What historical evidence supports the truth of God's works mentioned in Psalm 111:7? Psalm 111:7 in Context Psalm 111:7 : “The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are trustworthy.” The statement presupposes (1) that Yahweh’s historical interventions can be shown to have occurred (“works of His hands”) and (2) that those acts exhibit veracity and righteousness. Archaeological Corroboration of God’s “Works” in Israel’s History • Merneptah Stele (c. 1207 BC) names “Israel” among Canaanite entities, confirming Israel’s presence in the land consistent with Joshua–Judges. • Jericho’s collapsed walls: John Garstang (1930s) and Bryant Wood (1990) date a destruction layer to ca. 1400 BC, matching the biblical conquest chronology often placed in 1406 BC. Kenyon’s later “1550 BC” date has been revised when carbon-14 samples, pottery forms, and scarab finds are weighed together. • Hazor, Lachish, and Debir each show burn layers at the Late Bronze–Iron I transition, paralleling the conquest narratives (Joshua 10–11). • Egyptian Karnak relief of Pharaoh Shishak (c. 925 BC) lists conquered Judean sites (e.g., “the heights of David”), aligning with 1 Kings 14:25–26. • Tel Dan Stele (mid-9th century BC) contains the phrase “House of David,” affirming a royal dynasty exactly as Scripture records. • Mesha Stele (c. 840 BC) references “House of Omri” and conflicts with Israel, echoing 2 Kings 3. • Hezekiah’s Tunnel and Siloam Inscription (c. 701 BC) verify the waterworks built “to bring water into the city” (2 Chron 32:30). • Two eighth-century bullae: “Belonging to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah” (discovered 2015) and possibly “Belonging to Isaiah, nvy” (prophet?) found ten feet away—corroborate the Isaiah-Hezekiah pairing in 2 Kings 19–20. • Cyrus Cylinder (539 BC) describes the king’s policy of returning exiles and restoring temples, paralleling Ezra 1:1–4. The Exodus and Sinai Covenant • Ipuwer Papyrus 2:5–9 (Middle Kingdom copy) laments water turning to blood and deaths of firstborn, phenomena echoing the plagues sequence. • Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions at Serabit el-Khadim (Mid-Late Bronze Age) reveal an early alphabetic script in the very wilderness where Israel is said to have camped, supporting Mosaic authorship plausibility. • Jebel al-Lawz and Jebel Musa each feature altars, boundary stones, and petroglyph cows; both sites are serious candidates for Sinai, matching Exodus 19:12–13, 24:4. Creation and Flood Memories in the Ancient World • Global deluge traditions number over 300 worldwide (e.g., Gilgamesh XI, Chinese “Nu-wa,” Meso-American “Coxcox”), evidencing a historical core that harmonizes with Genesis 6–9. • Polystrate tree fossils cutting through multiple strata and tightly bent rock layers (Grand Canyon Tapeats Sandstone) show rapid deposition and deformation, not slow uniformitarian build-up—physical fingerprints of a catastrophic Flood, an earlier “work of His hands.” Prophecy and Fulfillment • Micah 5:2 names Bethlehem as Messiah’s birthplace seven centuries beforehand—fulfilled in Matthew 2. • Isaiah 53’s suffering Servant, preserved in the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIs^a, c. 150 BC), matches crucifixion details confirmed in the first-century Alexamenos graffito and Tacitus’s Annals 15:44. • Daniel 9:24–27’s timeline of “Seventy Weeks” lands the anointed one’s death c. AD 30–33, converging with the accepted date of the crucifixion. Historical Case for the Resurrection: God’s Supreme “Work” • Empty Tomb: attested by early multiple independent sources (Mark 16; John 20; 1 Corinthians 15 creedal formula; early Jerusalem sermon Acts 2) and conceded by Jewish polemic (“Tell them, ‘His disciples stole the body,’” Matthew 28:13), which presupposes vacancy. • Post-mortem Appearances: at least six independent early traditions record bodily sightings to individuals and groups (e.g., Peter, the Twelve, “more than five hundred,” Paul). • Origin of Church: Jewish monotheists overnight worshiping a crucified man on Sunday. Nothing explains that paradigm shift except a historical resurrection (Acts 2:32). • Martyrdom Testimony: Apostles proclaimed the risen Christ to their deaths; no comparable movement sustained by known fraud has ever persisted under threat of execution. Ongoing Miraculous Confirmations • Craig Keener’s two-volume study documents 200+ medically attested healings worldwide. Example: Rose Namboka (Congo, 1989) pronounced dead for 8 hours, revived after prayer; attending physician Jean-Baptiste Nduko filed the report. • Global expansion of Christian belief in hostile regions (e.g., underground Iranian church growth from 500 believers in 1979 to over 1 million today) reflects transformative power stated in Psalm 111:10 (“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”). Summary: Converging Lines of Evidence Textual stability, archaeological synchrony, fulfilled prophecy, resurrection-centered historiography, contemporary miracles, and measurable life change jointly confirm that “the works of His hands are truth and justice.” The cumulative case aligns precisely with Psalm 111:7, demonstrating that the biblical record is not merely devotional literature but verifiable history in which God’s righteous acts stand open to investigation—and pass it. |
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