Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament Part 4

Historicity 
of the 
Old Testament

part 4

Historicity, basically meaning “historical accuracy”, supports the proposition that Moses had written the books of the Pentateuch, and Daniel had also written his book, or any of the Old Testament authors have written the books associated with their names. Any contention on linguistic basis for doubting the accuracy of these books pales in comparison when checked with actual historical facts.

Critics love to cast doubt on the Bible as an historical document more than any other ancient writing. They are only satisfied with a huge amount of supporting evidence. They operate like a court that finds you guilty until proven innocent; instead of taking it as true until proven false, it is the opposite tract that they adhere to.

Nineteenth century so called “intellectuals” used to deny the existence of the Hittites, the Horites, the Edomites and various other peoples. They claimed that the absence of other historical mentions outside of the Bible are ample proof of the “story telling” nature of scripture. This argument of silence has long been eradicated by the science of archaeology. Few critics today dare argue against the geographical and ethnological reliability of scripture. Though, little has been done in the realm of education to correct the harm done to our school systems by throwing out the history referenced in the Bible. No doubt, one would be labeled as trying to “turn back the clock” if you did try to make those corrections, no matter what truth and evidence may come of scientific investigation.

Archeology has now also supported the truth of kings and empires including, the Davidic-Solomonic empire, the other kings of Israel and Juda, the Babylonian captivity and the return from exile, the conquest of Canaan by Joshua and also the destruction of Jericho, a city that has been dated back to 9,000 BCE.

The names of over 40 different kings from other nations, mentioned in the Bible, have also been confirmed. These contemporary documents and inscriptions from outside the Old Testament, are always consistent with times and places associated in the Bible. In comparison to gross errors in other  ancient histories, it becomes obvious that the Old Testament writers were the contemporaries of the people and events named in other text, and they wrote with a commitment to care and scrutinize their own text for the glory of God. Even names long ago though fictional, such as Belshazzar and Darius, have been confirmed as real by the investigation of science.

Dr. Nelson Glue

A major example of all this is the story from Genesis 14 of the group of kings who invaded Canaan and were defeated by Abraham. The Dean of Palestinian archaeologists, Dr. Nelson Gluek, also President of the Hebrew Union College and Jewish Institute of Religion, found abundant evidence of this invasion.

“Centuries earlier, another civilization of high achievement had flourished between the 19th and 21st centuries B. C., until it was savagely liquidated by the Kings of the East. According to the Biblical statements, which have been borne out by the archaeological evidence, they gutted every city and village at the end of that period from Ashtaroth-Karnaim, in the southern Syria through all of Trans-Jordan and the Negev to Kadesh-Barnea in Sinai (Genesis 14:1-7).“

Nelson Gluek, Rivers in the Desert, (New York: Ferrar, Strauss and Cudahey, 1959) p. 11

Dr. Gluek has made extensive research into the Biblical records of the Israeli nation and has found amazing reliability on all points for all those things considered. He has often made new discoveries, some resulting in a financial treat for the nation of Israel. He has therefore made the following sweeping generalization:

“As a matter of fact, let it be stated categorically, that no archeological discovery has EVER controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of  Biblical descriptions, has often lead to amazing discoveries. They form tesserae (one of the small pieces used in mosaic work) in the vast mosaic of the Bible’s almost incredible correct historical memory.”

Neslon Gluek, op cit., p. 31

Christ himself, having made the claims to divinity and having all power and knowledge as such, must be vilified by scripture else wise, the writings are inexplicable. His own evaluation and reference to the Old Testament cannot be ignored as a result. Not only did Christ himself accept the Old Testament as authentic, but so did all the New Testament writers of their own day.

There are at least 320 direct references to the Old Testament in the New Testament, all considered cannon, and there are also thousands of other allusions as well. 

“The scripture cannot be broken.”
John 10:35

“It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
Luke 16:17

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
Luke 24:27

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
John 5:46,47

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
Matthew 13:14

Refers to:

(Hebrew; Septuagint) “You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ This people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.”
Isaiah 6:10

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
John 12:38

Refers to:

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
Isaiah 53:1

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—”
Matthew 24:15

Refers to:

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
Daniel 9:27

and:

“His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.”
Daniel 11:31

and:

“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days."
Daniel 12:11

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"
Matthew 19:4,5

Refers to:

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24

"And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar."
Matthew 23:35

Refers to:

“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
Genesis 4:8

and:

King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”
2 Chronicles 24:22

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.”
Luke 17:26

“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
John 8:56-58

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.”
Luke 17:28

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Mark 10:6-9

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:37-39

“But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.”
Luke 17:29

“Remember Lot’s wife!”
Luke 17:32

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.”
John 6:32

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up..”
John 3:14

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
Luke 4:25-27

Refers to:

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:10-14

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:39,40

To Christ and the Apostles, the Old Testament was authentic and verbally inspired by God. and that should settle the matter for Christians!

Next we’ll talk about the continuing witness of the Passover.