13 Events in the Bible That Are Confirmed Elsewhere

1. 1 Kings 14:25-26 advises in the fifth year of King Rehobaom, Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem. He seized the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made. This campaign of Pharoh Shishak is also recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt seen in the picture to the left.

2. During the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign a king of Assyria named Sennacherib attacked cities of Judah and captured them. When the King Hezekiah said, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. Whatever you demand from me, I will pay” the Assyrian king demanded 11 tons of silver and one ton of gold. King Hezekiah had no choice but to strip the gold from the doors of the Lord’s sanctuary (see 2 Kings 18: 13-16). This entire episode is recorded on the Taylor Prism.

3. The Moab Revolt against Israel is found in 2 Kings 1:1 and 2 Kings 3:4-27. It is also recorded on the Mesha Stele.

4. The Fall of Samaria to Sargon II, King of Assyria is recorded on his palace walls, but it can also be found in 2 Kings 17: 3-6 and 2 Kings 18: 9-11.

5. Also on Sargon’s walls is the account of his defeat of Ashdod. It’s also found in Isaiah 20:1….In the year that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it.

6. The Lachish Reliefs records the Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib just as 2 Kings 18: 14, 17……See number 2 above.

7. One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon become king in his place…..states 2 Kings 19: 37. This account refers to the assassination of Sennacherib and is also recorded in the court records of his son Esarhaddon.

8. The prophets Nahum and Zephaniah (Zephaniah 2:13-15) predicted the Fall of Ninevah. The prediction was also recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar.

9. 2 Kings 24: 10-14 tells of the Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bablyon. Of course it is also listed in the Babylonian Chronicles.

10. Ever hear of the Bablyonian Ration Records? They confirm the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in Babylon. It is also mentioned in 2 Kings 24; 15-16.

11. The Fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians was mentioned in Daniel 5: 30-31 (That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of 62). the Cyrus Cylinder also provides the account.

12. Ezra 1:1-4 and Ezra 6:3-4 recounts how the captives in Babylon were freed by Cyrus the Great. Once again the Cyrus Cylinder provides an accounting as well.

13. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give us the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The writings of Josephus, Seutonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Talmud, and Lucian mention Jesus as well.

And as a Thursday bonus……

During the reign of Claudius during A.D. 41-54 the Jews were forced to leave Rome. Acts 18:2 states …where he found a Jewish man named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Suetonius also provides a second source for the removal of Jews.

Discover more 13’s here.