The Bible is not fiction

Bethehem Bulla

The Bible is not fiction, archaeologists say so


A Christian procession in Bethlehem

Interview with Bible expert Simone Venturini. “Recent archaeological digs confirm the historical authenticity of the Scriptures. A seal mentioning the city of Bethlehem dating back to 2,700 years old was recently found”

Giacomo Galeazzi


vatican city

Israeli archaeologists have recovered a seal containing the oldest mention of Bethlehem ever found. It dates back to 2,700 years old. “The Bible mentions Bethlehem. Now, this is proof that the city existed at the time” declared Eli Shukron, archaeologist of Israel Antiquities Authority. The seal, 1.5cm long, was found in the City of David, a huge archaeological site just outside the walls of Jerusalem where it is believed king David built his castle. Vatican Insider interviewed Simone Venturini, Bible expert and writer, researcher of the Secret Vatican Archives and professor of Biblical Science at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He is also the author of the book ‘ The secret book of Jesus’ (Newton Compton).

Professor Venturini, what does this discovery concerning the origins of Jesus’ birth-place mean?”

"It is easy for those used to ‘denying’ the historicity of the Bible to find any possible excuse to claim that this or that city mentioned in the Scriptures never really existed. Especially in Italy, where the press knows everything about Belen and the UEFA Champions League, but little or nothing of the book that is the foundation of European civilization. All this is true for Nazareth. Until a few years ago there was no evidence of its existence before the third century AD, but in 2009 the archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre proved beyond any doubt the existence of a house dating back to the 1st century, when Jesus lived. The discovery of the seal that was made in the archaeological site near the Jerusalem National Park is just as important. The seal that was probably used to dispatch the tax payments owed by Bethlehem to king Judas dated back to around eight or seven hundred years BC. The seal bears the inscription “l’shvat – bat-lechem – [l’mele]ch”. This contains basic information of a dispatch to the king ruling over the southern kingdom, in other words Judea. For the first time the city of Bethlehem is mentioned outside the Bible. Obviously at this point it is difficult to doubt the real existence of the city where Jesus was born around 6 AD, which clearly existed at least eight hundred years before his birth.”











In the meantime, archaeology continues to confirm the authenticity and reliability of the Gospels and of the Old Testament. A recent case is that of the team of archaeologists led by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel who teaches at The Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During the archaeological excavations in Khirbet Qeiyafa, a city west of Jerusalem, near the Elah valley, they found aggregates of pots, stones, metal tools and objects linked to religious rituals. How do these finds dating back to the time of King David strengthen the historicity of the Bible?







“This is a very recent find, made approximately 30Km south east of Jerusalem. During the archaeological excavations in Khirbet Qeiyafa – the ruins of Qeiyfa – Prof. Yosef Garfinkel’s team of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unearthed objects that could revolutionize the current studies of the Bible. In the last decades many experts of the Bible started really doubting the existence of an organized and socially well structured kingdom of Israel as such before the eighth century AD. The remains of Khirbet Qeiyafa were carbon dated from the eleventh and tenth century BC, which shows beyond all reasonable doubt that at the time of David and Solomon there were fortified cities with a defined social structure, part of a solid and stable kingdom. Moreover the fact that no pig-bones or sculptures of deities were found indicates that the origin of the monotheistic religion in Israel is much older than the experts would like to believe. Finally, the laws on food (ref. Book of Leviticus 11,7) are apparently not representative of the late development of an older and less restrictive diet. Basically the Bible, including the Old Testament is not always fiction.











How does the description of this place compare to that in the Bible, at the time of King David?



"The archaeological finds of Khirbet Qeiyafa help give us a better understanding of the architectural peculiarities of the Temple of Jerusalem. Before Prof. Garfinkel unearthed the ‘miniature models’ of sanctuaries, dating back to thirty years prior to the construction of the temple, we were forced to imagine the structure of the temple based on the enigmatic description present in the first book of Kings (6-7). Now we actually know for example what its columns really looked like and the details of some of the friezes. Moreover, after Yardenna Alexandre’s studies, we have been able to reconstruct what a dwelling in Nazareth at the time of Jesus would have looked like, a house like the one where Jesus, Mary and Joseph probably lived.







Is archaeology for or against faith?



"For, in that it gives consistency to our relationship with God. It is not an idea that, at least for Catholics, can be elaborated starting from the trends and the needs of the time. Faith in One God who reveals himself to mankind is rooted in ancient history and reminds us that the Bible is crucial to understanding the mystery of mankind in depth.”



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Taken from: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/news/detail/articolo/archeologia-archeology-arqueologia-fede-faith-fe-15759/