A researcher establishes the existence of 53 biblical characters

Thanks to the unique system put in place by a researcher, 53 characters from the Hebrew Bible have been recognized as authentic historical personalities thanks to material proof of their existence. The system's creator, Lawrence Mykytiuk, an assistant professor of library science at Purdue University, describes the system as "a way to develop historicity."

It sounded like an unlikely project, though: A Midwestern professor verifying ancient Middle Eastern names. Yet Mykytiuk's training as a librarian and his interest in the Bible help him do what archaeologists in the field cannot do for lack of time – delve into journals and books, carefully examine the inscriptions discovered during the excavations and try to associate the names belonging to history with those which appear in the Bible.

The system established by Mykytiuk is based on these criteria: A biblical name must correspond to a name appearing on an authentic inscription, without any possibility of counterfeiting (thus excluding the objects present on the antiquities market, he says). The names – in the Bible and on the inscription – must match in terms of setting and time. And, perhaps the most demanding category, Mykytiuk looks for matches in at least three specific details that can identify an individual – name, father's name and status.

"If these details correspond to the same three mentions made in the Bible, it offers almost complete certainty," says Mykytiuk. “There may be a number of people with the same name, the same father's name,” he adds, “But the same status? This is going too far. So I consider these criteria to be near certainty, or else it's a look-alike – almost complete certainty”.

He notes, however, in a PowerPoint presentation that verifications of biblical names do not guarantee the same way verifications of events described in the bible and involving the same individuals.

Developed over 25 years, the Mykytiuk system is, without a doubt, successful. Studying 94 inscriptions, he verified in particular – and among others – the existence of kings, pharaohs, high priests and scribes.

All of these names are male, although he explains that he “hopes to be able to identify a female from the inscriptions. But not at the moment”.

Among these characters whose existence has been verified, eight kings of the northern Kingdom of Israel and six of the southern Kingdom of Judea. One is King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who had fought in the Battle of Qarqar in the year 853 BCE – an event that the eagle-eyed Mykytiuk traced back to the Book of Kings and on an image of the Kurkh Monolith.

“There was only one Israelite king at the time who could have fought [in the battle],” Mykytiuk believes. “Bingo. There was a correspondence between the inscription and the Bible”.

Mykytiuk's earliest verification relates to another ruler – King David himself, from 1000 BCE. He found a match between the protagonist of Samuel I and the inscription that appeared on a wall of the "House of David" found during excavations undertaken in Tel Dan, in northern Israel.

“The 'King of Israel' was in one line,” says Mykytiuk. “The next line said 'Melech Beit David'. It was in Aramaic, by the enemies. The Aramaeans who had conquered Tel Dan had marked it on a victory monument, a stele, a large stone panel. The Israelites reconquered the city and shattered the stele, which was used to build a wall.”

'David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament… If we want to verify the existence of someone, it is his.e'

“David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament… If we want to verify the existence of someone, it is his,” he adds.

Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Moabites, Aramaeans and Damascenes also feature on Mykytiuk's list – a fraction of the roughly 3 people listed in the Hebrew Bible.

“For the most part, the name is all we have,” says Mykytiuk. "Perhaps no more than 200 characters present enough elements to identify them in other written sources".

But the identifications continue. The last of them – published in the May-June edition of the Biblical Archeology Review – is that of Tattenai, a Persian administrator officiating at the time of Darius the Great and of Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer, two warriors from Babylon who had fought in the name of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who had destroyed the First Temple.

Tattenai is mentioned in biblical sources as Esdras III and on a tablet of Darius dating from the year 502 BCE.

Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer appear in the Book of Kings and Jeremiah respectively. Their names are inscribed in cuneiform on a Prism of Nebuchadnezzar, reproduced in James B. Pritchard's book in English entitled "Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament".

Mykytiuk says his criteria "apply to all levels". And indeed, it widens its spectrum of application henceforth to the New Testament.

One ring to rule them all

Mykytiuk's interest in such verifications emerged in 1992, when he was a graduate student in Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had seen the image of a clay imprint on a signet ring which belonged to King Hezekiah, ruler of the southern kingdom of Judea, and which is mentioned in the Book of Kings. He remembers looking at what appeared to be the king's name.

“It dated back to 700 BCE,” he explains. "It captivated me."

He states that his interest grew steadily at a time when some scholars who were “mostly Europeans, said the Hebrew Bible was a work of fiction with some historical references thrown into it.” He remembers having replied on one occasion: 'Wait. I have just seen the impression of a seal of a servant of Hezekiah”.

And this is where Mykytiuk's — himself a Christian — process of verifying names in the Old Testament began, by studying the inscriptions. He made it the subject of his thesis, completed in 1998 and published in 2004 in the form of a book in English: “Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 BCE”.

He drew his inspiration from the Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad, who died in 1992 and who had set a precedent in terms of biblical verifications. Mykytiuk dedicated his thesis to Avigad.

“He laid the foundation [for this work] with some criteria that I used and built on,” says Mykytiuk. “No one had ever established criteria apart from him. I was able to build on what he had done”.

Two other scholars have adopted Mykytiuk's system, he says – Kenneth Kitchen, professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, and Bob Becking, emeritus faculty professor and lecturer in religion, identity and the Bible at Utrecht University.

"When Larry's book came out, I immediately bought it and read it," Becking wrote in an email, adding that, from his perspective, a multi-faceted approach like Mykytiuk's helps provide “a more solid foundation for Bible studies”.

'I said: Wait a minute. I just saw the imprint of a seal of a servant of Hezekiah'

Others have also noticed the researcher, notably the editor of the Biblical Archeology Review, Hershel Shanks, who read the book written by Mykytiuk in 2012 in which he published the best results he had obtained.

“[Shanks] saw in this an article to do for the Biblical Archeology Review“, recalls Mykytiuk. And, he adds, Shanks “wanted me to do the Old Testament, New Testament, everything. It was too much ".

He released verifications of 50 characters from the 2014 Hebrew Bible, making updates using his most recent findings this year. He has also written about the historical existence of Jesus – a topic he calls “perennially controversial” – and will return to the New Testament for his next two articles.

Assess Accuracy

Some specialists believe that biblical checks have their limits. This is particularly the case of Marc Zvi Brettler, professor of Judaic studies at Duke University.

In an email, Brettler writes that "it is not surprising that certain characters who lived in biblical times - even if not at its beginning or in its middle - are also found in non-biblical texts. . But all this archaeological evidence shows is that they existed. It does not prove that what the Bible says about them is true, any more than verifying certain individuals appearing in Book II of Kings, for example, proves that Genesis or Judges are historically true.”

As an example, Brettler evokes Tel Dan, in particular the inscription appearing in the House of David and which was used by Mykytiuk to verify the existence of King David.

Brettler notes that "even though David's name is probably verified by the Tel Dan inscription, this inscription dates from at least a century after David lived according to biblical chronology, so all it proves is that a century or more after David lived, some people thought he had existed, and traced a dynasty in his name. It does not prove the existence of David as a historical figure and it surely does not verify anything that is said in the biblical books about David”.

And, he adds, "we also need to discuss cases where outside information shows the Bible to be wrong."

'We also need to discuss cases where outside information shows the Bible to be wrong.. '

He quotes the Book of Kings II 19:36-37 and its discussion of the siege of Jerusalem: “And Sennacherib king of Assyria having taken up his camp, departed and returned, and remained at Nineveh. As he was prostrating in the house of Nesroch, his God, Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, struck him down with the sword, and fled into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. »

"This verse correctly establishes that Sennacherib was murdered by his children and that Esarhadon succeeded him, but incorrectly suggests that this happened immediately after he returned home, after the siege of Jerusalem, in the year 701 BCE, and it tarnishes the name of the children as the name of the Assyrian God,” Brettler explained. "It's a good case that illustrates how outside sources show that sometimes the Bible is partly right and it can be partly wrong."

new directions

Mykytiuk continues his verifications – this time, involving the New Testament.

He says that after his first 50 checks in the Old Testament, Shanks told him that "we can finish the New Testament too."

Mykytiuk calls this undertaking a “challenge. I'm more into the Hebrew Bible. I'm going to get involved in a study of the New Testament. It's something very different, with Greek and Latin inscriptions and coins that you don't have to deal with with Old Testament, Hebrew Bible studies.”

His next article will include verifications of 23 political figures from the New Testament. He hopes to have them appear in the September/October issue of the Biblical Archeology Review. Unlike his previous verifications of the Old Testament, those of the New will concern men and women.

“A lot of people are mentioned on the coins – rulers and women who were their wives or sisters and who were politically influential,” says Mykytiuk.

Mykytiuk is also working on another article he hopes to complete in 2017 on New Testament religious figures like John the Baptist, Gamaliel and other high priests.

At the same time, he can be satisfied to have other possible exploitations of his modern system of verification of texts that are several millennia old.