Norman Geisler,
William Nix
Archaeology And The Old Testament Text
"A
substantial proof for the accuracy of the Old Testament text
has come from archaeology. Numerous discoveries have
confirmed the historical accuracy of the biblical documents,
even down to the obsolete names of foreign kings on
occasion.
Reference should be made at this point to Robert Dick
Wilson's classic work, A Scientific Investigation of the Old
Testament, or the more recent work of William F. Albright,
From the Stone Age to Christianity, in support of this
view.
One interesting example may be cited from even more recent
findings than these. Until recently the reference to "So,
king of Egypt" (II Kings 17:4) has often been used to
illustrate the total ignorance of the writer of the book. No
such king of Egypt was known to history.
Now it is known, from the Egyptian spelling of the city of
Sais--the capital of an Egyptian province in the
western-delta of that time (c. 725 B.C.)-- that the text
should read "To So [Sais], to the King of Egypt." Tefnakhte
was the king of this Egyptian province at the time, and
Hoshea, king of Israel, was appealing to him for help to
withstand the Assyrians.
Rather than a manifestation of complete ignorance of the
facts of its day, the biblical record thus reflects a great
knowledge by the writer of his day, as well as precision in
textual transmission."
Norman L.
Geisler, William Nix "A General Introduction to the
Bible" 5th Edition (Chicago: Moody Press 1983) p. 253
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