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The primary objective of this Bible Study Methods course is to exposit the books of Esther, Obadiah, and Mark while learning the inductive Bible study method.

The primary objective of this Theology IV course is to exposit the books of Joel, Daniel, 2 Peter, and Revelation, and study the doctrine of the end times, as part of a capstone review of theology.

The primary objective of this Pastor-Leader course is to exposit the books of Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah while receiving advanced leadership training in ministry including budgeting, staffing, hiring, firing, finances, fundraising, church government, and conflict resolution.

Written by: Dr. Scott Stripling an Open Bible (2025)  advisor and contributor. Written accounts of ancient events are critical to proper historiography. Western explorers discovered two monumental inscriptions which unlocked the forgotten languages and literature of the Egyptians and Hittites, ancient Israel’s southern and northern neighbors respectively. With a knowledge of these cryptic languages, the flood of soon-to-be-discovered artifacts Could fit into an identifiable context.   The Rosetta Stone (1798)   In 1798 at Rosetta (Rashid), an officer in Napolean’s Egypt expedition discovered a linguistic treasure near the westernmost mouth of the Nile River. The trilingually inscribed black basalt slab served as the key to unlock the knowledge of the language and literature of ancient Egypt. This watershed discovery launched the modern discipline of Biblical Archaeology. The three languages written on the monument were Ptolemaic Greek of ca. 200 BC and two forms of Egyptian writing—an older, more complicated hieroglyphic script and a later simplified and more common demotic writing. Since Greek was a known language, epigraphers and linguists used it to decipher the other two ancient Egyptian scripts. Sylvester de Sacy of France and John David Akerblad of Sweden succeeded in unraveling the demotic Egyptian by identifying the Greek personal names it contained: Ptolemy, Arsinoe, and Berenike. Thomas Young of England then identified the name of Ptolemy in the hieroglyphic portion, where groups of characters enclosed in oval frames, called cartouches, had already been surmised to be royal names. From this point, the young Frenchman Jean François Champollion (1790–1832) was able to decipher the hieroglyphics of the monument, show the true nature of this script, make a dictionary, formulate a grammar, and translate numerous Egyptian texts.  Champollion’s achievement initiated the science of Egyptology. Thanks to his work, scholars can read Egyptian monumental inscriptions and reliefs as well as papyri. Today many universities maintain chairs in the language and culture of ancient Egypt. These studies have opened previously unknown vistas of history so that from the beginning of Egypt ca. 2800 BC to 63 BC when Rome extended its hegemony over Israel’s southern neighbor, the entire history of the land of the Nile can be traced with a reasonable degree of certainty. All of this helps illuminate the background of the Bible, since Egypt provided a backdrop for much of the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch. As a result, the story of Joseph, the Israelites’ Egyptian sojourn, their deliverance under Moses, much of their desert wanderings, and their later history in Canaan can be interpreted within a general framework of contemporaneous Egyptian history. The context of Old Testament history in its broad span from Abraham to Jesus is made immeasurably clearer because of the vast strides in our knowledge of the empire on the Nile, as that great nation interacted with the mighty Assyro-Babylonian empires between the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers and the Hittite power on the Halys River across the thin land bridge known as the Promised Land.  The Behistun Inscription This famous monument was the key to understanding the languages of Assyria and Babylonia. It consists of a large relief panel containing numerous inscribed columns on the face of a mountain ca. 152 m. above the surrounding plain of Karmanshah on the old caravan route from Babylon to Ecbatana. Unlike the trilingual Rosetta Stone, the 1200-line Behistun Inscription was written in the Akkadian wedge-shaped characters of ancient Assyria-Babylonia and inscribed in Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Akkadian was the diplomatic language of ancient Assyria and Babylonia in which scribes wrote texts on thousands of clay tablets discovered around the Southern Levant.          Linguists made almost no progress deciphering Akkadian until 1835 when a young British officer assigned to the Persian army, Henry Rawlinson, made the dangerous climb to the Behistun Inscription to make copies and impressions of it. Rawlinson knew modern Persian and worked to decipher the old Persian cuneiform part. After a decade of labor, he finally succeeded in translating the five columns, totaling nearly 400 lines of the old Persian portion of the Behistun Inscription.  The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society  published the translation and commentary in 1847. In conjunction with the literary part of the monument was a life-sized figure with numerous individuals bowing before it. This person turned out to be Darius I “the Great” (ca. 522–486 BC), the  Achaemenid  prince who saved the Persian Empire from a rebellion. The scene depicts the king, as Rawlinson’s translation of the Persian portion of the inscription shows, receiving the submitting rebels. At the top of the relief, two attendants accompany the emperor. His foot presses upon the prostrate form of a rebel leader. The king’s left hand holds a bow, while his right hand rises toward the winged disc symbolizing Ahura-Mazda, the spirit of good, whom Darius worshiped as a committed follower of Zoroaster. Behind the rebel stands a procession of conquered foes, roped together by their necks.  Beside and beneath the sculptured panel the numerous columns of the inscription appear relating how Darius defended the throne and crushed the revolt. Supposing that the other inscriptions duplicated the story, scholars soon deciphered the second language (Elamite or Susian) and finally Akkadian or Assyro-Babylonian. This breakthrough opened a vast new biblical background so that, as in the case of the Rosetta Stone opening the science of Egyptology, the Behistun Inscription gave birth to the discipline of Assyriology. Both Egyptology and Assyriology are vital to understanding biblical backgrounds.   The library of Ashurbanipal (ca. 669­–625 BC) contained approximately 22,000 Akkadian cuneiform tablets. Among the tablets unearthed in this collection and sent to the British Museum were Assyrian copies of the Babylonian Creation (“Enuma Elish”) and Flood (“Gilgamesh Epic”) stories. The identification and decipherment of these tablets by George Smith in 1872 produced great excitement in the archaeological world because of their similarities to the biblical accounts. Also of immense importance are the Amarna Letters from Egypt, which came to light in 1886 at Tell el-Amarna, ca. 322 km. south of modern Cairo. The next section deals with their relevance.  Other important bodies of cuneiform literature bearing upon the Bible have been retrieved from Boghazkoy and Kanish in Asia Minor. Others come from Susa and Elam, Mari on the middle Euphrates, and Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) in northern Syria, mentioned in the Amarna Letters. Others stem from various sites within and without Babylonia. Ultimately, the Rosetta Stone from Egypt and the Behistun Inscription from Babylonia unlocked several of the more prominent languages of the biblical world and laid the foundation for the key discoveries of the twentieth century.

Written by: Dr. Scott Stripling an Open Bible (2025)  advisor and contributor. People in antiquity conducted “excavations” prior to the advent of modern archaeology, and they discovered, sometimes serendipitously, artifacts of great importance, prior the nineteenth century. According to the Sippar Cylinder, Nabonidus (ruled ca. 555–539 BC), final king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, dug up portions of several ancient cities, including Ur. The cylinder also mentions Belshazzar, his oldest son and crown prince, who plays a prominent role in the events of Daniel 5–7. As an archaeologist, I understand Nabonidus’ obsession with the past, even if I mourn the destruction it caused to the stratigraphy of the ancient sites.   Another example dates to the fourth century AD. Constantine ordered Macarius, Jerusalem’s bishop, to remove the remains and underlying fill of the temple of Jupiter in Aelia Capitolina (Hadrian’s Jerusalem) to reveal the place of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. According to Eusebius, he removed the matrix which Hadrian had used to cover Jesus’ tomb and support the platform of the Temple of Jupiter in his reimagined Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher now occupies this area. The Shroud of Turin, an artifact of immense potential importance, and some controversy, may derive from this very location. There are many lines of evidence that point to the shroud being the burial garment of Jesus and not a medieval forgery as critics claim. In 1978, the Vatican granted the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) team access to photograph and perform scientific tests on the ancient garment. The results of that analysis and the team’s ongoing work have revealed the presence of pollen known to be extinct before the Byzantine period. The facial image appears to reveal first-century coins in the eye sockets of the buried man. The inexplicable image of the crucifixion victim shows that he was nailed in the wrist, not the hand as medieval artists always portrayed crucifixion. The other wounds are consistent with the gospel accounts of Jesus’ execution. The herring-bone pattern of the cloth is typical of first-century burial garments as evidenced by the first-century AD shroud from the Leper’s Tomb in Jerusalem. Finally, the blood on the Shroud of Turin is red, even though it is ancient – a phenomenon only possible when the liver experiences severe trauma.   Arguing against the shroud’s authenticity are the absence of mentions prior to ca. 1353 and the fourteenth-century radiocarbon dates. Earlier mentions of the shroud may not have survived antiquity, or they may yet come to light. However, the Hungarian Pray Codex illustratively depicts the shroud in the eleventh century. Several peer-reviewed articles have demonstrated the major problems, such as contamination, with the radiocarbon tests. In time, research may facilitate a consensus among scholars regarding this artifact.   Another ancient artifact known as The Peutinger Plates date to ca. 1265 AD. This is the oldest known map of the entire ancient Mediterranean world. Scholars often study this map alongside the sixth century Madaba Map (see Madaba Map entry) for clues on the location of lost sites. Despite these examples, archaeology did not really enter the public discourse until the mid-eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson defined “archaiology” as “a discourse on antiquity.” Henry Hitchings observes that Johnson and his contemporaries viewed archaeology as “the quaint antiquarianism of dilettanti” and as “an amateur pursuit, not science.”

Discover the best way to learn All 66 Books of the Bible with a class at The Bible Seminary - sign up now! Learn more about The Bible Seminary and what it can offer you in your studies! Sign up for our upcoming classes and get ready to dive into the Word of God. The Bible Seminary can unlock a world of knowledge and understanding! Explore your options Mail Welcome to The Bible Seminary Are you interested in learning more about TBS? Inquire below and one of our friendly staff will connect with you. INQUIRE now to learn more Learn More Survey a Course Surveyors can attend all class sessions for $99. Surveyors have no requirements, no Populi access, and receive no credit—this option is simply for those who want to listen and learn. Learn More Certificate Program Graduate-level education for anyone serving in vocational or volunteer leadership. Learn More Master of Divinity Designed to equip ministry leaders and teach all 66 books of the Bible over a 3-year course of study. Learn More Audit any Course Audit any TBS course for $435 per class. Students have the option of completing the class work for credit or taking for personal enrichment. Learn More Dual Degree Program Allows students with an Associate’s degree, life experiences or college credit to simultaneously earn a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s. Learn More Partnerships The Bible Seminary is proud to offer top-tier theological education with strong partnerships with Public Reading of Scripture and Colson Fellows. Our focus on community-driven learning gives students the opportunity to engage with their faith in a meaningful, impactful way. Learn More Seminars TBS Seminars are classes or lectures given by experts in a particular topic. TBS also offers of campus options for your business, church or group. Learn More Master of Arts Specialized teaching covering all 66 books of the Bible over a 2-year course of study. • Biblical History & Archaeology • Biblical Studies with concentrations in Biblical Languages, Christian Education, Media Production & Missions • Biblical Languages & Cultures • Church History & Theology

Welcome to the Joshua, Judges, and Jesus: A Walk Through Biblical History (3J) exhibit at The Bible Seminary. As you explore the exhibit, you will be walking through biblical history. We present almost 200 artifacts. A few of them are replicas, but more than 90% are authentic. The core of the exhibit derives from Khirbet el-Maqatir (KeM), a small site situated ten miles north of Jerusalem. Share your 3J experience with us Would you describe your visit to "3J: A Walk Through Biblical History" museum exhibit as: * Excellent Good Fair Did you have a tour guide? Did you have a tour guide? Who was your tour guide? Who was your tour guide? Was you tour guide: * Excellent Good Fair Any suggestions for improvement or questions about the exhibit or The Bible Seminary? Support the 3J Museum $ Submit Thanks for submitting!

Discover The Bible Seminary’s new “Surveyor” optionjoin Dr. Craig Evans’ Spring 2026 Theology III course for $99. Attend all sessions, no requirements or credit just the opportunity to listen and learn. Register Today! Survey a course The Bible Seminary’s new “Surveyor” option, launching with Dr. Evans’ Spring 2026 course THE 503 – Theology III, allows participants to attend all class sessions for $99. Surveyors have no requirements, no Populi access, and receive no credit—this option is simply for those who want to listen and learn.

Conflict is inevitable. We all experience tension, frustration, disagreement, and opposition. In this seminar you will learn what conflict is, how it works, and how you can actively work to redeem the conflict in your life to show love to others and bring glory to God.