Pool of Bethesda
The Pool of Bethesda (also known as Bethsaida) is located near the Sheep Gate just north of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In his gospel account, John describes such a pool, surrounded by five covered colonnades (John 5:2). Until the 19th century, there was no archaeological evidence for the Pool of Bethesda, so skeptics used this as proof that John’s account was written by some later zealot who didn’t have eyewitness knowledge of Jerusalem or an actual pool called Bethesda.

Today, there’s really no question that archaeologists have uncovered the actual Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the invalid (John 5:1-15). The colonnades were visible to John at the time of Jesus, but the pool probably didn’t appear sunken and surrounded by walls like it does today.

 A hundred years ago or so, again there were skeptics who argued that the Hebrew religion and Scriptures were not solidified, or didn't get written down until about 300 BC. In other words, they were really legend.  It was a significant argument about a century ago. In 1979, a man named Gabriel Barkay found what one archaeological review called one of the 10 biggest finds of the 20th century, two pieces of rolled silver the size of cigarette butts. Because they were so old, it took them three years to unroll them. These guys were just amazing. Another three years to treat them with chemicals so they could read them. The first word they word they read was the word Yahweh. This was from the great blessing in the book of Numbers, "The Lord bless you and keep you," on documents 2,600 years old. In other words, the text already existed 400 years before skeptics said it had even been written. All of this is to say there is simply no document from antiquity in the same category as the Scriptures when it comes to manuscript evidence and support.

Amazingly, many scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries doubted the existence of King David. Their objections centered on two things. First, the stories attributed to him are fantastic stories—that he was a young shepherd boy who killed a giant with his slingshot and later established a royal dynasty. Second, there has never been historical confirmation outside the Bible of a king named David. But in 1993, a discovery among the ruins of the northern Israeli town of Dan changed that. We now have a monument from antiquity inscribed with references to the "House of David." The inscription refers to the fact that the king of the house of David was defeated by the king of Damascus in a battle like the one in 1 Kings 15:20: Ben-Hadad (King of Syria) agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered... Dan. This is the first reference to the personage of David outside the Bible, but it confirms his existence (and confounds the critics).

The Clay Seal of Baruch

What would you say if I told you that we actually have the fingerprints of a biblical character, the writer of one of the books of the Old Testament? It’s true. Look with me at Jeremiah 45: This is what Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, after Baruch had written on a scroll the words Jeremiah was then dictating: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: You said, ‘Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’” The Lord said, “Say this to him: ‘This is what the Lord says… Should you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.’”

This man’s name—and we see him several times in the book of Jeremiah—is Baruch, the son of Neriah. He is a scribe. In those days, when a scribe wrote a book, he would roll up the scroll and press a piece of wet clay against the flap to seal it. He would then take his personal ring and press it into the clay, thus as the clay dried it would identify the scroll as his.Apparently a number of these scrolls were contained in some sort of national archives near the temple in Jerusalem, and the building burned down, probably during the Babylonian invasions. The fire destroyed the scrolls, but it hardened the seals.

Some time ago, a large collection of these seals were discovered. One of them said: “Belonging to Baruch, son of Neriah, the Scribe.” Even more sensational: Along the edge of the seal are fingerprints where the writer pressed the seal against the parchment. So we now have the personal seal and even the fingerprint of Jeremiah’s scribe who wrote portions of the Bible as Jeremiah dictated them. Imagine that—the fingerprint of one of the writers of the Old Testament!

To read about the top ten archaeological discoveries click this link: