History I
[Ebal’s Plea, seven of thirty-two]
This is a story about two archaeology discoveries. Both have potential dizzying impact on our understanding of biblical and world history.
Closely identified, having come from the same location, they are well separated in time of discovery. The first became known about 40 years ago. Identification of the latter occurred within the last six.1
Yet, they poise a piercing assault on a long understood, entrenched, scholarly paradigm—one considered by many virtually unassailable.
What is that? It is that Moses did not write, and, in fact, could not have written, the first five books of the Bible, that is the Torah or Pentateuch.2 This the paradigm holds despite other Old Testament sources, as well as Jesus of the New, having affirmed or implied Mosaic authorship.
If not Moses who lived allegedly around the Twelfth to Fifteenth Century B. C., then who? In short, the theory holds that a collection of authors mostly from the Ninth to the Third Century B. C. wrote the Torah’s accounts.3 These late date writers aimed at manufacturing for the Hebrew people a shared identity—one fortifying moral cohesion and reverence for mythological heroes.4
Photo by Yan Krukau on Pexels.com
This idea permeates more than the ivory towers of elite universities. It holds sway over heartlands worldwide. Since the late 19th century, the idea has schooled generations of priests and preachers as well as waves of college students enrolled in scholastic biblical studies.5
This paradigm against Mosaic authorship has a name. It is the documentary hypothesis.6
Now, let us examine these two discoveries challenging it.
Next post: “Joshua’s Altar?”
- Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (01:09), 11 May 2023; and
Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel,14 May 2023, paragraph 5, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎ - Id., paragraph 2. ↩︎
- Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (20:00 and 35:02-14), 11 May 2023; and
Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, https://biblearchaeology.org/current-events-list/4896-abr-researchers-discover-the-oldest-known-proto-hebrew-inscription-ever-found, (33:35); 24 March 2022, Updated 26 April 2023. ↩︎ - Greg A. King, The Documentary Hypothesis, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, pp. 22-30, p. 25, paragraph 7, December, 2001; and
Special Update: The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Ep1 of 3), Youtube: Patterns of Evidence, youtube.com/watch?v=YX3TH_nfgLo, Episode One at (29:45), May 21, 2024. ↩︎ - Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (06:45), May 1, 2023;
Breaking News “Mt Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (22:30 and 24:40), May 12, 2023; and Greg A. King, The Documentary Hypothesis, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 12/ 2001, pp. 22-30, p. 22, paragraph 2. ↩︎ - Id.; and Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (20:00 & 33:49), 11 May 2023. ↩︎
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Lagniappe Curse Tablet link / Patterns of Evidence 3
Lagniappe Joshua’s Altar link / Dr. Gad Barnea
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