The Book of Genesis contains mostly historical accounts, but it also includes the origin of laws that God later gave to the Hebrews in their scriptures. One prohibited eating meat with blood in it (Genesis 9:4, and later Deuteronomy 12:23), another commanded circumcising their males (Genesis 17:10-14, and later Leviticus 12:3). Although God blessed the 7th Day of the week, Saturday in Genesis 2:3 it was later given to the Hebrews to observe as their Sabbath Day law in Exodus 20:8-11. So Genesis is included in “The Law” section of Jewish bibles.
Conservative bible scholars credit Moses for originally recording the five sequential books of the Hebrew Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy under God’s direction. These five books comprise the Torah, or Pentateuch (the five books). Modern Orthodox and Conservative Jewish leaders who know Jewish history insist that Moses originally wrote them.
This Genesis commentary begins by examining authorship and content authenticity objections by critics about the books of the Hebrew Law that includes the Book of Genesis. The descriptive content of the last four books of the Law clearly state they were recorded during the 40 years of the Exodus while Moses led the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt to God’s Promised Land of Canaan. (See “Why did the Hebrews acquire the land of Canaan?” below) However, the accounts in Genesis all predated Moses and no content information tells when or where they were recorded.
The Book of Genesis
Hebrew writing style analysis of the later four books of the Torah provides strong evidence that its author also wrote Genesis: The Scripture4All online Hebrew interlinear bible shows that nearly every topic sentence in Genesis and the other books of Hebrew Law into Deuteronomy uniquely begins with the Hebrew conjunction “u”, that is translated as “and”, “now”, and similar words in English. Perhaps this frequent use of the Hebrew “u” conjunction in these writings was intended by the author to link the content together into continuous accounts. This continuous repetition of Hebrew “u” throughout the Torah finally ended late in Deuteronomy that was completed by others after Moses’ death. Historically, the next book of the scriptures was Joshua with its different author that lacked the continued use of “u” in topic sentences.
When and where would Moses have written the book of Genesis?
Moses spent 40 years in Egypt where Exodus 2:1-10 recorded he was raised and lived in pharaoh’s court, and later in Midian (Exodus 2:15-23) for 40 years after he fled from pharaoh. Then God invited him to lead the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt that lasted another 40 years, after which he died at 120. Although he was adopted as a baby into an Egyptian pharaoh’s court by his young daughter who saved him from being killed during the oppression of the Hebrews (Exodus 1:22). Moses was surely told that he was a Hebrew when he was old enough so he naturally wanted to learn their language, but he didn’t first visit his own people until he had grown up. Exodus 2:11-14 implied he learned to speak Hebrew. Moses would have also learned to write Hebrew because it was developed as a written language shortly after Jacob’s family moved to Egypt from Canaan 400 years earlier, c1870BCE (see Oldest Hebrew writing below). Its unique 22 character purely phonetic alphabet made it simple to learn when compared to Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mesopotamian cuneiform then in use that had a thousand phonetic and pictographic symbols and required professional scribes to master them (see Oldest Hebrew writing, below).
There was time for Moses to compile Genesis while he lived 40 years in Midian, but the accounts in Genesis came from old records kept by Hebrew families that Moses wouldn’t have had access to in Midian because the Hebrews were then living in Egypt. And he would have had a lot of questions about them that only God could answer, and Moses was close to God only during the Exodus. So Moses would have recorded Genesis during the Exodus when God and the Hebrews were available. Most likely Moses wrote Genesis during the relatively quiet 38 years while the congregation camped in the Sinai desert and waited for the older generation to die off for their unfaithfulness to God (Numbers 14:26-38). Moses was fully occupied at other times during the Exodus.
Before examining critics claims that the books of the Hebrew Law are not authentic, the history of perhaps the oldest book of the bible but isn’t part of the Hebrew Law will be covered next. It lacks declared authorship yet it has been attributed to Moses.
The book of Job
Many conservative bible commentators are certain that Moses translated the ancient Middle Eastern epic about the patriarch Job into written Hebrew when he lived in Midian{22}, which later became a book in the bible. This short history provides evidence for how it happened. The Book of Job, in 1:1-4 hints of an earlier extrabiblical story. Commentators believe it originated with Job or one of the speakers in the epic who used Hebrew Yahweh (“Lord”) and Elohim (“God”) for God’s name in its dialogues without mention of pagan deities. This was when worship of the original creator God, whose name was first recorded in Genesis 2 and 3 was still widespread in the Middle East where Shem’s descendants settled {Topical note 3{8}, Table of Nations maps}.
When did Job live?
Strong evidence from the Greek text in the Alexandrian Septuagint LXX (see The oldest Hebrew scriptures below) suggests that Job is a shortened form of Jobab who is mentioned in Genesis 10:29{25}. He lived for 248 years according to a more recent explanatory note that was written outside of the scripture text for the Book of Job, only in the LXX version{25}. This is evidence that Job was this Jobab, and Job’s life span included c2600BCE*. Job’s longevity placed him as a near contemporary of Peleg who lived to a similar age (Genesis 10:25, 11:19){25}. Scripture tells Job wasn’t contemporaneous with Abraham, as some believe, because God considered Job to be the most righteous person of his time (Job 1:8), and He made a similar evaluation of Abraham’s great faith. And Abraham lived to be only 175, hundreds of years after human life spans were reduced below Job’s 248 year age (Topical note 4, Why did human lifetimes shorten after the Flood?). Also references were made to intense volcanism and the ice age during his lifetime in the Book of Job. This was during the still prevalent period of strong earth movements caused by rapid continental drift that started during Noah’s Flood. These geological events mentioned in the Book of Job (Job 9:5-6, 12:15, 38:29-30) help to place Job’s ancient lifetime{25}.
*This commentary uses Josephus’ biblical historical chronology (see below) that placed Noah’s Flood c3200BCE and Abraham’s life c2000BCE.
Where did Job live?
Job lived in the region of Uz (Genesis 10:23) that is now in modern Jordan after it was first settled by Shem’s descendants (Genesis 10:22-23). Shem’s descendants migrated there from Shinar perhaps c2900BCE after the confusion of language (Genesis 11:1-8, Topical note 3) that followed Noah’s Flood (Genesis 6-8, Topical note 4) of c3200BCE. Many of Noah’s descendants, including Shem’s sons like Uz, who were the first inhabitants of a region had it named after them (Genesis 10:22-29). Jobab (Job) was an early descendant of Shem. His home was in the inland eastern hill country (Genesis 10:30-31) where the Shemites of the region still worshipped the same God as Noah, which explains why the dialogues in the oriognal epic about Job didn’t mention pagan gods. By contrast, Ham’s descendants that settled Canaan that bordered to their west worshipped pagan gods (Topical note, Noah’s vineyard).
Why were many lengthy ancient stories (including the famous Mesopotamian Gilgamesh epics covered in Topical note 4) written as poetry?
The original epic about Job was written as poetry (internet). So this lengthy, detailed real-life story{22} about his terrible suffering may have circulated as oral traditions told in poetry by professional story tellers for entertainment. Poetic rhyme and rhythm make long stories much easier to memorize. This is reason why they were originally composed as oral poetic (or song) traditions out of necessity, and then recorded later when written language became available in their region. Because these stories were told by different speakers they naturally varied somewhat so different versions of them are often discovered inscribed on ancient clay tablets. Many have memorized the famous lengthy American historical poem, Paul Revere’s Ride by H.W. Longfellow because the story is a poem and not prose.
Moses’ father-in-law Jethro{24} (Exodus 3:1, 18:1) was a Midianite who also descended from Abraham (Genesis 25:1-4) so he recognized the Hebrew’s God, Yahweh Elohim (Exodus 18:9-12). As the Midianite priest, Jethro worshiped pagan deities and he was also familiar with the noteworthy regional religious traditions including Job’s. Job’s ancient home in Uz was only about 100 miles directly north of Midian (online bible map). Jethro would have recited the lengthy story of Job to Moses sometime during the 40 years he lived in Midian with his family. Moses realized it taught enlightening spiritual lessons about the Hebrew’s God, Yahweh Elohim, yet it curiously left out the reason God let Job suffer so much. Then Moses translated it into written Hebrew (see Oldest Hebrew writing, below) that he learned earlier when he was raised in Pharaoh’s court (above). Moses likely recorded Job’s epic in Hebrew on a scroll as his first religious writing, which beneficially prepared him to write the more extensive books of the Hebrew Law during the Exodus.
Moses would have left this writing with his father-in-law, Jethro in Midian for safekeeping when he returned to Egypt to confront pharaoh about releasing the Hebrews from bondage and their Exodus from Egypt. Then Jethro returned it to Moses later in Sinai during his planned visit to bring Zipporah, Moses’ wife and his two sons (Exodus 18:5).
The Hebrew writing style used in the book of Job suggests Moses translated this story. The Scripture4All online Hebrew interlinear bible shows Hebrew “u” was commonly used to begin its topic sentences that was Moses’ unique style throughout the Torah from Genesis into Deuteronomy. The additions Moses apparently added to the epic in Job 1 and 2 (in modern bibles) that are described below always use the Hebrew “u” conjunction to begin topic sentences. However, it is obscured by the variety of different words “and”, “now”, “then”, "but", “again”, “so”, "therefore", etc, that were used when translating the Hebrew "u" conjunction from context into English.
In the epic, Job’s friends accused him of sinful behavior because a just God wouldn’t severely punish anyone like what was happening to Job without cause. Their arguments were doctrinally sound because under God’s early covenants He promised faithful humans material blessings for following his commandments and punishment for contrary behavior (Job 1:1,3,4-5,10; Deuteronomy 28). However, God explained at the end of the story their assessment was not correct in Job’s case (Job 42:7). Yet God’s specific reason why He allowed Job’s immense suffering was left unexplained, but He made it up to Job for all his trouble in the end (42:12-16).
Moses surely would have asked God during the Exodus why He let Job suffer so much because this plaguing question was left unanswered in the original epic. Only God could authentically answer it, so evidently He told Moses this inside information when they routinely spoke together. Then Moses recorded it in the prologue of his book of Job, chapters 1:6-12 and 2:1-7 in modern bibles.
Moses’ explanatory updates to Job’s epic importantly introduced Satan and his confrontation with God into the Hebrew scriptures. Until then humans didn't know about this. It begins to show how God is using Satan in His redemptive plan for humans, and hints of why he created humans in the first place (see Genesis 3 commentary). Had Job and his friends known his suffering was due to the conflict between God and Satan surely a totally different epic would have been written! Moses would have added his updates (above) to complete his story of Job while he compiled his book of Genesis- during the quiet 38 years of camping in the Sinai desert. Indeed, the short prologue (above) and epilogue (chapter 42) of the Book of Job that include God’s input and would have been added by Moses are written in prose form, different than the poetic form of the original lengthy dialogues between Job and his friends{22} (and internet source).
What about authorship?
Eventually Job’s story became the Book of Job in the Hebrew scriptures which itself is evidence that a noteworthy figure wrote it. The Book of Job appears in “The Writings” (Hebrew Ketuvim) section in modern Jewish bibles, and it was included at least as far back as the Dead Sea scrolls and the Septuagint, over 200BCE. This writing has no stated authorship, but Moses wouldn’t have claimed authorship for himself because the original poetic epic that is the bulk of the Book of Job originated with others and God provided the information he apparently added as its prologue and epilogue. So he only translated and compiled its content, and Moses was said to be a humble man (Numbers 12:3). Then the Hebrew religious leaders included the Book of Job with the scriptures likely after Moses’ death.
A Life Lesson for Job himself, and for today is- God is sovereign and He can be trusted for who He is- by those who believe Him and are saved. Humans are always pawns in a greater chess game and only God has the whole picture. But this is a very hard lesson for humans to accept with their limited understanding of troublesome events in their lives!
Another Life Lesson: Today some Christians are confused about the different promises of the Old and New Covenants. God later repaid Job (Job 42:10,12) for his unwarranted mistreatment (Job 1:8b). However, the New Testament under God’s New Covenant (Jeremiah 11:10, 31:31-33) promises spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3), rather than material blessings on earth for obedience under His Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 28:1-12). So Christians shouldn’t expect repayment during their lifetimes for hard trials (John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:17). If this works out providentially though, praise God for a special blessing! Unsaved people mock these spiritual blessings for later in heaven- as “pie in the sky”, but Jesus Christ made a timely remark about this faith in New Testament John 20:19.
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Bible critics claim the Books of the Hebrew Law are not authentic.
Moses is not specifically named as the author in any of the five books of the Law. Influential “modernist bible scholars” who act as bible critics insist the Torah consists of fictitious stories that originated long after the stated Exodus when the Hebrews lived in Canaan or were subjects in Persia. They claim these books were written by various sources other than Moses who they say was a mythical figure. This Authorship section now examines the critics’ objections and answers them with recent archaeological and linguistic evidence, and scripture itself.
A summary of evidence against modernist scholars’ claims and how their claims changed over time appears in the section, Modernist bible scholars, below.
What the Hebrew scriptures recorded about Moses:
According to scripture the documented details of Moses' personal role in the events recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy identified him as their writer rather than a designated authorship. Many detailed scriptures including the extended dialogue in Exodus 33:11-23 while Moses was apparently alone speaking with God implied that he was the writer. The Hebrew scriptures themselves stated Moses recorded them: Exodus 33:11 and Deuteronomy 34:10 recorded God knew Moses “face to face”, and he wrote down what God told him to (Deuteronomy 31:9). Exodus 33:7-11 recorded that God often spoke with Moses. Deuteronomy 31:9-13 recorded that the Hebrew congregation knew Moses wrote all the books of the Laws God gave them. Deuteronomy 11:18-19 recorded that Moses demanded that the people were to study God's laws regularly and memorize them and teach their children to observe them and not forget them. The completed books of the Law included his record of their journey through the Sinai Desert to the Promised Land of Canaan (below) while he shepherded them during the stated Exodus from Egypt.
Why didn’t Moses name himself on the Torah scrolls as their author?
Moses only compiled and recorded the ancient accounts in Genesis that predated his lifetime from Hebrew family records with God’s direction. And God originated the laws Moses only recorded in the other four books of the Torah. So Moses couldn’t validly name himself as their “author”. And signifying himself as their “writer” would have been unnecessary since this was common knowledge among the Hebrews at that time that was clearly shown by the scriptures quoted in the previous paragraph. His only original writings in the Torah described the wanderings of the Hebrews in the desert during the Exodus which were just a small part of these books, and Moses was said to be a humble man (Numbers 12:3). The log of the wanderings of the Hebrews in the Sinai Desert may have been originally kept by Moses as a separate record from God’s laws and was later accurately added to the Torah by others as editorial updates (See scripture editing, below).
Exodus is historically the first book of the Law that included Moses by name and recorded the details of his role in giving the Law to the Hebrews. At the beginning of Exodus, chapter 1:1-6 referred to previous events from Genesis chapters 46 and 50 (in modern bibles) that recorded the lives of Abraham’s descendants. They show the writer of Exodus (Moses) was familiar with those accounts and was consistent with him recording them in his book of Genesis.
The many laws Moses gave the Hebrews from God that began in Exodus are referred to throughout later books of the Hebrew scriptures to the last recorded book Malachi, in 4:4- a historical span of about 1000 years. Four hundred years after Malachi was written, in the 1st century CE Jesus Christ referred to the Laws of Moses in His dialogues throughout all the New Testament Gospels (including Matthew 8:4). So, the first century Jews didn't question that Moses wrote them even after this huge time lapse.
Jesus Christ supported Moses as author of the books of the Law based on His authority as God.
The New Testament Gospel accounts don't show that Christ would have "accommodated" a false belief by the Jews that Moses wrote the books of the Law if he didn't write them (as some skeptics claim). Instead, the Gospels showed Jesus Christ exposed error when He encountered it. An example was their flawed understanding about what could be done on the Sabbath Day (Matt 12:9-13). His teachings challenged false beliefs of the Jewish religious leaders on the basis that He was equal with God (John 10:30).
However, some bible critics incorrectly claim Jesus Christ never said He was God. Early in His public ministry He avoided making this claim himself because some people tried to kill him for saying it (John 10:22-33), so instead He let others say it about Him (Matthew 16:15-16). His purpose was to die for the sins of all mankind (Romans 8:3) only after his 3-year public teaching and disciple training ministries were completed. Going into hiding to protect Himself would have been incompatible with his public ministries, so He wisely avoided this confrontation until their completion. After His ministries were completed, during His nighttime trial with the Jewish leaders Jesus admitted to them under oath He was the son of God (same as God)- for which they had Him crucified for blasphemy (Matthew 26:63-66, Mark 14:61-64, John 19:1-7). Some 1st-3rd century CE secular historians mentioned Christ’s crucifixion{12,13}.
What about scripture “editing”?
Evidently not every word in the Books of the Law in modern bibles was penned by Moses, however. Joshua who was Moses' aide and God-ordained successor (Deuteronomy 31:7,8 and Joshua 1:1-5), presumably recorded Moses' epitaph in all of Deuteronomy 34 shortly after his death. Joshua would have accompanied Moses to the base of Mt. Nebo (likely with armed guards) and carefully watched his ascent. Then he waited for Moses’ return later that day* with information about what God showed him in Canaan before they parted and God took him. Then Joshua recorded these events at the end of Deuteronomy. Moses’ aides, Joshua and Caleb, and later qualified priests, prophets, and scribes would have made explanatory additions to these books called "editorial updating". They include Numbers 12:3, Exodus 1:11, 33:7-11 and many other examples that Moses seemingly would not have written himself. Some of these additions are recorded in () and italicized words were added by translators in modern bibles. Early additions would have been permanently added to the scriptures when old, worn-out scrolls were recopied. The Hebrew scriptures eventually became solidified by the 1st century CE so no more changes were allowed. According to conservative bible scholars suspected explanatory additions to the scriptures later by others have not altered the meaning of the accounts, the laws God gave, or biblical doctrines.
*Modern hikers climb up 2600ft Mt. Nebo and return in several hours.
Oldest Hebrew writing:
Some critics claim there was no written Hebrew language at the time of the Exodus. From biblical chronology the Exodus was c1450BCE, or 476 years before the start of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 6:1) that is placed historically at 960BCE. Recent research shows an early version of written Hebrew was developed soon after Jacob’s family migrated to Egypt from Canaan (Genesis 46:2-26) c1850BCE{1}. It consisted of a phonetic alphabet of 22 characters that was derived from a shortened form of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Linguistic evidence suggests Jacob’s Egyptian-born grandson, Manasseh (Joseph’s eldest son), developed it{1,1a}. Stone inscriptions of ancient Hebrew graffiti were discovered at Serabit el-Khadim, an Egyptian turquoise mine in the western Sinai, and elsewhere that date starting then, and continued for 400 years until the Exodus. Style changes show the Hebrew characters became more simplified over the 400 years{1}. So Moses had a usable although archaic written Hebrew language to record the books of the Law by the time of the Exodus{2,2a} that continued to develop later. It was the world’s first alphabet{1,1a} and was easy to learn by common people{2a}. Archaeology shows this script spread widely in Canaan and Phoenicia after the Hebrews moved to Canaan{2a}. More about this early Hebrew written language follows
The oldest Hebrew scriptures:
The oldest existing original complete manuscripts of the Hebrew scriptures are the Dead Sea scrolls that date to c200BCE. They contain copies of all the books (except for Esther, the only book that does not specifically mention the name of God). A nearly complete scroll of Isaiah{9} from them is on display in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem that reads the same as modern Hebrew although its character style is older. This shows that scribes could accurately recopy the scrolls as old paper disintegrated and correctly update to more modern text styles.
The Septuagint LXX is the collection of Hebrew scriptures that was translated into Koine Greek starting c250BCE. King Ptolemy II of Egypt commissioned a team of 72 Hebrew scholars (six from each tribe) c250BCE to translate their scriptures into Greek for his library in Alexandria. (The Roman numerals LXX refer to the “seventy” translators.) This initially contained only the Hebrew Law, but the other books were translated later. It apparently was intended for use by Greek-speaking Jews who didn't read Hebrew. According to a letter that was discovered and attributed to the king, he was concerned about accuracy so he had each scholar translate the all the books of the Law himself. Then each successfully compared their translation against the others. The meaning of the Hebrew was translated into a different language, so it provided a snapshot of Jewish understanding of their scriptures at this early date. This clarified certain scripture passages for later generations, such as Isaiah 7:14. The first century Jewish historian Josephus* reported that King Ptolemy II was informed and convinced these were true and important writings{6b}. So the king wouldn't have paid 72 Jewish scholars expensive gifts and their board for over two months to translate fictitious tales as modernist critics call them.
The Greek Septuagint was copied for hundreds of years. Newer versions contained other bible books and extra-biblical “pseudographia”. The oldest Septuagint fragments found date from c50BCE, and they have the same content as the modern Greek text. The Septuagint translation also was used by the early Greek-speaking gentile Christians as their “Old Testament”, which is said to be why the Jews eventually abandoned using it (internet). The Septuagint is contained in the Greek Sinaiticus bible as its “Old Testament”, and an original from 350BCE survives in a museum today.
*Introducing Jewish historian Josephus:
Josephus’ writings are occasionally referenced in this study as supplementary material to add insight or historical continuity to the scriptures. His writings that parallel scripture are often quoted by bible commentators. Josephus was raised in a prominent Jewish priestly family so he was familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, but apparently he was not religious. He initially fought against the Romans during the outbreak of their war against the Jews c67CE so he recorded the fighting as an eyewitness. As a Jewish historian from a priestly family he also had access to extra-biblical ancient Jewish documents. Some of these included details from the ancient records Moses used to write his book of Genesis and evidence shows he omitted. (Evidently the Jews recopied and stored Moses’ original source material from Hebrew families. This explains Josephus’ record of Cain’s marriage- see Highlights of Genesis 4). Josephus’ commentaries describe his history of the Jewish people that he wrote for the Romans when he later lived in Rome{18}.
However, bible commentators complain that some of his scripture quotations differ from the bible text. The following examples are offered as explanations. Minor wording differences including {6d} could be due to copyists and translators over the centuries. Josephus was a secular Jewish historian and he paraphrased scripture passages that he used in his history. Because Josephus wrote his Jewish history for the Romans some differences might have been deliberate to make the Hebrew scriptures make sense to a Roman mindset: for example, compare Genesis 3:5 with {6c}. A lengthy difference is the story of why Moses fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh’s anger. The familiar biblical passage of Exodus 2:11-15 records that Moses killed an Egyptian when he broke up a fight with a Hebrew, and Pharaoh tried to kill him so Moses fled to Midian. However Josephus’ elaborate story in his Jewish history for the Romans explained Moses was a talented Egyptian military leader who led a very successful campaign against Ethopia that humiliated the Egyptian leadership because he was a Hebrew. Instead of being grateful, the Egyptians hated him even more so he escaped across the desert to Midian{6e}. After Moses arrived in Midian the rest of Josephus’ history matched the biblical account. Presumably both stories were correct. However, historian Josephus had a wealth of extra-biblical historical knowledge and he considered it was more interesting and important to mention Moses’ part in the larger Egyptian political scene in his Jewish history for the Romans than a petty fist fight with an Egyptian!
Scripture-compatible chronologies
The paragraphs below explain why Josephus’ dating chronology instead of Ussher’s is used in this study. Scriptural historical chronologies date key biblical events, including the creation of Adam and Eve in vv2-31, Noah’s Flood in Genesis 6-8, the life of Abraham in Genesis 12-25, and the Hebrew Exodus in Exodus 12:31-40. They used bible genealogies that may have been checked with ancient historical records, but they do not use radiometric dating. Two of these chronologies, Archbishop Ussher’s and Josephus’ are described below.
Why is Josephus’ chronology used in this commentary instead of Ussher’s? First century Jewish historian Josephus had access to both biblical and extra-biblical historical records{18}. He is mentioned again in Highlights of Genesis 4, Cain’s marriage.) Josephus placed the creation of Adam and Eve 5454BC{26}, or c7454 years ago. This is in close agreement with c5200BC by ancient pre-Christian Saxon chronology{27}. The Saxon historians actually provide an extra-biblical historical date for the six days of creation! The pre-Christian Saxons who knew they were Noah’s descendants through his son Japheth kept accurate genealogical records back to Japheth and Noah{27}. The Saxons recorded the time from creation to Noah’s Flood- the length of the “pre-Flood era”, was 2,240 “winters” and close to Josephus’ 2,254 years. Josephus referenced his dates to Abraham the father of the Hebrew nation who historically lived within 200 years of 2000BC. He dated Noah’s Flood as about 1200 years before Abraham or 3200BC, that is close to the Saxon date of 2958BC. These close but not identical dates show there was no copying.
Josephus’ chronology then would reasonably date the confusion of spoken language and dispersion of mankind from Shinar recorded in Genesis 11:7-8 as c3100BC. This occurred after Noah’s sons’ families had migrated from the ark in Ararat to Shinar in Mesopotamia (about 600 miles). Ham’s descendants dispersed from Shinar in time to arrive in Egypt before the start of their 1st recorded dynasty, that was c2900BCE according to secular historical Egyptology. Egyptology recorded a pre-dynastic period, and the start of their 1st dynasty had a variability of a few hundred years around c2900BC due to the different dating methods that were used to determine it.
The agreement between secular Egyptian history and the conservative biblical date for the Exodus (c1450BC) may be checked using the historical dates for pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhotep II who are now believed by many conservative bible scholars to be those of the Hebrew oppression and Exodus (Exodus 1:8-10,15; 4:19; 5:1), as discussed below in Answering critics' objections to Moses as writer of the Law, 4. They respectively lived 1479 BC and 1427 BC according to Wikipedia, which fit closely with biblical date for the Exodus c1450BC (that is derived from 1 Kings 6:1 and the historical start of Solomon’s reign 480 years later, historically 960BC). So Josephus’s dates are compatible with ancient Egyptology and secular pre-Christian Saxon chronology.
Archbishop Ussher’s chronology that he wrote in 1650 AD and was widely used for hundreds of years placed creation week in 4004 BC, or 6004 years ago (over 1000 years more recently than Josephus’ date). Ussher’s work was based entirely on bible genealogies. Ussher set Noah’s Flood c2500BC, only 500 years before the generally accepted date for Abraham, c2000BC. His Flood date would have actually interrupted the historical dynastic period of Ancient Egypt that began c2900BC! The arrival of the first humans in Egypt after their dispersion from Shinar in Mesopotamia then would have occurred even later in the Egyptian historical dynastic period. So Ussher’s key dates prior to Abraham are incompatible with accepted Egyptian history. Josephus’ chronology fits better despite slight variability of secular dating which used different dating methods.
Ussher’s chronology before the life of Abraham (c2000BC) also doesn’t fit well with other ancient historical dates, although it is still used by some organizations that have a religious foundation. Ussher’s differences with historical dates could be accounted for by ancient biblical genealogies that were incomplete to highlight the more noteworthy individuals as some believe, or incorrect genealogical assumptions.
COMPARISON OF SOME KEY BIBLICAL DATES BC, from different sources
Josephus*: Creation- 5454, Noah’s Flood- 3200, Abraham- 2000.
Saxons*: Creation- 5200, Noah’s Flood- 2958.
Ussher: Creation- 4004, Noah’s Flood- 2500, Abraham- c2000.
Biblical*: Hebrew Exodus c1450.
*Dates were converted to BC from other time references.
Dating format used in this study:
Approximate ancient dates are shown in concise “cyearBCE” format. For example, c1870BCE means “circa 1870 years Before Common Era”. And similarly for “cyearCE”, where CE means “Common Era”. BCE and CE are secular equivalents for BC and AD, respectively that are also used.
Ancient personal items with Hebrew inscriptions
Archaeology recently discovered two tiny silver scrolls from the first temple period near Jerusalem that have small portions of the Hebrew scriptures inscribed on them. They were perhaps worn as amulets and were found in a burial chamber in Ketef Hinnom. One contained an excerpt from the priestly blessing in the Book of Numbers 6:24-26 and also referred to Deuteronomy 7:9{16}. It was written in Paleo-Hebrew characters and was dated to immediately prior to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586BCE by paleography (text character style analysis). These tiny scrolls clearly debunk the claim by bible critics that the Torah (which ostensibly was written by Moses during the Exodus) was fabricated much later by Jews while they lived in Persia beginning c500BCE{16,17}.
Recently, results of a discovery made in the 1980s of a small, ancient lead foil tablet found in an ancient fieldstone alter at Mt. Ebal in Israel (the “mountain of cursing” in the bible) were released and will be published soon. A news release by the Jerusalem Post{20,20a} explained the tablet's content refers to the events recorded in Deuteronomy 27:15-26 and Joshua 8:30. The Deuteronomy text records God commanded the Hebrews to recite the blessings and cursings that would result if they followed or did not follow His laws when they would later live in Canaan, as they entered the land between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim to conquer it. The text inside of the fragile folded foil tablet was laboriously read by computer tomography since it could not be unfolded. The tablet contained the cursings, and read “Cursed, cursed, cursed- cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW- cursed, cursed, cursed"{20,20a}. The inscriptions were written in paleo-Hebrew and an iron stylus of the type used to make them was found at the site. Plaster coated stones were also found inside this alter on Mt. Ebal by the archaeologist which verifies Deuteronomy 27:4-6{20,20a}. This tablet dates c1400BCE which verifies the biblical date for the Exodus and the Torah, contrary to critics' claims. Other significant facts about the discovery are provided in{21}. (Critics complained the news release was made before the find was properly peer reviewed and published.)
Why did the Hebrews acquire the Land of Canaan?
Some critics object to the bloody conquest of the Canaanites’ land by the Hebrews after their recorded Exodus from Egypt, since supposedly a “loving” God wouldn’t have initiated this carnage. However, it was the later fulfillment of God's prophecy through Noah's curse of Canaan, Ham's youngest son as recorded in Genesis 9:24-27. This account is described in Topical note 4- Noah’s vineyard and it explains why Noah cursed Canaan. Canaan’s family and their descendants originally populated this land. Eventually the Canaanites worshiped pagan gods including Moleck (or Molech) who required human infant sacrifice which was detestable to God (see below), aside from their loose living (Genesis 19:24-25, 34:1). Seeing this centuries before their Exodus from Egypt, God promised Abraham to give the land of Canaan to his Hebrew descendants (Genesis 17:5-8). At that time Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were nearly the last who still worshiped Him exclusively and Abraham was a man of great faith in God (Genesis 22:12). Yet God waited patiently until the Amorites (some of who lived in the Canaan hill country and spread Moleck worship) committed this ultimate sin (Genesis 15:16). Afterwards He released the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt and helped them to conquer Canaan. Earth's land actually belongs to God (Leviticus 25:23) and Canaanite lifestyles made them unworthy tenants of His prime real estate at this crucial military and trade route crossroads of three continents and several world-class empires.
God unconditionally gave the Canaanite land to Abraham’s Hebrew descendants. While the Hebrews lived there they had the opportunity to be His witness to the other nations at this crucial location. However, whether He would allow them to continue living there independently was conditional on them keeping His commandments. Because they didn't keep them, for most of the time since the Hebrews acquired the land they were subservient to other nations, or became their captives and were were removed so they became absentee land owners. Worship of the pagan gods Baal (1 Kings 18:20) and Ashtoreth the “Queen of Heaven” (1 Kings 11:1-5, Jeremiah 44:15-30), and sacrificing their infants to Moleck (2 Kings 23:10) spread to the Hebrews when they lived in Canaan. Not keeping God's commandments also allowed social injustices to flourish among their own people (Deuteronomy 28:15, 36, 64-66, Amos 4:1-3, 8:1-6). The Hebrews made a mockery of their God to the surrounding Gentile nations.
After much condemnation through His prophets God arranged for these neighboring powers to also remove the Hebrews from this land, as He previously warned them in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 and 31:16-18. They were first subservient to and later held captive in Assyria and Babylon for many decades as a warning (Jeremiah 29:4-11). An observant remnant of them returned from Babylon to their land c583BCE as God promised through his prophets. However, they were ruled there by the Persians, then the Greeks (323BC), and finally the Romans who evicted them from the land after they rebelled against Roman rule (70-135CE). They dispersed over the rest of the world for nearly 2000 years until modern Israel formed recently. Other peoples since then have been God’s major witness to the entire world (New Testament Luke 21:20-24, Romans 11:11)- despite their ungodly shortcomings. God preserved the Hebrews (or Jews)* as a people because of promises He made to their faithful ancestor, Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3, 15:18).
*Topical note 3, When did the Hebrews become known as Jews?
Answering critics' objections to Moses as writer of the Law
1. Books of the were Law fabricated by unknown sources:
Most conservative bible scholars acknowledge editorial updating in the books of the Law that they believe Moses originally wrote. However, critics claim these books were originally written by four other sources (not Moses) long after the stated Exodus when the Hebrews were living in Canaan or in Persia. They claim each of these documents has its own characteristics and theology which allegedly often contradicts the other documents. They say the Pentateuch (the five books of the Law), or Torah is a "patchwork" of stories, poems, and laws{3}.
Some apparent contradictions in these books result from misunderstanding that after God makes a rule, He may later make a warranted specific exception. Familiar examples of this are the Moabite Ruth marrying into a Hebrew family, and Moses making the bronze snake image as a visual cure for venomous bites by desert vipers. These were both apparent violations of the Law. Ruth’s heart was right before God (Ruth 1:16-17) so she wasn’t under His general condemnation of Moabites. And God authorized making this snake image for a specific purpose then (Numbers 21:9) so it wasn't a violation of Exodus 20:4. Later King Hezekiah demolished it because it no longer had its purpose and people were venerating it (2 Kings 18:1-4). The internet NIV bible study notes say the critical views (of modernist scholars) are not supported by conclusive evidence, and intensive archaeological and literary research has undercut many of the arguments they use to challenge Mosaic authorship{5}.
Modernist bible critics claim the Books of the Law were fabricated centuries after the stated Exodus when the Hebrews lived in Canaan or Persia. This claim is actually refuted by recent archaeological finds. See Ketef Hinnom scrolls, Mt. Ebal tablet, and early Hebrew inscriptions at Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai in the Modernist scholars section below.
Another objection to the Law being fabricated is from recorded scripture itself when the the adventurous remnant of Jews returned from Persia to rebuild Jerusalem after their 70-year captivity in Babylon. The prominent Jewish religious leader, Ezra (c450BCE) then had the men divorce their foreign wives. This was because the laws written by Moses 1000 years earlier prohibited these mixed marriages (Ezra 9-10) which had led them to worshiping false gods and caused their captivity as God's judgement. Scripture records they did this, and surely the Hebrew men wouldn't have tolerated divorcing their wives (Ezra 10:16-19) to obey fables or fictitious stories! They knew God gave these laws to Moses during the Exodus because they were passed on from every generation since then. And the biblical record shows the Jews never again worshiped other gods. So the critics’ claim that the Mosaic Law was fabricated long after the time of the recorded Exodus doesn't fit their known history.
Deuteronomy records the last oral addresses Moses made to the new generation of Hebrews on the plains of Moab prior to invading Canaan. They were reminders of their past to benefit the young Israelites who didn’t experience Egyptian bondage and the Exodus from Egypt. This was then about 40 years after the accounts before Numbers 20 were written when they were encamped in the Sinai Desert. The written Hebrew language was perhaps only 400 years old at the time of the Exodus{1} so continued style revisions would be expected. Also, numerous explanatory additions were made while the early written Hebrew language evolved, so the text would appear to be a "patchwork" by different writers, as modernists complain. Scrolls originally written early during the Exodus in Sinai in older version Hebrew were entirely recopied later in newer Hebrew styles as all the old scrolls disintegrated. So the newest scrolls would always appear to have originated at the latest revision date. Since they would be the oldest surviving manuscripts they would include the previous and new edits. Comparison of Hebrew text from 1000BCE in King David’s time with the Isaiah Dead Sea scroll from c200BCE shows how much the writing style changed during that period{8,9}. Presumably the earlier written Hebrew from the time of the Exodus before King David changed more rapidly.
2. Moses allegedly did not exist- he was a fabricated religious myth:
Modernist bible critics claim that Moses was not a historical figure, which is a natural fallout of the previous claim. However, this Moses is mentioned outside of the Hebrew scriptures in several books of the New Testament by their different writers (eg., Acts 7:22) besides the quotes attributed to Christ about Moses written by the four different Gospel writers. (As was explained previously, Christ would not have "accommodated" a popular false belief in Moses as some skeptics claim.) Several ancient historians wrote about Moses. The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, who was familiar with the Hebrew scriptures wrote his own extra-biblical account about Moses that included much non-scriptural source material{6a}. He also referred to the Egyptian priest and historian Manetho's purely secular account from c300BCE about Moses. Manetho’s works were lost but they live on as quotes by other ancient historians that have been preserved. The Hellenistic Jew, Philo (c40CE), wrote his account of the life of Moses that includes non-scriptural source material{7}. Islam has its own sayings about Moses as recorded in the Quran (c650CE) by its prophet Mohammad that were not copied from the Hebrew scripture. Certainly, Mohammad believed Moses was a real person. Purely secular historians, the Greek Strabo (1st century CE), and the Roman Tacticus (c100CE) mention Moses, and include different interesting details about him and the ancient Hebrews are not in the scriptures. These historical writings about this same Moses either include or use only non-scriptural source material. These ancient authors from different countries and perspectives wrote about Moses over a span of 1000 years in a manner that they believed Moses was a historical person.
3. Why is there no Egyptian historical record of the Hebrews living in Egypt?
A non-native Hyksos pharaoh ruled Egypt from Avaris in the Nile Delta when the Hebrew patriarch Joseph and his father Jacob’s extended family arrived there c1870BCE{1} (Genesis 42:2-26). This was about 400 years before the recorded Exodus{2}. The pyramids of Giza they saw with their dazzling white limestone casings were then over 600 years old, so they were over 1000 years old when Moses saw them before the Exodus. The Hyksos were a Semitic people from the Middle East who managed to peacefully usurp rulership in Egypt for about 200 years. They assimilated smoothly into Egyptian culture by adopting their customs and dress. The account in Genesis chapters 37 and 39-41 described that after a chain of events Jacob’s son Joseph was introduced to this biblically unnamed Hyksos pharaoh who revealed his troubling dreams to Joseph. This Hyksos pharaoh was identified as Ahmenemhat III who ruled Egypt c1844BCE from his capital Avaris in the Nile delta with his surviving father Senwosret III{2a}. Joseph interpreted his dreams and predicted an upcoming 7- year famine. The pharaoh was very impressed with Joseph’s insight and abilities. He employed Joseph as high-ranking prime minister directly under him to deal with the projected famine (Genesis 41:39-41). He also treated Joseph’s family very kindly by approving choice grazing land in the Nile delta for them when they later settled in Goshen to live near Joseph (Genesis 47:5-6). Likely this Hyksos pharaoh was especially kind to Joseph’s family because his ancestry was also Middle Eastern and not native Egyptian. A native Egyptian pharaoh would not have hired a foreigner for such a high position without an Egyptian overseer, much less given his extended family prime grazing land in Egypt.
A documentary video{2b} tours the archaeological site of Joseph’s family estate in Avaris in the Nile delta in biblical Goshen from this period. It explores the ruins of 12 villas in a compound that included a small pyramid close to the largest villa. A larger-than-life statue of a noteworthy male figure (of Joseph) was once enclosed in a building, apparently his mortuary chapel, next to the pyramid. The smashed pieces of the statue with its distinctive surface colorings were discovered. Interviews with two ancient Egyptology scholars were included for their input on the discovery of Joseph’s home in Avaris. This documentary provides evidence that these ruins were the estate of Joseph and his 11 brothers{2b}.
Joseph’s plan as recorded in Genesis 41:48-49 created granaries throughout Egypt to store grain collected from local farmers before the projected famine. Then the grain was later sold back to the farmers during the lengthy famine (Genesis 41:56, 47:14). This eventually bankrupted these landowners, so they lost all their livestock, land, and even sold themselves into servitude to pharaoh to buy food during the famine (Genesis 44:16-21). Although scripture doesn’t even hint that Joseph profited from grain sales personally, Joseph's policies shifted land ownership in Egypt from the people to this Hyksos pharaoh and later Hyksos pharaohs{2}. Egyptian priest and historian Manetho recorded c300BCE (who was quoted by other ancient historians) that the Hyksos pharaohs demanded tribute from the rulers of southern Egypt and took their princesses as wives. They treated native Egyptians with a “cruel hostility” and burned their cities, and temples of their gods to the ground{14}. Although opinion by modern historians vary on how harsh Hyksos rule really was, the Egyptians rebelled under native leader Ahmose I of southern Egypt and drove the Hyksos out of the Nile delta region c1550BCE to reunite Egypt under native rule for the next 500 years. He reestablished Thebes in the south as the capital. Pharaoh Ahmose I then became a national hero and was revered an a god by the Egyptian people{14}. Clearly Hyksos rule was bad enough for native Egyptians to resort to war to extradite them. Reasonably, then no official record of any beneficial accomplishments made by the unpopular Hyksos pharaohs who usurped native Egyptian rule survived after their expulsion. So Joseph’s work under a Hyksos pharaoh that saved Egypt from a lengthy famine disappeared from the historical record after the Hyksos were driven from Egypt, as Exodus 1:8 corroborates.
Change from Hyksos to native Egyptian rule occurred while the Hebrews lived in Egypt. Eventually the foreign Hebrews became slaves in the Egyptian economy. About 400 years after Joseph’s family moved to Avaris in Goshen from Canaan, it became the departure point for the Hebrew Exodus{2}. The biblically unnamed native Egyptian pharaoh (see below) was reluctant to release the Hebrews from servitude at Moses’ demand because they were a valuable labor force in Egypt (Exodus 1:9-14, 14:5). Egyptians hated the Hebrews after God’s judgments of the 10 plagues recorded in Exodus chapters 7-11, especially the last “death of the firstborn”, so they all wanted the Hebrews to leave quickly. They gave the Hebrews gifts before they left Egypt as recorded in Exodus 12:36, which later supplied building materials and priestly garments for their wilderness tabernacle. These events led up to their recorded release from Egypt (Exodus 13:17-14:9) and the additional loss of pharaoh’s army in their Red Sea crossing (Exodus 14:23-31). God left a ruined Egypt in the wake of the Hebrew Exodus, as the Egyptians themselves admitted (Exodus 10:7). Native Egyptian rulers were well known for “erasing” records of their own high-ranking officials who became disfavored, even chiseling their names out of stone monuments and removing their sarcophagi to reuse their plush tombs. So the native Egyptian pharaoh would have obliterated any official record of the Hebrew presence in Egypt.
Moses and the extended families of the Hebrew patriarchs who lived in Egypt for 400 years likewise disappeared from their historical record after the Exodus- as was shown by their omission by native Egyptian pharaohs.
4. Why is there no archeological evidence for the Hebrew Exodus in the Sinai Desert during their 40 year stay?
Although the Hebrews passed through Sinai to invade Canaan after living there about 40 years (Numbers 14:33-34), no confirmed archaeological finds from the original Exodus have been made in the Sinai. However, a major problem has been the precise route of the Exodus is not known with certainty{15}. Even a one-mile error could cause the complete loss of any remaining artifacts. The traditional route was south along the east coast of the Red Sea then east through southern Sinai to where Moses met with God at Mount Horeb while the Hebrew congregation camped nearby (Exodus 3:1, 33:6) to give His law to the Hebrews. Mt. Horeb is believed by many conservative bible scholars to be Mt. Sinai, known to Arab Bedouin as Jebel Musa (Mount Moses){15}. Reference{15} also describes other routes that were proposed for various reasons. The Hebrews lived in the desert east of Mt. Horeb for 40 years, then afterwards only the younger generation proceeded to Canaan with Moses. Moses was no stranger to the Sinai before the Exodus since he would have passed through this less traveled, direct route to Midian in western Arabia when he fled from Egypt (Exodus 2:15). So he would have avoided Egyptian road checkpoints while travelling there to join his distant relatives of Abraham. And later after he married there he sometimes grazed his family sheep in the Sinai (Exodus 3:1).
The ancient Sinai had more human traffic than today. It contained active Egyptian copper and turquoise mines and it was populated by the native Amalekite people (Exodus 17:8-16). It was grassier then so it also attracted migrant shepherds from elsewhere including Moses (Exodus 3:1). During and after the Exodus the Sinai residents and travelers certainly scavenged the ground for scraps of Egyptian booty (Exodus 31:36) the Hebrews left behind at each place. Any metal items would be collected, and biodegradable items disintegrated. Much later, Christian Nabataean Arabs of the first century who lived in the Sinai and were said to follow in Moses’ footsteps would have picked up any artifacts that looked Hebrew as souvenirs. After then all surface scraps from the Exodus had vanished.
During the recorded Exodus God sent plagues on the Hebrews in Sinai for their unfaithfulness to Him and unruly behavior. These plagues suddenly killed large numbers of them (including Numbers 11:33-34). Presumably their mass graves were in large shallow pits covered with dirt outside of their camps. Only scattered bone fragments would remain today after scavenging animals ate their fill before 3,400 years of cyclic desert sun and ground heat, and rain dissolved nearly all that was left. Numerous ancient rock inscriptions, many written in hieroglyphics, and what look like ancient cemeteries are found in the Sinai, but apparently they were not from the Exodus. Although early archaeologists from the 1700s on searched for biblical artifacts in Egypt and the Sinai and thought they had discovered some, their finds were later refuted by more modern studies. After the Six-Day war in 1967 Israeli archaeologists briefly searched for evidence from the Exodus in the Sinai but found nothing. Unfortunately, some books and internet videos that popularize purported biblical archaeological finds from the Exodus are available so one should verify them with current professional sources. The periodical Biblical Archaeological Review is a reliable source for up-to-date information.
Some conservative bible scholars believe the Hebrews dispersed in the Sinai (and some even migrated to Canaan) after God judged the older generation to die in the desert for unbelief in Him after hearing the bad prospective about invading Canaan from the 10 spies, and for repeatedly grumbling against Him (Numbers 13:16-14:33). They contend that nearly all the frustrated Hebrew families then abandoned their assigned tribal camps that surrounded the tabernacle (Numbers 2:1-3:39) to relocate in scattered groups in the Sinai to tend their flocks while that generation died off. They apparently left no persistent remains in the desert while they lived like roving Arab Bedouin, indistinguishable from other Sinai residents and travelers. After 40 more years their children reunited under Moses to move on again to the Land of Canaan. A comparison census prior to invading Canaan showed there was no net population growth during that period (compare Numbers 1:44 with 26:51,64-65). The entire old generation had died off, miraculously except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, who continued to lead the Hebrews on to Canaan as God said.
There is archaeological evidence for a continued Hebrew presence in the Nile Delta region of Egypt that began c1870BCE 400 years before the stated Exodus. Archaeological discoveries in the Hebrew settlement of Avaris in the Nile delta (above){2} and recently deciphered ancient Hebrew rock inscriptions that recorded details of their situation as it deteriorated (below){1} confirm the Hebrew presence since c1850BCE. Also burned cities in Canaan from around the time of the Exodus (c1450BCE by biblical chronology, 1 Kings 6:1) have been studied. These Canaanite cities including famous Jericho that were named in the Book of Joshua are well known archaeological sites. In Egypt, one store city the Hebrews built was apparently later renamed "Rameses" by the Egyptians long after the Exodus. The Rameses name that appears in Genesis 47:11, Exodus 1:11, and Numbers 33:3 is believed to be an explanatory "editorial update" changed perhaps centuries after Moses lived{2b}. That Rameses appeared in scripture caused a popular belief that Rameses II of Egypt’s powerful 18th dynasty was the pharaoh of the Exodus. Archaeology shows the city Rameses was built directly over the site of older Avaris{2b} of the period of Hyksos rule{2}. Avaris in the Nile delta evidently was the location of the Hebrew settlement in Goshen (Genesis 47:6) when the Hebrews moved to Egypt from Canaan with their father, patriarch Jacob at his son Joseph's invitation (Genesis 47:11){2}. And Avaris became the departure point for the Hebrew Exodus about 400 years later, after the Egyptians (under native pharaoh Ahmose I{14}) had driven out the foreign Hyksos pharaohs and returned Egypt to native Egyptian rule{2}.
Many bible scholars now believe Thutmose III and his son Amenhotep II, also of Egypt’s powerful 18th dynasty, were the pharaohs of the Hebrew oppression and the Exodus respectively (Exodus 1:8-10,15,4:19,5:1){{1,10}. Exodus chapters 1-4 records the two biblically unnamed pharaohs ruled sequentially. Wikipedia records father-and-son pharaohs with these names from Egyptology lived 1479 BC and 1427 BC which is a close match to the biblical date for the Exodus c1450BCE that modernist bible scholars refer to as the “early date”. Hatshepsut the influential and non-conformist queen who later ruled Egypt between these two pharaohs{14} adopted Moses when she was younger against the order of pharaoh{10} to kill all Hebrew male babies (Exodus 1:22, 2:10). She has been immortalized by her famous broad-faced mortuary temple that was carved into the red sandstone cliffs near Thebes{14a}. Conservative biblical archaeologists now claim the belief that Rameses II was the pharaoh of the Exodus caused researchers to mistakenly search for evidence of the Exodus in Egypt and Sinai that wasn’t there during his reign c1250BCE{2b}. He reigned 200 years after the Exodus, according to the biblical date c1450BCE.
Recent discoveries in Egypt show evidence for the Hebrew Exodus.
Mass pit burials of animals, mostly sheep up to 1 year old (Exodus 12:5)* that were killed by a blow to the back of their heads were found in the Hebrew settlement of Avaris that date to the biblical time for the Exodus, c1450BCE. This archaeology discovery is evidence they were sacrifices from the original Passover{1a,video}.
*The S4A Hebrew interlinear bible and the internet parallel bible (biblestudytools.com) show many bible versions translate this verse as a male “in its first year” or “of the first year”, rather than a “year old”[NIV].
Early secular Hebrew inscriptions (graffiti) in stone have been found at the Egyptian turquoise mine, Serabit el-Khadim in western Sinai that operated for hundreds of years and was visited by Hebrew miners nearly every year. These inscriptions that date from c1840BCE to c1450BCE were deciphered by linguistic scholars including Douglas Petrovich{1,1a}. The earliest inscriptions describe an upbeat Hebrew relationship with Egyptians. The Sinai 361 inscription was dated to the era of Thutmose III (c1450BCE, close to the biblical date for the Exodus) by the unique pottery style of fragments discovered at the site. This ancient inscription actually recorded a Hebrew named “Moses” who worked wonders before Egypt{1,1a}! Other cataloged Hebrew inscriptions at the mine at this time describe their terrible mistreatment ("100 times a curse") by the king (of Egypt){1a}. Content of these inscriptions corroborates Exodus 1:6-22 in the Hebrew scriptures. Hebrew miners would have made the older inscriptions, and Sinai 361 that named Moses night have been inscribed c1450BCE when the Exodus passed by the mine en route to Mt. Sinai, led my Moses.
Modernist bible scholars:
The liberal “modernist” movement of bible interpretation began in Germany in the mid 1800s. It includes “higher criticism” that attacks reliability of the bible by claiming errors are in the scripture text, alleging internal conflicts exist in the subject matter, and denying the stated authorship of the various books. The track record of these intellectual bible critics shows they very assertively use negative evidence (absence of discoveries supposedly proves that something did not happen), inconclusive evidence{3,4}, and they are sometimes careless about scripture reading{19} when they dismiss biblical accounts as erroneous or fictional including the Exodus and Moses. Their constant tirade of negativity exposes an agenda to denigrate the bible. There appears to be good reasons for the absence of an official Egyptian historical record of the Hebrews living in Egypt and for missing archaeological evidence of the Exodus in the Sinai{15}. Perhaps continued archaeological research in the right locations will produce new discoveries.
Modernists dismiss “miracles” in the bible altogether and insist fulfilled bible prophecies were deceptively written after-the-fact, contrary to what God says in the bible (Isaiah 46:9-11). They also claim the scriptures derived some of their accounts from similar prior secular writings. One example is the Genesis Flood account was allegedly “borrowed” from Mesopotamian flood epics that circulated before Genesis was written. This claim is examined and answered in Topical note 4, Mesopotamian Flood stories.
These bible critics have been proven wrong before. Before 1900, modernist scholars used to claim that no Hebrew writing (or any writing) existed at the stated biblical date for the Exodus c1450BCE. However, more recent discoveries showed Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mesopotamian cuneiform both date to before c2500BCE (Wikipedia). And pictographic proto-cuneiform writing that is described in more detail in Topical note 4- Most ancient writing, was in use in Mesopotamia before 3000BCE (Wikipedia).
Linguistic scholar Douglas Petrovich described how the Hebrew alphabet was developed c1850BCE in his recent book{1} and documentary internet video{1a} that was covered above. Petrovich’s research corroborates that biblical Moses lived and worked wonders before Egypt c1450BCE- the biblical date for the Exodus, which supports the Hebrew Law as being authentic.
Modernists used to claim that the Hebrew scriptures originated (were fabricated) in medieval Europe c1000CE, which were then the oldest manuscripts until the Dead Sea scroll discoveries that began in 1947 clearly pushed back the date of the oldest original manuscripts to c200BCE. Now they claim the Books of the Law (the Torah) originated when the Hebrews were either living in Canaan c1200BCE or as subjects in Persia starting c500BCE, both long after the recorded biblical Exodus. However, Petrovich's research and the following two recent archaeological discoveries reviewed here from above show an earlier origin for the Torah:
Two tiny silver scrolls found in a tomb at Ketef Hinnom, near Jerusalem that were perhaps worn as amulets contain excerpts from the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy in the Torah{16,17}. They were dated paleographically (using Hebrew text character style) to before the Jewish Babylonian captivity c586BCE. The Ketef Hinnom scrolls clearly show the Torah predated the Jewish Persian period{17} that started c500BCE. This discovery debunks critics’ claim the Torah was fabricated in Persia, long after the stated Exodus.
A lead foil tablet was discovered at Mt. Ebal in Israel (the biblical mountain of cursing) that was inscribed in paleo-Hebrew c1400BCE supports the events recorded in Deuteronomy 27:15-26 and Joshua 8:30 as being historical. It is also the oldest use of Yahweh for God discovered so far in an ancient inscription{23}. The Mt. Ebal tablet corroborates the invasion of Canaan by the Hebrews, and that the Torah is authentic and it was authored by Moses c1450BCE{20,21}, contrary to critics’ claims.
For a long time modernists dismissed the story of King Belshazzar’s feast (Daniel 5:1-30) as a myth because Nabonidus was the last historical king of Babylon- so who was King Belshazzar? Finally, a royal tablet was discovered that recorded a prayer King Nabonidus offered for his son Belshazzar. Continued discoveries showed Belshazzar ruled Babylon as reagent in his father's absence, which gave historical credibility to Belshazzar's offer to make Daniel third ruler of the kingdom if he could decipher the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5:16-17). That very night when his father King Nabonidus was away, Darius of the Medes conquered Babylon, killed Belshazzar, and he made Daniel a high-ranking public official in his kingdom (Daniel 5:29-31).
Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation (Genesis 17:8), predates Moses by about 600 years and he and his family’s historic sepultures are still in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, Israel just as recorded in Genesis 23-50. Today, their undisturbed family tomb is protected in the basement of a Muslim mosque that is checked weekly for security by a Muslim cleric. A photo taken through the secured opening in the ground floor of the mosque shows Abraham’s actual inscribed sepulture inside the cave{11}. Both observant Jews and Middle East Muslims proudly claim Abraham as their ancestor. However, modernist scholars dismiss the scriptural accounts as myths.
Conclusions
This section provides solid evidence from scripture, recent archaeology, early written Hebrew linguistics and paleography, and ancient history that corroborates the authenticity of the five books of the Hebrew Law, the Torah. So one can reasonably accept that historical Moses recorded the Hebrew Law during the Exodus c1450BCE while acknowledging explanatory editorial updates were added later by many others and that the early written Hebrew text style changed greatly over many centuries while it matured. Evidence provided negates modernist claims that these scriptures are fictitious stories that were fabricated by unknown authors when the Hebrews lived in Canaan c1200BC or in Persia more recently than c500BC. It also shows some of critics’ objections to scriptural accuracy that were based on negative or inconclusive evidence didn’t stand the test of time. A recent internet article that criticized two Gospel accounts as contradicting each other was apparently caused by careless study{19}.
Click on live web links to select internet references:
{1} Petrovich, Douglas, 2017, The World's Oldest Alphabet (book).
{1a} Watch the video version of this book free on the internet at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g87AKnEMAKo
Petrovichs’ video also mentions the archaeological discovery of mass pit burials of young sheep in the Hebrew settlement of Avaris that appear to have been sacrifices from the original Passover. A documentary DVD version of his book is for sale on the internet at Thinking Man Films.
{2} Tim Mahoney, 2015, Patterns of Evidence- Exodus (book and documentary DVD version for sale by Amazon)
View the trailers for both The Exodus, and the Moses Controversy in {2a} using this live web link: https://patternsofevidence.com/2019/06/01/artifacts-show-biblical-exodus/ Open the link, select "Films" on the top toolbar, scroll down, select desired film and learn more, then the trailer.
{2a} Tim Mahoney, 2019, Patterns of Evidence- The Moses Controversy (Thinking man Films documentary DVD includes parts 1 and 2, for sale on Amazon).Part 2 contains information about the Hyksos pharaoh who Joseph worked for and the origin of the early Hebrew alphabet. Use the live web link in {2} above to view the free trailer of the for-sale DVD.
(Free video tour of Joseph’s family estate in Avaris Egypt.) This video includes a brief interview of a Hebrew language scholar who explains that Avaris was later renamed the city of Ramsees mentioned in the bible (Genesis 47:11, Exodus 1:11, and Numbers 33:3). This video also includes a brief interview with a Hebrew bible scholar who explains that Avaris was later renamed the city of Ramsees in the bible (Genesis 47:11, Exodus 1:11, and Numbers 33:3). Apparently this site continued to be known as Avaris long after the Exodus until the time of Pharaoh Ramses II when it was renamed after him (Wikipedia shows three spellings for his name are in use: Ramses, Ramsees, Rameses). Avaris had stigmas from being the Egyptian capital for the foreign Hyksos pharaohs who usurped native rule and it was also where the despised Hebrews lived. Native Egyptian royalty certainly long wished to erase this bad history and its new Egyptian name fittingly honored Ramsees II who was perhaps Egypt’s greatest ruler. Apparently a later Hebrew scripture editor then simply inserted its new name, “Ramsees” in the Bible text. Unfortunately, this misled modern scripture readers to suppose the Hebrew Exodus was during Ramses’ reign since his name wasn’t mentioned.
(NIV online bible, Summary of the Book of Exodus, Author and date of Writing section)
(NIV online bible, Summary of the Book of Exodus, Chronology section)
(Summary of the Book of Genesis, Author and date)
{6a} Maier, Paul, 1988, Josephus- The Essential Writings, Kregel Publ. (book) pp48-82. (Josephus on Moses)
{6b} ibid, pp200-202. (Josephus on Ptolemy II’s Septuagint translation)
{6c} ibid, p20 (The serpent tempted the woman to eat the forbidden fruit to enjoy “a blissful existence equal to that of a god”.)
{6d} ibid, p20 (Adam’s naming the animals in Genesis 2:20 seems instead have been done by God, according to Josephus. However, a single word placement error in Josephus’ commentary by a later copyist or translator could make this meaning change. This is just one example of the numerous differences.)
{6e} ibid, pp49-50. Josephus' explanation for Moses' flight from Egypt to Midian.
(Philo on Moses)
(Hebrew text from c1000BCE)
(Hebrew text from Isaiah Dead Sea scroll c200BCE)
{10} Price, Randall, Israel My Glory magazine, January/February 2020, p35.
{11} Unger, Merrill, 1975, Unger’s Bible Handbook.
(Tacticus on Christ's crucifixion)
{13} Habernas, Gary, 1982, The Historical Jesus, College Press, pp187-190 (Tacticus), pp192-196 (Josephus), pp196-197 (Thallus, interpreted by scholar Julius Africanus).
{14} National Geographic magazine special issue, The Most Influential Figures of Ancient History (reissued 2021), pp32-34.
{14a} ibid,p33. (Queen Hatshepsut's famous mortuary temple)
(Exodus route)
(Ketef Hinnom scrolls)
{17} Price, Randall, Israel My Glory magazine, July/August 2021, p35. (Ketef Hinnom scrolls)
(Concise biography of Jewish historian Josephus)
(This article claims two Gospel accounts disagree about Christ’s birth. Author’s note: The critic's claim assumes these Gospel accounts both pertain to Christ’s birth. However careful reading shows Matthew 2 continues the story in Luke 2 about two years later (Matthew 2:16) when the Holy Family again visited Bethlehem. Then Jesus was a “child” as most bibles record, or “young child”[KJV]. So only Luke 2 described Christ’s birth. Familiar but incorrect Christmas renderings of Magi offering gifts to newborn baby Jesus in a manger also resulted from casually reading these two Gospel accounts and mixing them together.)
(Mt. Ebal tablet)
(Mt. Ebal Tablet)
(Mt. Ebal Tablet)
{22} Levy, David, Israel My Glory magazine, July/August 2021, p19
(A concise reference for the Book of Job).
{23} Price, Randall, Israel My Glory magazine, May/June 2023, p35. “This is the oldest known use of the proper name of God [Yahweh] in an ancient inscription. Some bible critics claim this name only evolved at a much later time in the Israelite culture.”
{24} Haley, John. Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, p354, Whitaker House publ. Jethro is called Reuel in Exodus 2:18 and Numbers 10:29. Two names were used interchangeably for Moses’ father-in-law in the Torah because Jethro was his honorary title as priest, and Reuel (or Raguel, the same as Reuel in Hebrew*) was his actual name. Judges 4:11[NIV] mentions Moses’ father-in-law, and his son Hobab who the Kenites descended from. The Kenites lived in the NE Negev desert, so apparently Hobab ultimately accepted Moses’ offer to travel with the Hebrews north to Canaan (Numbers 10:29, otherwise he would have returned to Midian with his father.
*Scripture4All online Hebrew interlinear bible.
(Barry Setterfield covers a wide variety difficult technical topics that have easy-to-understand descriptions on his website.)
{26} Maier, Paul, 1988, Josephus- The Essential Writings, Kregel publ. p21-25 (book). Josephus' date for Adam’s creation is c5454BCE, or c7454 years ago. This was 3254 years before Abraham (who lived c2000BCE).
{27} Ancient Saxon chronology closely agrees with Josephus’ creation date as c5200BCE (Topical note 3,{21}p122).
W. Cook December 2024
Independent Researcher
contact: genesismakessense@gmail.com
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