What If Sodom Has Been Found?

What If Sodom Has Been Found?

The Location of Sodom: What Does the Bible Say?

Are We Returning to Sodom?

Current Events and Trends: January/February 2022

What Does Archaeology Tell Us About the Bible?

Recent Holy Land Finds Support the Biblical Record

Choose to Be Happy While Encouraging Others

Letters From Our Readers: January/February 2022

If You'd Like to Know More...

Beyond Today: What If Sodom Has Been Found?

Believe the Bible—and Its Warnings!

The pattern we see again and again in the Bible is that God sends a warning message before destruction. He doesn’t want to see mankind suffer; He wants us to repent of our sins—to change direction and seek Him.

by Scott Ashley

Archaeology has fascinated me since childhood. My family was part of the local archaeological society, and during my early teen years we helped excavate a shallow cave where American Indians had lived for many centuries—my first excursion into scientific examination of ancient cultures.

That interest has remained with me, transitioning in more recent decades into study of biblical-era cultures and peoples. On trips to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey, I’ve tried to visit as many biblical sites as possible—to walk the roads and paths where biblical figures walked and see the world as they saw it to better understand God’s Word and explain it to those with ears to hear.

Visiting these sites has proven to me again and again the proof and accuracy of the biblical record in details large and small. Much of that proof has found its way into the pages of this magazine.

One site in particular, Tall el-Hammam in modern-day Jordan, has fascinated me for years. I’ve visited it twice. It’s impressive for its enormous size—the largest ancient city from the Holy Land—but more so because it’s a perfect match for the Bible’s description for the location of ancient Sodom.

The Bible has more geographic indicators for the location of Sodom than any other city mentioned in Scripture, and hearing a presentation on that subject 16 years ago has led me to follow reports on the excavations at the site over many dig seasons.

The latest news to emerge from these excavations is astounding. After several years of meticulously analyzing the data from the destruction of the city, 21 scientists from widely varied scientific fields collaborated on a 65-page peer-reviewed paper initially published in Nature Scientific Reports.

Their shocking conclusion was that the huge ancient city at Tall el-Hammam had been destroyed by a sudden, violent cataclysm originating outside of this world.

Let that sink in for a moment.

If that sounds familiar, it should. The Bible tells us that Sodom was destroyed by a sudden fiery blast from the sky. The evidence on the ground points to intense temperatures hot enough to melt pottery and bricks and vaporize human bodies—hot enough to turn one of our automobiles today into a bubbling pool of melted steel.

This wasn’t the conclusion from just one area of scientific analysis, but from every area they examined. It all pointed to a specific conclusion—one that agrees remarkably with the biblical account.

It’s not an exaggeration to say this could prove to be the biblical archaeological find of the century—or of several centuries, or perhaps of all time thus far. That’s why we’re covering it in great detail in this issue. You may not see very much of this in mainstream media sources. Most of them are more interested in discrediting the Bible, not informing you when the evidence once more demonstrates the accuracy of the Bible.

Something else you’re not going to see in most other sources is the implications of this remarkable story. And it has major implications for our day.

The Bible holds up Sodom as an example of the consequences of sin. And not just any sin, but a particular kind of sin that became flagrant and led to worse atrocity. This subversion of the natural order has become not just normalized in recent years, but actually praised and honored by cultural leaders and intelligentsia.

It’s another of those cultural Rubicons that we have blindly crossed without regard for the consequences for our society, for our families, for our children and for future generations who will pay the cost. What does God say? “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20).

The pattern we see again and again in the Bible is that God sends a warning message before destruction. He doesn’t want to see mankind suffer; He wants us to repent of our sins—to change direction and seek Him (2 Peter 3:10; Ezekiel 33:11).

Is this discovery of what could prove to be ancient Sodom—and its divine punishment for its sins—another warning call from God to repent while there’s still time? May we have ears to hear!

What If Sodom Has Been Found?

Fifteen seasons of excavation at an enormous archaeological site in the Jordan River Valley have yielded remarkable evidence of an ancient city-destroying cataclysm. Could this be proof of the biblical story of Sodom? What does it mean for us today?

by Peter Eddington

A story of “biblical proportions”—having huge ramifications—was recently announced and picked up by various news outlets across the country and around the world.

For the last 16 years archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins, executive dean at Albuquerque’s Trinity Southwest University, and a team of staff and volunteers have been excavating a site they believe to be biblical Sodom. The excavation site is on the east side of the Jordan Valley in the nation of Jordan, across the Jordan River from Jericho. The site is huge—easily four to five times the size of Jericho, which existed at the same time.

Through the course of their excavations (digging in January and February, when the temperatures are mild enough to make digging tolerable) some very exciting scientific discoveries have been made.

In recent dig seasons Dr. Collins and his team have found evidence of overwhelming destruction at this place now called Tall el-Hammam. For years Dr. Collins has been presenting evidence for why he thinks this is the most probable site for the ancient city of Sodom .

Another key member of the excavation team is Dr. Phillip Silvia, a field archaeologist and supervisor with the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project (TeHEP). This past autumn a scientific, peer-reviewed 65-page research paper—authored by 21 scientists, including Dr. Silvia—was released to scientific journals around the world. The initial publication was in Nature Scientific Reports.

What is striking about the paper is that it details how destruction evidence found by the archaeologists at Tall el-Hammam fits the biblical description of Sodom’s sudden end. The evidence shows a sudden catastrophic destruction originating outside of this planet.

Our Beyond Today editorial staff have been following these excavation efforts for the last 16 years, even visiting the site shortly before excavations started in 2005. We should note that we do have some dating issues with this site, as our understanding of the chronology of the time in which Abraham lived and Sodom was destroyed places the destruction of the city around 200 years earlier than what the site’s excavators have concluded.

The Tall el-Hammam team is confident that its dating of the site is accurate. At present there’s no easy answer for the discrepancy. Perhaps more will come to light in the coming months and years to bring us all closer together on the date of this city’s destruction. Biblical archaeology is an ever-evolving scientific field as new evidence is continually emerging in the lands of the Bible.

Several reputable archaeologists have also concluded this is indeed the site of Sodom, in spite of the dating issues. Evidence from the site itself, as well as biblical location markers, is very compelling. The geographical evidence and new scientific evidence of the city’s destruction present a very strong case.

The story has deep biblical implications for the archaeological community, but far deeper spiritual implications for the entire world.

Let’s look, then, into the Scriptures to see what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and compare that to what scientists have discovered. And with that background let’s consider the question, What if Sodom has been found? What does it mean for humanity? And what should it mean to you and me personally?

Sodom: a cesspool of wickedness

Most of us are probably familiar with the biblical account of the destruction by God of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sins of the people. Only a tiny handful of residents escaped. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if even a few righteous people could be found there (Genesis 18:16-33). Only Abraham's nephew Lot and his family were worthy to be spared, these because of their connection to righteous Abraham.

The people of Sodom were prideful and affluent with abundant food and idleness and with no care for the needy as they brazenly descended into increasing abomination, leading to God sending destruction (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

The story of that destruction is recorded in Genesis 19. The introduction to the depravity of the city is quite shocking. Two angels in human form come to the city to rescue Lot and his family from the coming destruction. Lot gives them a safe place to stay for the night in his home, but the story quickly takes a dark turn, with the men of the city surrounding the house to gang-rape the visitors! (verses 4-5).

Lot pleaded with them, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!” (verse 7). Lot even offered the mob his two daughters, but they threatened him and nearly broke down his door before the angels rescued him by striking the crowd with blindness (verses 8-11).

It’s from this account that the term sodomy entered the English language. Outlawed in most countries for many centuries, it’s now approved and widely accepted, with those still viewing it as sinful themselves condemned and denounced as backward bigots.

Fiery destruction from the sky

The story doesn’t end there. The angelic messengers tell Lot to gather his family and flee—“For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great . . . , and the Lord has sent us to destroy it” (verse 13).

Lot pleaded with his sons-in-law, telling them, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” (verse 14). But they took it as a joke and refused to heed. After all, Sodom was a large and prosperous city—there was nothing to worry about, right?

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry and take his wife and daughters out of the city. As he lingered, the angels took his hand and the hands of his family members and literally pulled them out of the city. There one of the angels told them: “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed” (verse 17).

When they made it to the outlying town of Zoar, all hell broke loose.

“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (verses 24-25). The cities, nearby towns and villages, their inhabitants and even the crops and trees were obliterated.

Abraham, far from the danger zone yet close enough to realize a catastrophe had taken place, “looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace” (verse 28).

The area that previously had been so lush and verdant as to be compared to the Garden of Eden and fertile Egypt (Genesis 13:10) was now a scene of smoldering, smoking desolation. Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding towns and villages were gone, reduced to rubble and ashes from the fiery blast.

The case for a cosmic airburst

Is there any correlation between what scientists have recently discovered and the biblical passages we’ve just read?

On Sept. 20, Dr. Phillip Silvia, director of scientific analysis for the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, announced the publication of the earlier-mentioned paper in Nature Scientific Reports titled “A Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age City in the Jordan Valley Near the Dead Sea.”

It provides detailed forensic evidence that a cosmic airburst obliterated Tall el-Hammam, the largest city in the Dead Sea area for centuries before or after, an event they date at around 1650 B.C.

Tall el-Hammam excavation director Dr. Steven Collins has long proposed the site as the most likely candidate for the biblical city of Sodom. It’s in the right place, based on many geographical clues in Genesis.

Over the years of excavation at the site, the team has documented a massive 4.5-foot-thick (1.5 meter) destruction layer beneath the surface of the artifact-filled, half-mile-long mound. Such layers are fairly common at ancient sites and usually indicate deliberate burning from military conquest or accidental burning due to human negligence or natural events such as earthquakes. Usually the cause is fairly easy to identify due to the associated destruction evidence. But what caused the extensive destruction here?

Comet Research Group’s analysis

In 2014, the Comet Research Group (CRG), a non-profit corporation in Arizona, was invited to assist in the examination of material evidence from within the destruction layer. The CRG has authored dozens of articles documenting cosmic catastrophes impacting our planet.

The Comet Research Group is not a religious group. It’s made up of comet scientists. The group’s website states: “Think our last space attack was 65,000,000 years ago from the ‘dinosaur-killer’ asteroid? Think again. Killer comets are more common that you’ve been taught. At CRG, our mission is to prove it and to do something about it before your city is next.”

The archaeological history of Tall el-Hammam was well defined after 15 field seasons, but a far different set of skills was needed to properly investigate the destruction layer. The CRG had the technical and forensic ability to determine whether the field evidence supports the biblical description.

Remarkably, the biblical account of destruction from the sky turned out to be supported by numerous lines of geochemical and material evidence buried below the surface of the ground.

Something had demolished the upper 40-some feet of the four- to five-story palace structure and blasted away the massive 13-foot-thick mud brick defensive walls of the city. The few skeletal remains showed “fragmentation” and “extreme disarticulation”—meaning the bodies had been violently ripped apart.

A carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contained concentrations of shocked quartz, melted pottery and mud bricks, diamond-like carbon, soot, iron- and silicon-rich spherules and spherules from melted plaster. Traces were also found of melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite and quartz.

Heating experiments indicate temperatures must have instantly exceeded 3,600° F (2,000 °C). How hot is that? Enough to turn a truck into a molten pool of iron!

Dr. Allen West of the CRG says of the findings: “Among more technical evidence, we discovered human bones that had been splattered by molten glass from the event. The glass is indistinguishable from that found at ground zero after atomic explosions. These people were killed by the heat and pressure of an atomic-like explosion but without the radiation” (emphasis added throughout).

Narrowing the possibilities

Dr. Silvia has produced 14 lines of evidence that support this site as being the location for the ancient city of Sodom. The paper is available for free download from Nature Scientific Reports (at nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3).

Key finds of the scientific study done at Tall el-Hammam are documented in the research paper—along with graphs, charts, equations and analysis—showing why the site of Tall el-Hammam could very well be the destruction site of ancient Sodom. Some of the key finds include:

• Evidence for high-temperature burning of the city.

• Melted construction materials.

• Minerals and materials subjected to extremely high pressure and temperatures.

• Human bone fragments in the destruction layer.

• High salt content of the soil associated with the destruction and its implications for agriculture in the region.

• Destruction and burning of nearby Jericho at the same time.

• Potential causes of the city destruction.

The scientists looked at 10 different ways this city could have been destroyed, including warfare, accidental fires, earthquakes, volcanism and lightning. Some of the evidence fits some of the possibilities. But all of the evidence appears to fit only a single option—a cosmic airburst, namely a nearby comet or meteor explosion that obliterated the city and its surroundings.

The group concluded that the closest similar destruction events in modern history were the first atomic bomb test in 1945 in New Mexico as part of the World War II Manhattan Project (with an explosive yield of 21,000 tons of TNT) and the 1908 Tunguska cosmic airburst, which flattened 830 square miles of Siberian forest with a similar explosive force.

The blast that destroyed the city at Tall el-Hammam is thought to be a Tunguska-class comet or meteor airburst that exploded near the northern end of the Dead Sea, a few kilometers southwest of the site.

This event was so destructive that all across the lower Jordan Valley, 15 other cities and more than 100 smaller villages were simultaneously abandoned at this time and remained largely uninhabited for approximately 300 to 600 years, pointing to the occurrence of a rare and highly unusual catastrophic event.

Evidence for destruction not from this world

As previously noted, more than 20 scientists and researchers from many fields contributed to the major paper analyzing the destruction of the large and thriving city at the Tall el-Hammam site almost 4,000 years ago. What did they learn? Some of this is highly technical, but we’ll summarize.

To quote the research paper, “An early crucial clue in this investigation was the discovery of highly vesicular potsherds in the debris matrix that appeared to have melted at high temperatures but with no clear evidence for a formation mechanism” (pp. 56-57).

Translation: They found broken clay pottery—common at such ancient sites—but this pottery had been subjected to such high temperatures that it had melted and formed bubbles, with no clear evidence of what could have produced such extremely high temperatures.

Continuing in the paper: “This first discovery led to some general observations about the uniqueness of destruction layer debris, e.g., its unusual, high-temperature characteristics and its consistent SW-to-NE orientation. The site excavators speculated that the cause of the destruction may have been a cosmic airburst/impact, but they could not eliminate other potential mechanisms, including those related to warfare, volcanism, and tectonism.”

Translation: The debris in the destruction layer was unusual not only for its having been subjected to extremely high temperatures, but also because it was thrown down in a specific direction—from the southwest to the northeast, indicating the destructive force originated in the air southwest of the city (near the northern end of the Dead Sea).

“We investigated 14 major lines of evidence to investigate this unusual event: (i) shocked quartz grains that formed at pressures of ~ 5–10 GPa; (ii) vesicular pottery that melted at > 1500°C; (iii) mudbricks and roofing clay that melted at > 1400°C; (iv) high salt concentrations in sediment, including melted KCl and NaCl incorporated into melted mudbricks; (v) diamond-like carbon (diamonoids) that formed at high pressure and temperature; (vi) soot, charcoal and ash, indicating high-temperature fires; (vii) Fe- [iron-] and Si- [silicon-] rich spherules, some of which melted at > 1590°C; (viii) platinum, melted at ~ 1768°C; (ix) iridium at ~ 2466°C; (x) zircon at > 1687°C; (xi) chromite at > 1590°C; (xii) titanomagnetite at > 1550°C; (xiii) quartz at 1713°C; and (xiv) low remanent magnetism, a counter-indicator of lightning strikes.”

Translation: They examined 14 lines of evidence for the city’s destruction, including quartz grains and carbon that had been subjected to such immense heat and pressure that their microscopic structure had been deformed and transformed into a completely different form; soot and ash that resulted from high-temperature fires; pottery and construction materials that had melted at temperatures of more than 2700°F; inexplicably high salt content in the soil; and tiny spheres of rare elements and minerals that had melted at temperatures of 2800 to 3100°F (well above the melting temperature of iron and steel).

“We considered and dismissed 8 of 10 potential processes . . . including volcanism, warfare, and tectonism, that can account for at least some but not all of the evidence. We conclude that the only plausible formation mechanism that can account for the entire range of evidence . . . is a crater-forming impact or a cosmic airburst, most likely somewhat larger than the 22-megaton airburst at Tunguska, Siberia in 1908.”

Translation: They considered 10 different scenarios to account for the destruction evidence at the site and eliminated all but two. The only two possibilities left that could account for the evidence were a comet or meteor that impacted the ground or exploded in the air nearby.

“The data also suggest an airburst occurred a few kilometers SW of Tall el-Hammam causing, in rapid succession, a high-temperature thermal pulse from the fireball that melted exposed materials, including roofing clay, mudbricks, and pottery. This was followed by a high-temperature, hypervelocity blast wave that demolished and pulverized mudbrick walls across the city, leveling the city, and causing extensive human mortality.”

Translation: The evidence indicates that a comet or meteor exploded in the air near the northern end of the Dead Sea southwest of the city, generating a flash of heat in the thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, melting mud bricks (the city’s primary construction material), clay roofing material and pottery. A secondary high-temperature, high-speed pressure wave pulverized and leveled the city, killing everyone in it.

“In addition, anomalously high salt content in the debris matrix is consistent with an aerial detonation above high-salinity sediments near the Jordan River or above the hypersaline Dead Sea. This event, in turn, distributed salt across the region, severely limiting regional agricultural development for up to ~ 600 years.”

Translation: Abnormally high salt content in the destruction layer and across the area for miles around led researchers to conclude that an aerial blast vaporized a large volume of water from the high-salt-content Dead Sea. That salt, with other minerals from the Dead Sea, later settled out over the land in such a heavy concentration that raising crops—and thus human habitation—was almost impossible for the next several centuries.

A message of warning and repentance

With all that has been discovered at this site, and with all that has been documented regarding its destruction, what if this is the location of ancient Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding towns? What if Sodom has been found?

But there’s an even more important question: What if our world is returning to Sodom? What are the lessons for us today?

Beyond Today magazine exists to proclaim to the world the good news of the coming Kingdom of God (Matthew 28:19-20; 24:14). We have been commanded to preach the gospel to the world, and in particular to the modern-day descendants of ancient Israel. That includes the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. (Most people assume the Israelites today are only the Jewish people and those in the tiny Mideast nation of Israel, but that is not the case—read our eye-opening study guide The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy to learn more.)

What if they won’t listen and repent? What if they won’t hear?

Notice the commission Jesus Christ gave to His apostles in Matthew 10: “Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: ‘Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep . . . If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave. I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day” (verses 5-6, 14-15, New Living Translation).

Many secular historians and scientists would dispute any claim for the literal existence of Sodom, insisting the biblical story is a myth, in spite of the many geographic clues contained within the Bible. And many still would deny it even in the face of new evidence.

Even many who claim to be Christians doubt stories of divine judgment like that of Sodom. But if Sodom were nothing but a myth, why would Jesus Himself use it as a warning?

Sodom is mentioned nine times in the New Testament, most often by Jesus Himself. Why would He talk about a place that never existed and that was never destroyed supernaturally? That makes no sense. We have to conclude that Sodom was a real place at a real time with real sins.

And as we see in Matthew 10, why is the example of Sodom put alongside proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God?

The answer is simple. A key component of that message is repentance—changing who and what we are so that we can be a part of that Kingdom. Notice how Mark summarizes Jesus Christ’s message in Mark 1:14-15: “Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”

We cannot separate those two elements of the message Jesus Christ brought. He is the King of the Kingdom, a Kingdom He will return to earth to establish throughout the world (see our free study guide The Gospel of the Kingdom). But for us to be a part of that Kingdom, we must “repent . . . and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).

A world returning to Sodom

The ruins of Sodom stand as a stark warning to the people of our world today. They are a sobering reminder of the consequences of sin.

Do you think God is pleased with our world? What must He think of the modern English-speaking nations whose ancestors widely distributed the Bible to the world and based their societies, laws and culture on it?

What must He think of the millions of lives these same nations have murdered in the womb? What does He think of our sexual revolution? What about the confusing versions and redefinitions of gender beyond the male and female He created? (Genesis 1:27; 5:2; Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6). What about our broken marriages, high crime, drugs, broken-down cities, murder and dying respect for laws and the value of life?

Are we returning to Sodom? Have we already returned to Sodom? Look at the state of the world around you. We are on the precipice of divine judgment on this world. Notice what Jesus Christ said to the people of His day who witnessed His miracles and heard His message, yet refused to repent and change their lives:

“And you Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven [in their arrogance], will be brought down to Hades [the grave]; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:23-24).

This should also serve as a dire warning for our end-time generation. We are worse today than ancient Sodom was, as we should know better! Sodom’s destruction was an example for all of us to learn from.

Jude, half-brother of Jesus Christ, similarly warns us: “Don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment” (Jude 7, NLT).

God’s Word is clear that devastating destruction is coming on our world. Read Jesus Christ’s own words in Matthew 24 and His revelation to the apostle John in the book of Revelation, chapters 6, 8-9 and 12-18. Some of the plagues foretold to strike our planet are like the destruction of Sodom multiplied many times over.

God’s pattern—often repeated in the Bible—is to give words of warning before sending destruction. It would be just like God to give powerful witnesses to the truth and accuracy of His Word as a final witness to the world before His judgment is carried out!

Is Tall el-Hammam the location of Sodom? For now the research and excavations continue. More evidence will come to light. In any case, the message of Sodom is one that calls for repentance, which is our message as well. Each of us must not get caught up in a world which grows more like Sodom by the day. Destruction awaits those who will not repent.

How will you let this affect your mind, your thoughts and your life? Are you actively seeking to live by every word of God in your life (Matthew 4:4), or is God and His Word an inconvenient truth you’d rather ignore?

Will anyone listen? Will you listen? What if Sodom has indeed been found? Will the Word of God be heard? Will you heed? We pray it will be so in your life!

The Location of Sodom: What Does the Bible Say?

Is the biblical story of Sodom real or only a fanciful myth? When we examine the biblical evidence, it reveals a consistent story about a specific location—one that may prove to be ancient Sodom itself.

by Scott Ashley

Was Sodom a real city? The biblical story of its fiery destruction due to its wickedness sounds like a fantasy to many, so it’s often been dismissed as a fable. But do we have real evidence for the existence of Sodom and its destruction? Evidence for a large-scale cataclysmic destruction event in the lower Jordan Valley that destroyed many towns is covered in the lead article in this issue, “What If Sodom Has Been Found?”

But was Sodom one of those cities destroyed in that event? If Sodom was real, where was it located? Does evidence point us to a specific location?

Sodom’s first mention in the Bible

Sodom appears quite early in the biblical account, first on the borderland of Canaan in Genesis 10:19 and then in Genesis 13 with the story of the patriarch Abraham. He was a wealthy man, “very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold” (verse 2). He was traveling with his nephew Lot, who “had flocks and herds and tents” of his own (verse 5). Today we would call them Bedouins—large tent-dwelling extended families and servants with their families who traveled from place to place where they could find sufficient pasturage for their herds of sheep, goats and camels.

We break into the story flow when Abraham, then named Abram, and Lot were “between Bethel and Ai” (verse 3), towns located in the mountains a few miles north of modern-day Jerusalem. There the two men had a problem: “Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock” (verses 6-7).

There simply wasn’t enough grass to feed all of the animals they owned. Abraham generously offered a solution to Lot: “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren [or family]. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

“And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom” (verses 10-12). And then the Bible adds this ominous footnote: “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.”

Pointing the way to Sodom

Let’s examine what we’re told here about the location of Sodom based on the markers given in the biblical text. We are grateful to Dr. Steven Collins, dean of the College of Archaeology and Biblical History at Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for highlighting these markers and his extensive research on the subject (readers can learn more at tallelhammam.com).

As seen on the accompanying map, Bethel and Ai are close together north of Jerusalem. They are on the hilly mountainous ridge that runs north-south roughly down the middle of the land of Israel. From here “Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan” (the Jordan River Valley), and “that it was well watered everywhere,” like the Garden of Eden and Egypt, lush because of the Nile River (verse 10).

From these mountains overlooking the Jordan River Valley, Lot chose that lush area and “journeyed east . . . and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom” (verse 12). This tells us Lot’s direction of travel—east—and where he settled, at Sodom. So Sodom was somewhere east of Bethel and Ai in the Jordan River Valley north of the Dead Sea.

We can further identify the location of Sodom when we examine the Hebrew word kikkar, translated “plain” here in verses 10, 11 and 12. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament explains that this word means “something round, such as a coin (a talent); a district; a loaf of bread [that is, a round flatbread or pita]. It indicates something round, dish-shaped, circular . . .” It does mean something flat, as with our English word “plain,” but more specifically something flat and round or circular —disk-shaped, like the objects mentioned.

Referring to the map again, note the large circular plain just north of the Dead Sea, which fits this description perfectly. I’ve stood in this plain and it’s remarkable how the mountains to the north and south curve around and inward at the north and south to form this large disklike area. Bisecting this round plain is the Jordan River, and flowing from the mountains to the east and west are a number of streams and wadis that, centuries ago, would have truly made this area “well-watered everywhere,” just as described in the Bible.

Interestingly, eight different Hebrew words are translated “plain” in the Bible in referring to a level area, valley, meadow or low place. The word kikkar is translated “plain” only in connection with this one area—the circular “plain” of the Jordan River Valley. Thus kikkar seems to describe only this specific geographic/geologic feature in the Jordan River Valley—better translated the “disk of the Jordan.”

And on the eastern edge of this disk, directly east of Bethel and Ai, lies a huge buried city at a location today called in Arabic Tall el-Hammam. Dr. Collins and his archaeological team have excavated the site for 15 seasons and have found powerful evidence pointing to it as the likely site of ancient Sodom (see “What If Sodom Has Been Found?” beginning on page 4).

Problems with a southern Dead Sea location

These geographic and directional markers from the Bible present a major problem for the view that Sodom and the other cities of the plain were located near or under what is today the southern end of the Dead Sea, as indicated in many Bible maps and charts.

That view was popularized with excavations at some settlements in that area long ago. However, research has shown that those settlements were abandoned far earlier than any reasonable date for the biblical story of Sodom. No physical evidence exists for placing Sodom and the cities of the plain in that area.

The Bible’s description of Sodom being in the “well watered” plain of the Jordan also does not fit a location near the southern end of the Dead Sea, since the Jordan River enters the northern end of the Dead Sea but no river enters or exits at the south. Nor are there major springs and streams in that area.

Another problem with this view is that the southern end of the Dead Sea is nowhere near Bethel and Ai, the area where Abraham and Lot looked out over the plain and separated, with Lot traveling east to Sodom. The southern end of the Dead Sea isn’t even visible from where Abraham and Lot were when they made this agreement, as it was blocked from view by mountains. Only the northern part of the Dead Sea is visible from the area where Abraham and Lot were.

Some argue that Lot merely initially went to the east side of the Jordan Valley and much later ranged far toward a southern Sodom. But that is not the sense of Genesis 13:12, with Sodom being among the cities of the kikkar (compare Genesis 19:25, 29).

Sodom and the cities of the plain

The Bible gives us other clues about the location of Sodom and its surroundings. Genesis 14:1-17 records a brief war between city-states. From Mesopotamia came kings of Babylon and nearby countries with their forces. Another local alliance of the rulers of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela/Zoar, who had been subject to the Mesopotamians, rebelled when the first group was returning from a military campaign in the south.

They battled in the “Valley of Siddim,” referring to the area surrounding the Dead Sea (verses 3, 10). The ruler of Sodom was defeated along with his allies, and the victors headed north with their plunder—which included Abraham’s nephew Lot among the captives taken. Abraham pursued them with his own small private army, overtook them and rescued his nephew.

From this account we learn more about Sodom. It was part of an alliance with four other cities that were “joined together” in this area, showing they were near each other (verse 3). Also, when the Bible repeatedly links two cities or towns together, as we see with “Sodom and Gomorrah” in this chapter and more than a dozen other places in the Bible, this indicates that the two are geographically very close to one another—typically only a mile or two (or less) apart.

From the site of Tall el-Hammam, which a growing number of scholars are accepting as the location of ancient Sodom, one can see several mounds in which the remains of other ancient cities are buried, including one about a mile north that may be Gomorrah. Others nearby may well be some of the other “cities of the plain.” Archaeological evidence shows that all these cities, along with dozens of smaller towns and settlements in the area, were abandoned at the same time and not resettled for the next 300 to 600 years.

While not conclusive, this evidence is certainly consistent with the likelihood that Tall el-Hammam could indeed be the location of ancient Sodom.

Further evidence from the Bible

The Bible gives other hints that are consistent with this being the likely location of Sodom.

Genesis 19 describes the sudden destruction of Sodom: “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (verses 24-25).

Again, the archaeological evidence shows that the entire area around Tall el-Hammam was abandoned for the next three to six centuries. Much of the soil was saturated with such a high salt content that agriculture—and thus human habitation—was impossible for centuries after.

The possible explanation for this elevated salt content, as described in the accompanying article “What If Sodom Has Been Found?”, is that a comet or meteor explosion near the northern end of the Dead Sea vaporized thousands of tons of salt-laden Dead Sea water, which later rained down from the sky and poisoned the land for miles around.

The Bible also tells us that after this fiery destruction came from the sky, Abraham, now living near Hebron, “looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace” (Genesis 19:28). Abraham’s location was in the mountains west of the Dead Sea. He could’ve easily seen the smoke of such vast destruction from there, and with a short hike to a nearby hilltop he could’ve looked at the northern end of the Dead Sea and directly seen the devastated landscape.

We discover yet another clue centuries later when the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land from what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Numbers 21 recounts part of their journey, including a stop at Pisgah, which is very near Mt. Nebo—a popular tourist stop today and the spot where Moses looked across the Jordan Valley to the Promised Land before his death. The key phrase to note here is in verse 20, where Mt. Pisgah “looks down on the wasteland”—speaking of the Jordan River Valley spread out below it.

Of itself this doesn’t seem to mean much. But keep in mind that, centuries earlier, Abraham and Lot had looked across that same valley from the opposite (western) side and it was described as “well watered everywhere” (Genesis 13:10) and like the Garden of Eden. But now it is described as “the wasteland.” The lush, well-watered valley that looked so attractive to Lot was now, centuries later, a desolate, abandoned wasteland!

What had happened between those two events? The Bible tells us. God rained fiery destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby cities and villages, burning them to ash and cinders. It became a wasteland, and it was still a wasteland centuries later.

So what does the Bible tell us about the location of Sodom? Actually, it reveals a great deal. The evidence points strongly toward Tall el-Hammam being a likely candidate for the site of ancient Sodom. It’s in the right place, at the right time, with the right scientific evidence pointing toward a sudden fiery destruction! The study and research will continue, and no doubt further discoveries will come to light.

In the meantime, what is important is that we heed the apostle Peter’s warning in 2 Peter 2:6 (Christian Standard Bible): God “reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly.” We pray that you and all have ears to hear!

Are We Returning to Sodom?

Sodom and its neighboring city of Gomorrah have long been seen as examples of God’s judgment on degeneracy and evil. With what could prove to be the discovery of ancient Sodom and evidence of its fiery destruction as described in the Bible, we should ask a key question: Are we returning to Sodom?

by Darris McNeely

Twice I have stood on the site of what evidence increasingly points to as ancient Sodom. Both were sobering experiences. Looking out over the plain of the Jordan Valley and thinking about the destruction that rained down from the skies on the cities whose presence became reprehensible to God was an unforgettable experience.

During visits to Jordan observing the biblical Feast of Tabernacles, part of our group decided to take the trek to Tall el-Hammam. Work was just about to begin by archaeologists to peel back the layers of this large mound near the northern edge of the Dead Sea overlooking the flat plains that lead to Jericho and the hills of Israel beyond. That was 16 years ago.

Much more is known about the site now. A recent archaeology conference included reports from project director Dr. Steven Collins and scientific analysis director Dr. Phillip Silvia. A major peer-reviewed paper has been published, and more may conclude that ancient Sodom has been found.

Any archaeological discovery that confirms the truth of the Bible is important. Skeptics have dismissed much of the biblical record, especially the stories and characters of Genesis.

In Genesis we find the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities symbolizing societal decadence through history. For their grave sins God rained fire from the sky on them and nearby cities, destroying all of Sodom’s inhabitants except for Lot and his two daughters. Now, in the 21st century, archaeology reveals evidence of a catastrophic cosmic event in the land of the Bible that laid waste to a large ancient city fitting ancient Sodom’s description.

What the Bible tells us about the sins of these cities is a sobering indictment of the direction of modern culture, as today’s culture is much like that of Sodom. At issue in the culture wars that have spread through America and other nations is the intent of many to alter the essential fabric of the family and society as we have always known it. It’s critical that you understand what God’s Word teaches us about Sodom, its sins and the connection to our modern culture.

Sodom’s story

The story of Sodom begins in Genesis 13 where we see Abraham (then called Abram) and his nephew Lot living in the land of Canaan between Bethel and Ai. Both men had larger flocks and herds than that section of land could support. There were more animals than pastureland. Conflict arose between their workers, and it was evident they would need to separate for the sake of peace. Abraham gave Lot the first choice of where to settle: “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me” (Genesis 13:8-9).

The spot where this occurred was on the hills above the Jordan River Valley. Both men could look out and see the valley was “well-watered everywhere . . . like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt” (verse 10). The hill country where they were had its advantages, but the valley of the Jordan was prime real estate in that mostly arid land.

Lot, given first choice, headed toward the Jordan. So they separated, and Lot journeyed eastward and ended up settling at Sodom. (Tall el-Hammam, where Collins’ team is excavating, was in Abraham’s time a large city covering about 90 acres on the eastern edge of the valley.) By entering Sodom and moving into a permanent home, Lot was abandoning life out among his flocks, opting for a more settled existence in a city where a very different—and thoroughly evil—lifestyle dominated.

Note the contrast in this scene. Abraham, staying in the hills of Canaan and maintaining a rural life, was blessed by God. “Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you,” God told him (verse 17, English Standard Version). Abraham showed his respect and worship toward God by erecting an altar of sacrifice (verse 18).

Lot, on the other hand, chose to move closer to and then proceed into an environment full of sin (verse 13). It eventually changed his pattern of life, with him and his family now cut off from fellowship with his uncle with whom he shared faith in the one true God. The decision, as we will see, had a deeply negative impact on the family.

What was the culture of Sodom?

The attraction of Sodom from a distance was obvious—it lay in a rich and fertile area, where his herds could thrive. But as he continued in the vicinity, he was eventually drawn into the city itself.

Sodom’s culture no doubt attracted many to move to be close to the activities and attractions which fed the affluent lifestyle of the city and its neighbors. Sodom was a boom town. Business was good. The wealth helped create a high standard of living, allowing people to build and buy goods and sell them to others along the supply routes of the day. Food was plentiful. Life here offered Lot and his family a welcome diversion from the harder shepherding life they were used to.

We find him sitting in the gate of the city when the two angels arrive years later warning him to leave in advance of God’s imminent judgment. The gate of the city was the public square, the center of city business and government, and Lot enjoyed some prominence there. He clearly lived a different life in Sodom than the one he had in Canaan with Abraham. Yet Sodom’s affluence came with a dark underside of terrible immorality.

We have several commentaries on Sodom outside of Genesis. Some 2,000 years later Jesus made this comment: “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building” (Luke 17:28). Eating and drinking and buying and selling is not wrong. The context of Christ’s statement is a description of the end of the age. He also references the time of Noah with the same words and the addition of people marrying and getting on with life.

In these two examples we see people failing to heed a warning message to change their lives in the face of coming judgment. The times of Noah and Sodom represent a time of darkness in which people were blind as to where conditions were headed. With Noah, only he and his immediate family—eight people—heeded and were spared. Only four from one family got out of Sodom alive, but even then one looked back and perished with the rest.

When the time came for God’s judgment, people’s lives were not tempered and measured by a seriousness that could have allowed them to heed a message of repentance. Regarding coming events, Jesus told us to “remember Lot’s wife” (verse 32). This shows us how important the lesson is. She had escaped but then made the mistake of looking back. It cost her her life.

The prophet Ezekiel said Sodom’s people had “pride, excess food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:49-50, ESV). Their “abomination” refers to gross immorality, as we read about in Genesis. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Sucked in by a sinful culture

What these accounts tell us is that good, well-intentioned people can get mesmerized by a culture and sucked into it even if they do not practice the worst parts of the sinful lifestyle themselves. Today more than half of Americans are accepting of same-sex marriage, made legal in all 50 states via a Supreme Court ruling in which five men and women overruled the holy Word of God.

Surveys now indicate many younger adults consider the LGBTQ+ culture as acceptable. A recent study conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that over 30 percent of Millennials, and a shocking 39 percent of “young Millennials” (aged 18-24), now themselves identify as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer or questioning). People in this age group were also found to overwhelmingly (75%) say that they “lack meaning and purpose in life.”

This study about the rising influence of Millennials has revealed that roughly a third of the nearly 70 million adults that make up America’s most populous generation now identify as LGBTQ. This represents a fivefold increase among this highly influential demographic in less than a decade. The influence of media, academia, education, government and politics contributes to this dramatic statistic. It means more and more people are accepting of and then participating in this lifestyle.

You might ask yourself, Am I part of the problem? How much are you sucked into this alluring and deceptive culture? How much has it influenced you? Most of us enjoy comfortable lives. We have plenty of food. We live in good homes with high-speed Internet and all the technology to stay connected to this digital world. I am right there with you. I must watch myself. I’m as susceptible as you or anyone else to being pulled into this modern maelstrom that is becoming more and more like Sodom by the day.

This modern age, like Sodom, is designed to lure us into a well-watered valley of ease, convenience and pleasure. It tempts us to turn from God and all the right influences that can keep us on the narrow path of righteousness. This story of Lot and Sodom has much to teach us, and much to warn us about. Let’s continue with the story.

Not even 10 righteous could be found

It was a hot day when three men appeared before Abraham in his camp. Recognizing these were no ordinary guests—and as it turned out they were the Lord and two angels appearing in human form—Abraham ordered a large feast prepared. As they left, intending to investigate firsthand the conditions of Sodom, Abraham went a short distance with them.

The Lord revealed to Abraham his plan to see what was happening up close: “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20-21).

The two angels went on toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord. He began one of history’s great negotiations. Surely God would not destroy the cities if there were good people present, destroying the righteous with the wicked, Abraham argued. The talk progressed from 50 good men down to 10—and God would withhold destruction for the sake of 10 righteous. God then went His way and Abraham returned to his camp.

A principle was revealed here. God will spare populations from disaster if there are sufficient numbers who follow His ways. But in Sodom not even 10 righteous could be found in a city of tens of thousands. Though Lot himself with some immediately family were spared, this was only through God leading them out from where His judgment was directed. And herein is another principle: God spares the righteous in His judgments on the world. (Of course, we also know that God allows the righteous to suffer and die in some circumstances, but only within His care and oversight—see Isaiah 57:1-2.)

Sodom’s depravity and destruction

Upon entering Sodom the two angels encountered Lot sitting in the gate of the city. Lot showed he had not lost his sense of hospitality and urged the angels to come to his home for lodging. That Lot wouldn’t take “no” for an answer indicates he knew two strangers in the city would not be safe from danger.

Shockingly, a crowd of young and old men from the city surrounded the house, yelling to Lot to bring out the two “that we may know them carnally” (Genesis 19:5). Far from being hospitable to guests, these men wanted, horrifically, to gang-rape the visitors!

The quick action of the two angels in grabbing Lot and dragging him back into his home interrupted the confrontation. Striking the crowd blind prevented further intrusion. The women in the home must have been terrified. Lot was given a brief opportunity to warn his two sons-in-law of the city’s coming destruction, but they thought it all a joke and wouldn’t join him in fleeing. They would soon regret their decision.

The next morning came, and the two angels urged Lot to take his wife and daughters and flee into the nearby mountains. The judgment of God was soon to arrive. The angels literally dragged them from the city, and they fled to the nearby town of Zoar.

As Lot took temporary shelter in Zoar, “the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah . . . So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (verses 23-25). The smoke and fire rose so high that Abraham could see the conflagration from around his camp near present-day Hebron, south of Jerusalem.

A “Sodom moment” today

Sodom and Gomorrah enter the Bible and history as bywords for God’s judgment on sin. But is there a deeper imprint we might take that has relevance to today’s world?

Western society is having a “Sodom moment.” The cultural perversity against the natural order that is sodomy and homosexuality has recently expanded to include the gender identity war encapsulated in the LGBTQ label.

This acronym more broadly defines the coalition of activists, politicians, university and media elite, and even some in the scientific community advocating for not only the acceptance of same-sex marriage but more perniciously the transgender movement which works to encourage, facilitate and legalize “gender reassignments” for any person of any age.

Where has this madness brought us? In the United States, a 13-year-old in the state of Washington can begin “gender affirming” therapy without the consent of her parents. In Oregon an underage girl can decide to undergo a double mastectomy without the knowledge or consent of her parents.

This push is helped along by the disintegration of the nuclear family and the incredible force of social media and its conformist pressures. Trans activists use social media to push the lie that a convenient application of testosterone will cure a girl’s self-image problems. We have moved from the devastation of bulimia and anorexia to the actual attempt to defy nature and transform to another gender as a cure for depression, anxiety or even excess body fat.

Author Abigail Shrier, writing in the June/July 2021 issue of Imprimus, rightly asserts that truth is subverted and lies are told to advance this new gender ideology: “Lies are told about the risks of the transitional treatment administered to young children. Lies are told about the researchers and journalists who attempt to report on the crisis of social contagion among teenage girls undergoing transition treatments” (p. 5).

Shrier reveals a vital point she learned from her experience with young women “detransitioning”—going back to their natural gender at birth. “While they were transitioning, they were angry and politically radical,” she said. “They often cut off relations with their families, having been coached to do so online by gender activists” (p. 7).

Chaos, she says, is the result. Troubled girls become prey for those who seek to recruit revolutionaries. Just as the destructive objective of critical race theory is to divide Americans racially, that of gender ideology is to disrupt the formation of stable families, the building blocks of American life” (ibid.).

She concludes by noting the fact that the ranks of Antifa in riots and protests on the streets of Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis contained a number of angry, gender-confused people who were taking out their rage on police precincts, public buildings and established order.

On the brink of disaster

Is it really that far from the scenes we’ve witnessed of roving bands of lawless attackers on American streets to the scene of angry, confused, blinded men in Sodom trying to break into the home of Lot to assault his two visitors—especially with the shocking jump in sexual and gender confusion and the push to eliminate police? The sin of Sodom that reached the presence of God, bringing a fiery judgment to cauterize the land, was a culture consumed with moral and spiritual uncleanness—and of “pride” in that, a foretaste of today’s pride movement.

Elements of the Greco-Roman culture of the first century resembled that of Sodom. The apostle Paul wrote about this to the Church members in Rome, explaining where the rejection of God that produced such thinking leads: “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what was against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was their due” (Romans 1:26-27).

America and the other Western nations are experiencing a return to Sodom today. The LGBTQ-led gender ideology is the modern equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah. Its lies, its perverse actions, its war against the “natural order” of God’s creation and against God Himself rise to heaven and invite the same judgment that came upon Sodom. It is not a question of if it will come, but when it will come.

The apostle Peter wrote about Sodom in the context of God’s judgment at the end of the age. Showing God’s judgment as inevitable and unsparing, he writes that God “turn[ed] the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).

Peter’s words will see a future fulfillment in the coming period of Great Tribulation culminating in the Day of the Lord, when God will bring judgment on the nations. Yet even amid the pouring out of the “bowls of the wrath of God” in Revelation 16, many will still refuse to turn from their rejection of God and His ways: “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (verses 1, 8-9). May we turn to God long before that!

Our current culture wars are returning us to the age of Sodom. Are the finds archaeologists are uncovering at a site that could be this ancient city be a witness to us today that God did pour out His judgment on Sodom? Could it be that evidence of God’s past action in the world is coming to light as a warning to listen carefully and take God and the Bible seriously?

Whether or not this site ultimately proves to be ancient Sodom, the evidence for Sodom’s destruction has been in the Bible all along—and it is there for you to heed. May God give you wisdom to act!

Current Events & Trends: January/February 2022

An overview of events and conditions around the world featured in the January/February 2022 issue of Beyond Today.

by Beyond Today Editor

The year ahead: The world faces a perilous moment

As the past year was ending, Oliver Wiseman of The Spectator pointed out: “From Ukraine to Taiwan, from Iran’s nuclear proliferation to a burgeoning shadow war in space, the nature of threats to America are changing. And one cannot but feel that all of this is approaching an uncomfortable pinch point . . . That the president will be forced into a choice between major action and a humiliating admission of powerlessness” (“A Perilous Moment for America—and Biden,” The Spectator World, Dec. 7).

“Most worrying of all,” he continued, “is the way in which the perception of vulnerability can become self-fulfilling. This, belligerent powers may conclude, is the time to act.”

And he went on to say: “Every now and then, one can almost feel history happening. The footage of an Afghan tumbling from the sky as he lost his grip on a US airplane departing Kabul in August was one such moment . . . A page had been turned. You cannot help but feel that we are at an epochal moment. And you cannot shake the doubts about US leaders’ ability to meet that moment.”

In this issue’s Current Events & Trends items, we consider some challenges for the year ahead.

Looming military threats from Russia, China and Iran

The Afghanistan disaster, ongoing concerns over the Biden administration’s foreign policy acumen and the American military’s new focus on diversity and countering supposed climate change and  “white rage” raise serious questions about the ability to handle rising threats abroad. This is especially so in the face of escalating tensions with Russia, China and Iran. Says Gerald Seib in The Wall Street Journal: “Any one of these standoffs has the potential to shake the world order and produce wider conflict. Taken together, they signal that the U.S. and its allies are at a dangerous moment—perhaps more dangerous than many Americans realize” (“Three Potential Crises Unfold on the World Stage,” Dec. 6, 2021).

As of mid-December, the most immediate concern is the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has aimed at restoring the glory of Russia’s empire, and he looks at Ukraine as part of the borderland with traditional enemies in Europe. The idea of Ukraine being incorporated into Europe and even the NATO alliance is anathema in his and other Russian leaders’ eyes. Putin has certainly been emboldened by his earlier annexation of Crimea from Ukraine during the Obama-Biden administration—and now we have the Afghanistan fallout.

“The Chinese threat to Taiwan appears to be on a longer and slower track, but it is no less serious,” Seib points out. To better understand the conflict here, read “The United States and China: Destined for War?” in the November-December 2021 issue of Beyond Today. Sadly, many in U.S. federal and state governments and corporate sectors and media are heavily compromised with financial entanglements with this growing world power.

More alarming still is the new cooperation between traditional enemies Russia and China. Past U.S. policy has been to keep them from being friendlier to one another than to the West—balancing them against one another. But new U.S. administration policies and rhetoric have been driving these powers together—along with the third recognized threat of Iran.

“For its part,” Seib comments, “Iran’s belligerent stand in negotiations in recent days, combined with stepped-up uranium enrichment, suggests it is determined to at least reach the threshold of acquiring a nuclear weapon. The U.S. might even decide it has to accept that—though Israel likely wouldn’t, which means the chances of hostilities are growing daily.” Iran’s extremist leaders have been pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of not only increased prestige and influence but actually using them to bring about Islamic end-time expectations. They have also desired to use nukes or other means to disable America’s electrical and electronic infrastructure through electromagnetic pulse, as we have written about before.

And that threat is not exclusively from Iran, but also rests with China, North Korea and Russia.

Marxist tyranny expands

The entire world is in the increasing grip of tyranny. From strict Covid rules that go far beyond science to attempts to restructure society as a whole in the name of economic and racial justice and saving the planet from the claimed looming menace of climate change, government overreach in regulating people’s lives is happening on a scale never before seen in the modern world.

A process of indoctrination in Western society has for a long while now been pulling people further from traditional biblical values

toward progressive liberal and outright socialist ideology—and it is now in full bloom.

Justice and righting past wrongs are used as excuses to implement what used to be recognized as blatantly evil. The promotion of critical race theory has not healed hurts but has rather inflamed old wounds and stirred up new animosity by finding racism around every corner and judging everything on the basis of skin color rather than, as Martin Luther King Jr. called for, the content of our character.

Parents in the United States vocally objecting in school board meetings to the sexual immorality and distorted worldview being taught to or put before their children were shockingly tagged by the federal justice department as insurrectionists and domestic terrorists.

Yet at the same time, the same justice department and other progressive politicians are promoting a massive influx of illegal immigration and allowing serious crimes to go unchecked and unpunished, with criminals being released and local law enforcement being called on to stand down or even disband. Confusion and rage abound—and the division at every level stokes class warfare. Of course, it’s not just in America. The entire Western world is experiencing this same assault. And it will yet grow worse.

Policies that crush the poor

The prophet Amos decried those “who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,” or “who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail” (Amos 4:1; 8:4). It’s often imagined that the references here are simply to wealthy people as takers and government officials who neglect to institute huge social welfare programs. Those who push massive taxes on the wealthy, big government spending and welfare programs say they are helping the poor—and many may even believe this. But this is not reality.

If the wealthy are taxed exorbitantly, they will not be able to hire and pay workers—hurting the poorer people who need jobs to earn a living. The massive government debt spending we’re seeing advocated today to supposedly help infrastructure and the environment ends up crushing the poor. Much of the money is pocketed by special interests, paying off favors. The vast creation of currency out of thin air, along with government shutdowns, makes the prices of goods go up as more dollars chase fewer items. The cutting off of self-sufficiency in fossil fuels further drives up heating oil and fuel prices, making the price of transported goods—which includes virtually everything—go up even more, and not just to stores but to and from manufacturing plants. The cost of everything we buy goes sky high.

Demands that everyone be vaccinated or lose jobs, which happened on a large scale before courts intervened, caused many to be without pay and many others to not have the goods and services those out of work had been facilitating—or to have them at higher cost. The result is fewer people working when things cost more.

Who is hurt by all of this? It’s not so much wealthy individuals and large companies, who have a significant cushion and make money from investments. These are better able to weather such times and even still profit in many cases—sometimes making out exceedingly well due to government and corporate collusion. No, it’s the poor and middle class who suffer. It’s people who live paycheck to paycheck. These people are devastated by the policies that are supposedly being put in place to help them. It is all a huge lie.

The way for government to help the poor is through guaranteeing open opportunity and equality under the law and promoting charity instead of tax-and-spend redistribution. Moreover, the government should live within its means rather than making debt slaves of following generations. Some will label these mere political matters that Christians should have no concern over. Yet they are clearly moral issues concerning theft versus providing for the needy. The Bible has much to say about such evils.

Western culture war rages on—how will it end?

Societal transformation marches on in America and throughout the Western world. Sadly, the number of U.S. homes with a traditional nuclear family of husband and wife and kids fell to a record low in 2021—17.8 percent of homes, down from 18.6 percent the previous year (and down from 40 percent in 1970) (Bloomberg News, Dec. 3, 2021).

Along with this news comes the disturbing report that a new study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, directed by George Barna, has found that over 30 percent of U.S. Millennials, basically those now in their 20s and 30s, now identify as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning). That’s up from 8.4 percent in 2018 and thus a giant increase in just three years. Barna told Newsweek that the increase is particularly driven by social and news media coverage pushing LGBTQ as “safe and cool.”

Other revealing statistics from this report are that 29 percent of young Millennials (18-24) were counted as having a mental disorder, less than a third of Millennials say they believe in God, and 75 percent say they lack meaning and purpose in life. Nearly half (48 percent) say they prefer socialism over capitalism. Of course, these things all go together. (See Millennials in America, October 2021; “Nearly 40 Percent of U.S. Gen Zs, 30 Percent of Young Christians Identify as LGBTQ, Poll Shows,” Newsweek, Oct. 20, 2021.)

The American Medical Association, the country’s largest group of physicians, came out with a recommendation this past year that birth certificates stop listing male or female, as it “fails to recognize the medical spectrum of gender identity,” noting that “participation by the medical profession and the government in assigning sex is often used as evidence supporting this binary view,” leading to “marginalization and minoritization.”

Thankfully there are many who still stand opposed to such trends—particularly against the terrible scourge of abortion. A case was recently brought before the U.S. Supreme Court that could lead to the overturning of or restrictions on the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion. Let us pray for that. Yet the state of California announced not long after that if this were to happen, it would act as a sanctuary state for keeping abortion legal and would even sickeningly pay people to come there for abortions.

Later this year will see U.S. midterm elections that, by poll indications, could help hold back some of the cultural onslaught for a while. But sad to say, the track record on the progress of immorality with changing political parties is often two steps forward and one step back (or no stepping back)—it keeps advancing regardless of which political party is in power. A great many politicians embrace the LGBTQ agenda and other progressive policies, regardless of party affiliation.

The fact is, our society is getting worse and worse. But evil will not win in the end. There is an end in sight—through the good news of Jesus Christ returning to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. May God guide you until that wonderful day!

What Does Archaeology Tell Us About the Bible?

How has the Bible fared when archaeologists have compared their findings with the record of Scripture?

by Noel Hornor

Archaeology is the recovery and study of the material remains of past people’s lives and activities. It involves the excavation and systematic study of their tools, weapons, cookware, inscriptions and other objects and remains. Biblical archaeology is a smaller subset of the broader field of archaeology, limited to the study of ancient civilizations in the ancient Middle East, the geographical setting of the events recorded in the Bible.

Modern biblical archaeology is a fascinating and sometimes controversial subject. Its aim, in general, is to compare the findings of archaeology to the writings of the Bible. Biblical archaeologists seek to establish the historicity, or the lack thereof, of the people, places and events of the Bible.

For many centuries the events of the Bible were accepted as true history. The great sagas of the Bible were approved as accurate down to the smallest details. However, with the arrival of the “Enlightenment” of the 17th and 18th centuries, this outlook began to change. Scholars began to exalt human reason and scientific exploration above the Bible, mounting a frontal attack on Scripture.

Biblical heroes and other towering personalities, as well as their experiences as recorded in Scripture, came to be considered by many scholars as mere myths. The existence of mighty empires, some of which were recorded in the Bible as having ruled for centuries, was doubted or even denied. Skepticism became the rule of the day among “critical” scholars.

Where previous generations had taken the Bible at face value, now a supposedly enlightened generation viewed it with doubt. The net effect was to deal a staggering blow to the credibility of the Bible in the minds of many people.

Earlier, when the Bible was translated into several languages in the post-Reformation era after the comparative illiteracy of the Middle Ages, the Bible had become for many people their one and only textbook of ancient history. They regarded it as the unerring Word of God.

But, after the tinkering of critical scholars, the Bible began to be viewed as suspect by many historians. English historian Arnold Toynbee summed up their view when he referred to the Old Testament as merely “human compositions of varying degrees of religious and historical merit.” He further stated that those who accepted it as factual “set a religious premium on an obstinate stupidity” (A Study of History, Vol. 10, 1957, p. 260).

Given this mindset, archaeologists who sought to excavate and evaluate the ruins of past ages and to report the credibility of the Bible in an honest manner faced an uphill struggle. The field of science in general had grown biased against the Bible, with some archaeologists themselves among the leading critics.

The testimony of history

Sir William M. Ramsay, first professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford, was a product of a mid-19th-century education and of this pervasive antibiblical bias. He had believed the historical accounts in the book of Acts had been written not in the time of the apostolic Church, but considerably later—in the mid-second century. If this were true, the biblical book of Acts could not have been written by Luke, the traveling companion of the apostle Paul, and could only be a fabricated history.

Luke claimed to have been with Paul as the two men trudged over the extensive road system of the Roman Empire. He wrote as one who watched as Paul was used by God to bring a young convert back to life after a fatal fall (Acts 20:8-12). Ramsay was skeptical of the historicity of Luke and the historical record of Acts and set out to disprove it.

After many years of detailed study of the archaeological evidence, Ramsay came to a disconcerting conclusion: The historical and archaeological evidence came down solidly in favor of Luke’s having written the book of Acts in the first century, during the time of the apostles. Rather than Luke being a historical fraud, Ramsay concluded that there are “reasons for placing the author of Acts among the historians of the first rank” (St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 1925, p. 4).

Ramsay became convinced of Luke’s reliability because Luke wrote about the work of the early Church as it was intertwined with secular events and personalities of the day. In Luke’s Gospel account we are introduced to Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Augustus and other political players. In Acts we meet an even larger assemblage, including Sergius Paulus, Gallio, Felix, Festus and Herod Agrippa I and II.

Luke not only writes about these people, but he mentions details, sometimes relatively minute facts, about them. “One of the most remarkable tokens of [Luke’s] accuracy is his sure familiarity with the proper titles of all the notable persons who are mentioned . . . Cyprus, for example, which was an imperial province until 22 BC, became a senatorial province in that year, and was therefore governed no longer by an imperial legate but by a proconsul. And so, when Paul and Barnabas arrived in Cyprus about AD 47, it was the proconsul Sergius Paulus whom they met” (F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 1981, pp. 82-83).

Luke mentions other particulars about the offices and titles of officials of the Roman Empire. In every case he gets it right, as confirmed by archaeological discoveries many centuries later. As Ramsay discovered, to show such accuracy required that the author be well versed at the time in the intricacies of politics of the day over a wide region—with no readily accessible reference works to check. Few of us could do as well if quizzed about the exact official titles of national and international political figures today.

Accuracy: a test of credibility

Such fine details of the historical setting make the Bible interesting, but they also put an author, such as Luke, to the test—and the Bible along with him. If he makes a mistake in his reporting, then his work loses credibility. How does Luke survive the test?

F.F. Bruce, professor of biblical studies, says of Luke’s work: “A writer who thus relates his story to the wider context of world history is courting trouble if he is not careful; he affords his critical readers so many opportunities for testing his accuracy. Luke takes this risk, and stands the test admirably” (p. 82).

Some scholars maintain that Luke was wrong in his report of a Roman census around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 2:1-3). They argued that Quirinius was not governor at this time because he was given this position several years later. Critics also argued that there was no census then and that Joseph and Mary were therefore not required to return to their native Bethlehem at the time.

Later archaeological evidence, however, showed that Quirinius served two terms as an important Roman administrator in the region and that the events described by Luke were indeed possible (Bruce, pp. 86-87). Indeed, Luke tells us that Jesus was born at the time of the “first census” under Quirinius (verse 2, NIV), strongly indicating that Quirinius conducted a census in both his first and second administrations in the area. It turned out that those who had challenged the biblical account had done so without all the facts.

Professor Bruce goes on to observe that, when we see Luke’s habitual accuracy demonstrated in details that have been historically verified, there is ample reason to accept his credibility in general. And indeed, archaeological discoveries have repeatedly supported Luke’s accuracy and attention to detail.

Much yet to be discovered

A relatively small part of the remains of the biblical world has been excavated. Of some 35,000 known sites in Israel alone, only several hundred have been excavated, and of these only a small percentage have been extensively excavated—and excavation of as little as 4 percent of a site is considered extensive. Of those that have been excavated, it is a fact that the entire Bible holds a remarkable track record of accuracy when compared with the finds unearthed through archaeology.

As professor Walter Kaiser Jr. wrote, “Biblical archaeology has greatly enhanced the study of the biblical texts and their history” (The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable and Relevant? 2001, p. 97). He also stated: “The facts, from whatever source, when fully known have consistently provided uncanny confirmation for the details of Old Testament persons, peoples and places by means of the artifactual, stratigraphical and epigraphic remains [and] evidence uncovered” (p. 108).

Much of the Old Testament came under heavy assault from the guns of the anti-inspiration scholars when the winds of doubt swept through the 19th century. Speaking of this time and its effects, archaeologist Kenneth Kitchen wrote: “Time and again in Old Testament studies, we are told that ‘history knows of no such person’ as, say, Abraham or Moses, or . . . the battles of Genesis 14, for example. However such phrases are totally misleading. They simply cover the ignorance not of ‘history’ personified but of the person making this claim” (The Bible in Its World: The Bible and Archaeology Today, 1978, p. 48).

Dr. Kitchen’s statement shows that the historicity of Old Testament personalities and their worlds cannot be buried. It is important to note that scholars at one time doubted the existence of empires, of entire populations and of many of the Bible’s central characters. In the face of a growing mountain of evidence, skeptics have many times been forced to recant their earlier claims.

Evidence supports biblical accounts of the patriarchs

For example, some critical scholars have questioned the existence of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They rejected the biblical view because no clear archaeological evidence was known to exist.

Yet the biblical documents describe Abraham and his world in considerable detail. The specific customs of this society as described in Genesis 15 and 16 are, in fact, attested to in tablets found at Nuzi, near the city of Asshur in Assyria. The documents “pertain to matters such as inheritance and property rights, slavery, adoption, and the like” (Eugene Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 1996, pp. 38-39).

Some scholars once claimed that the unusual events described in these two chapters of Genesis, such as the episode of Abraham fathering a child for his wife Sarah by her handmaiden Hagar, were fabricated. The same scholars had to back down when the Nuzi tablets demonstrated that such surrogate practices were commonplace in the culture of that time when a woman was infertile.

Similarly, Genesis 37:28 tells us that Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave for 20 shekels of silver. Clay tablets discovered in the region dating to the 18th and 19th centuries B.C., the time in which Joseph lived, show that the going price for slaves at the time was indeed 20 shekels.

By later centuries, however, the price of slaves had increased greatly. In the eighth century B.C., it had risen to 50 to 60 shekels. By the fifth to fourth centuries B.C., the price was 90 to 120 shekels (Kenneth Kitchen, “The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?” Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 1995, p. 52).

Had a Jewish scribe dreamed up the story of Joseph in the sixth century B.C., as many biblical critics argue, why wasn’t Joseph’s price given as 90 to 120 shekels? If the story was fabricated more than a thousand years after it supposedly happened, how did the author know the selling price of a slave a thousand years earlier? The obvious answer is that the Genesis story is an accurate account of contemporary events.

What about the Exodus?

Many skeptical scholars and archaeologists have disputed the biblical record of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt because no confirmed physical evidence outside of the Bible has been found to bear witness to these events. They believe that these stories were invented many centuries later.

The truthfulness of the Exodus is important to the authenticity of the Bible because it is obvious that the event was considered to be of monumental importance in the establishment of Israel as a nation. The Israelites looked back on this event as the foundation of their faith. Many biblical passages testify as to how important they considered it to be. Either a people known as Israel existed, dwelt in Egypt and left there or we simply cannot trust the Bible.

Professor Kitchen offers a sound explanation as to why there is little physical evidence of Israel’s dwelling in Egypt. “The [Nile] Delta [where Israel dwelt] is an alluvial fan of mud deposited through many millennia by the annual flooding of the Nile; it has no source of stone within it . . . The mud hovels of brickfield slaves and humble cultivators have long since gone back to their mud origins, never to be seen again.

“Even stone structures (such as temples) hardly survive, in striking contrast to sites in the cliff-enclosed valley of Upper Egypt to the south . . . Scarce wonder that practically no written records of any extent have been retrieved from Delta sites reduced to brick mounds . . . with even great temples reduced to heaps of tumbled stones” (On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 2003, p. 246).

Dr. Kitchen also explains why no records regarding the Exodus are to be found among Egyptian historical inscriptions and records: “As pharaohs never monumentalize defeats on temple walls, no record of the successful exit of a large bunch of foreign slaves (with loss of a full chariot squadron) would ever have been memorialized by any king, in temples in the Delta or anywhere else” (ibid.).

In other words, the proud Egyptians, who were the greatest military power of the world in that day, would not have left a record of a complete and total humbling of their pretentious leader and the destruction of his army. In fact, the Bible stands alone among ancient writings of the region in recording the military defeats of its own nation. The vain leaders of that era boasted about their triumphs and victories, but chose to never record their humbling defeats.

Events and people verified by archaeology

Some make the claim that Israel was not a significant power during the days of the Egyptian dynasties. They believe Israel was no more than a loose amalgamation of impotent tribes.

The objective evidence, however, points to a different conclusion. An ancient object that intertwines biblical and Egyptian history was discovered by the archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1896. It is known as the Israel Stele because “it contains the earliest known mention of Israel” (ibid., p. 26). This black granite stele contains boastful inscriptions commissioned by Pharaoh Merneptah about his victories in battles and refers to Israel being “laid waste.” The stele dates from 1207 B.C. (Biblical Archaeology Review, September-October 1990, p. 27).

Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan after the Exodus is recorded in Scripture as well. The Bible provides place names that figure prominently in the journey, with Numbers 33 supplying a detailed listing of sites on the route. Detractors have disputed the historical record, denying that these settlements existed at this early period in history because archaeological remains have not been found for the time in question.

One of these is the settlement of Dibon, in what is now southern Jordan (Numbers 33:45). No archaeological remains have been found at that site that date earlier than the ninth century B.C. Does this mean there was no city there when the people of Israel traversed the area?

Recently some scholars have seen the need to recant their claim that Dibon could not have existed at the time of the Exodus. Egyptian records verify the existence of Dibon during this time. Lists of ancient Egyptian routes mention Dibon as a stop along one of the routes through that area.

Not only did Dibon exist in that day, but it was significant enough to occupy the attention of Ramses II, who “sacked the city in the course of a military campaign in Moab” soon afterward (Charles Krahmalkov, “Exodus Itinerary Confirmed by Egyptian Evidence,” Biblical Archaeology Review, September-October 1994, p. 58).

The city of Hebron also figured in the Israelite conquest of Canaan. “So Joshua went . . . , and all Israel with him, to Hebron; and they fought against it” (Joshua 10:36). Although some critics have asserted that no city existed at Hebron during this time, the Egyptian map lists tell otherwise. A list of cities that Ramses II ordered to be carved on a temple wall in Amon lists Hebron (Biblical Archaeology Review, September-October 1994, p. 60). Archaeology at the site itself also confirms that it was a fortified, thriving city since the time of Abraham (September-October 2005, pp. 24-33, 70).

André Lemaire, an expert in ancient inscriptions, notes that some scholars have gone so far as to maintain that “nothing in the Bible before the Babylonian exile can lay claim to any historical accuracy” (“‘House of David’ Restored in Moabite Inscription,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, pp. 31-32). Yet time after time scholars have had to backtrack from earlier statements as additional archaeological evidence has come to light.

An example of this was the Hittites, for a long time known only from the biblical record. “Until the discovery of the Hittite empire at the beginning of the last century, the ‘Hittites’ mentioned in Genesis 10:15 as descendants of Canaan were unknown . . . But in 1906 Hugo Winckler began excavating a site known as ancient Hattusha . . . in what we today call Turkey. As a result a people whose existence was seriously doubted previously is well documented with literally tens of thousands of clay tablets” (Kaiser, p. 102).

Another group whose existence was not known outside of the Bible until recently is a people called the Horites. Genesis 36:20-21 states that they were the sons of Seir the Horite. The biblical record was vindicated when “late in 1995 came word that the capital city of the Horites, Urkesh, had been discovered buried beneath the modern Syrian town of Tell Mozan, some 400 miles northeast of Damascus, on the border with Turkey . . .

“The three hundred acre site has already yielded over six hundred items with some form of writing, often on drawn figures on clay seals . . . This most dramatic find again demonstrates that the text of the Old Testament is extremely reliable” (pp. 103-104).

Does archaeology prove the Bible?

What should we say about the biblical record thus far? The skeptic can always point to elements that have yet to be specifically verified. But we should never forget that specific parts of the Bible assuredly have been upheld by archaeological discoveries. The burden of proof is on the skeptics. In the wake of such evidence as that shown in this article and available in many other sources, it is up to them to prove their case.

Frank Gaebelein, an eminently qualified author and general editor of the original version of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, has remarked that “the attitude of suspended judgment toward Bible difficulties . . . is constantly being vindicated, as archaeology has solved one Biblical problem after another, and as painstaking re-examination of discrepancies has finally led to answers” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1979, Vol. 1, p. 31).

Dr. Steven Ortiz, codirector of excavations at the site of biblical Gezer, commented in a 2007 Internet interview that “serious scholars, even if they’re not believers, even if they don’t think this [the Bible] is a sacred text, still consider it to be history because things match up so well.” Dr. Aren Maeir, excavation director at the ancient Philistine city of Gath, in another 2007 Internet interview said simply, “You can’t do archaeology in the land of Israel without the Bible.”

In view of the real evidence, the doubter might do well to reconsider his position and commit his life to serving God. If he waits until every tiny issue is resolved in his own mind, he might ignore or reject a call from God Himself. He could be depriving himself of the blessings available to those who have committed themselves to learning and following God’s way of life.

The objective use of archaeology has demonstrated the truthfulness and technical accuracy of the Bible. This article has demonstrated some of the factual evidence that verifies the biblical record. More will continue to be discovered.

As archaeologist Nelson Glueck concluded: “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 valuation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries” (Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev, 1959, p. 31).

The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and its accuracy continues to be validated by the spade of archaeology!

Cyrus of Persia: The Words of a Prophet Come to Pass

The remarkable cylinder of King Cyrus of Persia (right), dated to 538 B.C. and now located in the British Museum, records his conquest of Babylon and his policy of tolerance and even patronage of native religions. Consistent with that policy, the Bible records his decree that the Jewish exiles taken captive by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II decades prior could return to their land and rebuild Jerusalem and its temple.

These events were a remarkable fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy a century and a half earlier that God would use a ruler named Cyrus to “perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’” God also foretold that Cyrus would “build My city and let My exiles go free” (Isaiah 44:28; 45:13). This was one of many amazing prophecies recorded in the Bible that later came to pass.

A Staggering Archaeological Discovery: The Mighty Assyrian Empire Emerges From the Dust

Ranked among the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time is the unearthing of the ancient Assyrian Empire.

Assyria first appeared as an empire early in the second millennium B.C. The remains of a ziggurat, or temple tower, from that era still stand near the site of its ancient capital.

In the ninth century B.C., Assyria developed into an aggressive and powerful empire. By this time, about 40 years after the reign of Solomon, Israel had split into two distinct kingdoms—Israel and Judah (1 Kings 12:16-24). Led by able and ruthless monarchs, the Assyrians began to menace and conquer their neighbors. They eventually subjugated the whole of the Fertile Crescent from Mesopotamia to Egypt. By the late eighth century they crushed the kingdom of Israel.

At the end of that century they also invaded the southern kingdom of Judah, conquering its major cities and besieging its capital, Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:1-2). The Bible records the boastful words of the arrogant Assyrian monarch, Sennacherib, as he tried to intimidate and humiliate Hezekiah, king of Judah (verses 4-10).

Did the biblical stories involving this empire really happen, or are they fables? Remember, many scoffers at one time disputed even the very existence of the Assyrian Empire. But it was no myth. As the debris of centuries was removed from Nineveh, one of the empire’s capitals, dramatic proof of the Assyrian invasion was laid bare.

Assyrian records of these events quote King Sennacherib of Assyria boasting of his devastating invasion of Judah: “Forty-six of [Hezekiah’s] strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages . . . I besieged and conquered . . .  As for Hezekiah, the awful splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him” (Erika Bleibtreu, “Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death,” Biblical Archaeology Review, January-February 1991, p. 60). Sennacherib noted that he had made Hezekiah “a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage” (Magnus Magnusson, Archaeology and the Bible, 1977, p. 186).

The biblical record agrees with Sennacherib’s account of the Assyrian invasion and notes the desperation of the kingdom of Judah as the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, their last surviving stronghold. However, the Bible continues the story where the Assyrian records are silent. With Jerusalem facing imminent destruction, the people of Judah, led by King Hezekiah, prayed fervently to God (Isaiah 37:15-20) and were miraculously delivered against overwhelming odds.

Sennacherib, the warrior king, had bragged about his humbling of Hezekiah, trapping him in Jerusalem as he surrounded and prepared to storm the city.

Although Sennacherib painstakingly record-ed the cities he captured and destroyed, one city is conspicuously absent—Jerusalem. He speaks only of besieging Hezekiah in the city—not of taking it or Judah’s king. What happened? The Assyrians, like other great empires of the time, left no records of their military defeats. As the Bible reports, disaster befell them as they waited to storm Jerusalem’s walls:

“And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh” (2 Kings 19:35-36).

Sennacherib himself would later ignominiously die at the hands of two of his sons. “Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword” (verse 37). Assyrian records also confirm this assassination. Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon took his father’s place, but the Assyrian Empire soon peaked and fell into decline. Assyria had been an instrument to punish Israel for its repugnant sins (Isaiah 10:5-6). In turn, the Assyrians were punished for their sins (verse 12). Nineveh, the capital city, fell to the Babylonians in 612 B.C. About 50 years after its peak, this voracious empire collapsed and virtually vanished from history.

By the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, no physical evidence of Nineveh could be seen. Lucian of Samosata (A.D. 120-180), a Greek writer, lamented: “Nineveh has perished. No trace of it remains. No one can say where once it existed” (Magnusson, p. 175). Such a lack of visible remains led some scholars of the 19th century to express skepticism that Nineveh or any part of the Assyrian Empire even existed, much less dominated a significant part of the world.

Indeed the only historical source in those days that verified the existence of the empire was the Bible. The Old Testament histories and prophecies spoke about Assyria. Jesus proclaimed the existence of Nineveh as a historical fact (Matthew 12:41). Yet some scholars disputed the testimony of Jesus and the prophets—that is, until “one spectacular decade in the middle of the nineteenth century  . . .  [when] Austen Henry Layard and Paul Emile Botta rediscovered in northern Iraq the ancient remains of three Assyrian cities [including Nineveh] and evidence of the military panoply that had crushed all resistance from the Tigris to the Nile. The Assyrian empire . . .  in all its awesome power had been resurrected through archaeology” (Magnusson, p. 175).

The skeptics were silenced. There was nothing they could say. The excavations at Nineveh and other cities in the area yielded a staggering wealth of historical evidence including “tens of thousands of tablets” containing “an immense amount of data” (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, Vol. 1, “Assyria and Babylon,” p. 275). The Bible had been right all along.

Recent Holy Land Finds Support the Biblical Record

Archaeological discoveries are regularly made in and around the land of Israel that relate to the Bible. Here is an annotated list of 12 reports of such finds within the past three years.

by Tom Robinson

Thick wall at Lachish dated to King Rehoboam (April 23, 2019). Olive pits in the foundation of a thick wall at Tel Lachish, southwest of Jerusalem, were carbon dated to about 920 B.C., aligning with the time of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Scripture says that Lachish was one of the cities of Judah fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:9).

Copper mining deposits evidence of Edomite kingdom (Sept. 18, 2019). Chemical and microscopic analysis from copper slag deposits in the Aravah Valley, where the biblical kingdom of Edom sat, showed the same standardized advanced refining techniques being used over widely scattered locations, evidence of a strong, central government before the mid-11th century B.C., 300 years earlier than scholars had thought. Scripture already attested there were kings reigning over Edom before any kings of Israel (Genesis 36:31).

Hebrew Yahwistic name at Abel Beth Maacah (Jan. 16, 2020). Disbelieving the biblical picture of the powerful Israelite state under King David, many have thought Abel Beth Maacah, on the northern border of Israel, was outside Hebrew domain from the 900s to 800s B.C. But a wine jar from this period was found here with the inscription “of Benayo,” a Hebrew name ending in a form of Israel’s God Yahweh. This town provided refuge to the rebel Sheba before delivering him up to David’s besieging forces (2 Samuel 20:14-22).

Massive administrative center from the late Kingdom of Judah (July 22, 2020). One of the largest collections of Kingdom of Judah seal impressions has been found at a huge public tax collection and storage complex from the late 8th to mid-7th centuries B.C., the time of King Hezekiah and his son King Manasseh, near the new U.S.

embassy in Jerusalem. More than 120 jar handles are stamped with lmlk, meaning “of the king.” Excavation has revealed the site continued in operation after the Assyrian King Sennacherib came against Judah in 701 B.C., consistent with the Bible’s description of Hezekiah’s reign.

Proto-Aeolian column capitals outside Jerusalem’s walls in Hezekiah’s time (Sept. 3, 2020). Three scaled-down versions of earlier Phoenician-style volute column heads, such as adorned David’s palace, were apparently part of a lavish mansion outside Jerusalem’s defensive walls as part of the city’s continuing expansion under Hezekiah after Sennacherib’s forces left, again consistent with the biblical picture of the city’s survival and wealth beyond the siege.

Royal purple dye on fabrics from David and Solomon’s time (Jan. 28, 2021). Three pieces of wool clothing, out of more than a hundred discovered at the ancient copper mines of Timna in southern Israel, were found dyed with royal purple. These were carbon dated to around 1000 B.C., the time of David and Solomon. This dye, produced in small quantity from a particular species of Mediterranean sea snails, required long and laborious extraction and processing.

Purple fabric was thus very expensive, sometimes more than gold, and worn only by royalty, high officials and others of great wealth (compare Song of Solomon 3:9-10). The discovery of purple cloth at Timna along with bones of fishes imported from Egypt argues for a significant trading network and a strong central government overseeing it—fitting with that of David and Solomon.

New Dead Sea Scrolls fragments first Bible texts found in 60 years (March 16, 2021). A four-year operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, including scouring remote caves, has turned up 80 new scroll fragments bearing lines of Greek text from Zechariah and Nahum. These are believed to have been part of a set of fragments of the Twelve Minor Prophets from the “Cave of Horrors,” named for 40 human skeletons found there in excavations in the 1960s.

The scroll is thought to have been stashed during the Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt against Rome (A.D. 132-136). Some have noted minor textual variants, but such scrolls have shown very little difference from our Bibles today, as is also the case with the new fragments. And note again that this was a Greek translation rather than a Hebrew version following a stricter scribal tradition.

Earliest alphabetic writing in the Holy Land found at Lachish (April 20, 2021). A small potsherd found at Tel Lachish in southern Israel contains the earliest alphabetic writing found in the southern Levant, carbon dated to the 15th century B.C. Two short lines of Semitic text read ‘abd, meaning “servant” (perhaps as part of a name) and npt, possibly meaning honey (Hebrew nophet). Some are calling it a “missing link” between earlier Egyptian alphabetic writing and later writing in the Levant. This is yet another blow to those who say Moses could not have written the Torah in Hebrew, given that he supposedly lived well before such alphabetic writing. This inscription is dated to right around the time of Moses.

Inscription possibly reading Jerubbaal, another name for Gideon (July 13, 2021). Excavations at Khirbet al-Ra‘i, near Lachish, have revealed a name written across three pottery fragments. Four letters are clear, rb’l, reading rubbaal. The preceding first letter is not fully preserved but may be a yod, yielding the name Yrb’l (Jerubaal). This was another name for the biblical judge Gideon after he tore down Baal’s altar (Judges 6:32; 7:1), and the inscription dates to about 1100 B.C., around the time Gideon died.

However, Scripture makes no mention of Gideon’s influence in Judah, noting only his activity in the north of Israel and the east. Some propose the inscription could read Azrubaal, Zecharbaal or Meribbaal. Yet Gideon did have a long judgeship with a succession controversy among his sons afterward, so his name could have been significant as far as Judah—and someone there could have been named after him.

East section of Jerusalem city wall from the time of Hezekiah and Josiah (July 14, 2021). Finding a lengthy section of city wall on the steep east side of the City of David, heretofore missing in tracing the eastern fortification of the city in the 8th-7th centuries B.C., allows archaeologists to see the full run of the wall that encircled Jerusalem prior to its Babylonian destruction.

The wall section was previously not considered fortification due to belief that the Babylonians had left no such structure standing, based on 2 Kings 25:10 stating they “broke down the

walls of Jerusalem all around.” Some are now claiming the new finding contradicts that verse. But the verse does not say there were no parts of the wall left standing. The wall was reduced here, with some hard-to-reach stretches left standing, and Nehemiah later had to do a lot of restoration work. So the walls were indeed broken down all around, as the Bible says.

Jerusalem excavation uncovers evidence of earthquake in Amos and Zechariah (Aug. 4, 2021). The biblical book of Amos was written in the 8th century B.C. during the period of Judah’s king Uzziah and Israel’s king Jeroboam II and gives the benchmark “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). This was evidently a memorable massive earthquake in which people fled from Jerusalem, recalled around 250 years later in Zechariah 14:5 even after national captivity and restoration.

Now archaeologists have found a destruction layer in Jerusalem’s City of David that fits with this time frame. The absence of fire damage from invasion solidifies the earthquake connection. Evidence of similar destruction has been found at other sites in the region, such as Hazor, Lachish, Gezer and Megiddo, but this is the first time it’s been found in Jerusalem. It can serve as a new dating anchor for archaeologists digging here.

UCSD archaeology professor Thomas Levy told Live Science, “When the biblical data is coupled with the archaeological and paleo-seismic data from the southern Levant, a strong correlation is clearly seen between the Book of Amos, a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, and the archaeological record.”

Missing wall section at Gath shows where Aramaean forces invaded (Aug. 8, 2021). The Bible states that the Aramaean or Syrian king Hazael fought against the Philistine city of Gath and took it (2 Kings 12:17). There has been plenty of archaeological evidence of this siege and destruction in the 9th century B.C. both inside and outside the city, earlier hometown of Goliath and now known as Tell es-Safi, but researchers couldn’t find where the city’s fortification wall had been breached.

Now a 30-foot gap in the wall has been found at the lowest part of the city, right next to a heavily fortified gate to reach the city’s water supply. Archaeologist Aren Maeir believes this may be “the earliest known, on-the-ground evidence of a siege from the entire world.”

Again and again, the Bible is vindicated in its recording of not myth, but actual history!

Choose to Be Happy While Encouraging Others

How can we find happiness in discouraging times such as these? One way is through encouraging others.

by Janet Treadway

One evening as I was watching an episode of America’s Got Talent during the fall 2021 season, the last singer brought me to tears. Jane Marczewski from Zanesville, Ohio, was not only amazing but also inspirational. When asked by one of the judges what she does for a living, the 30-year-old contestant opened up about her personal struggle.

She explained: “I have not been working for quite a few years. I’ve been dealing with cancer.”

Before she began singing her original song “It’s OK,” she explained, “It’s the story of the last year of my life.”

She added, “It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things that happen to me.”

The judges were inspired by her. After her performance, one gave her the award all contestants hoped for—the golden buzzer, which automatically advanced her in the contest without the rest of the judges voting.

She explained the attitude that had kept her going: “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”

If anyone had a right to be unhappy, she did—as she has been fighting for several years against a cancer that has a 2 percent survival rate.

“You blew us all away,” the host of the show said. “You are the voice we all need to hear this year.”

Encouragement in distressing times

This is certainly so after everything we’ve been through in recent times, with so many challenges affecting us all in different ways.

We’ve been through so much this last year with the Covid pandemic. It has brought isolation, fear, anxiety and anger. It has divided people, including families. What this young woman did in her song gave the kind of encouragement everyone needs right now. That’s why the judges of America’s Got Talent and those who were watching it became emotional. If this young woman can keep going with only a 2 percent chance of recovering from this cancer and decide to be happy, so can we. Great advice, right? Easier said than done. So how can we do that?

The day after I watched this episode of America’s Got Talent, we had a special guest talk to us at the office about how to handle stress. The timing was perfect after being inspired by this young singer the night before.

The presenter’s name is Andi Chapman. She gave some amazing points on how to handle stress. (You can find several recorded interviews with her by searching for “Andi Chapman” on our website at ucg.org.)

One point that stood out in my mind was the power of encouragement. It’s amazing how reaching out to encourage others helps you forget your own problems. Everyone needs encouragement. Every person you run into in your day-to-day life needs to be encouraged. Every person is going through something.

Consider again the young woman on America’s Got Talent. She has enough reason to stay home and give up, but instead she decided to reach out and encourage others with her amazing voice, amazing example and amazing message encapsulated in her song “It’s OK.”

Two ways to help make it through

When we are going through trials, the first thing we should do is turn to God to draw near to Him. Then, no matter what you are going through, there are ways to help you deal with it better. Here are two to remember.

First, ask God to help you to choose to be happy no matter what you are going through. In Isaiah 41:10 God tells us: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (New International Version).

God is there to help no matter what you are going through. In Exodus 33:14 we read where God says, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (NIV). Ask God to help you choose to be positive and happy.

Second, reach out and encourage others. Proverbs 12:25 tells us, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad” (English Standard Version). And offering a good word to someone else makes you glad too. Just like it did for that young singer—at the end of the show, she left with so much joy in her own heart because she had encouraged others.

Notice what Proverbs 10:11 tells us: “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” (NIV).

Remember what the young woman said before she began to sing: “It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things that happen to me.” She was determined to rise above her circumstances, choosing to be happy while encouraging others.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (NIV). Let us choose to be happy while encouraging others to be happy as well. Be a fountain of life for others!

Letters From Our Readers: January/February 2022

Readers of Beyond Today magazine share their thoughts in the January/February 2022 issue.

by Beyond Today editor

Seven Scientific Proofs of God

I wanted to offer my sincerest thanks for this excellent piece. As a certified biology teacher, researcher and statistician, I have sometimes been troubled by the little bit of knowledge accrued in my past education. Your article was so well-written and convincing, I was moved to tears when I finished. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

From the Internet

Why Are So Many Abandoning Christianity?

I tend to believe that morality has little to do with this trend. It has more to do with the Internet and television exposing Christianity’s judgmentalism and hypocrisy, as well as the horrific things that occurred in Catholicism. It’s the many “Christian” preachers who are in it for the money that have destroyed Christianity. I could go on but I think you see my point. God bless your ministry.

From the Internet

Christmas: Is It Really “Glory to the Newborn King?”

I agree with the article that Jesus probably wasn’t born on Dec. 25, but the fact is that He was born. I gladly celebrate the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25 and put a nativity set out on my front yard, though I realize Christmas has become all about presents, Santa Claus, etc. today. What day of the year do you celebrate as being Jesus’ birthday? Because He was born, as the Bible clearly says.

From the Internet

The Bible is clear that we must worship God the Father and Jesus Christ in the manner They tell us to. Using the Bible as the guide for our worship, we see plain commands to observe Holy Days like Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. In contrast, as is pointed out in the article, Christmas had its origins in pagan celebrations and was adopted as a holiday centuries after the original apostles were dead and the New Testament was written. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day for their religious hypocrisy, using extremely strong language taken from the prophet Isaiah: “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-9; quoting Isaiah 29:13). Our stance is that we should avoid that same condemnation from Jesus Christ and teach others the truth from the Bible. Given the well-known, widely verified pagan history of Christmas and the fact its celebration is promoted nowhere in the Bible, we choose to honor God the Father and Jesus Christ by not participating in such observances.

Thanks for free publications

Thank you for your site. I’ve been a follower of Beyond Today for many years. I have your Bible Study Course lessons and most of your booklets. I have used much of your teaching material in my own small classes in my home. I just wanted to commend all of you for a great job. Thank you for all you do.

From the Internet

Reader in search of a local congregation

I want to keep the biblical Sabbath. For years I have wondered why no one kept the Sabbath. Can you please tell me if there is a United Church of God congregation near me?

Reader in Georgia

We have congregations in many areas. You can find the one closest to you at ucg.org/congregations . We hope to see you at a Sabbath service soon!

Comments from around the world

This is to say many thanks for your extreme love, kindness and generosity. I am so deeply grateful to you for these booklets, which are also so greatly valued and appreciated. You are always in my prayers. May our Lord God richly bless you all.

Reader in the United Kingdom

It is with great joy that I received from you the most recent issue with the explanation of the truths of the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. It is very pleasant that the United Church of God, which has branches and congregations all over the world, has turned its eyes also to our sinful country. With great pleasure I read your magazine and study your Bible courses. I know that God gives the greatest gifts to people who agree to be reconciled to Him and begin a new life in accordance with the teachings of the Bible. God’s greatest gift is eternal life.

Reader in Russia

I cannot wait for the study guide to arrive here in South Africa. I have a sincere wish to further my quest to learn more about our Heavenly Father. I have been receiving Beyond Today magazine for some time now. I must confess I find the magazine and your booklets very instructive and I have learnt a lot. I’ve read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation three times already but don’t always grasp the meaning. But I learn such a lot from just reading your magazines.

I have just read the September-October issue. What a wealth of well written and informative articles! I am wanting to acquire multiple copies to share with several of my friends. Thank you and keep up the great work.

Reader in South Africa

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