Jericho by Daniel S.

The New Testament of the Bible has over 24,000 manuscripts supporting its validity, but what evidence do we have to bolster the truth of the Old Testament. Aside from the evidence given by The Dead Sea scrolls, we have little bibliographical evidence to support the Old Testament. However, if we look at the external evidences, we will find a superfluous supply of supporting archaeological finds for the Old Testament. One example is the biblical story of Jericho and its archaeological dig over the past century. When we closely examine the finds of the digs on Jericho we will find that all the evidence points to the validity of the Bible.
The finds of the excavation of Jericho have been shrouded in mystery ever since the conflicting results of Kathleen Kenyon and Bryant Wood. Kenyon concluded after excavating from 1952-1958 “…that there was no archaeological data to support the thesis that the town had been surrounded by a wall at the end of the Late Bronze Age [circa 1400B.C., the time generally believed to be when the Israelites were in that area].” She concluded that the Egyptians destroyed Jericho around 1550 B.C. However, shards of pottery excavated from Jericho seem to match other pottery in that area dated to around 1400 B.C. Carbon-14 dating of Jericho also contradicts Kenyon’s conclusions, dating the destruction of Jericho to 1410 B.C. This is consistent with British archaeologist John Garstang’s findings from 1930 to 1936. He found a network of collapsed walls that indicated destruction by unnatural causes. Therefore, in light of these findings, there is enough evidence to believe Kenyon was wrong and the Bible was right. Not only does the time of the destruction match external historical truth but the archaeological evidence matches the story of Jericho depicted in the Bible.
The Bible tells of two spies entering the city of Jericho and hiding in the house of a prostitute, Rahab (Joshua 2:1). They later escaped through her window “for the house she lived in was part of the city wall,” (Joshua 2:15). This is amazingly found to be proven possible by archaeology. The city of Jericho was divided into two concentric circles separated by large walls in addition to a retaining wall beneath the outer wall. It has been discovered by German excavations from 1907-1909 that there were residences built right up against this wall. These houses were most likely low value since they were against the wall and this would be a very dangerous place to live in times of war. The lower city was also probably overflow from the inner city and was most likely to be the “ghetto” of their time; a likely place to find a prostitute. The Germans excavations also revealed a short section of the lower city wall that had not fallen in the same fashion as the rest of the wall. There were still sections standing eight feet tall. This would have been Rahab’s house where she and her family were spared (Joshua 6:17).
Joshua 6:24 says, “Then they [Israelites] burned the whole city and everything in it…” This has also been proven true through all of the archaeologists’ excavations. They all found a thick layer of ash about a meter thick. Kenyon describes the destruction as “complete”. When a conquering army destroys a city, they would normally pillage and plunder all the riches of that town. It odd then that both Kenyon and Garstang found large jars of grain, a resource that could not only be eaten, but also could be traded for other goods. It seems the Israelites overlooked this valuable grain. The Bible, however, has a different answer: Joshua 6:17 and 18. Joshua commands his people not to take anything for themselves and to devote everything in the city to the LORD.
All the excavations of Jericho point to the validity of the Holy Scriptures. After reviewing the evidences set forth and testing the Bible, it has come forth as gold; pure and true. Through careful study of the Word of God, the historical facts, and the excavations of Jericho, we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that every aspect of the story of Jericho, and the Bible in which it resides, is true.


Work cited page
Wood, B. “The walls of Jericho, Archaeology confirms: they really DID come
a-tumblin’ down”, http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i2/jericho.asp
Woelfel, D. “Jericho” http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/middle_east/jericho.html
www.carm.org./evidence/textualevidence.htm