Readings and Archaeology Class

This summer I decided to take a summer class, "Readings and Archaeology." It was really cool that I had the opportunity to take this class right after I got back from my trip to Israel this last May! It helped me understand stories that I've read from the Bible my whole life and also helped me understand things that I saw in the Holy Land, a whole bunch better! I just finished the class today and I here is my final paper that I had to write for the final exam!

As I was taking this class, one of my favorite articles that I read was about Jericho. Despite the different opinions between archaeologists about what happened there, the archaeologists uncovered crucial evidence that goes to prove that the story found in Joshua 6:1-27 is no doubt true!

Even though the archaeologists’ overall conclusion of the facts surrounding Jericho is different from that found in the Bible, they did a very good job finding a wall with bricks down below that would have proved the walls DID fall down! Once inside the city, they even found evidence of fallen bricks and wood amongst household utensils! All of these were apparently burned, but not until after the destruction had already taken place, which would also fall directly into place with what the Bible says!

One thing the article stated that was very interesting to me, was that the area that Jericho was in just happened to have a lot of earthquake activity going on. Since Bible times, the Jordan has dried up several times because of earthquakes! Now, some may say that we shouldn’t try to reason out miracles by coming up with natural events that explain what might have happened.

I feel as if God is able to cause natural events to happen which will work with His ultimate plan. We need to remember that God is big enough to use the supernatural and also the natural! I find it very interesting that the stopping of the Jordan has happened several times since the account in the Bible, due to land slides. It is possible that God caused a land slide which stopped the Jordan. "And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel." (Joshua 5:1 KJV) This passage only states that "...the LORD had dried up the water of Jordan...," God is able to use natural circumstances to work for His good and His glory! Also, when the Israelites marched around Jericho, making the earth vibrate without doubt, it is entirely possible that the Lord used this to work up another earthquake which caused the walls to fall down! Either way, God gets the glory for these miracles, whether they are natural or supernatural miracles!

As humans in today's day and age, we have a tendency to say that miracles do not happen anymore. However, maybe this is because we expect the dead to be raised, the blind to see, etc... We have a tendency to look for God to do only supernatural things, when He just might use a natural circumstance and we might miss it, because we're looking for something bigger. God is big enough to do small, natural things! By saying this, I don't mean He won't do something supernatural, just that we need to keep our eyes open for God in every situation! After reading this article, I hope with all my heart that I do not overlook something small and therefore miss the opportunity to see a great miracle of the Lord!

Faith in God is easy when miracles are supernatural. Even sinners can see God’s hand in the supernatural and believe that He had something to do with it! However, I feel that God wants to see Christians have faith that is strong enough so that they are able to see God working even through very natural circumstances.