Four Compelling Truths in the Bible’s Recorded History

The Bible is the most-attacked book because people want an excuse to doubt what it teaches. However, the Bible, apart from claiming to be the very words of God—the only Eyewitness throughout history (and before!)—unsurprisingly holds up under scrutiny. Below are four of the many compelling examples of how God’s Word has withstood tests of authenticity that no other purportedly sacred writing has.

1. Several books of Scripture contain words or situations in use only during the authors’ lives. For example, 2 Kings 18:17 gives some specific titles of Assyrian officials. Tartan was the ordinary title of an Assyrian army official; Rab-saris is “chief eunuch,” a high officer of the Assyrian court; and Rab-shakeh is probably “chief cupbearer.”1 For many years, some scholars assumed that these were proper names, but later findings of Assyrian documents revealed these as titles, just like Scripture intimated (by using the definite direct object marker, et, [translated as “the”] in front of each title).

As a second example, in Acts 22:25–29, a Roman tribune tells Paul that he bought his citizenship at a great price. According to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, only early in the reign of Emperor Claudius was Roman citizenship sold for large sums (c. AD 41–50).2 This limits the date of this event with the tribune to have occurred sometime after this period. Acts 18:12 mentions Gallio as the proconsul (dated to AD 51, by a letter from Claudius), pinpointing the year of Paul’s arrest in Corinth. Most theologians believe Paul was arrested in Jerusalem a year later (Acts 21–22), c. AD 52. The tribune in Jerusalem must have obtained his citizenship in the previous decade. This comports perfectly with what Scripture and secular history states.

2. Scripture accurately depicts the places for the events it claims. Scripture’s portrayal of its locations is archaeologically accurate. Archaeologists have even made discoveries by digging at places where Scripture indicates a certain site should be! The Bible’s descriptions of Jerusalem (for instance, the wall of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah) are accurate, indicating that its authors had knowledge of what Jerusalem actually looked like. (For a contrast, The Letter of Aristeas claims to describe Jerusalem, but the author had clearly never been there, and its description is fantastical).

3. Scripture records scientific details, long before they were accepted as scientific fact. For example, Job 26:7–8 states, “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.” The knowledge that the earth is “suspended” in space and that clouds carry water and need something to “split” them open to produce rain (also see Job 36:27–29) was not recorded by any philosophers (as far as we know) at that time. Not until many centuries after the book of Job was written did the Greek philosopher Anaximenes (c. 586–526 BC) write the earliest scientific version of the hydrological cycle.

4. Scripture makes no attempt to portray main characters as heroic. In most ancient literature, including historical writings, authors deliberately played down character flaws or military losses and exaggerated the positive aspects of their sovereigns. Think of the ways that the Pharaohs of Egypt shared all their “victories” on large steles, for the public to read, especially since many were minor skirmishes or even utter defeats. These steles/monuments were carved propaganda pieces where the Pharaoh was “applauded” by their gods for their actions and behavior.

But besides Christ, no human has ever been flawless. The Bible records that Noah got drunk (Genesis 9:20–21), Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife (Genesis 12:14–20, 20:1–3), Moses murdered a man (Exodus 2:12), David was an adulterer (2 Samuel 11:15–17), and godly king Uzziah became proud toward the end of his life and attempted to offer incense in the temple and was struck with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16–21). In the NT, Peter denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:34, 74), and the Apostle John twice attempted to worship someone who was not God (Revelation 19:10, 22:8–9). Scripture almost always exposes the sins of patriarchs, prophets, and kings because true history has real people with real flaws. There were no “super saints” who were perfect, and even the best examples (Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Paul) all had flaws or moments of weakness.

The Bible Is a Reliable Historical Record, but It Is More Than That

The Bible records accurate history because it was written by the God who acts in history.

The Bible records accurate history because it was written by the God who acts in history. Its repeated accuracy about historical details also attests to its overall trustworthiness. We can trust Scripture to tell us truth, not just of history, but also about why we need a Savior and how to be saved.