Introduction

The Bible has been under attack virtually from the time the first documents were written and in recent years the attack has become much more intense and sustained by way of books, magazines, radio, movies documentaries and now the internet. All telling viewers and readers that the first eleven chapters of the Bible are fiction and that evolution (read science) has adequately explained how everything came into existence¹. Its contents have been perverted by many including the cults and it is the only religious book to be so attacked in our Western society. However, the Bible is unique in all literature and can stand firm, for it is intellectually credible and historically defensible and in this blog, we look at the people mentioned in the Bible and provide powerful evidence for their reality.

53 People in the Old Testament Confirmed by Archaeology

Associate Professor Lawrence Mykytiuk has published two articles which cites archaeological evidence that confirms the authenticity of 53 people mentioned in the Old Testament. These are in Biblical Archaeological Review, March/April 2014 “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible” and May/June, 2017, “Archaeology Confirms 3 More Bible People.” I have taken the information from these articles abbreviated it and put it in a table for ease of digestion.

If the reader requires more than what is given below, then he/she will need to go to the original sources or it can be accessed online at: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/50-people-in-the-bible-confirmed-archaeologically.

Flavius Josephus (AD 37–103)²

Josephus was the son of a priest and was reared in traditional Judaism. He got caught up in the Jewish anti-Roman resistance movement and found himself in charge of the Jotapata fortress in Galilee. Though he refused to surrender until his life was guaranteed. It was his successful prophecy that Vespasian would become emperor that brought imperial favor. He received Roman citizenship and was commissioned to write a history of the Jewish people, which he did in two compilations of writings, each consisting of many books: History of the Jewish War (comprised 7 books, written in Greek, AD 77 or 78) and Antiquities of the Jews. (comprised 20 books, written in Greek, AD 93-94). As shown below, his writings have confirmed many of the people mentioned in the New Testament and the positions they held. The nomenclature used below is: Book title, book number, chapter and verse.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

^{Note.In reality, James was the half-brother of Jesus. James was conceived by his father Joseph, whereas Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.}

¹ Evolution is a religion which people believe by faith; it is not supported by experimental science. I have written eight blogs on why evolution is impossible. To view these, follow this link: EVOLUTION

² This information was taken from the Introduction to: Paul L Maier, Josephus The Essential Works, Kregel Publications, 1994.

Conclusion

The Bible is written in chronological order and it details true history. The places are real, the events were real and the people actually existed. This blog provides powerful evidence for the existence of 83 people from both the Old and New Testaments. There is no other writings in all antiquity like the Bible, it is true and its message of salvation can be relied upon.

³ There seems to have been a problem with Luke’s mention of the census conducted when Quirinius was governor of Syria, because there was a census by Quirinius in AD 6-7. However, Jonathan Sarfati provides a satisfactory explanation to this apparent contradiction; http://creation.com/quirinius-census-luke.

⁴ There has been some debate that Josephus’s reference had been added by early Christians, but the weight of evidence is against this objection. The strongest argument regarding Josephus’ words on John is that they are not connected to Christians interpretations but simply part of a long treatise on Herod.