Yes, the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, provided stunning confirmation of the reliability of the Hebrew Bible.
Previously the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible, the so-called Masoretic text, was from around 1000 A.D.
That text is called the Leningrad Codex.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from the 3rd to the first centuries BC, proved the Masoretic scribes had not altered the text in over a thousand years.
The Great Isaiah scroll for instance was virtually identical to the Masoretic version, with the differences being tiny and insignificant.
But interestingly the reliability of the Masoretic text could have been largely established without the Dead Sea Scrolls.
After all, the Hebrew Bible had between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC been translated into Greek.
This was done by scholars working in Alexandria and a few other places, and the translation is called the Septuagint.
So one could easily compare the Septuagint with the Masoretic script to see if, and to what extent, the text had been changed.
In fact, it had not. And this fact was then further corroborated by the Dead Sea manuscripts found around 75 years ago.
Bottom line: The Jews today read the same ancient Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus did. And so do we.
More here: https://a.co/d/0dQ8QKfI
This video illustrates how biblical archaeology works by examining a clay seal dated to the 8th century BC and attributed to the prophet Isaiah. It was produced by the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology (http://www.armstronginstitute.org) and narrated by Stephen Flurry.
According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
But for centuries no Bethlehem was known in the whole region of Israel.
Skeptics pounced on that to say the story of Jesus’ birth was made up. Fictional location, fictional story!
Then in 2012, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced that researchers in Jerusalem discovered a clay seal with a small marking or inscription on it.
This seal impression, known as a bulla, was about half an inch across, hardly bigger than a thumbnail.
Clay seals were used in ancient times to secure correspondence or to tag certain items, like silver or wine or grain, as they were transported from one town to another.
This bulla contained a Hebrew inscription from 2,700 years ago, documenting that it came from the town of Bethlehem (Bat Lehem) in Judah, the birthplace of Jesus.
Archaeologist Eli Shukron says the bulla proves Bethlehem was an actual town in Judah, not an invented literary name.
The so-called Bethlehem seal is the oldest extrabiblical ...
In the mid-9th century BC, the Assyrians under Shalmaneser III waged war against the northern kingdom of Israel.
This was the Battle of Qarqar, dated to 853 B.C.
Shalmaneser’s campaign reflected the rising power of Assyria, a ruthless conquering force from Mesopotamia.
And not surprisingly, Shalmaneser was victorious and forced the king of Israel to pay tribute to him.
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser is a remarkable stone monument discovered in 1846 by Austen Henry Layard in his excavations at the Assyrian capital of Nimrud, now in northern Iraq.
One panel depicts a man paying homage and presenting gifts to the Assyrian king.
The accompanying inscription identifies the man as “Jehu, son of Omri.”
Jehu and Omri are two kings in the Bible. Jehu followed Omri as a ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Previously their existence had to be taken on faith. Now they have solid historical attestation.
Moreover, on the Black Obelisk we don’t merely read about Jehu; we see him.
Never ...
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