The Value and Limitations of Archaeology (Part 7) (The Covenant & the Cross #12)

We always like to start out with the Word of God, and today's passage of Scripture is John 1:1 which reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Today's quote about the Bible is from Leonard Ravenhill. He said: "One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed."

Today, we are going to continue our overview of some topics that will help us as we study the Bible throughout future episodes.

Our topic for today is titled: "The Value and Limitations of Archaeology (Part 5)" from the book, "The Promise and the Blessing" by  Michael A. Harbin.

Today, let’s consider The Development of Writing

All writing began as pictograms, in which the writer used pictures to convey concepts. As different cultures used different media, these pictures became more abstract. In Mesopotamia, where they used clay as a primary writing material, the pictures became a collection of wedge marks called cuneiform. In Egypt, where they mainly used papyrus, the pictures became stylized drawings that we know as hieroglyphs.

The earliest documents were primarily economic. However, by the middle of the third millennium BC (2700-2400), a few tablets appear containing parts of some of the myths and legends of the time. Some of these are earlier versions of accounts that we have in later form from Babylon and Assyria.

By the time of Sar-gon II (about 2300 BC), who built a large empire around the city of Akkad, we find a number of documents that relate history and mythology as well as the mundane affairs of everyday life. Over the past 150 years, several archives have been discovered in a variety of cities...