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Avi Abrams

The Bible and Archaeology: Friend or Foe?

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The Biblical narrative has always told a great story. A Semitic monotheistic people are enslaved and brutally mistreated in ancient Egypt. Against all odds they break free, return to their ancestral homeland (Israel), establish a kingdom, and build a world famous Temple. Division sets in that leads to civil strife, internal spiritual conflicts between monotheism and idol worship, and ultimately subjugation by foreign powers. Despite multiple expulsions and destructions, they continuously rise from the ashes, rebuild, survive, and thrive. That’s the story of the ancient Israelites (a.k.a. the Jewish people), but how much of it is historically accurate?

As a child watching the Ten Commandments, attending multigenerational Passover seders, and singing the songs of the Haggadah, it almost feels as if you’re leaving Egypt with Moses! As one becomes older, however, you can’t help but ask certain question like “did these events actually take place”? “Is this really based on history or did some eccentric scholars imagine it a thousand years later?”

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One of the methodologies that came out of the scientific revolution was the field of archaeology. That word usually connotes digging up dinosaur bones or treasure hunting. The reality is that over the past 200 years, archaeologists have unearthed thousands of years of ancient civilizations including Biblical cities, monumental architecture, tombs of historical kings and queens, and written records inscribed by people who lived during Antiquity.  With all the multitudes of data uncovered in these excavations, is there any physical evidence for the Biblical narrative? Is the Bible historically reliable? To answer these questions, I would like to invite you to follow me, licensed tour guide Avi Abrams, on a virtual tour of ancient history, as we compare and contrast the Bible with the archaeological record. Every week, I’ll be publishing a new segment. No reservations are necessary. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the read! 🙂

The Genesis of the Jewish People: The Story of Abraham

The Bible traces the earliest ancestor of the Jewish people to the figure of Abraham, widely considered the founding father of monotheism. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham, originally named Abram, was called by G-d to leave his birthplace, a Sumerian city known as Ur of the Chaldees (“Ur Kasdim” in the original Hebrew), and journey to the land of Canaan (present day Israel/Palestine) during the Middle Bronze Age (specifically the 18th century BCE). The journey, however, is interupted when Abraham along with his family stop in a place called Haran and settle there for a considerable period of time before continuing on to their final destination.

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A majority of historians and archaeologists have traditionally associated Ur of the Chaldees with present day Tel el-Muqayyar about 150 miles northwest of the Persian Gulf in southern Iraq. Other opinions in recent decades have increasingly identified Ur of the Chaldees with the city of Urfa in southeastern Turkey. Virtually all scholars, however, are in agreement that Haran (the last place Abraham was said to have lived before moving to Canaan) is in southeastern Turkey (27 miles south of Urfa) near the Syrian border. Given Abraham was instructed to leave his “birthplace” while in Haran (despite the fact that Ur of the Chaldees was his birthplace), the text seems to imply either a local or nearby area, not a location 1000 miles away.

Abraham’s migration to Haran (in modern-day Turkey) and eventually to Canaan aligns with broader historical patterns of movement during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1550 BCE). This period was marked by widespread nomadic pastoralist migration, driven by a mix of environmental factors, economic pressures, and political upheavels. There is archaeological evidence suggesting that large populations in the Fertile Crescent (the ancient Middle East) frequently moved around the region during this time due to famine, political instability, and wars. The Mari Letters (18th century BCE) indicate that the Amorites (one of the seven Canaanite nations) were nomadic pastoralists who moved across the Fertile Crescent quite frequently. Burial sites from this period (e.x.; tumuli or cairns) in parts of the Levant and Mesopotamia are associated with mobile pastoralist groups. Abraham’s movement is thus consistent with the broader socio-political and environmental conditions that existed at the time.

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The Egyptian Execration Texts from the early 2nd millennium BCE refer to groups such as the Habiru (Hebrews?), semi-nomadic peoples who roamed the Levant and were sometimes involved in raiding or mercenary activities. Although the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are commonly portrayed as shepheards, holy men, and prophets, they also at times engaged in skirmishes. For example, when the kings of Shinar kidnapped Abraham’s nephew Lot (along with the rest of the town’s population) from Sodom and Gomorrah and attempted to deport them to Mesopatamia, Abraham intervened. Abraham along with 318 men under his command pursued them, overtook them in the area of Damascus, “smote them”, and liberated Lot along with the rest of the townspeople. Another skirmish or raid of the early Hebrews took place when Dina, daughter of Jacob (grandson of Abraham), was taken captive and raped by Shechem son of Hamor, prince of the town Shechem (today known as Nablus). In response, two of Dina’s brothers, Shimon and Levi, essentially massacred the entire male population of the town while the rest of her brothers plundered the city. While these raids and mercenary activities were mentioned in detail in the Bible, they were also apparently recorded by the ancient Egyptians in the Execration Texts.

Heavenly Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Any Geological Evidence?

One of the most dramatic events in the Biblical story of Abraham is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities said to have been wiped out by divine fire because of their wickedness. Genesis 19 describes how the cities were destroyed by “brimstone and fire from the Lord, from Heaven”, leaving the surrounding area desolate.

While this story is often viewed as a religious or moral lesson, recent geological evidence provides a fascinating scientific perspective that aligns with the Biblical narrative. Archaeologists working in the Dead Sea region have identified a site known as Tall el-Hammam, near the northern shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, which bears signs of a high heat explosive event dated to around 1700 BCE—the period in which the Biblical account places the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction layer is visible not only in Tall el-Hammam but in the surrounding area, including 5 other large sites covering some 500 km2. In the Biblical narrative, Sodom is often mentioned in context of 5 nearby cities that all suffered the same fate. The extremely high temperatures which were estimated to be as hot as the surface of the sun, would have instantly wiped out all signs of life in the area killing an estimated 40,000-65,000 people, the equivalent of a nuclear fallout. Prior to this event, the Bible refers to the area of Sodom as “the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt” (Genesis 13:10). In digging below the destruction layer, evidence of extremely fertile soil is apparent for some 3000 years prior to the explosive event. In contrast, from the destruction level and higher, the area becomes laregly desolate as it is today.

In trying to unravel the mystery, teams of multidisciplinary scientists from nearly a dozen U.S. univeristies and research institutes analyzed samples from the northern Dead Sea region (known as Middle Ghor). They all independently came to the same conclusion, that the destruction level was caused by a coscmic airburst event (a meteorite that exploded in the lower atmosphere prior to impact).

Another example of such a phenomenon would be the 1908 Tunguska Event when a massive explosion occurred over the remote Siberian Taiga region near the Tunguska River. The explosion is widely believed to have been caused by the airburst of a small comet or asteroid, approximately 50–60 meters (160–200 feet) in diameter, as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. The object disintegrated at an altitude of about 5–10 kilometers (3–6 miles) above the ground, releasing an energy equivalent to 10–15 megatons of TNT—about 1,000 times the energy of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

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The destruction of Tall el-Hammam and its surrounding area showed evidence of high-temperature fires, most likely from a mid-air meteorite explosion or what ancient humans might have described as “brimstone and fire from the Lord, from Heaven”. It completely incinerated the area, destroying all forms of human, animal, and vegetative life leaving a permanent mark on the region. This event, which would have been catastrophic, aligns with the Bible’s narrative, both in its description and in terms of the timeline.

Preview for Next Time

Today we’ve shown evidence for the correlation between the Biblical narrative from the time period of Abraham. Next week we will follow the geneology of Abraham’s family as later generations migrate down to ancient Egypt. We will anaylyze the Biblical story of the Hebrews in Egypt, first as guests and then as slaves, and see if we can find any correspondence with the Egyptian archaeological record, one of the most fascinating ancient civilizations on Earth. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

All the images in this post are free for use on a commercial platform in accordance with copyright law.

About the Author
Avi Abrams has been a licensed tour guide and trip planner in Israel since 2015. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Avi has a B.A. double major in Political Science and Middle East Studies from McGill University. He is passionate about teaching the story of the Jewish people through tours, online courses, and published articles.
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