Last week we examined how the Old Testament is in fact a very reliable and consistent document. Now we will examine it’s trustworthiness.
The current state of reality….
“Over the years there have been many criticisms leveled against the Bible concerning its historical reliability. These criticisms are usually based on a lack of evidence from outside sources to confirm the Biblical record. Since the Bible is a religious book, many scholars take the position that it is biased and cannot be trusted unless we have corroborating evidence from extra-Biblical sources. In other words, the Bible is guilty until proven innocent, and a lack of outside evidence places the Biblical account in doubt.” ( Christian Answers.net )
Ephesians 6:12 New International Version (NIV)
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
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HISTORICAL vs. MYTH.
1. Historical (ARCHEAOLOGY) (extra-biblical sources of biblical people, places, and events)
The following Stela ( pronounced ‘steel’ ) is a small sample of extra-biblical references of Old Testament people, places, and events that demonstrate that the Old Testament is replete with trustworthy historical references.
Tel Dan (“David”) Stela (Wikipedia)
Few Biblical archaeology discoveries have attracted as much attention as the Tel Dan Stela—the ninth-century B.C. inscription that furnished the first historical evidence of King David outside the Bible. This in-depth chapter describes the historical moment when an excavation assistant stumbled upon the stela bearing the inscription in a newly excavated wall.
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The Mesha Stela, [5] (Wikipedia)
The stele, whose story parallels, with some differences, an episode in the Bible’s Books of Kings (2 Kings 3:4–8), provides invaluable information on the Moabite language and the political relationship between Moab and Israel at one moment in the 9th century BCE.[6] —the earliest mention of the “House of David” (i.e., the kingdom of Juda
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The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (Wikipedia)
It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is historically significant because it is thought to display the earliest ancient depiction of a biblical figure – Jehu, King of Israel. The traditional identification of “Yaw” as Jehu has been questioned by some scholars, who proposed that the inscription refers to another king, Jehoram of Israel.[1][2]
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The Merneptah Stele (Wikipedia)
If this consensus is correct, the stela represents the earliest textual reference to Israel and the only reference from ancient Egypt.[4] It is one of four known inscriptions that date to the time of and mention ancient Israel,
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2. Science ( MEDICAL ). The following notes drawn from : https://www.hopechannel.com/read/ancient-health
Egyptian medicine vs the prescriptions that MOSES recorded
Note: Recall Moses’ background. – adopted by Pharoah’s daughter after Hebrew baby exterminination. Raised in Egypt for his first 40 years. See Acts 7
” Eber Papyrus (1550 BC) This papyrus contains the largest record of ancient Egyptian medicine ever unearthed, including some 700 magical formulas and remedies. Many of its incantations were meant to turn away the demons believed to have caused diseases in the first place.
But while medical practice in ancient Egypt was millennia ahead of other civilisations, it often fell far short of sound scientific medical advice. For example, the medical remedies for hair problems found in the Ebers Papyrus mentioned above is somewhat questionable (as are many today, I might add): “To prevent the hair from turning grey, anoint it with the blood of a black calf which has been boiled in oil, or with the fat of a rattlesnake.” And how about this one for hair loss: “When it falls out, one remedy is to apply a mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex. To strengthen it, anoint with the tooth of a donkey, crushed in honey” (from S.E. Massengill, A Sketch of Medicine and Pharmacy).
But that’s not all. To save those bitten by poisonous snakes, physicians gave “magic water”—water poured over an idol—to drink.
SPLINTERS
Embedded splinters were treated
worm’s blood and asses’ dung. Since tetanus spores reside in dung, little wonder those with splinters OFTEN DIED OF LOCKJAW . (emphasis added)
The Ebers Papyrus contains hundreds of medical remedies using “drugs,” which include lizard’s blood, swine’s teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from pig’s ears, goose grease, asses’ hooves, animal fats, human excreta, and various applications of donkey, antelope, dog, cats, and even flies.
MOSES
Interestingly, around the time the Ebers Papyrus was being written, the great Hebrew liberator Moses was born in Egypt. He was raised and educated as an Egyptian prince, living the royal life in a palace (see Acts 7:20–22). No doubt he was knowledgeable of Egyptian medical practice. Yet what is most remarkable is that across his entire writings (the Pentateuch or first five books of the Jewish and Christian Bible), which contain much instruction in the principles of personal and community health, there is no mention of the “quackery” found in the Ebers Papyrus, which came from the most advanced medical schools of his day. Rather, and amazingly, the only principles and practices he outlines have sound and verified scientific and medical justification in the contemporary world.
The 1840’s
In the 1840s, Vienna’s Allegmeine Krakenhaus was one of the world’s foremost teaching hospitals. However, in its maternity wards, one in six women died in childbirth, a shocking mortality rate, but not dissimilar to any other in the western world. Reasons given by obstetricians included constipation, fear, delayed lactation and poisonous air.
Upon death, autopsies were performed on these women by physicians, who immediately after the procedure, without washing their hands or using sterile gloves, performed pelvic examinations on the living in the maternity wards!
Early in the 1840s, Ignaz Semmelweis took charge of one of the obstetrical wards. After three years of observation, he discovered that it was the women who were examined by doctors immediately after performing the autopsies, who died. He therefore ruled that all doctors participating in autopsies must thoroughly wash their hands before examining any patients in his ward. The death rate in his ward immediately plummeted. However, the prejudiced doctors did not like his “new” ideas. His contract was not renewed, his rule overturned and the mortality rate soared once again.
Unknown to Semmelweis, his progressive ideas and procedures had been practiced thousands of years before!
MOSES
“If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26, NIV)
While some medical practices in the Pentateuch are similar to those found in the ancient Egyptian papyri, conspicuously absent in the Pentateuch are the harmful malpractices of the Egyptians. Moses writings contain the most advanced—sound and flawless—medical practices recorded.
Which brings us back to Dr Ignaz Semmelweis and his hand-washing rules instituted in his Vienna hospital. Nearly 3400 years before his ground breaking discovery, that cleansing the hands after touching a cadaver resulted in the preventing of deaths, Moses, as recorded in (Numbers 19:11–22), gave these emphatic instructions concerning the matter. “The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days. That one shall purify himself from uncleanness with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean.” (vv. 11, 12)
QUARANTEEN
This Biblical method included the use of running water with time intervals for drying and exposure to sunlight to kill bacteria not washed off. The technique even required those who had contacted the dead to change into clean, dry clothing. These biblical procedures were so different and so much more effective than anything humans have ever devised. One has to wonder as to their Source.
The scriptural principles given to Israel included far more than the hygienic washing of hands; they contain quarantine rules to contain communicable disease, for example. Kyle Butt, in an excellent article in Apologetics Press, quotes Roderick McGrew in Encyclopedia of Medical History (1985): “The idea of contagion was foreign to the classic medical tradition and found no place in the voluminous Hippocratic writings. The Old Testament, however, is a rich source for contagionist sentiment, especially in regard to leprosy and venereal disease.” (pp. 77, 78)
EUROPEAN SANITATION LACK IN 18 C
Until the end of the seventeenth century, hygienic conditions in European cities were deplorable, with human excreta dumped into streets, flies and rodents abounding, spreading fatal disease. In the Industrial Revolution, people often lived in dark, airless tenement houses, with 30 families sharing a toilet, which probably overflowed into a cesspool. Little wonder there were epidemics of typhus, typhoid, dysentery and cholera.
MOSES TOILETS OUTSIDE OF CAMP. ( recall : London chamber pot contents thrown out windows to dispose of)
So consider Mosses’ sage instructions to the millions of Jewish former slaves under his care. The Israelites were told to make their toilets outside their camping area, burying their excrement: “Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.” (Deuteronomy: 23:12, 13, NIV)
MOSES – AVOID FATS
(Deuteronomy: 23:12, 13, NIV) Consider his instruction re diet: “Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats” (Leviticus 7:23, NIV). Medical science has proved the correlation between heart disease and diets high in animal fat. With some Egyptians consuming high volumes of meat, it is no surprise that mummies reveal a high incidence of cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis. Moses’ prohibition on the eating of fat reinforces the view of heart specialist Dr Paul Dudley White, who treated President Eisenhower, who many years ago asserted “that a few years from now we medical men may repeat to the citizens of the United States of America the advice that Moses was asked by God to present to the children of Israel 3000 years ago.”
MOSES -AVOID PIG
( risks avoided: trichinosis, type of live stock which require heavy demands of resources – food, water – to raise them)
Dietary regulations given in the Pentateuch also included the types of animal flesh to be consumed—that is, so-called “clean” and “unclean” foods, first recorded in the Bible in the story of Noah, long before the Israelite nation emerged (Genesis 7:1,2; Leviticus 11:1–23; Deuteronomy 14:4–20). “Clean” land animal foods were those described as chewing the cud and having a cloven (divided) hoof (cow, sheep and goat), while the “unclean” were animals that did not possess both of these features (rabbit, camel, horse and pig).
MOSES – AVOID SHELLFISH ( fish without scales) / oysters
The “clean” water creatures had to have both fins and scales to be classed by God as edible,
Shellfish fall outside the definition of “clean” foods. A delicacy today, many to their peril have realised the pain from eating ill-prepared or contaminated oysters, with food poisoning and even death occurring. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns people of the dangers of eating raw or partially cooked oysters, as some raw oysters contain the dangerous bacteria Vibrio vulnificus.
You don’t have to be religious or a person of faith to believe and follow the healthprinciples of Moses and the Bible. After all, they’re employed in every modern hospital; they’re scripted in public health brochures and promotions and outlined in the dietary guidelines of all advanced nations. ”
LIZARDS
Leviticus 11:24. Avoid Lizards ( which carry Salmonella)
3. Supernatural ( PROPHECY – prediction of future events)
Babylon Will Rule Over Judah for 70 Years
You can read the first such prophecy in Jeremiah 25:11-12. This prophecy was written sometime from 626 to about 586 BC and was not fulfilled until about 609 BC to 539 BC (approximately 50 years later, depending on your calculation)
>Jeremiah 25:11-12 – “…This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever.”
(https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/the-old-testament-is-filled-with-fulfilled-prophecy-11652232.html )
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The Jews Will Survive Babylonian Rule and Return Home
In Jeremiah 32:36-37, (written from about 626 and 586 BC), yet another prophet makes a bold prediction that was ultimately fulfilled in 536 BC.
>Jeremiah 32:36-37 – “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.
In this passage, Jeremiah said that the Jews would survive their captivity in Babylon and return home, and both parts of this prophecy were ultimately fulfilled. Many Jews had been taken as captives to Babylon beginning around 605 BC. But, in 538 BC, they were released from captivity and many eventually returned to their homeland.
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Tyre’s Stones, Timber and Soil Will Be Cast Into the Sea
In a remarkable prediction, the prophet writes in Ezekiel 26:12 (written between 587-586 BC) that the stone, timber and soil of Tyre will be thrown into the sea! This was fulfilled in 333-332 BC.
>Ezekiel 26:12 – They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.
The prophet said that Tyre’s stones, timber and soil would be thrown into the sea. That’s probably a fitting description of how Alexander the Great built a land bridge from the mainland to the island of Tyre when he attacked in 333-332 BC. It is believed that he took the rubble from Tyre’s mainland ruins and tossed it – stones, timber and soil – into the sea, to build the land bridge (which is still there).
Tyre described – the New York City of Mediterranean
2000 yr old city ( at the time )
2 Sam 5:11 – supplied cedars, carpenters, masons, builder to Israel – building of 1st Temple ( David / Solomon )
Profitable slave trade
Riches of Tyre caused spiritual decay ( Ez 28:16ff)
Prophecy summary Ez 26
Several aspects of this prophecy deserve attention and close scrutiny. The prophet predicted: (1) many nations would come against Tyre; (2) the inhabitants of the villages and fields of Tyre would be slain; (3) Nebuchadnezzar would build a siege mound against the city; (4) the city would be broken down and the stones, timber, and soil would be thrown in “the midst of the water;” (5) the city would become a “place for spreading nets;” and (6) the city would never be rebuilt.
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