In this lesson, David Capoccia surveys archaeological information from Babel and the time of Israel’s patriarchs. Important archaeological finds for this period include: the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, Egyptian depictions of Semitic life, and Mesopotamian marriage customs. David Capoccia also begins to discuss the claims that Sodom has been found today and what biblical details we should keep in mind when assessing such claims.
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After the flood in an archaeological basis looking at the Tower of Babel and the time of the Patriarchs before that let’s review a little bit of last week’s lesson last week We examined various creation and flood myths from Mesopotamia and Egypt we ended our time by asking if Israel could have borrowed from its neighbors to compose the creation and flood accounts of Genesis but we said confidently no Israel did not I gave you we discussed four reasons for why we can know that why we know Israel did not borrow creation and flood accounts from his neighbors what was one of those reasons yeah Craig now the Bible is true God has shown us the word of God is true he’s revealed us reality Through the Bible so obviously we’re going to say no this is the source what else what did we make note of last week as we looked at the creation myths and flood myths it helps us see that Israel did not borrow yeah Eric that’s right there are some similarities but there are also many many differences particularly in the details but also fundamental differences differences in world view things like the world is getting better versus the world is getting worse or the gods are needy and cruel and Whimsical versus god is perfect and in total control and then also we mentioned that myths tend to get more elaborate and less believable over time rather than simpler and more believable over time so as the Bible was written later than these myths it doesn’t make sense the Bible would be simpler and more reasonable so we have a number of reasons for why Israel did not borrow and I also said there’s a better explanation for the similarities we see between the Bible’s accounts and these myths what is the better explanation go ahead bill exactly the better explanation is that the events of the Bible actually happened and memories of those events were showing up in the myths and legends of other nations of other cultures that’s a better explanation any questions about what we talked about last week yeah Steve looking at these up all of them yeah the other Bible just seems to be straightforward yeah you know factual occurrences with of course you know some some literature you know I mean yeah that’s a good comment Steve not only the events that take place are reasonable the the events of the Bible are reasonable much more reasonable than these myths but even the way it’s presented is reasonable it’s presented as a sequence of events in history rather than a very poetic and um a very mythological sounding epic which is the way it’s presented in these in these other accounts yeah any other questions yeah really yeah I think that is a good way to describe it your question would it be more accurate to say that the Gentile Nations those other nations actually borrowed from the Bible yes in a sense they weren’t necessarily looking at the scriptures but the true events of the Bible they are taking those events and they’ve become a little bit distorted or they’ve or they’ve communicated them in a way that corresponds to their own world view but yeah in a sense it’s the other nations actually borrowing from the true account which are presented in the Bible other questions or comments Okay so we’ve looked at archeology related to the first 1700 years of history from creation around 4000 BC to the flood around 2350 BC but now we’re going to look at the period from 2350 BC to 1900 BC about 1900 BC from Babel to the birth of Isaac into the destruction of Sodom I told you last week that we don’t have very many archaeological pieces of information from Before the Flood the flood destroyed the information that would have been available After the flood there’s a lot more but not very much about Abraham as of today we have not discovered any direct evidence of Abraham in the Middle East but this is not surprising actually considering the lifestyle of Abraham even though the Bible tells us Abraham was very rich what kind of house did he live in you live in a tent remember he he lived in a tent and Abraham tended to move around a lot why yeah because he was a a herder he was somebody who took care of livestock when they constantly need fresh sources of food Green Pastures and so he’s going to be moving around the land of Canaan and even going into Egypt sometimes he was a nomad and when you live as a nomad as Abraham did you tend not to leave much behind that directly identifies you I mean he embodies what the New Testament says he was living a very temporary life he was a Sojourner he didn’t leave much evidence behind that directly identified him so because of that can we say nothing about Abraham or his time period based on archeology actually far from it we have a large amount of archaeological information related to the period in which Abraham lived today we’re just going to focus on a few of those things because after all this is just a survey we can’t talk about everything today’s outline is basically presented in the title for today first in our lesson today we’re going to look at evidence for Babel second we’re going to look for confirmation of early Semitic life and Customs based off of pieces of evidence from Mesopotamia and Egypt and then third we’re going to look at Sodom load willing if we have time today we won’t be able to talk all the way about sauna but we can’t say some things because the infamous City has been found or has it we’re going to investigate let’s pray before we go further Lord God we thank you that you are the god of history that you’re not like the other gods that you’ve given us a history that is true and that is so complete giving us exactly what we need to know so we can understand where we fit in the world where we fit in history and what you’re doing Lord help me to be able to explain well today and help those listening to be able to pay attention in Jesus name amen all right first we’re going to go back to Babel open your Bibles let’s reread the short account given in Babel in Genesis 11. it says Genesis 11 verses 1 to 9.
starting in verse one Genesis 11 verses 1 to 9.
now the whole earth use the same language in the same words it came about as a journeyed yeast that they found a plane in the land of shinar and settled there they said to one another come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly and they use brick for stone and they use tar for Mortar they said come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven and let us make for ourselves a name otherwise we’ll be scattered abroad over the face of the whole Earth the Lord came down to see the city and the Tao which the sons of men had built the Lord said behold they are one people and they all have the same language and this is what they began to do and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them come let us go down and there confuse their language so they will not understand one another’s speech so the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building the city therefore its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole Earth okay that in mind let’s talk about some archeology is there archeology that can tell us about the building of Babel and the confusion of languages these are archaeological evidence well as you know from our recent class on Babel we can get some idea of the Tower of Babel’s appearance and purpose by looking at the many ancient Towers in Mesopotamia in the area in which Babel would have existed what do we call these towers ziggurats ziggurats the Tower of Babel was the first Tower in the Middle East After the flood so it likely became the template for all the Monumental towers that were built later in the Middle East by the people of the Middle East in just the first few centuries after the Tower of Babel it makes sense then to look at those proceeding Towers those towers that came right afterwards the ziggurats to try and get a sense of the Tower of Babel so I actually have two ziggurats pictured up there two entrances of those ziggurats archaeologists have discovered almost 30 ziggurats in Mesopotamia and all generally conform to the pattern of various Terraces leading up to a central point at the top of the structure these cigarettes also had ramps stairs or sometimes both leading up to the top now for what were ziggurats used in Mesopotamia there’s actually much debate among archaeologists about this those ziggurats clearly had something to do with religion John Walton from the associates of biblical research a Biblical archeology organization and a Christian organization has proposed using the names of the ziggurats themselves to point us to their purpose we actually know the names that the Mesopotamians used for many of their ziggurats because of ancient inscriptions let me show you some of them let’s see if we can notice any patterns these are 15 names of ziggurats we have the Temple of the foundation of Heaven and Earth the Temple of the wielder of the seven decrees of Heaven and Earth Temple of the mountain breeze Temple of mystery Temple of The Stairway to Pure Heaven Temple of the god dadya Temple of the admirable Throne or Sanctuary Temple of the ziggurat exalted Dwelling Place Temple of the exalted Mountain Temple of exalted Splendor Temple of the god Nana Temple of the foundation of Heaven and Earth Temple which links Heaven and Earth Temple of the gipparoo and Temple of the ziggurat okay what repeated ideas or themes do you notice in these titles yeah really Temple right sometimes or they all include the name Temple yeah Craig exalted there’s the idea of Glory or exultation with these structures what else Rob okay there’s the theme of Heaven and Earth and some of them even say there’s a connection that the temple has to do with the connection between Heaven and Earth we have stairs and also a link what else okay there are certain gods associated with these Temple names anything else yeah Craig um I think uh see one of them yeah two of them say Foundation oh we have two the exact same name here what do you know Temple the foundation of Heaven and Earth hopefully I didn’t just copy one twice but yeah the foundation also there’s the idea of mountain you may have noticed a number of these talk about mountains or or mention the name Mountain so we can put these things together get a little bit of an idea of based on the names the purpose of these structures it the ziggurat was going to act like a glorious Mountain that interacted with both Heaven and Earth even linked Heaven and Earth linking Heaven The Dwelling Place of the Gods with Earth The Dwelling Place of men so these cigarettes were four this idea may figure in to the Tower of Babel account that we just read about because the tower besides is acting as a monument to man’s Wisdom ability and strength it would act like a link Between Heaven and Earth either to bring man up to God or to bring God down to man we see this link between Heaven and Earth even in the names of the ziggurats it’s intriguing to note however that in ancient documents describing describing religious rituals in Mesopotamia ziggurats are actually not involved in those rituals people might refer to the ziggurat they might praise the god of the ziggurat they might swear by the ziggurat but strangely so far we have found no evidence that people or priests are ever described as using the ziggurat as part of religious rituals it didn’t go up the cigarette they didn’t do anything on the ziggurat therefore John Walton the man I mentioned earlier is suggests that the ziggurat at least in post-babel times was only supposed to be used by the gods it wasn’t for man to use it was just for the gods to use the ziggurat was a Stairway indeed but not for man it was for the Gods it was for the gods as they traveled from Heaven to Earth and vice versa moreover the gods could refresh themselves on this stairway with food drink and a place to rest provided by the pious worshipers of those Gods the people of the city that seems to be the purpose of the ziggurat one other note regarding ziggurats ziggurats were built of the same building materials mentioned here in this passage in Genesis 11. the materials mentioned by Moses are tar or some translations say bitumen which is a petroleum product it is found to existed in Mesopotamia in various places and burned brick or baked brick brick that has been burned with a furnace instead of sun dried there are two ways that two main ways you can make brick either in a kiln a furnace or you could just leave it out in the sun let the sun dry it baked brick and bitumen were valuable materials in ancient Mesopotamia and they were reserved for public buildings and monuments you wouldn’t use it just to build your house you wouldn’t use those materials they’re too expensive they’re too valuable they would use them for public buildings though which usually included the two essential structures of any city which were the ziggurat and the Palace of the king those are the those are the buildings that would get big brick and bitumen because baked brick and the and the joining mechanism of bitumen though expensive or they’re very strong even stronger than naturally cut stone or iron ziggurats were often constructed using outer walls of baked brick and then inside it would be filled with dirt and reinforced with mud brick so the most important parts of the foundation the outer walls they were used they used baked brick so this consistency also helps us see the Tower of Babel was probably a ziggurat now if the Tower of Babel was the original ziggurat is it possible then that one of the ziggurats that we’ve uncovered today is actually the Tower of Babel I mean if the Tower of Babel was a cigarette we’re finding all these cigarettes maybe the Tower of Babel is one of those cigarettes does it still exist it is possible this is actually the theory of some archaeologists including David roll we’ll talk about this particular archaeologist and more at more length in later classes because he’s one of those people who wants to turn around Egyptian chronology he’s one of those who suggests that we’ve got it all wrong he’s not a Christian but he is a maximalist he’s someone that believes the Bible gives accurate archaeological information his theory is that the ziggurat of Omar seeing an ancient eridu the ancient city of eredu is actually the Tower of Babel that ziggurat is the oldest and largest of all the uncovered ziggurats though there’s some debate as to which ziggurat is actually the largest because what qualifies as a ziggurat and you know it’s a little bit difficult to date things and so there’s some debate about which one is actually oldest but this is one of the oldest the ziggurat of Omar scene actually I don’t have a picture of it but the cigarette of arm are scene moreover in the Mesopotamian tradition eridu was the first city and the first great City built in ancient Sumer an ancient Mesopotamia remember the Sumerian king list that we looked at last week well the first line from that Chronicle reads thusly after the kingship descended from Heaven the kingship was in ereduke or eridu so they said kingship came down to this city airdu from heaven additionally certain terms that later referred to the city of Babylon were first used to describe the city of eridu so there’s actually a link between Babylon and eredu they were sometimes talked about the same way finally there’s a curious mentioning of confused languages and the god of eridu and the Sumerian myth and mercar and the Lord of Arata this story dated to around 2100 BC is all about the feud that the ruler of uric and eridu a ruler by the name of enmercar is having with this Lord of another city a city named Arata at one point in their Feud it’s kind of like a battle of wits at one point in their few at enmarkar involves it invokes a spell on his rival by reciting an incantation now let me show you one translation of the spell to excerpts this is and mirkar speaking once upon a time there was no snake there was no scorpion there was no hyena there was no lion there was no wild dog no wolf there was no fear no Terror man had no rival in those days the lands of subur and hamazi Harmony tongue Sumer the great land of the decrees of Prince ship URI the land having all that is appropriate the land martu resting insecurity the whole universe the people in unison to end Lil the chief God and one tongue spoke then Anki got he’s the god of crafts water and creation also the patron god of eridu the Lord of abundance whose commands are trustworthy the Lord of wisdom who understands the land the leader of the Gods endowed wisdom the Lord of eredu changed the speech in their mouths brought contention into it into the speech of man that until then had been won okay this translation is correct this is a clear reference to the confusion of languages at Babel I mean it’s very very clear could the Battle of Genesis 11 actually have been ancient eridu after all the god of eredu is said to be the one who confused the languages we should note there are other ways to translate this passage in this myth for instance other versions of this spell have it taking place in the future rather than in the past and it’s a unification of languages rather than a confusion of languages that is and Lil and not enlil Anki will one day make all the languages of Man one and that’s what he’s invoking here enki make the languages of all the people one so it’s possible that there’s a different translation necessary either way What’s significant is that the god of eridu is described as having power over human language either to confuse or to unite now one problem with eridu being an ancient Babel is that air do is pretty far south it’s still technically part of Mesopotamia but it’s if you think of the two rivers of Mesopotamia Babble would be kind of in the middle towards the top erudu is down here at the bottom over over this River so what the people after leaving the ark have traveled that far south before they got together to build a city in a tower that’s a good question but even if the ziggurat of airdu was not the original Tower of Babel it is possible that the Tower of Babel because it was or because it may have only partially been completed the tower was later finished reused or repurposed in the work of other Mesopotamian dwellers so part of the Tower of Babel may have become one of the ziggurats that we’ve uncovered today it’d be hard to figure out which one but it is possible that’s what I want to say about Babel any questions about Babel and its archeology yeah Roy dude huh that’s a good thing yeah that’s a good observation just to repeat your comment that Jacob has the dream and he sees the latter or the stairway with the angels going up and down it from Heaven to Earth that certainly sounds a little bit like the way the Mesopotamians thought of their ziggurats functioning like a Stairway I’m not exactly sure what the proper explanation of that connection is or if indeed they are related but yeah that certainly sounds similar other comments or questions yeah Steve that’s a good question I don’t know for sure but when the consensus right now is that this story this myth originated from around 2100 BC I remember it’s always been asterisk but yeah that’s what archaeologists think that would be after the Tower of Babel of course because the tower Babble would take place around 2240 BC and that would if indeed that’s a correct date that’s not very long after the Tower of Babel so that could be a very recent memory but as the people were dispersing in Mesopotamia that myth was written other questions or comments Okay so we’ve heard a little bit about Babel now the next place the text goes in the Bible is to Abraham moves across a large period or a pretty decent chunk of time and it goes to Abram or Abraham first called Abram again we don’t have direct evidence of Abraham himself in archeology his name does not appear on any inscriptions that we found thus far but we do have a number of pieces of information that relate to the time of Abraham and to the Customs at that time it’s going to help us understand Abraham a little bit better first let’s take a look at the story of sunuhi I’ll show you a little bit of the archaeological information we have the story of synonym this story comes to us from various surviving propriet fragments from around 1800 BC though the story appears to have been composed around 2000 BC so this would be probably written during the time of Abraham or his immediate descendants the sword describes the experience of an Egyptian official named sinohi who after the death of a certain Pharaoh flees Egypt and lives somewhere in Canaan there a tent dwelling Chieftain named enshi the son of AMU befriends sunuhi and makes tsunuhi a leader of the tribe at one point in the story Sino he describes the land and a little bit of the daily life of the tribal group that he’s in so this would be helpful for giving us some context of the Bible let’s see what sunuhi has to say and he and she placed me even before his children and mated me with his eldest daughter that is married he caused me to choose from myself of his country of the best that belonged to him on his border to another country it was a goodly land called yah figs were in it and grapes and its wine was more abundant than its water plentiful was its honey and many were its olives all manner of fruits were upon its trees wheat was in it and spelled which is kind of wheat and Limitless cattle of all kinds great also was that which fell to my portion by reason of the love bestowed on me he made me ruler of a tribe of the best of his country food was provided provided me for my daily fare and wine for my daily portion cooked meat and roast foul over and above the animals of the Desert from men hunted and laid before me in addition to the Quarry of my dogs there was made for me many dainties and milk prepared in every way hopefully you’ve had breakfast that might make you a little bit hungry how does cinehe describe the land of Canaan bounce a full right this is an abundant land abundant and good food and good drink do you notice any descriptions here that actually sound like the Bible’s descriptions of Canaan it’s a it’s flowing with honey right or it’s honey and it also mentions milk at the end in the phrase that’s often repeated in the Bible about Canaan it’s a land flowing with milk and honey and also you remember that um when the spies come back from Canaan they bring back grapes and so we’ve got grapes and wine and a number of other fruits mentioned here so when God brought Abraham to Canaan even before his descendants came to the promised land Canaan was according to cinema it was an abundant land and as a wealthy Chieftain as a wealthy leader of his group his tribe as a tent dweller Abraham probably enjoyed a similar lifestyle to that described by sinui here got to enjoy the abundance of the land and yet many servants providing abundant food from the animals and plants around the land we actually get more about the life of the asiatics that’s what the Egyptians called Middle Eastern people from Egyptian art so not just the stories that Egyptians circulated this apparently was a very popular Story by the way the story of sinuhi but also some of the Egyptian art I’d like to show you a painting it’s also on the handout if you picked up the handout today this painting is from the wall of a tomb of kanumotep II a great chief of one of Egypt’s districts it’s not a pharaoh but as you’ll learn a little bit later on Pharaohs were not always the absolute rulers of Egypt there’s a time where actually power was more decentralized and had more Regional Chiefs this is one of them canumotep II his tomb is in Benny Hassan which is an Egyptian Cemetery in modern-day menya Egypt so think if you think of where Egypt is the near Egypt’s geographic center would be where this tomb is and according to archaeologists this Cemetery was in use during Egypt’s Middle Kingdom Period from approximately 2100 BC to 1600 BC so this Cemetery would be in use during the time of Abraham and the Patriarchs specifically is thought to have lived around 2000 BC so that would have been very close to Abraham’s lifespan the main room of kanumotep’s Tomb features various paintings serving as a biography of the ruler’s life and accomplishments basically you look at all the pictures and you say oh this is what he did that’s what he did wow what a great guy this painting I’m showing you on the screen in two parts it’s particularly interesting because of the figures depicted okay maybe you can see it a little bit on the on the screen but hopefully also reinforce that with the handout you may notice in this picture that there are two figures that don’t match the rest why don’t they match Andrew yeah those two figures there in the top right they have darker skin the rest of the group what else is different about them yeah Rob yeah like a skirt thing yeah they’re not they have different Clues than the rest of the group well those two figures are actually Egyptians so if those two figures are Egyptians what must the other figures be they’re likely not Egyptians in fact the writing next to this painting identifies the group as consisting of 37 individuals 37 individuals with a foreign Chieftain by the name of abishai now what ethnicity is the name abishai that sounds like a Hebrew name it’s a Semitic name it’s someone from the descendants of Shem so what we’re looking at here is probably a group of Semitic Travelers there could be Canaanite they could be Amorite they could be Hebrew but they’ve come to Egypt and apparently we’re delivering some kind of tribute or some offering to this great chief of Egypt so if we study this picture we can get a sense a little bit of the fashion and lifestyle of the semites during this period including even Abraham so look at let’s see if we can study some of the details here what do you notice about these people yeah Magda they have facial hair they have beards but no mustache so apparently that was the fashion have this beard but no mustache what else yeah Steve they do there when we think about their transportation we do see some animals here so we know that they’re using um donkey is there at the bottom looks like some sort of goat elk Antelope type things at the top but they’re not using them as pack animals they’re probably gifts maybe some kind of offering also notice that they’re not writing any of the animals except for you can see down there in the bottom right two little kids two little kids standing on sitting on that donkey so that gives us some idea of their transportation practices everyone walks except for the little kids and you put your stuff on the pack animals men and women and older children they walk what else do we notice yeah Dwayne that’s right we see some of the weapons here there’s a Spears there’s a bow um I don’t know if you can see it with a glare in the screen but there’s probably some throwing sticks I don’t know if you know what that is but if throwing stick is kind of like a mix between a club and a boomerang it was actually a stick that you could hit things with but also throw it it was good for hunting and maybe an ax here also so we get some idea the Weaponry yeah Danielle what else that’s right who’s wearing the shoes well yeah the the Egyptians actually not wearing anything but among the the Semitic group someone there ain’t wearing shoes some of them are wearing sandals who’s wearing the sandals the men apparently the men are wearing the sandals and it was fashionable for the women to wear something like a moccasin they were wearing shoes we could say more here but just for the second time I’ll try to go through it a little bit notice that they have different skin color the Egyptians often depicted the asianics as having yellow skin they have dark hair facial hair is a little bit different motor transportation we talked about weapons clothing the women are wearing white headbands they’re all wearing color colorful robes that are about knee length but only going over one shoulder talked about the Footwear you can also see that there’s a stringed instrument here in the bottom left guys playing something like a leer or a harp and he’s wearing a canteen so we have a little snapshot of Semitic life of fashion Transportation Warfare during the time of Abraham and the Patriarchs what we’re seeing probably reflects in at least some way the way that Abraham Isaac and Jacob themselves actually looked and functioned during that time that’s a good question that could be a scroll I’m not really sure that object between the two kids there yeah good question so Egypt Egypt tells us a little bit about Abraham and their Patriarchs that time period but also does Mesopotamia especially when it comes to the law and customs so see some things from Egypt let’s look what Mesopotamia can tell us let’s um actually look at some passages in the Bible once again you may remember that in the account of Abraham some strange things happen regarding marriage and inheritance look at Genesis 16.
it may seem strange to us Genesis 16 verses 1 to 6 just to refresh you some of the things that happened between Abraham and Sarah look at Genesis 16 verse 1. now Sarah Abraham’s wife had borne him no children and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar so Sarah I said to Abram now behold the Lord has prevented me from bearing children please go into my maid perhaps I will obtain children through her any room listen to the voice of Sarai after Abram had lived 10 years the land of Canaan Abram’s wife Sarah I took Hagar the Egyptian her maid and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife he went into Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress was despised in her sight and Sarah I said to Abram May the wrong done me be upon you I gave my maiden to your arms but when she saw that she had conceived I was despised in her sight may the lord judge between you and me but Abram said to Sarah behold your mate is in your power due to her what is good in your sight so Sarah treated her harshly and she fled from her presence okay a lot of things happening here but first of all this idea of okay I don’t have a kid so I’ll just give you another wife Sarah where did you get that idea are you crazy why are you giving your maidservant to Abraham as a concubine later on Sarai dice does something else that seems a little bit strange turn to Genesis 21.
Genesis 21 and let’s look at verses 9 to 14.
this is after Sarah has given birth to Isaac and of course Hagar is also also has a son by Abraham at this point look at verse 9.
now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had borne to Abraham mocking therefore she said to Abraham Drive out this maid inner son for the son of this maid shall not be in Heir with my son Isaac the man who just stressed Abraham greatly because of his son but God said Abraham do not be distressed because of the lad in your maid whatever Sarah tells you listen to her for though for through Isaac your descendants shall be named and of the son of the maid I will make a nation also because he is your descendant so Abraham arose early in the morning and took bread and skin of water and gave them to Hagar putting them on her shoulder and gave her the boy and sent her away and she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba this decision from Abraham and Sarah to drive out or Hagar and her son may seem a little cruel to us what’s going on here well some cultural context I think will help first regarding taking new wives listen to this contract from the newsy cache at newsy the ancient city of nuzi there was a collection of about five thousand Mesopotamian records on tablets Newsies in northern Mesopotamia these tablets date from approximately or they cover dates from 2000 BC to about 1000 BC here’s an excerpt from one of the adoption contracts and included a provision about marriage furthermore kelimninu has been given in marriage to shinema if kelimninu Bears children so calamino is a female shanima shall not take another wife both kalamninu does not bear kelimninu shall acquire a woman of the land of Lulu as wife or shinima and kelimninu may not send The Offspring away any sons that may be born to shinima from the womb of calumninu to these Sons shall be given all the land and building of every sort however if she does not bear son then the daughter of calumninu from the land and the building shall take one portion of the property we could say a few things about this but basically at one point I want to highlight we have a woman being given in marriage here but if she doesn’t bear her husband any children what is that woman’s responsibility what’s Calamine is supposed to do if she doesn’t give any children to her husband provide another wife for her husband that’s pretty intense right you don’t give me any kids you have to go get me another wife other Mesopotamian contracts actually have similar provisions there’s one where it says if the wife did not conceive then the wife’s brother has to provide another wife or another one says that if the wife did not conceive the husband was free to take another wife I guess after a certain period of time the wife didn’t conceive you can you can take another wife as husband and this wasn’t just part of the contractual agreements that we see from places like newsie we even see this in the law the famous Code of Hammurabi features various Provisions regarding childless wives now this law code you may have heard of it this Mesopotamian law code is featured on a stone steel dated to approximately 1750 BC discovered in 1901 by Jean Vincent shile other copies of this ancient law code have been found by the way some Skeptics for a long time dismissed the claim that Moses had written the Pence Duke because they said people were not writing at that time Israelites did not have access to writing let alone law making that’s impossible during that time period but then this was discovered the Code of Hammurabi in 1750 even older than the pentateuch so that put those objections to rest anyways this Steel you can kind of see it there shaped like an index finger currently on display in the Louvre though there are reproductions of it around the world big stone slab with inscriptions describing the law code giving the law code all right what what Provisions about marriage and childless wives does this law have let’s look at a few of those provisions law 144. if a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a maidservant and she bear him children but this man wishes to take another wife it shall not be permitted to him he should not take a second wife he’s already got two basically 145. if a man take a wife and she’d bear him no children and he intend to take another wife if you take this second wife and bring her into the house the second wife shall not be allowed equality with the first or with with his wife law 146. if a man take a wife and she’d give this man a maidservant as wife and she the maid servant bear him children and then this made assume equality with the wife because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money but he may keep her as a slave Reckoning her among the maidservants if she have not born him children law 147 then her mistress may sell her for money okay so we see some aspects of our Biblical text actually reflected in these laws childlessness is recognized in these laws as a cause for what what’s that that’s right it’s recognized that if you’re in a situation where your wife is childless a man may take another wife if he has children then he’s not supposed to do that he can take another wife or his wife can give him a maidservant that is a female slave to Bear children for her husband we also see it’s apparently a common issue that once the female slave Bears a child what does she often do assumes equality with his actual wife the slave will often assume equality with the first wife if such a situation were to occur and Hammurabi’s law that situation is not an excuse for the husband to do what says he specifically may not do this he cannot sell the slave once that slave has given you a child you may not sell her you can continue to treat her as a slave but you cannot get rid of her if she hasn’t given you any children though you can get rid of her you can sell her for money so we can see already how Abraham and Sarah’s actions are consistent with some of the customs of the time they saw a situation where there was no children and Sarah probably thinking according to the same mindset that was around that okay I need to provide some other way for my husband to have children I’ll give him my maidservant it wasn’t that strange in that time period but of course that does not excuse what she’s done what she asked to do her lack of faith in the Lord her violation of the one man one woman marriage design that was evident since the beginning of Creation in Adam and Eve she was being conformed to the thinking of the world but what about Abraham and Sarah’s driving Hagar and Ishmael away again we see there are parts of Mesopotamian law that have to do with exactly that such that situation let me show you another law code the code of lipid Ishtar actually a little bit earlier than the Code of Hammurabi this one comes from around 1850 BC discovered in in the ancient city of nepor in Iraq in 1899 there are two laws from this code that have to do with marriage and inheritance look at law 24.
if this second wife whom he had married bore him children the Dowry which she brought from her father’s house belongs to her children but the children of his first wife and the children of a second wife shall divide equally the property of their father okay basically this law is saying if you’ve got two wives the first wife whatever Tower she had that goes to her kids but in terms of the inheritance from the father that has to be split has to be split among the children that is exactly the situation that Sarah does not want to have happen in the Bible she says this son will not be an heir with my son I don’t want that she doesn’t want law 24 to apply let’s look at law 25.
if a man married a wife and she bore him children and those children are living and the slave also bore children for her master but the father granted freedom to the slave and her children the children of the slave shall not divide the estate with the children of their former master um okay so according to this law a couple would be free from dividing an inheritance between the wife’s son and a slave woman’s son if the couple did what if they set free the slave woman and her children so you don’t have to give them a part in The Inheritance if you grant them their freedom that was the law according to lipid Ishtar we actually see the same type of vision in the Code of Hammurabi also law 170. if his wife bear Sons to a man or his May servant have borne Sons so you have wife and Maid servant both with children and the father while still living says the children whom his maidservant has borne my sons and he count them with the sons of his wife if then the father died then the sons of the wife and the maidservant shall divide the paternal property in common the son of the wife is to partition and choose if however the father while still living did not say to the sons of my maidservant my sons and then the father dies then the sons of the maidservant shall not share with the sons of the wife but the freedom of the maid and her son shall be granted the sons of the wife shall have no right to enslave the sons of the maid so actually from these laws from these Customs we can see that Sarah’s request to Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away is consistent with the time period Abraham had probably grown to love Ishmael so the idea did displease him but God confirms the rightness of Sarah’s request God’s covenant blessings were were only to be given to or God’s come to blessings to Abraham we’re only only going to be inherited by one son God did not want there to be any confusion regarding the real line of inheritance so therefore God said Grant the freedom of Hagar and her children and send them away that’s exactly what they do when he puts the jar and gives her the bread or when he puts the draw inhigar and give it to the bread he’s granting her freedom that’s likely what’s going on there so again not direct evidence of Abraham but we understand more about what the Bible says about Abraham just from other pieces of evidence from the time questions about marriage and inheritance customs in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt hmm yeah yeah that’s a yeah it’s a good way to restate the point bill just to recite what you said that in fiction we often see a discrepancy between what’s depicted in the story and the customs and behavior of people in the real world but we’re seeing that the Bible is completely consistent with historical information of Customs at the time laws customs and um descriptions at the time so that does make the Bible even more credible other comments or questions Greg yeah so that makes it even more credible because it’s accurate even when Moses wasn’t there Moses does not simply describing the customs of his time he’s describing Customs that were from centuries before his time and it may have even been different in Moses’s time but yeah that’s a good point other questions or comments all right so we’ve looked at Babel we’ve looked a little bit at Abraham now something related to Abraham with our last bit of time today let’s start talking about Sada you remember Sodom Gomorrah Infamous cities of sinful perversion destroyed by God with fire according to Genesis 19.
well remarkably as I said Sodom has been found yes we have ruins today that bear evidence that they were supernaturally destroyed by fire just as God shows us in the Book of Genesis but there’s a problem there are actually two sets of ruins that could be Sodom with archaeologists of each dig claiming that their site is the real Sodom the other one’s not oh boy let’s see if we can make sense of this I’m going to present to you partially this week more next week information about both sites and then the evidence for and against each site as the real site for Sodom these sites are remarkable but let’s see how well they line up with evidence first we need to look at some biblical background what’s the Bible say about sodom’s location and how it was destroyed now this is gonna this is going to come kind of quickly so follow along with me as I point you to different references first place that Sodom is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 10.
Genesis 10 19 this is part of the table of the Nations this is what it says the territory of the Canaanite extended from sidon as you go go toward garage as far as Gaza as you go towards Sodom and Gomorrah and adma and zaboim as far as Lasha all right this verse is talking about the borders of the Canaanites dwelling the borders of Canaan essentially on the west you have sidon and Gaza that’d be like the northern and southern boundaries on the west side on the East you have Sodom Gomorrah Atma and zaboy so Sonam queen of this verse is apparently on the eastern border of Canaanite territory Sodom and these Associated cities they form an eastern border to Canaanite territory then Sodom disappears for a little bit in the narrative and appears again in Genesis 13. jump over there Genesis 13 10-12 this is when Abram and lot decide to split up look at verse 10.
lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the Valley of the Jordan it was well watered everywhere this is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as you go to zowar Salah chose for himself all the Valley of the Jordan and lot journeyed Eastward thus they separated from each other Abram settled in the land of Canaan while a lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom okay so this episode this viewing of the valley or of the plain by lot as he’s trying to figure out where do I want to live this takes place at a site between Bethel and I that’s where Abraham Abram and LA are In this passage between Bethel and I and lot looks at the valley which is also translated plain and he decides to settle there according to this passage why why does lot decide that looks like a good place for me to live yeah it looks great it looks green it looks well watered a couple of descriptions there like a garden of the Lord like like the garden of Egypt so la must have been able to see from that place between Bethel and I clearly the well-watered nature of the Valley of the Jordan now Sodom was part of that now the text also says that lot journeyed which way to get to the land that he chose he went East says he went Eastward okay a couple notes sonom is viewable from Bethlehem Eye he travels Eastward it was very well watered and was part of the valley or the plane of the Jordan son was mentioned again in the next chapter Genesis 14. War comes to Sodom and the surrounding area look at Genesis 14 verses 1 3.
who makes more observations and it came about in the days of amraphel king of shinar aryak king of elizar chidor leimer king of Elam and title king of that they made war with bira king of Sodom and with bersha king of Gomorrah shinab king of adma and shameeba king of zaboim and the king of Bela that is Zoar all these came as allies the valley of sidom that is the salt sea okay this is not the first time we’ve heard these cities most of them son was Allied apparently with the cities that had previously been mentioned Gamora adma zaboy and then Bila is like a new city is also included also called Zoar now look further down in this passage or maybe just remember how does the battle go for Sodom what was the result they lost Sodom Was Defeated look at verses 10 to 12.
now the valley of sinim was full of tar pits and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and they fell into them but those who survived fled to the Hill Country then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and departed they also took law Abram’s nephew and his possessions undeparted for he was living in Sodom so this this battle notice took place in the valley of sidom part of the fleeing from the battle tells us a little bit about a geographic feature what is part of the valley of siddam Tar Pits they found he’s fleeing Kings also can be translated bitumen pits what appears to take place immediately after the defeat of Sodom in battle what do the Conqueror What do the Victorious soldiers do they plunder the city of Sodom they sack it they take away the goods and they take away a lot okay we want to note those details synonym was allied with the cities mentioned in Genesis 10 19 there’s a battle in the valley of sidom near some bitumen pits and son was immediately plundered afterwards okay next section I want to point you to Genesis 19 okay this is where we actually see the city being destroyed there’s some timing details and some location details that we want to make note of look at Genesis 19 15.
this is after the Angels warned lot get your relatives out of the city if anybody you want to warn tell them now he tries him when his son’s alive but they don’t believe him then 1915 says when morning dawned the Angels urged Lots saying up take your wife and your two daughters who are here or you’ll be swept away in the punishment of the city okay when is this what time is this happening this is very early precisely at Dawn so this final exhortation to leave the city is that Dawn then you know a lot has a little plea with the angel he says oh I can’t go where you want me to go hold on let me make a request look down to verse 19 to 22.
verse 19.
Now Behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your loving kindness which has shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains for the disaster to overtake me and I will die now behold this town is near enough to flee to and it is small please let me escape there it’s not small that my life may be saved he said to him Angel replies behold I will grant you this request also not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken hurry Escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there therefore the name of the town was called Zoar stop there for just a second lot asks the Angels if he could flee to Zohar instead of the mountains why Zoar according to lot why in that City it’s small and it’s close he said it’s near enough to flee to you and it’s small please let me flee there Angels Grant the requests but they command lot to hurry why Danielle that’s right they cannot do anything until he arrives in Zohar which by the way maybe that puts a little light bulb in your head all those paintings you see of like fire running down on Sodom as the group is running away inaccurate because they’re already in Zohar when the fire came down also the fire goes on more than just the city of Sodom it’s the whole valley so there’s that too notice the next verse verse 19 or next two verses 23 and 24 the sun had risen over the Earth One lot came to Zoar okay whatever that means the sun are risen over the Earth that’s when he had arrived at Zohar then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and fire from the Lord Out of Heaven so some notes Here Also lot Leaf Sodom at dawn it goes to a nearby and small city named Zoar the Angels wait till lot arrives to enact the judgment and the sun had risen over the Earth by that time so sometime during the day probably one more background note after Sodom is destroyed Abraham looks and he sees the smoke hook down a couple verses verse 27 to 28.
now Abraham arose early in the morning and he went to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold the smoke the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace when does Abraham go to look at what happened to Sodom say that again when he goes to look he already sees that it’s destroyed or soon after he goes to look he sees that it’s destroyed when does he go to look text says early in the morning okay and he sees the smoke like the smoke of a furnace again Abraham is able to see Sodom from his Vantage Point well where is Abraham at this time it doesn’t say specifically here it just says that he was in the same place that the Lord met him the day before well where was that if we back up a chapter I won’t make you do this but in chapter 18 verse 1 it says the Lord appeared to him by The Oaks of mom Ray okay where are The Oaks of mom Ray well use your little bible app do search or use biblegateway.com search the phrase in the first place or one of the places you run into it in Genesis 13 18 which says then Abram moved his tent and came to dwell and came and dwelt by The Oaks of Mom right which are in Hebron and there he built an altar to the Lord so there putting these things together we know that Abram was that Hebron and he could see the Valley’s destruction from his vantage point okay so that was the last set of notes Abram looks early in the morning for what happened to Sodom and he sees Thick Smoke even from Hebron so he was able to see it from Hebron now we’ve got some very important background for assessing these claims which two sites are proposed as being for Sodom well I’ll show you I don’t know if you can see it that well but there’s the Dead Sea to the Northeast is a site called Tel El hamam Northeast of the Dead Sea that is one cypropos for Sodom and there are four other cities nearby that are proposed as the sites for the associated cities of Sodom and then we have to the southeast kind of in the Eastern Edge the very bottom edge of the Dead Sea another cyberpose Personnel on the Southeast side of the Dead Sea which of these is the real Sodom which lines up better with the evidence we’re out of time for today you just have to come back next time and find out as Cliffhangers let’s close in prayer you have questions come see me afterwards Lord God what’s amazing that you have indeed acted in history this is not removed from history this is history and we see it lining up with other pieces of History but guys I just think about a little bit of what we learned about Abraham and Sarah they were acting according to the customs of the time instead of trusting in you Lord I think that has application for us as well Lord I pray that we would not be conformed in the way that we think to the thinking of the world that we would not be pressed into its mold Lord that our minds will be renewed with the scriptures by by your spirit and that we would pay no attention to custom if it goes against your word will it help us to believe help us have the faith that Abraham and Sarah later did demonstrate but thank you for thank you for your provision provide for the rest of the service today amen