OK, here is a lesson in Archaeology: What we call “ancient civilization” is also known as the “bronze age.”

So, why does that matter?

If you read old stories in the Bible, you are reading about ancient civilizations. Specifically, the ancient people, including the Hebrew ancestors of the Jewish people, were examples of Bronze Age technology and culture.

If the topic interests you, here is more information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age

I will explain more about that soon, but first, we have a problem:

The Bible has critics, and often, its stories are labelled as made-up, fictional moral lessons. There are many people, often educated scholars, who do not believe that the Bible is historically accurate. If we follow this logic, there is no reason to believe what the Bible tells us. 

If those are just old stories, invented long after they were supposed to happen, or in other words, if the Bible is a collection of fictional tales, we should believe something more modern. For example; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1: 1) Those are the opening words of the Bible, and educated people, everywhere, don’t believe those words.

We probably know the details, including the idea that we all come from apes that climbed down from trees, and evolved. And life began with a chemical accident, probably in a pond somewhere. When a single cell somehow started living, it also reproduced and started the process of biological evolution. 

That removes the creator God from the story, and turns religion into a collection of folk tales. 

That is the foundation of modern Atheism, and I am writing as a Christian. If the foundation is removed, the whole house collapses.

So, what should we do about that?

Creation and Evolution is a foundation issue, but the erosion continues. The argument about the accuracy of the Bible could fill an encyclopedia, and I want to give one small example.

David and Goliath. We all know the story.

Stone age, bronze age, iron age are all concepts for modern scientists and scholars. Did you know, those old stories in the Bible also show that same modern knowledge, from the perspective of the people who lived in that history.

“The Devil is in the details.” but this is about the Bible, so the truth is in the details, and here are some details: 

The ancient Hebrew people remembered stone age technology and culture, and used it. They lived in a bronze age civilization, with writing and metal tools. And some of the neighbors, like the Philistines, made tools and weapons from iron, and wanted to conquer them.  

We know that now, but the details are also in the Bible stories, and that is hard to explain if the stories were invented later. There is clear evidence that the old Bible stories were recorded about the time in history when they happened. 

There is a strong argument for historical accuracy, in old Bible stories.

Now back to David and Goliath. Goliath faced David with iron weapons and David was supposed to wear bronze armour, but it was too awkward for him, so he took it off.

That only left stone age weapons for David, stones flung from a sling. We seem to have accurate historical details, in this ancient story. 

These details were known in ancient times, and then relearned by modern science, but they were forgotten for many centuries in between. Believe it or not, these trivial details are impossible for a made-up story:

Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.” But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle, and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people. (1 Samuel 13: 19 to 22)  

Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. (17: 38) [If you keep reading, David took the armor off.]

David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. (17: 49)

These small details fit with modern science, about ancient people who remembered the stone age and lived mostly in the bronze age, with neighbors who were in the iron age. Modern scholars have rediscovered those cultural details.

Believe it or not, that is impossible information unless the story was recorded when it happened, by someone who knew the details of the culture, at that time. 

The truth is in the details.

There is a lesson for us here. We have more power and accuracy, in that ancient book, than most of us know.

That same David gave us these words: 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word! (Psalm 119: 105 to 107)

There is evidence of history and power in the words of the Bible. I hope we know this lesson.