By: Mark Tabata (Evangelist)
Upon Completion, Please Send Answered Questions To:
Mark Tabata (Facebook).
The Tabatas
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Hazard KY
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606-216-1757 (Text Or Call)
hazardhomecoc@gmail.com
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible)
Introduction
The Bible claims to be a historically accurate document:
Luke 1:1-4-1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
II Peter 1:16-16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Nevertheless, many claim that the Bible is not a credible historical source.
For example, consider Bill O’Reilly’s popular book:
“Much has been written about Jesus, the son of a humble carpenter. But little is actually known about him. Of course we have the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but they sometimes appear contradictory and were written from a spiritual point of view rather than as a historical chronicling of Jesus’s life. Who Jesus actually was and what exactly happened to him are emotional subjects that often lead to contentious discussion.” (Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard, Killing Jesus: A History, 42 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Henry Holt And Company)
This viewpoint is characteristic of the modern mindset that the Bible is not historically credible due to the religious convictions of its’ authors.
Which is true?
Is the Bible historically accurate, or not?
In this series of lessons, the student will be exposed to archaeological findings which clearly and powerfully corroborate the historical reliability of the Bible.
You will learn that the Bible is truly the Word of God, which has been documented time and again in the historical narratives and remembrances of past civilizations and cultures.
Archaeology is the study of ancient civilizations, and Bible archaeology specifically studies the ways in which the findings of archaeology help to confirm Bible events (as well as help man to better understand Bible passages).
“The term archaeology is a compound word (from the Greek archaios and logos) meaning the “study of ancient things…In modern times, when we speak of archaeology, in general we are referring to the discipline typically within the field of anthropology and history that draws upon an investigation of current material human remains in order to understand past customs, cultures, and civilizations.. These remains include pottery, graves, buildings, coins, tools, weapons, clothing, jewelry, literature, inscriptions, and more. “Archaeology of the Bible” exists as a specific field of inquiry within this discipline; its primary goal is the excavation of areas associated with the Bible and its societies and cultures, such as Jerusalem,, Sodom, Jericho, Egypt, Israel, the Levant as a whole, and Mesopotamia.” (Joseph M. Holden & Norman Geisler, The Popular Handbook Of Archaeology And The Bible: Discoveries That Confirm The Reliability Of Scripture, 2023-2031 (Kindle Edition); Eugene, Oregon; Harvest House Publishers)
In this present study, we will carefully examine one specific part of the Bible which often comes under attack: the Pentateuch.
Mosaic Authorship Of The Pentateuch
The first five Books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) were written by a man named Moses, a Prophet of God.
To this fact, the whole of the Bible bears witness:
Exodus 17:14-Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
Exodus 24:4-4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exodus 34:27-Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Numbers 33:2-Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:
Deuteronomy 31:9-So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:24-26- 24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you;
The rest of the Bible clearly attributes the authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses.
“These Old Testament verses record that the Torah or “the Law,” was from Moses: Joshua 8:32 speaks of “the Law of Moses, which he had written.” (The verses marked by an asterisk refer to an actual written “Law of Moses,” not simply an oral tradition): Joshua 1:7,8*; 8:31*,34*; 23:6* 1 Kings 2:3* 2 Kings 14:6*; 23:25 1 Chronicles 22:13 2 Chronicles 5:10; 23:18*; 25:4*; 30:16; 33:8; 34:14; 35:12* Ezra 3:2; 6:18*; 7:6 Nehemiah 1:7,8; 8:1*,14*; 9:14; 10:29; 13:1* Daniel 9:11,13* Malachi 4:4 WITNESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The New Testament held that the Torah or “law” came from Moses: The apostles believed that “Moses wrote for us a law” (Mark 12:19). John was confident that “the Law was given through Moses” (John 1:17). Paul, speaking of a Pentateuchal passage, asserts “Moses writes” (Romans 10:5). Other passages which insist on this include: Luke 2:22; 20:28 John 1:45; 8:5; 9:29 Acts 3:22; 6:14; 13:39; 15:1,21; 26:22; 28:23 1 Corinthians 9:9 2 Corinthians 3:15 Hebrews 9:19 Revelation 15:3 Jesus believed the Torah to be from Moses: Mark 7:10; 10:3-5; 12:26 Luke 5:14; 16:29-31; 24:27,44 John 7:19,23 Notice especially John 5:45-47: Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? Eissfeldt states: The name used in the New Testament clearly with reference to the whole Pentateuch—the Book of Moses—is certainly to be understood as meaning that Moses was the compiler of the Pentateuch. 27/158” (Josh McDowell & Bill Wilson, The Best Of Josh McDowell: A Ready Defense: 148-149 (Kindle Edition); Nashvillee, TN; Thomas Nelson Publishers)
For years, skeptics of the Bible claimed that by the time of Moses, people had not yet learned to write.
“These higher critics maintained that some of Genesis, especially the material in the first eleven chapters, had been derived from myths of the ancient Babylonians…Today it is beyond question that writing was practiced widely, and in many forms, long before the time of Moses…Similarly, archaeologists now recognize that the cultural indications in Genesis, at least from the time of Abraham onward, are exactly what would be expected of eyewitness records from those times….In similar fashion, linguistic studies by numerous first-rate Biblical scholars have repeatedly shown that there is no real substance to the claims of the higher critics that the language of Genesis was much later than the time of Moses.” (Henry Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific & Devotional Commentary On The Book Of Beginnings, 7-8 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Books).
The science of archaeology, however, has clearly documented that people were writing long before the time of Moses.
“Critics have also suggested that Moses could not have written his account in the fifteenth century before Christ because, they claim, writing had not yet been invented. However, the discovery of numerous ancient written inscriptions, including the famous black stele containing the laws of Hammurabi written before 2000 B.C., prove that writing was widespread for many centuries before the time of Moses.” (Grant Jeffrey, The Signature Of God, 42 (Kindle Edition); Waterbrook Press @ Books
Furthermore, the extra-biblical evidence is clear that the Pentateuch was indeed written by Moses.
“There are several lines of evidence to indicate that Moses, the great lawgiver and deliverer of Israel who wrote the other four books of the Law, was the author of Genesis. (1) The earliest and continual tradition of the Jewish people, as recorded in the Talmud, attributes this book to Moses. (2) Moses is the only person we know of from this early time period who had the ability to write this book. The rest of the Israelites were a nation of uneducated slaves, whereas Moses was a highly educated son of the king (Acts 7:22). (3) Moses was the only one who had both the interest and information to write Genesis. Being Jewish Moses would have had access to the family records of his ancestors (cf. Gen. 5:1; 10:1; 25:19; etc.) which were no doubt brought down to Egypt by Jacob (Gen. 46). Since Moses was bent on delivering his people from Egypt, it is natural to assume that he was familiar with the promises of God passed down by his forefathers that God would indeed deliver them (cf. Gen. 46:3-4; Exod. 2:24). (4) Citations from Genesis show that the rest of the Old Testament regards it as part of the Law of Moses (Deut. 1:8; II Kings 13:23; I Chron. 1:1ff.). Since Moses was the author of the other “books of Moses,” as we will see later, it is reasonable to attribute the first book of Moses to him as well. (5) Jesus and the New Testament writers clearly regard Moses as the author of an essential part of Scripture (cf. Matt. 19:8; Luke 16:29; 24:27). We can conclude that Moses, using the family records which had been passed on to him, compiled the Book of Genesis.” (Norman Geisler, A Popular Survey Of The Old Testament, 610-623 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Books)
“1B. R.H. Rfeiffer writes: ‘There is no reason to doubt that the Pentateuch was considered the divine revelation to Moses when it was canonized about 400 B.C.’ (Pfeiffer, JOT, 133) 1C. Ecclesiasticus, one of the books of the Apocrypha, written about 180 B.C., gives this witness: ‘All this is the covenant book of God Most High, the law which Moses enacted to be the heritage of the assemblies of Jacob’ (Ecclesiasticus 24:23 NEB). 2C. The Talmud (Baby Bathra, 146), a Jewish commentary on the Law (Torah) dating from 200 B.C., and the Mishnah (Pirqe Aboth, I, 1), a rabbinic interpretation and legislating dating from 100 B.C., both attribute the Torah to Moses. 3C. Likewise, Philo, the Jewish philosopher theologian born approximately A.D. 20, held Mosaic authorship: ‘But I will…tell the story of Moses as I have learned it, both from the sacred books, the wonderful monuments of his wisdom which he has left behind him and from some of the elders of the nation.’ (Philo, WP, 279) 4C. The first century A.D. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus writes in his Josephus Against Apion (11:18): ‘For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another (as the Greeks have) but only 22 books (our present 39), which are justly believed to be divine; and of them, five belong to Moses, which contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death.’ (Josephus, WFJ, 609)” (Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, 458-459; Nashville, TN; Thomas Nelson Publishers).
McDowell lists several other historical evidences which help to document the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
Yet is the Pentateuch historically reliable?
Is there evidence that the first Books of the Bible are credible?
Several lines of evidence help establish the historical accuracy of the Old Testament.
We could consider, for example, the famous “Ebla Tablets.”
These tablets-which began to be discovered in Ebla, Syria, in the year 1974-date back to the third millennium B.C.. These tablets help to corroborate especially the Book of Genesis (even providing extra-biblical references to Ur, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.).
“Sixteen thousand clay tablets from the third millennium B.C. were discovered at Ebla in modern Syria, beginning in 1974. Biovanni Pettinato dates them 2580–2450 B.C. and Paolo Matthiae suggests 2400–2250 B.C. Either period predates any other written material by hundreds of years. Apologetic Importance of the Tablets. The importance of the Ebla tablets is that they parallel and confirm early chapters of Genesis. Although clouded by subsequent political pressure and denials, the published reports in reputable journals offer several possible lines of support for the biblical record (see ARCHAEOLOGY, OLD TESTAMENT). Tablets reportedly contain names of the cities Ur, Sodom and Gomorrah, and such pagan gods mentioned in the Bible as Baal (see Ostling, 76–77). The Ebla tablets reportedly contain references to names found in the book of Genesis, including Adam, Eve, and Noah (Dahood, 55–56)….There are significant implications in the Ebla archives for Christian apologetics. They destroy the critical belief in the evolution of monotheism (see MONOTHEISM, PRIMITIVE) from supposed earlier polytheism and henotheism. This evolution of religion hypothesis has been popular from the time of Charles *Darwin (1809–1882) and Julius *Wellhausen (1844–1918). Now monotheism is known to be earlier. Also, the force of the Ebla evidence supports the view that the earliest chapters of Genesis are history, not mythology” (Norman Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia Of Christian Apologetics, 208 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Books)
It is this type of historical evidence which has led famous archaeologists throughout the years to go on public record in affirming the credibility of the Torah.
“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological 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 led to amazing discoveries. They form tesserae in the vast mosaic of the Bible’s almost incredibly correct historical memory.” (Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1959), 31)
“Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by the archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the biblical record.” (Quotation from J. O. Kinnaman found at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7234/quotes.html (accessed October 26, 2009).
Adam And Eve
We read in the Bible that God made the Creation in six literal days. The crown of His Creation was man, Adam and Eve.
Genesis 1:26-27-26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God gave the new couple the entire Creation to explore and subdue, and gave them the command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:15-17-15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
However, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and chose to disobey God:
Genesis 3:1-6-1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
The test of the tree was absolutely necessary for mankind to choose or reject God.
“I have come to appreciate the risk of that tree for God— and the necessity of that tree for us. Simply put, that tree made us real: it gave us choice. God wasn’t looking to make some complicated hamsters that he could set up in a sweet cage. He created us for real relationship with him. Real relationship simply cannot exist if you cannot choose something else other than that relationship. We pity a woman whose husband or boyfriend keeps her locked in their house, monitors the few phone calls he allows her to have, and keeps even her family at arm’s length. No one would call that love. Had God not offered the tree and with it the opportunity to rebel against him, he would have been that guy. Love that isn’t chosen is forced. In giving us that tree and making the warning very clear, he gave us choice, even the option to reject his guidance and companionship. He knew very well that decision would cost him dearly, but it was what was best for us.” (Jim Pace, Should We Fire God? Finding Hope In God When We Don’t Understand, 832-839 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; FaithWords)
Interestingly enough, the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden has been well-documented through the spade of the archaeologist.
One such evidence would include the famous “Temptation Seal” which is an Akkadian seal dating back to 2300-2200 B.C. (roughly a thousand years before the writing of the Book of Genesis), and which shows a man and woman sitting around a tree, with a serpent “standing” behind the woman, whispering in her ear.
“In some cases, however, the early Babylonian seals, which contained devices taken from these legends, more closely approached the Genesis story. One striking and important specimen of early type in the British Museum collection has two figures sitting one on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while at the back of one is stretched a serpent. We know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures were chance devices, but all represented events or supposed events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis, was known in early times in Babylonia.” (George Smith, The Chaldean Account Of Genesis: Containing The Description Of The Creation, The Fall Of Man, The Deluge, The Tower Of Babel, The Times Of The Patriarchs , And Nimrod; Babylonian Fables And Legends Of The Gods, From The Cuneiform Inscriptions, 1364-1368 (Kindle Edition); Global Grey)
Further evidence of this event may be found in the writing of the Chinese language.
The Chinese language is one of the most ancient in the world, and within its’ characters we find fascinating corroboration of the Book of Genesis. Each ancient Chinese word is composed in such a way that each one actually tells a story. When we carefully examine these “word-stories,” we find striking and incredible proof of the historical accuracy of the Bible.
“My personal study into the history of the written Chinese language through various treatises in English found in Harvard’s Chinese-Japanese Yenching Library gave its approximate time of origin as 2500 B.C. This dating is provocative, for it coincides quite closely with the time (2218 B.C.) of the great dispersion of races from the tower of Babel, as calculated from the Biblical genealogies in a recent chronological study…When the Chinese, very early in their history as a separate people, found a need to communicate with a written language, a system of word-pictures was invented in keeping with the characteristic calligraphy of the ancient world. True to all primitive written languages, these so-called pictographs were satisfactory for representing objects but carried limitations in expressing abstract concepts. The early graphic symbols, therefore, were combined in meaningful ways to convey ideas, called ideograms, and these “picture stories” of necessity had to contain common knowledge in order to be understood. It would have been only natural to use as a basis for some of the ideograms the history of the ancient beginnings of humanity with which all were familiar by oral tradition. Consequently, the written Chinese language is composed of characters uniquely adapted to the possibility of containing the stories of Genesis.” (C.H.Kang & Ethel R. Nelson, The Discovery Of Genesis: How The Truths Of Genesis Were Found Hidden In The Chinese Language, 844-181 (Kindle Edition); St. Louis, Missouri; Concordia Publishing House)
For example, the Chinese word for “tempter” comes from six words in Chinese: “secret,” “man,” “garden,” plus “alive” equals “devil,” plus “two trees,” plus “cover.”
Again, the Chinese word for “happiness” is literally “man” plus “God” “together” “in the Garden.”
The Bible clearly teaches that God is a Triune Being (i.e., the Trinity) composed of three Persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One of the indicators of the Triune Nature of the Godhead is one of the Hebrew names for God, Elohim. This name suggests a plurality within the Nature of God (see also Isaiah 48:16; John 1:1-5; 1 John 5:7).
“The first occurrence of the divine name is the Hebrew Elohim, the name of God which stresses His majesty and omnipotence. This is the name used throughout the first chapter of Genesis. The im ending is the Hebrew plural ending, so that Elohim can actually mean ‘gods,’ and is so translated in various passages referring to the gods of the heathen (e.g., Psalm 96:5). However, it is clearly used here in the singular, as the mighty name of God the Creator, the first of over two thousand times where it is used in this way. Thus Elohim is a plural name with a singular meaning, a ‘uni-plural’ noun, thereby suggesting the uni-plurality of the Godhead. God is one, yet more than one.” (Henry Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific And Devotional Commentary On The Book Of Beginnings, 23 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Book House
Interestingly enough, one of the Chinese names for “God” includes this same Triune concept.
“The next portion of the word for Spirit is , mouth, three in number. These radicals imply that three persons are speaking via the Spirit. This agrees with the New Testament teaching on the Trinity. Jesus told His disciples regarding the office of the Holy Spirit, “But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to Me” (John 15:26).” ( C.H.Kang & Ethel R. Nelson, The Discovery Of Genesis: How The Truths Of Genesis Were Found Hidden In The Chinese Language, 658-667 (Kindle Edition); St. Louis, Missouri; Concordia Publishing House)
Incredible as it may sound, the main elements of the Genesis Creation account are preserved and brought forth in the Chinese language!
“From the Chinese writing, we learn that in the beginning (B)1 (), there were just two persons on earth. Furthermore, another bronzeware rendition of beginning (B)2 reveals that the original couple had sinless characters. They were reflectors of God, heaven ()….The man was named Adam, meaning “the ground,” from which he had been created by God. We learned that the Chinese radicals for ground, earth (B), , , (O) () all have reference to Adam (review p. 36). And we learned that “Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living….Thus we find a record of the first two ancestors , (O)4 (). Comparing and above, representing Adam arising from the earth, we find not only Adam, but two persons, he and his wife, Eve, “the mother of all living.” The ancestors are found with the God radical , indicating that ShangTi is, of course, the ultimate ancestor in whose image Adam and Eve had been created. This character denotes not only ancestor, but also the founder, prototype, original, beginning.” (Ethel Nelson & Richard Broadberry, Genesis And The Mystery Confucius Couldn’t Solve, 665-684 (Kindle Edition); Saint Louis, Missouri; Concordia Publishing House)
Perhaps one of the most powerful and striking examples of the Chinese writing and its’ confirmation of the Bible is its’ term for “righteousness,” which literally translates to “the Lamb of God above me.”
“This character has three forms, and although they differ quite significantly, the core meaning is captured and retained. The ancient form shows a dagger slicing or piercing a lamb, suggesting the killing and sacrificing of a lamb. This shows that the ancient Chinese understood that righteousness comes with a price, and that price is the life of the sacrificial lamb because a person on his own cannot attain or achieve righteousness. The lamb was considered the finest sacrifice because it was viewed as pure and undefiled; it is a precursor to the ultimate sacrifice, God Himself in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. In the traditional or complex form, the bottom half of the character shows a ‘hand’ @ and a ‘spear’ @ on the right hand, forming the word for ‘me.@ In this form, the symbol representing ‘lamb’ @ with its tail chopped off, sits over the symbol representing ‘me.’ Embedded with this ideogram is the idea of sacrifice. The ‘lamb above me’ indicates that when people see ‘me’ they first see the ‘lamb’ above or over me. This suggests that the ancient Chinese understood that righteousness is not a personal character trait; rather, it is imputed. That is, they had the idea that righteousness or ‘right-ness’ is the acceptance of the sacrificial lamb on one’s behalf, as indicated by the ‘lamb’ above ‘me.’ This concept is entirely consistent with the biblical teaching that righteousness cannot be earned, it is imputed; it is a legal state, not a personal trait. When God sees me, a sinner, through the shed blood of the Lamb that is Jesus Christ, He sees me as righteous; that is, I am righteous only because of the Lamb.” (Chan Kei Thong with Charlene L. Fu, Finding God In Ancient China: How The Ancient Chinese Worshiped The God Of The Bible, 68; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan) Note: the “@” symbol represents an untranslatable Chinese word or character)
This is reminiscent of the very first Messianic prophecy made by God Himself:
Genesis 3:15-And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
“Here, then, is the seminal prophecy made to pave the way for all others that would deal with the coming of the great Deliverer of mankind. Several qualities of this coming Deliverer are readily apparent. First, He will come in human form as the seed of woman. Second, He will defeat the effects of sin brought about by the fall of man and the entrance of sin into the world. Third, He will be hindered in His redemptive activity by the serpent, Satan, who will inflict upon Him a minor wound. Fourth, He will ultimately overcome the wound of Satan and finally triumph. In this first prediction of the Messiah, we catch an underlying theme of a suffering, victorious redeemer—a theme that will be fleshed out in the remaining pages of the Old Testament.” (Kyle Butt, Behold! The Word Of God, 2148-2156 (Kindle Edition); Montgomery, Alabama; Apologetics Press)
Conclusion
Indeed, the study of archaeology powerfully confirms the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and the credibility of the Bible’s early accounts of God, His Creation, and the Fall in the Garden of Eden.
We also learn some powerful lessons also about the subjects of sin and salvation in The Lord. God (in His infinite goodness) has provided lots of evidence that the Bible is historically accurate.
The grace of The Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.
Questions
What is archaeology? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What five Books of the Bible are known as the “Pentateuch?” ________________________________________________________________________________________
List some Scriptures which show that Moses wrote the Pentateuch? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What are some extra-biblical evidences that show Moses wrote the Pentateuch? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What does the “Temptation Seal” show? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why did God need to put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What are the Ebla Tablets, and why are they important? __________________________________________________________________________________________
List some examples of how the Chinese language corroborates the Pentateuch. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What does the Chinese word “righteousness” mean? ___________________________________________________________________________
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