Evidence For Christianity

Have you ever heard of the Ebla tablets?

The Ebla Tablets were originally discovered in northern Syria by two professors from the University of Rome, Dr. Paolo Matthiae and Dr. Giovanni Petinato. Since 1974, 17,000 priceless tablets have been found from the time of the ancient Ebla Kingdom.

The Ebla tablets appear to have been written during the two last generations of the city, which would mean they come from some time around 2300 B.C.

But the remarkable thing about the Ebla tablets is not how old they are, but rather the similarities to the Scriptures that they contain.

Many Old Testament names that have not been found in other Near Eastern languages have been reported to occur in similar forms in Eblaite (one of the two languages found on the tablets).

Adam, Eve, Abarama/Abraham, Bilhah, Ishmael, Esau, Mika-el, Saul and David are just some of the Biblical names that have been found on the tablets. Not that the tablets are referring to those specific people - just that it shows that those names were commonly used in ancient times.

In addition, a substantial number of ancient Biblical cities are also mentioned in the tablets.

For example Ashtaroth, Sinai, Jerusalem, Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo, Gaza, Joppa, Ur, and Damascus are apparently mentioned in the tablets.

Giovanni Pettinato also found references to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

There was also one key discovery in the tablets that relates to Genesis 14. Skeptics have claimed that the victory of Abraham over Chedorlaomer and the Mesopotamian kings is made up and that the five "cities of the plain" (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar) are legendary.

But as usual the skeptics are wrong.

The Ebla tablets refer to all five of the cities of the plain and on one tablet the cities are listed in the exact same sequence as we find in Genesis 14.

One of the most stunning discoveries of all, however, was when a "creation hymn" was found among the tablets.

Three versions of this Eblaite "creation hymn" were found. The creation hymn was translated by Pettinato as follows:

Lord of heaven and earth:
the earth was not, you created it,
the light of day was not, you created it,
the morning light you had not [yet] made exist.

Even in the midst of such a pagan culture, an ancient hymn about a "Lord of heaven and earth" who created the earth was able to survive.

Absolutely stunning.

Let us pray that even more incredible discoveries will come out of the Middle East, because with each new discovery the accuracy of the Scriptures is further validated.