By: Abdul-Rahman (Brent) Klimaszewski

 

 

Rebuttal to Shamoun, Shamoun's silly claims the Corrupted Bible is an "accurate history book"

 

Shamoun's writing here deals with the claims that the Bible is a miraculous and perfectly accurate history book.  Most of Shamoun's claims come via fundamentalist Pagan Christian "scholars" like Josh "the fool" McDowell (read a great rebuttal here to McDowell's 12 best "historical prophecies in the bible" rebuttal done by Steven Carr: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/steven_carr/non-messianic.html

 

And go here for a rebuttal to Josh McDowell on the alleged biblical "historical Jesus": http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/jury/chap5.html

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/jesus_myth_history.htm

http://nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

 

Now again to excerpts from Shamoun's article

Shamoun's full article can be found at the following link: http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Shabir-Ally/nab.htm

 

 

He Wrote

Archaeology has also solidified the case for the eyewitness nature and accuracy of the Holy Bible. It should be first mentioned that most attacks on the Bible stem from arguments from silence, i.e. the fact that no independent archaeological research has been discovered in support of certain recorded biblical events. Yet, such arguments only prove that as of yet archaeology has failed to furnish evidence in regards to an event related in the Bible.

This is far different from archaeology providing evidence to show that certain events did not occur in the same manner in which the Bible says it did. In fact, not one archaeological discovery has ever proven the Bible wrong; discovery after discovery has demonstrated the amazing historical accuracy of scripture. The following quotations from the world's leading archaeologists affirms this fact:

"Nowhere has archeological discovery refuted the Bible as history." (John Elder, Prophets Idols and Diggers [New York; Bobs Merrill, 1960], p. 16)

"Near Eastern archeology has demonstrated the historical and geographical reliability of the Bible in many important areas. By clarifying the objectivity and factual accuracy of biblical authors, archaeology also helps correct the view that the Bible is avowedly partisan and subjective. It is now known, for instance, that, along with the Hittites, Hebrew scribes were the best historians in the entire ancient Near East, despite contrary propaganda that emerged from Assyria, Egypt, and elsewhere." (E. M. Blalklock, editor's preface, New International Dictionary of Biblical Archeology [Grand Rapids, MI; Regency Reference Library/ Zondervan, 1983], pp. vii-viii)

The late William F. Albright, one of the world's foremost archeologists, stated:

"There can be no doubt that archeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition." (J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology [Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1975], p. 5)

Nelson Glueck, world-renowned Jewish archeologist, concurs:

"As a matter of fact, however, it maybe clearly stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible." (Norman Geisler & Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask; A Handbook on Christian Evidences [Wheaton, IL; Victor, 1990], p. 179)

It should be noted that both Albright and Glueck were not conservative Christians and did not believe in the inspiration of scripture. Their conclusions were based strictly on the archaeological data, forcing them to make the above admissions. Earl Radmacher, former president of Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, notes:

"I listened to him [Glueck] when he was at Temple Emmanuel in Dallas, and he got rather red in the face and said, 'I've been accused of teaching the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scripture. I want it to be understood that I have never taught this. All I have ever said is that in all my archaeological investigation I have never found one artifact of antiquity that contradicts any statement of the Word of God.'" (Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, p. 22)

Sir Frederic Kenyon mentions, "The evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish the authority of the Old Testament, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting."

Millar Burrows of Yale states, "On the whole, archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the scriptural record."

Archaeologist Joseph P. Free confirms that while thumbing through the book of Genesis, he mentally noted that each of the 50 chapters are either illuminated or confirmed by some archaeological discovery. He also affirms that this would be true for most of the remaining chapters of the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. John Ankerberg & John Weldon comment on Fee:

"As Joseph P. Fee (1910-1974), who did extensive excavations at the city of Dothan for ten years, observed, 'In my lifetime I have heard many messages or sermons that could have some point driven home by the effective use of some archaeological item.'17 He further points out that archaeology 'has confirmed countless passages that have been rejected by critics as unhistorical or contradictory to known facts.'18" (Ankerberg & Weldon, Ready With An Answer For the Tough Questions About God [Harvest House Publishers; Eugene, Oregon 97402 1997], p. 263)

Continuing further, the same authors note:

"In considering the Old Testament, archaeology has vindicated the biblical record time and again. The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology, written by a score of experts in various fields, repeatedly shows that the biblical history is vindicated. To illustrate, the editor's preface remarks, 'Near Eastern archaeology has demonstrated the historical and geographical reliability of the Bible in many important areas. By clarifying the objectivity and factual accuracy of biblical authors, archaeology also helps correct the view that the Bible is avowedly partisan and subjective. It is now known, for instance, that, along with the Hittites, Hebrew scribes were the best historians in the entire ancient Near East, despite, contrary propaganda that emerged from Assyria, Egypt, and elsewhere.'36" (Ibid, p. 269- bold emphasis ours)

Sir William Ramsey, considered one of the world's greatest archaeologists believed that the New Testament, particularly the books of Luke and Acts, were second-century forgeries. He spent thirty years in Asia Minor, trying to dig up enough evidence to prove that Luke-Acts was nothing more than a lie. At the conclusion of his long journey however, he was compelled to admit that the New Testament was a first-century compilation and that the Bible is historically reliable. This fact led to his conversion and embracing of the very faith he once believed to be a hoax. Dr. Ramsey stated:

"Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy ... this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians."

Ramsey further said:

"Luke is unsurpassed in respects of its trustworthiness." (Josh McDowell, The Best of Josh Mcdowell: A Ready Defense, pp. 108-109)

Another one time skeptic was Dr. Clifford Wilson who, due to the discoveries made, concluded:

"It is the studied conviction of this writer that the Bible is ... the ancient world's most reliable history textbook..." (Wilson, Rocks, Relics And Biblical Reliability [Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan/Richardson, TX: Probe, 1977], p. 126)

 

 

My Response:

Shamoun in his words wants us to be believe the Bible is an error free "history textbook" and that "no archeological evidence has ever contradicted the Holy Bible"

 

Let us see about that!!!!

 

First on the biblical account of the "Exodus" let us read a long excerpt from the following article: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/moses.html

Exodus - The Evidence

Exodus chapters 1 through 12 tells the story of the miraculous escape of the Israelites under the leadership of Moses from Egypt. It is this story, together with Joshua’s conquest of Canaan (see next section), that provide the main anchor for Israelite identity as a people and as a religion. What does the textual and archaeological evidence tells us about the event describe in Exodus? Until recently most biblical scholar and “biblical archaeologists” took it for granted that, however much the story may have been overlaid by myths, there was a historical core to it. (Abdul-Rahman point- go to the link: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/moses.html to see the similarities of Biblical account to earlier Babylonian myths.)  Until the late 1980’s even skeptical scholars accepted the idea that there may have been a “historical kernel” to the story of the Exodus. However since the last decade of the twentieth century, archeological evidence have begun to accumulate which have led most mainstream archaeologists to cast extreme doubt on the historicity of any type of mass Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

Before presenting the archaeological evidence on the historicity of the Exodus, we should point out that even a casual reading of the account in the Pentateuch would give one room to pause with respect to its general veracity.

It is also clear that by the time the different strands of tradition were put in writing, many of the details have already been lost or corrupted. How else would we explain the following discrepancies?

The name of Moses father-in-law is no longer known; for we have two different names for him:

Exodus 3:1 (also 18:1) Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian... Numbers 10:29 (also Judges 4:11) And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law...

There are two different account of the burial of Moses’ brother-in-law, Aaron:

Numbers 33: 38 (Also Numbers 20:22-29) And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there...

 

Deuteronomy 10:6 And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried...

That Moserah and Mount Hor are not the same place can be seen from the fact that Numbers 33:30-37 placed the former six stages before Mount Hor. [5]

The Bible apparently gives a very exact date for the Exodus:

I Kings 6:1 It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahweh..

Correlating this with the other dates in the Bible (see the Biblical Chronology given in table 3.2 in the previous chapter) gives this as 1495 BCE. However the Bible also says that the Israelites were forced by the Egyptians to built the city of Ramses:

I Exodus 8:11 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

Now the first Egyptian Pharoah named Rameses came to power only in 1320 BCE. It would be impossible to built a city of that name before that time. However there is evidence from Egyptian sources that a city called Pi-Raamses was built under Ramesses II who was Pharoah from 1279-1213 BCE. Thus the story of the forced labor to built the city could only happen during this time.

Furthermore there the testimony of a 7-1/2 foot stela made of black granite found in Merneptah’s Temple in Thebes in 1896. Dated to around 1208 BCE, the stela, erected to commemorate the military victory of Pharoah Merneptah, son and successor of Ramses II, tells of a violent Egyptian conquest of Canaan. This is the relevant part for our purposes:

The Canaan has been plundered with every sort of evil; Ashkelon has been overcome; Gezer has been captured; Yanoam is made non-existent; Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;

The stela says nothing about an Israelite escape from Egypt but merely that they were in Canaan before 1208. Bracketted by the dates of the Pi-Rameses and the Merneptah Stela, the Exodus, if it happened at all, had to happen around the end of the 13th century BCE. [6]

However the moment we start looking for sources outside the Bible for this event we come up empty handed. Now according to Exodus 12:40, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years. Yet for all this time, there is simply no literary nor archeological evidence outside the Hebrew scriptures that records the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt. As the archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman noted:

[W]e have no clue, not even a single word, about the early Israelites in Egypt: neither in monumental inscriptions on the walls of temples, nor in tomb inscriptions, nor in papyri. Israel is absent - as a possible foe of Egypt, as a friend, or as an enslaved nation. [7]

It is amazing that four centuries of settlement left not a single trace. When we comes to the actual Exodus, things are even worse. According to the Pentateuch that more than a million people were involved in the Exodus:

Exodus 12:37 (Also Numbers 1:45-46) The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.

With six hundred thousand men, besides children and presumably women, we are talking about an Exodus of more than one million people. We are also told (Joshua 5:6) that this one million plus wandered for forty years in the wilderness in Sinai Now surely more than more than a million people wandering around for forty years would have left some traces for archeaologist to find. Yet not a single archeological evidence have been found. This is not for want of trying. Between 1967, when Israel captured the Sinai peninsula from Egypt, and 1982, when it was returned in the peace treaty, Israeli archaeologists made dozen of expeditions throughtout the peninsula. Yet, not a single shred of evidence for an ancient Isrealite presence was found. [8]

The case is not helped by arguing that the numbers stated in Exodus may have been exaggerated and that these people were mainly wandering in the desert without any permanent station.

Firstly, modern archaeological techniques, as archaeologists Finkelstein and Silberman point out, are capable of detecting even the smallest remains of hunter-gatherers and pastoral nomads all over the world. Secondly, in this case, even a relatively small group of escape slaves, would not have escaped detection by the Egyptians. Archeaologists have discovered a letter dated to 13th century BCE from an Egyptian border guard who reported the escape of two slaves from the city of Ramses into the desert. Thirdly, although the Pentateuch do describe wanderings in the desert, thirty eight out of the forty years was supposedly spent in one location: Kadesh-Barnea (Numbers 13:26, 20:1, 20:14; Deuteronomy 1:46.). The location of Kadesh-Barnea has been safely identified. Yet after despite many expeditions and digs over the entire area not a single evidence of occupation earlier than the tenth century BCE - 300 years after the supposed Exodus - has surfaced. Ezion-Geber, which the ancient Israelites supposedly encamped (Numbers 33:35), is another site has been identified by archaeologist. Yet here too no artifacts dating to the time of the Exodus can be found. [9] Needless to say despite numerous digs on Mount Sinai, on the southern tip of Sinai peninsula, no evidence has been found of any ancient Israelite presence there. [10]

It is not that the archaeologists found nothing in Sinai dating to the 13th century. In fact much evidence about the situation in Sinai was discovered. What they found is further evidence that the Exodus story is myth. Elizier Oren, an Israeli archaeologist, led expeditions over a period of ten year studied more than 1,300 sites on northern coast of Sinai. What he found was ancient campsites, forts, cities, cemetaries and granaries for the Egyptian army. This infrastructure allowed the Egyptian army to cross the Sinai peninsula quickly and with ease. Contemporary Egyptian texts tell us that the Egyptian troops could reach Gaza from the eastern delta (some 250 kilometers) in only ten days. Excavations in Canaan also found Egyptian strongholds dating to the time of the Exodus and conquest. In short, the evidence shows us that in the 13th century Egypt was at the height of its powers and had complete control over not only Egypt but also Canaan. Throughout the period of the New Kingdom (c1569-1076 BCE), Egyptian armies have been known to march through Canaan as far north as the Euphrates in Syria. From the 15th to the 11th century BCE, Canaan was a province of Egypt!

It is important here to pause and let this evidence sink in and how it relates to the story of the Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan (see below). If Canaan was under complete control of the Egyptians throughout this period, then the Israelites could not have escaped from Egyptian rule. They would be merely leaving one admistrative region and entering another - all under the administrative control of the empire of Rameses II! [11]

Even archaeologist, William Dever, normally associated with the more conservative section of Syro-Palestinian archaeology, have labelled the question of historicity of Exodus “dead.” [12] Israeli archeaologist Ze’ev Herzog, provides the current consensus view on the historicity of the Exodus:

The Israelites never were in Egypt. They never came from abroad. This whole chain is broken. It is not a historical one. It is a later legendary reconstruction - made in the seventh century [BCE] - of a history that never happened. [13]

Of course, if the Exodus itself is unhistorical we can safely dismiss the stories of the miracles [the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21), the manna from heaven (Exodus 16:15-35) and the supply of water from the Rock in Horeb (Exodus 17:7)] as mythical addition to an already fictitious account.

Back to the top

References

1.	Riedel et.al., The Book of the Bible: p27-28 Keller, The Bible As History: p122-123
2.	ibid: p123
3.	Barthel, What the Bible Really Says: p118-119 Hooke, Middle Eastern Mythology:p147 Riedel et.al., The Book of the Bible: p31
4.	Barthel, What the Bible Really Says: p119 Riedel et.al., The Book of the Bible: p34
5.	Stiebing, Out of the Desert: p20
6.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p56-57 Marcus, The View from Nebo: p56 Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p87,90 Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p104
7.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p60
8.	Marcus, The View from Nebo: p75 Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p91 Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p72
9.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p61-63 Marcus, The View from Nebo: p56 Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p90-92 Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p71-72
10.	Finkelstein and Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, Appendix B: p326-328
11.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p60-61 Marcus, The View from Nebo: p76 Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p69-70
12.	Quoted in Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p92
13.	Quoted in Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p74

 

 

Now on to the biblical "history" on David(PBUH) and Solomon(PBUH) how will the biblical "error-free textbook" stand up?!!!!

 

Excerpts from the article located at the following link: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/david.html

David

Apart from Abraham and Moses, King David is certainly one of the main characters in the Old Testament. Told principally in I & II Samuel and I Kings 2, we see a king whose conquests united Israel and Judah into one kingdom and whose empire included Syria and Hamath to the north, Moab, Ammon to the east, Philistine to the west and Edom to the south. (II Samuel 8: 3-13; 10). Surely such a vast empire would leave immense archeaological evidence.

The date normally ascribed to King David’s reign is 1005-970 BCE. Although no one doubts the existence [a] of King David, there is no archaeological evidence for his kingdom beyond his existence. As archaeologist John Laughlin noted:

[T]here is little in the overall archaeological picture of the tenth century BC that can be connected with David.[1]

Whatever evidence there is points to the fact that the story about the granduer of David’s empire is a myth of a fictional golden age created by later writers. Earlier discoveries which were touted as evidence of David’s feats have been discredited. Perhaps the most well known, as described in the rose tinted “biblical archaeology” book, The Bible as History, was the “discovery” in 1867 by British explorer Charles Warren of the water shaft that runs into the city from the Gihon spring, the one that was supposedly used by David in his attack on Jerusalem. (II Samuel 5:8) [2] However according to archaeologist Ronny Reich of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who led the extensive digs in Jerusalem in the late 1990’s, the “Warren Shaft” as it is now called, is a natural fissure in the rock that has nothing to do with the Jerusalem water system or with David’s surprise attack. There is nothing there dating from the time of David. There are only potteries dating to the 18th century BCE (Canaanite) and 8th century BCE (Israelite). The “Warren Spring” is just one example of an archaeological dead end. [3] After 150 years of archeaological digs the is not a single piece of evidence of the Davidic capital. [4]

What of David’s vast empire? It never existed. One would have expect to find such a vast empire to be described by the neighbouring kingdoms. Yet there is no description of any kind about any vast empire in Palestine during that time in the texts of the Egyptians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The extensive conquests narrated of David would have required enormous infrastucture and manpower. Yet extensive archaelogical studies concentrating on Judah - David’s base - have shown that the Judah of the tenth century BCE was sparsesly populated - only 5,000 inhabitants including Jerusalem - with no major urban centers. It consisted of Jerusalem which was “no more than a typical highland village”, Hebron and about twenty small villages. [5]

This above findings explain why there is so no archaeological evidence found for the tenth century empire of David. Judah was still remote and underdeveloped. If David was indeed king, he was never king over the vast regions described in the Bible. [6]

 

Now on to Solomon, excerpts from the article: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/david.html

 

Solomon

According to the Bible, Solomon, David’s son and successor, who was king around 970-931 BCE, ruled over an even larger empire than this father. His vast kingdom spans from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt (I Kings 4:21). Solomon’s fame and influence spread far and wide. (I Kings 10:1) His diplomatic skills is proven by his securing alliances with other nations such as Egypt (I Kings 3:1) and Tyre (I Kings 5). He was also known for his massive architectural projects including the Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 6) and the royal palace on Ophel (I Kings 7). He also improved on the fortifications of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer (I Kings 9:15). He also built 40,000 stalls of horses for his 14,000 chariots and 12,000 horseman (I Kings 4:26).

As in the case with his father, David, modern archaeology simply have no evidence for this empire nor any of his supposed architectural undertakings. Solomon’s Temple is described in details in I Kings 6 yet despite the extensive archaeological digs in the city, in the words of archaeologist John Laughlin, “not a single piece of this building has been found.” [7] There is also no sign of any of the other grand architectural works that he supposedly built; his palace, or the fortifications at Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. [8]

Discoveries in the earlier part of the twentieth century that supposedly showed the extensive building network of Solomon has been discredited by modern research.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s an expedition to Megiddo was made by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. On the lowest level of the excavation, they found two sets of buildings. Each of these buildings have long chambers connected to one another. Inside each chamber are two low partition walls made up of pillars and throughs (like mechanical gears spread out horizontally). This was identified by one of the leaders of the expedition, P.L.O. Guy, as the famed stables of King Solomon. He based his interpretation on passages in I Kings which mentioned Solomon’s building techniques, his activity at Megiddo and his cities for chariots and horseman (I Kings 7:2, 9:15, 9:19, 10:26). He even counted the stalls for horses (450) and shed for chariots (150). [9]

However things got a little more complicated soon after. In the 1960’s further excavations were done at Megiddo. Below the layer of the “stables” were found buildings with architecture which parallels a distinctive (and common) Syrian palace architectural style known as bit hilani. This architecture was similar to the one discovered in Hazor in the 1950’s which was attributed also to Solomon. This means that the “stables” being on a higher stratum could not have been from the time of Solomon. Since then even the building at Hazor have been proven to be of a later date than Solomon. For one thing bit hilani palaces appear in Syria only in the early ninth century BCE, after the time of Solomon. How could a copy preceed the original? Finally improved dating methods with architectural styles, pottery and carbon-14 have supported the conclusion that the buildings discovered at Hazor and Megiddo date to the early 9th century BCE. Long after the death of Solomon! [10]

We are also told that Solomon was a skilled diplomat and that his influenced was felt outside his empire as well. Yet this is no corroborated by any extra-Biblical sources. In no ancient Near Eastern text do we hear even a whisper about Solomon’s great kingdom. He was supposed to have married the Pharaoh’s daughter and secured an alliance with Egypt (I Kings 3:1), yet we find no reference to this in contemporaneous Egyptian records. This silence is deafening. It speaks volumes against the historicity of the description of the extend of Solomon’s empire and influence. [11]

The archaological evidence on the population, settlement patterns and economic resources of Judah mentioned in the section on David extends to the time of Solomon also. As the archaeologists Finkelstein and Silberman succintly put it:

As far as we can see on the basis of archaeological surveys, Judah remained relatively empty of permanent population, quite isolated and very marginal right up to and past the presumed time of David and Solomon, with no major urban centers and with no pronounced hierarchy of hamlets, villages and towns. [12]

The archaeological evidence shows that Jerusalem rose in prominence only in the ninth century BCE when the united monarchy had split back into two parts. Jerusalem was, at best, only a small town during the time of David and Solomon. It may have been the capital of Judah but it was never the capital of Israel. [13]

Like the story of his father, David, the story of Solomon told in the Bible is a piece of historical fiction.

Back to the top

Notes

a.

The discovery of the “Tel Dan Stela” in 1993, a ninth century BCE inscription seems to clinch this. The inscriptions tells of the invasion of Israel by Hazael, King of Damascus around 835 BCE. In the inscription is written how this king slew the king who was of “The House of David”. (See Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, p128-129; Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible, p122 and Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So, p.162-164)

References

1.	Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p124
2.	Keller, The Bible as History: p190-191
3.	Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p143-144
4.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, p132-134 Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p145
5.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p132, 142-143 Marcus, The View from Nebo: p125
6.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p132, 142-143
7.	Laughlin, Archaeology and the Bible: p127
8.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p131-135
9.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p135-137 Keller, The Bible as History: p205-207
10.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p137-142
11.	Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p181
12.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p132
13.	Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: p146

 

 

Now on to the Prophet Abraham(PBUH) to see if the Corrupted Bible can hold up to Shamoun's silly and fraudulent claim it is an error-free history textbook and never contradicts archeological or other historical discoveries.

 

The following is from this link: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/abraham.html

 

Mythological Elements in the Story of Abraham and the Patriarchal Narratives

From obviously mythical characters such as Adam and Eve and Noah we come now to characters that even the more “liberal” Christians accept as historical. We will look at the patriarchal narratives, the stories in Genesis about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

These characters are accepted as historical primarily because they refer to elements in their story which seemed historical. Thus we find in the patriarchal narratives stories relating to domesticated camels, caravan trade routes, neighboring peoples (Philistines, Ishmaelites etc) and actual cities (such as Gerar). Certainly some of these, domesticated camels and camels used as beasts of burdens, can still be seen in the Middle East today. The neighboring peoples were real and the cities have been found.

It is "historical" elements such as these that separate the stories in the patriarchal narratives from the myths of many other religions in the region. Let us see how strong this position is today.

• First we note that there is a large gap between the time in which Abraham supposedly lived and the earliest written accounts about him.
• In the patriarchal narratives, we find that there are anachronistic references to:
• domesticated camels
• the Arabic camel caravan trade
• circumcision
• the Philistine city of Gerar
• Conclusions

The Large Gap Between Abraham's Life and the Written Account

First we will need to get a firmer date on the earliest possible sources on the character mentioned in the Pentateuch. We show elsewhere that Moses could not have written the first five books of the bible; and that, in fact they were written at a much later date. There is a verse that reveals to us, the earliest possible date for its composition:

Genesis 36:31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Eden, before any king reigned over the Israelites.

It is obvious from the verse above, the author was writing at a time when the Israelites already had, at least, a king. The first king of the Israelites was Saul who became king around 1025 BC. [a] Thus the earliest possible date for the composition of the Pentateuch, or parts of it, would be the tenth century B.C. Scholars vary in their estimate on exactly when the oldest portion (called the “J” document) of the source document for these books was written. Some estimate the document to be written as early as the tenth century BC (during the reign of Solomon, David’s son), while others estimate it to have been written as late as the sixth century (during the time of the Babylonian exile). These estimates are not relevant to our current analysis. The only point worth noting is that the verse above, have set an upper limit on the date of composition of the Pentateuch. [1]

Now calculating from our table of biblical chronology, Abraham lived around the twentieth second century BC. (As a mark of the historical uncertainty surrounding this date, there exist many different estimates for these dates. Abraham has been estimated to live in the 25th, 21st, and the 16th century BC; i.e. the estimates fall within a span of 1,000 years! [2]) Taking the latest estimated dates for these patriarchs and the earliest estimated date for the composition of the “J” document -in other words the “best case” scenario for believers- we still have a gap of 600 years between the “historical” Abraham and his story in Genesis! The historian Robin Lane Fox (b.1946) has this to say about the effect of this time gap on the historicity of the Pentateuch:

Its chances of being historically true are minimal because none of these sources [the source documents for the Pentateuch] was written from primary evidence or within centuries, perhaps a millennium, of what they tried to describe. How could an oral tradition have preserved true details across such a gap? At most, it might remember a great event or new departure: like... the Israelites Exodus from Egypt...As for...the exploits of Jacob or Abraham, there is no good reason to believe any of them. [3]

Thus save for very rough social memories of major events or turning points in the history of these people, we should dismiss all the rest as myths accreted through the centuries of oral transmission. Note that we are not simply dismissing the rest as myths without any evidence. In fact in many cases where references were made to events or things that could be verified historically, we find the stories in the Bible to be false or anachronistic. Such is the case with the following examples taken from the patriarchal narratives.

Back to the top

Anachronism #1: Domesticated Camels

In our first example. note that there are two references to domesticated camels in the story of Abraham:

Genesis 12:14-16 [W]hen Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.

 

Genesis 24:10-11 And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.

As noted earlier, Abraham’s lifetime has been estimated anywhere between the 25th century BC and the 16th century BC. The above passage implies that camels were already domesticated and in use during that time.

However, based on every other available evidence we have, tame camels were simply unknown during Abraham's time. Egyptian texts of that era mentioned nothing of them. Even in Mari; the kingdom that is situated next to the Arabian deserts; which would have had the greatest use for camels; and of which archaeologists have a large collection of documents; not a single mention is made of camels in contemporaneous text.

In fact, it was only in the 11th century BC that references to camels started to appear in cuneiform texts and reliefs. After the 11th century, references to camels become more and more frequent. [4] This suggests that camels were domesticated around the 12th or 11th century BC. [b]

Thus there could have been no domesticated camel during Abraham’s lifetime. It must be, then, that the above stories are later additions to the legend of Abraham.

Back to the top

Anachronism #2: The Arabic Camel Caravan Trade

The next anachronism concerns the story of how Joseph's brothers planned to sell him off to slavery. The brothers initially threw Joseph into a pit (Genesis 37:22-23). They then left the pit for a while and this is how the next phase is narrated

Genesis 37:25-28 And they [Joseph's brothers] sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Before analyzing further we need to make known some archaeological facts.

In the first place, as we have shown in anachronism #1, camels were not yet domesticated during that time. Furthermore excavations in the southern coastal plain of Israel found that camel bones increased dramatically only in the seventh century BCE. More importantly these bones were of adult camels, as one would expect of beast of burden used in traveling to different places. For if they were bred there one would expect to find a scattering of young camel bones as well. This means that camels were commonly used in the caravan trades during that time.

This is further supported by Assyrian sources that mentioned camels being used as beast of burdens in caravans during that time. The items being traded, gum, balm and resin, [written as "spicery, balm and myrrh" in the KJV above] were Arabian exports that were traded commonly only from the eight and seventh century BCE under the control of the Assyrian empire.

Now on to a bit of chronology. Even if we accept the rather unusually long ages of the patriarchs, we will see that the incident referred to must have happened only around 260 after Abraham was born (refer to the biblical chronology). Thus during the time of Joseph, camels were still not domesticated, there were still about (at the very best case) another five hundred years before Arabic (Ishmaelites was the Bible name for Arabs) camel caravan trade in gum, balm and resin, could be referred to in an "incidental manner" as above. [5]

Thus the story of Joseph's abduction, specifically the mention of the Arab camel caravan trade and the Arab traders buying Joseph, is also littered with anachronisms.

Back to the top

Anachronism #3: Circumcision

The second story from Abraham we will look at is the one regarding the institution of circumcision.

Genesis 17: 9-11 And God said to Abraham, “...This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.”

This is definitely another late accretion to the Abraham legend. We know that circumcision was widely practiced in ancient times in the fertile crescent; in particular, the Egyptians and the Canaanites, the people Abraham would have had most contact with, practiced the rite.

Thus the question arises, how could the act of circumcision be “a sign of the covenant” between God and Abraham when everyone else is doing it? It was only during the time of the Babylonian captivity, during the sixth century, that this custom could have set the Jews apart. For the Babylonians of that time did not practice circumcision. [6]

Thus, the story of circumcision being a sign of covenant between God and Abraham is also mythical.

Anachronism #4: The Philistine City of Gerar

Next we discuss an incident from the story of Isaac, son of Abraham:

Genesis 26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

Now Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5). Thus the events narrated above happened (if it did happen) somewhere between 24th and 15th century BCE, depending on where Abraham is located in time. (The Biblical chronology points to 24th century BCE.)

Archaeological evidence shows that the Philistines did not have any settlements in the coastal plain of Canaan until after 13th century BCE. Archeological excavation at Gerar (now identified as Tel Haror northwest of Beersheba) shows that it was no more than a "small, quite insignificant" village during the initial settlement of the Philistines during the Iron Age I (1150-900 BCE). Gerar only became a significant city only in the seventh century BCE.[7]

Thus there would have been no city of Gerar and no king of the Philistines to meet with Isaac during the historical period in which he would have lived.

Back to the top

Conclusions on the Patriarchal Narratives

What can we conclude from the above?

Firstly, at the very least, we can conclude that many elements in the patriarchal narratives are unhistorical. The story of Isaac meeting the Philistine king in Gerar for instance could not have happened because there was simply no Philistine settlement in Canaan during that time and Gerar has not yet existed. The story of how Joseph got shipped to Egypt is in the same boat (pardon the pun). For there were simply no Arabic camel caravan trade groups during the time of Joseph.

Secondly, there is a more disturbing (for believers) conclusion. Thomas Thompson, Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen, noted that if the specific references in the patriarchal narratives have been shown to be anachronistic, then they add nothing to the story; but these very references were the historical anchors that supposedly rooted the narratives into history in the first place. Without them how are we to distinguish the narratives from other completely mythical folk tales?[8]

Back to the top

Notes

a.

This verse is taken from the portion of Genesis believed to have formed part of the original “J” document. The “J’ document is generally believed the be the oldest source documents for the Pentateuch.

b.

The general consensus among archaeologist about camels and their domestication can be summed up by the two quotes: The first quote about the domestication of camels is from, Lawrence Stager, Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel and Director of the Semitic Museum at Harvard University, who had excavated in Israel, Tunisia and Cyprus, in his article in the recent book Oxford History of the Biblical World (1998):   W.F. Albright’s Assessment, based on contemporary texts and limited faunal remains, that dromedary camels became important to the caravan trade only towards the final centuries of the second millennium BCE is still valid.[9]   The second, is from another archaeologist, Wayne T. Pitard of the University of Illinois, has this to say about camels and their uses :   Scholars have also observed a number of anachronisms in the stories, another characteristic of oral literature…Camel caravans are mentioned in Genesis 26 and 37, but camels were probably not used before the beginning of the iron age (1200 BCE) when Israel was already emerging as a nation.[10]   Fundamentalist apologists have tried to present this by providing what they claimed are examples of camel domestication. One such example is this website. However a close examination of their "evidence" reveals a few fatal flaws: Camel bones and artifacts made from camels found in ancient settlements. These by themselves only show that camel parts were used by the community. For instance in the website sited, much is made of camel bones found at Umm an-Nar (Oman) excavation. Yet the fact that dugong (a sea cow) bones were found at the same location is ignored. Nobody would suggests that finding the sea cow bones in the settlements indicate that they were domesticated! (A good write up on the Umm an-Nar finds can be found here. This website correctly summarized the archaeological evidence favors a late second millennium date for the domestication of dromedary (i.e. one hump) camels.) Obviously the bones signify the animals were hunted and were eaten and leftovers used to make rope, tents etc. Thus such evidence does not show domestication. Carvings and potteries. Most of the evidence for camel domestication prior to the end of the second century BCE depends more on the interpretation of ambiguous carvings and potteries. As the reader can see from the Christian apologist website referenced above, even drawings that merely show the camel lying down is taken as "evidence" of domestication! Animals represented in pottery, carvings of drawings were not exclusively domesticates. In the Umm an-Nar site, relief drawings include camels, oxen, oryx and serpents! The "conclusive evidence" referred to in the website involved "finds" in the early twentieth century. The two archaeologists referred to, G. Möller and G. Schweinfurth , were active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century! This should give the reader pause. If these early findings are conclusive that camel domestication stretches to the third millennium BCE. Why do most archaeologists today still deny this? The reason is simple, the time of the supposed findings (the early years of the twentieth century) is marred by poor stratigraphy, inaccurate pottery chronology and, in the words of the rather conservative archaeologist William Dever in his book What did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did they Know it? (Eerdmans, 2001; p56), “[Showed] An almost exclusively … biblical biases in their work.”! Indeed almost all “biblical archaeology” until around 1970 was dominated by a desire to show that the Bible is true after all. Most of the archaeological works there were funded by American Protestant seminaries. (Devers, p57) Any conclusions on dates from findings that are dated to this time (early years of the twentieth century) has to be treated as suspect.

References

1.	Anderson, A Critical Introduction to the Old Testament: p34 Fox, The Unauthorized Version: p58 Livingstone: Dictionary of the Chrsitian Church: p143
2.	Barthel, What the Bible Really Says: p78-79 Stiebing, Out of the Desert: p33
3.	Fox, The Unauthorized Version: p176
4.	Barthel, What the Bible Really Says: p79 Keller, The Bible As History: p168
5.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p37
6.	Asimov, Asimov's Guide to the Bible: p80 Barthel, What the Bible Really Says: p77-78 Riedel et.al., The Book of the Bible: p205-206
7.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p37-38
8.	Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: p38
9.	Coogan (ed), Oxford History of the Biblical World : p109
10.	Coogan (ed), Oxford History of the Biblical World : p28

 

Again this can be located at the link: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/abraham.html

 

 

Let us know quickly browse through other aspects of the "history" of the Corrupted Biblical Old Testament and authentic history!

 

First on the biblical Old Testament account of Joshua: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_History

 

Joshua

Jericho and other settlements do show signs of violent disruption at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, an event common throughout early history in the area, and which most scholars associate specifically with the power vacuum left by the fall of Hyksos in Egypt. In particular the remains of destroyed walls at Jericho have been found. They date to sometime in the mid-second millennium BCE and may have been destroyed by a siege or an earthquake. Opinions differ as to whether they are the walls referred to in the Bible. The walls were originally dated by John Garstang to c. 1400 BCE. Kathleen Kenyon excavated Jericho from 1952-1958 using improved methods of stratigraphy. She dated the city by the absence of a type of imported pottery common to the era around 1400 BCE, and concluded that the ruins of the walls dated to the end of the Middle Bronze Age, around 1550 BCE.

More recently Bryant G. Wood published an article in Biblical Archaeological Review stating there were serious problems with Kenyon's conclusions and that Garstang's original dating was correc