10 Times Archaeology Has Disagreed with the Biblical Narrative

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

For centuries, the Bible has been revered as a sacred text, guiding the beliefs of billions of people worldwide. Yet, as archaeology has advanced, many discoveries have challenged the historical accuracy of certain biblical narratives. The field of archaeology offers a lens through which we can scrutinize the events and figures described in the Bible, testing them against physical evidence from the past.

What can we determine regarding conflicting archeology and the Bible? In this article, I’ll explore ten instances where archaeological findings have contradicted or provided an alternative perspective to the biblical story, raising questions about the historical underpinnings of some of the most famous biblical tales. These archaeological revelations invite a reevaluation of how we interpret the ancient texts and their connection to history.

10 Examples of Conflicting Archeology and the Bible Narrative

#1 – History and identity of the Israelites

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites invade the land of Canaan, conquering the cities and then dividing the land between their own twelve tribes. However, archeologists have discovered a different story.

In Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?, William Dever writes that the ancient settlements found in the land of Canaan show no sign of armed conflict. In addition, he says that large Canaanite towns such as Jericho show no evidence of having been destroyed contrary to depictions in the book of Joshua. Instead, Jonathan Laden writes that the Israelites were one group of Canaanites who gradually became their own social group.

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#2 – There was no mass exodus from Egypt

The book of Exodus begins with the Israelites enslaved in Egypt until God sends a charismatic prophet named Moses to liberate them. Is there evidence for this event?

In her commentary on Exodus, Carol Meyers notes that there is no archeological evidence, either for a large Israelite presence in Egypt or for a mass exodus. She writes that while there is some evidence for a small number of Canaanites living in Egypt, there is no indication that they left, which implies that they simply became assimilated Egyptians.

Furthermore, Stephen Russell argues in Images of Egypt in Early Biblical Literature that the stories of Exodus are the creation of the Jewish community both during and after exile, an origin story of sorts with little historical basis.

#3 – Jerusalem in the time of King David

In the books of Samuel and Kings, King David is portrayed as a powerful ruler over a vast and formidable territory. However, Israeli archeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman say the data doesn’t support this claim.

In their book The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, Finkelstein and Silberman write that there is little evidence to indicate that Jerusalem, David’s capital city according to the Bible, was "more than a typical hill country village" during David and of Solomon’s time. Additionally, David’s region, Judah, was a lightly populated rural region until long after David and Solomon’s time.

#4 – Monotheism in ancient Israel

In point of fact, there are very few actual references to monotheism — the notion that only one god exists – in the Bible. Instead, most biblical texts espouse henotheism — the belief that while there are many gods, our god is the best. However, it is usually clear that Israel was supposed to be faithful to only one God.

However, in 1968, William Devers discovered an ancient inscription in an Israelite cemetery that forced him to question this assumption. The inscription said of the deceased man “blessed may he be by YHWH and his Asherah.” Asherah was a Canaanite mother goddess. However, archeologists continued to find more and more Hebrew inscriptions linking YHWH and Asherah, leading them to conclude that in early Judaism, Asherah was considered YHWH’s consort and therefore an important deity in her own right.

#5 – Camels in the time of the Patriarchs

The Jewish patriarchs, Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, are supposed to have lived in the 18th or 19th centuries BCE. However, at least one aspect of their existence as related in the book of Genesis has been refuted by archeology.

Genesis 12 and 24 both say that Abraham owned camels. However, Erez Ben-Yosef and Lidar Sapir-Hen of Tel Aviv University say that according to carbon dating of the earliest camel bones found in Israel, camels were not introduced into Israel until about the 9th century BCE, approximately 1,000 years after the patriarchs were said to have lived. Ben-Yosef and Sapir-Hen say that the inconsistency “is direct proof that the [Biblical] text was compiled well after the events it describes.”

#6 – The creation of human beings

Another instance of conflicting archeology and the Bible version of events appears in Genesis 1 and 2. There, we see God creating human beings as fully formed adults called Adam and Eve. However, there is abundant evidence to prove that this was not the case.

Human fossil evidence, for example, shows the development of changes in human bodies and brains as well as the way of life of early human species over the past 6 million years. In other words, humans did not arrive fully formed but changed and evolved over millions of years.

#7 – A global flood

While the Genesis story of Noah’s ark, as well as many other stories from the Near East, say that a flood covered the entire earth, archeologists have failed to unearth any evidence of this. There were certainly catastrophic floods in the ancient world, as there are now, but they never covered the entire surface of the earth.

In his book The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood, geologist David Montgomery notes that “If you look at it as literally a global flood that covered the world's highest mountains, I'm sorry, there's just not enough water on Earth to do that.”

#8 – Erastus inscription at Corinth

In Romans 16:23, Paul sends these greetings to his Roman audience: “Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.” Then, archeologists unearthed an inscription on a paving stone in Corinth in 1929. It said “Erastus in return for his aedileship paved it at his own expense.” Was this the same Erastus mentioned by Paul?

Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Michael Flexsenhar III writes that this inscription was made much later in the 1st century after Paul’s death. This is not to say that Paul didn’t actually know someone named Erastus, just that the inscription was not referring to Paul’s Erastus.

#9 – Capernaum synagogue

In Mark 1:21-28, Jesus goes to the city of Capernaum where he teaches in the local synagogue. An ancient synagogue has been excavated in Capernaum in recent times. Was this the same synagogue?

Michael Flexsenhar III tells us that is another case of conflicting archeology and the Bible narrative causing a discrepancy that tells us this is an impossibility. It turns out that the synagogue unearthed in Capernaum was built centuries after the time of Jesus. Since no other synagogue has been discovered in Capernaum, we are left wondering whether the story is true or not.

#10 – How Jesus was crucified

Although none of the Gospel narratives of Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:27-44; Mark 15:16-32; Luke 23:26-43; John 19:16-37) tell us exactly what was used to affix Jesus to the cross, the Doubting Thomas scene in John 20:24-29 mentions “the mark of the nails in his feet.” So what was used to secure Jesus to the cross?

There is good textual evidence that victims of crucifixion may actually have been bound to  crosses with rope until the first Jewish revolt in 66 CE, long after Jesus’ death, according to Jeffrey P. Arroyo García. In addition, García notes that while most depictions of the crucifixion show nails going through the top of Jesus’ feet, a calcified heel bone of a crucifixion victim was found by archeologists in Israel. A nail was still stuck in the bone, but from the side rather than the top. So even when nails were used, they were likely driven into the side of the victim’s feet and nailed to the sides of the cross, a more stable position.

Conclusion

These instances of conflicting archeology and the Bible accounts show that the sacred text is full of exciting, thought-provoking, and baffling stories. There are heroes and villains, wars, and dramatic divine interventions. However, we must ask ourselves whether these stories are historical, in our modern sense of the term. Are they instead mythical, interesting but implausible stories about the origins of one’s people and faith which were common in the ancient Near East?

The answer seems to be both. There are certainly historical events recorded in the Bible, including war and exile, Jesus’ crucifixion, and a host of others. However, some of the historical wheat can be separated from the chaff through the discipline of archeology.

What archeological discoveries conflict with the Bible? There are quite a few that contradict the beloved biblical tales. The Israelites were merely a subset of the Canaanites, for example, not their conquerors. Additionally, there is no evidence that they were enslaved in Egypt en masse and then led out by a heroic figure. The list goes on and on.

Findings such as these, while they undoubtedly give us invaluable historical information, have to be reckoned with, whether one is a person of faith or a historian.