Written by Keith A. Mathison |
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Biblical archaeology serves the purpose of Christian apologetics, probably more so today than at any other point in history. In previous centuries, fewer people directly attacked the historicity of Scripture. Today—in the West at least—many people dismiss the Bible as legend or myth. Many individuals assume that the stories of the Old Testament were invented by the Jews of the postexilic period to legitimize themselves. The stories of Jesus found in the Gospels, it is assumed, were likewise invented by the early Christians to legitimize their beliefs. The stories of the Bible, so it is claimed, have no more to do with real history than the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Have you ever wondered why the Apostles’ Creed mentions Pontius Pilate? The Apostles’ Creed is very concise, and yet in its second article on the Lord Jesus Christ, it includes a brief statement about Christ’s suffering “under Pontius Pilate.” Why is that important? In a nutshell, it is because Christianity is a historical religion. The events narrated throughout the Bible occurred in real-world history, in real geographical locations, among real people such as Pontius Pilate.
The events of the Bible did not occur in an imaginary world like Narnia or Oz or the Shire. They did not occur in fairy-tale worlds. The world in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived is the world in which you and I live. The world in which Jesus suffered and died is the world in which you and I live. The rivers and seas, the hills and valleys, the cities and empires encountered in the Bible existed in real-world history.
It is because the events of the Bible occurred in the real world that archaeology is relevant. Archaeology is “the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains” (Oxford Languages). For many of my generation, our first exposure to archaeology was through watching the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. The hero of that film, Indiana Jones, was an archaeologist with a knack for getting caught up in adventures that spanned the globe. I suspect that the lives of most archaeologists don’t involve quite that much adrenaline.
Real archaeologists look for sites where human beings lived and worked. A lot of preliminary research is involved in finding sites. Once a probable archaeological site is located, the dirty work begins. Preliminary surveys are done and test pits are dug. When those are completed, archaeologists begin the larger search for artifacts. Any artifacts that are found are later analyzed in an attempt to learn about the lives of the people who lived at the site.
Biblical archaeology is a narrower field in that it focuses on sites mentioned in the Bible. It is centered on Israel and the lands around Israel. The archaeologists who do this kind of work are looking for artifacts that can shed light on the lives of those who lived at those biblically relevant sites.
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Samson’s hair grew again. He enjoyed communion with the Lord again. He could pray to God again—and his prayer was heard and answered. Samson was used by the Lord again. This obviously doesn’t mean that every man who falls into sexual sin would be restored to the same area of usefulness in which they previously served the Lord. But Samson’s story should remind the broken, repentant sinner that his broken vow can be renewed.

Not too long ago, I sat with three brothers to read through Proverbs 5-7, three chapters that are full of warnings against adultery. And it didn’t take long before our attention was fixed on the very hard statements and warnings found throughout the text. Here are some them:
‘He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.’ (Proverbs 5:23)
‘He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.’ (Proverbs 6:32-33)
‘All at once he follows her. . . he does not know that it will cost him his life.’ (Proverbs 7:22-23)
In light of these very hard words, we wondered if there was any kind of restoration for such a man. Is there any hope for the Christian man who finds himself entangled in a web of sexual sin? Can he enjoy the former communion he once cherished with the Lord? Is this kind of sin the unpardonable sin?
As we thought deeper about the matter, we were brought (or led, if you like) to consider Samson, a man who was able to furnish us with the answers we sought.
In Samson, we found a man whose life was filled with inconsistencies. Samson was devoted to God, but he was also driven by his lust. On the one hand, he hated the Philistines and had no reservations about killing them. On the other, he couldn’t keep his hands off Philistine women. The book of Judges tells us about three of these women. The first was a woman from Timnah, whom he married. The second was a harlot from Gaza. And the third was Delilah.
In his dealings with each of these women, Samson acted against the commands of the Lord. God forbade intermarriage with pagans (Exodus 33:12-16; Deuteronomy 7:2-3). Samson’s Nazirite vow also required sexual purity (Numbers 6:1-21). But Samson’s lust overpowered his desire to serve and please the Lord. Rather than obey God’s commands, Samson’s lust led him to sin again and again.
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There is nothing inherently good or evil about church size. It is the coveting of size and status that is the wellspring of evil. The underlying deception is that godliness is a means of gain. But Paul’s solution is to see that godliness is in fact a means of gain (I Tim 6:5-6). The question is, what do you want to gain? A life of faithful, godly ministry is loaded with gains. You gain life, immortality, joy, peace, and closeness with God. There’s no prohibition against wanting those things. You’ll never covet access to God, no matter how much you want it. In the end, the solution to coveting is wanting the right thing.

You shall not covet… — Deuteronomy 5:21
“Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor” (Ecc 4:4). Really? All toil? All skill? All driven by envy?
What would that say about your ministry? It would say that your ministry (yes, yours), is in your own human, fallen way, driven by envy. You want reputation, or accolades, platform, or influence. In other words, you want the same things everyone wants, and ministry is a tool to get it. That doesn’t mean godly, Christ-honoring ministry is impossible, through God’s grace. It means that those engaged in Christian ministry (which, at some level, includes every genuine Christian) need to be aware of our covetousness and the direction it will try to see us.
The phenomenon of the megachurch serves as a useful foil in exposing the particular bent of our covetousness. The proliferation of megachurches in America, combined with the advent of the digital age has brought the issue of covetous comparison much closer than ever before. The country pastor can no longer pretend that he is the only voice that can be heard for miles around.
The country minister’s experience is much like living in a remote and forgotten suburb that is going through rapid gentrification. It is not as if there are suddenly more wealthy people everywhere, while your standard of living has remained flat. It is rather that you feel a heightened proximity to large amounts of wealth. Similarly, it is not as if there are suddenly more godly, brilliant, or charismatic Christian leaders in the world. It’s simply that the celebrities feel much closer.
Our visceral response to the megachurch kicks out in two directions.
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