A gang of goons, acting on the authority of King Zedekiah of Judah, threw the prophet Jeremiah into a pit.
Two of them were Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Gedaliah son of Pashur.
Both men have been historically corroborated through the archaeological discovery of clay seal impressions dated to the sixth century B.C. bearing their names.
And that’s me, below, in the actual pit into which Jeremiah was tossed. Debbie my wife took his short video of me in Jerusalem earlier this year.
But how did Jeremiah survive?
“Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs of the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon…” (Jeremiah 38:7)
So the king’s own men put Jeremiah in there, but a low-ranking Ethiopian decided to take matters into his own hands.
Ebed-melech approached the king—a daunting task that involved great personal risk—and remarkably got permission to get Jeremiah out.
It took 30 men to pull Jeremiah out since he was trapped in the caked mud at the bottom of the pit.
They even used old rags so Jeremiah could pad the ropes under his arms, so they could yank him out without the ropes cutting into his skin.
How exhilarating it is to be on the scene and see the great drama of biblical events supported and illuminated by biblical archaeology!
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Before debating free will, you have to start with the Calvinist view of God.
In Calvinism, God doesn’t merely permit or allow events to happen—He decrees them.
That distinction changes the entire debate over predestination.
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.
The town of Magdala is located on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee.
In modern times, this ancient place was called al-Majdal.
I’ve been there twice, to visit an archaeologically significant synagogue in Magdala.
The synagogue contained the Magdala Stone, which has a carved depiction on its sides and top, of the synagogue itself, giving us a visual representation of what the old synagogue must have looked like.
The synagogue also contained a cache of artifacts dated to the time of Jesus, and it’s possible—though not certain—Jesus taught there.
None of the apostles came from Magdala, yet we know from Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus visited the region.
And we can surmise why. Magdala was the hometown of Mary of Magdala, also known as Mary Magdalene.
See the famous painting of her below by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo.
Mary is sometimes depicted as a repentant sinner or even a prostitute, although there is no indication in the Bible of her being a “loose woman.”
Luke 8: 1-3 says she...
The Bible says that Joseph, an Israelite sold into slavery in Egypt, rose up to become one of the most influential high officials in Egypt.
For two centuries, skeptics said this was ridiculous.
The Pharaohs would never—they said—elevate a foreigner, let alone a lowly Semite, to such a position.
But archaeologist James Hoffmeier has shown that there is precedent.
Hoffmeier gives several samples of Semites and Canaanites who served as viziers and in other high positions under the pharaohs.
Moreover, from 1650 to 1550 B.C., the lower part of Egypt was ruled by foreigners.
These were the Hyksos, whose name literally means “foreign rulers.”
The Hyksos, as it turns out, were Semites from Canaan.
It would hardly be unusual for these Semites to pick one of their own to be a high official.
In the painting below by Giambattista Tiepolo, Joseph is shown receiving pharaoh’s ring.
Now admittedly the dates here don’t match perfectly. Joseph would seem to have lived before the ascension of ...
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