AHAB
You are looking at the ruins of the gate of Samaria. This is where a king by the name of Ahab lived. This is what the Bible says. Can archaeology confirm it? Yes.
Come with me to Syria where archaeologists recently made some stunning discoveries. We are searching for information that sheds light on the existence of King Ahab.
I was very excited when I identified the famous battlefield of Qarqar. It was here in the year 853 BC. the Assyrian king Shalmanezer III fought a coalition
Come with me to the British museum with its untold archaeological wealth. Here in the Assyrian section I found something exciting.
This stele is called the Kurkh victory stele of Shalmanezer III. It was discovered at Kurkh on the Tigris in south eastern Turkey in 1861.
He is facing the symbols of four gods, from right to left, Assur, Istar, Anu and Sin.
Across the front, including the sculpture, and the back of the stela are inscribed 102 lines of cuneiform recording the principal events of his first six military campaigns.
In the account of his sixth year, 853 BC (inscribed on the back), he describes his campaign to the west, where he encountered a coalition of states, including Aleppo, Hamath, Aram, Israel and Ammon, at Qarqar on the river Orontes.
Archaeology is such an exciting study. We are looking for evidences in ancient annals for the existence of king Ahab of Israel. We are going to find it.
The latest discoveries at the citadel of Aleppo give a Hittite version of the battle. The information corresponds with that of the Kurkh victory stela .
And now for the great excitement. Towards the end of line 91 and at the beginning of line 92 on the reverse of the stela (12 and 11 lines from the bottom respectively) the text reads Aramaic: a-ha-ab-bu (Ahab) matu sir-‘i-la-a-a (the Israelite)
I was so excited when I discovered this Biblical information. The Bible is true. You can relax and belief its contents. Even if it tells you that God delights in forgiving your sins.
Not far from the Kurkh stela is the Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer III. Her you see another king of Israel, called Jehu who pays tribute to the Assyrian king.
MOABITE STONE
In Jordan it took a few people to the ruins of ancient Diban. It was right here in 1868 that the famous Moabite Stone was excavated.
I was so excited when I saw this stone for the first time in the Louvre in Paris. For the first time the tetragrammaton, Yahwe, was found outside the Bible. Let me read you a small portion of the stone:
I am Mesha, son of Chemosh king of Moab. Omri, king of Israel opressed Moab many days because Chemosh was angry with the land. And his son (Ahab) succeeded him.
Come with me to Muhraka in Israel. The confrontation between Ahab and the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel is a type of the last antitypical confrontation between truth and error.
As a group we relived the experience of what happened here. Ahab worshipped both Baal and Yahweh. We call this type of worship syncretism.
Elijah first of all exposed the deception. And then he built an altar. And what did he place on the altar? An animal sacrifice, symbol of the future Messiah.
Right here where Sharon and her daughter Sharne are sitting, a voice was heard:
1 Kings 18:21 “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him.”
The Baal priests resisted the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and were all killed at the Kishon River.
I asked my dear friends to proclaim the Elijah message. Tell the people in a kind way of the deception and tell them in a loving way that sinners are only saved by their faith in the merits of Jesus Christ.
Elijah is a type of those who will be translated at the second coming of Jesus and taken alive to heaven. May you and I be among those who will not taste death. I invite you to become end time Elijahs proclaiming the good news of the soon return of Jesus Christ.