Egyptian tablets (such as Dilbat, Mari, and Ebla) and artifacts such as scarabs and statues attest to personal names and place names found in the Patriarchal narratives.
The Patriarch Period
Reflections on the Ark of the Covenant
God gave Moses extremely precise instructions for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25:10-22. It was built to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments and it represented God’s presence with the Israelites during the wilderness years. It contained three sacred items: a pot of manna bread from heaven, stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments and the rod of Aaron with a fresh bud on it. These sacred items represented the Triune God, i.e., Father (stone tablet) Son (rod of Aaron with fresh bud) and Spirit (manna).
Faith Based on Reason
I was thinking about the following two scripture verses and realized that my Faith in God is reasonable and not blind. It is based on concrete evidence such as archaeological artifacts and ancient texts validating people, places and events mentioned in the Bible.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" (1 Peter 3:15)
Why Are the Dead Sea Scrolls Important?
Most people know about the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they were accidentally discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy in a cave at Khirbet Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. They are believed to have been placed there around AD 70-73 by a Jewish Sect called the Essenes before the Romans destroyed Qumran. Inside the cave large clay jars were discovered that contained ancient scrolls with Hebrew text written on them.
