This week we are looking at reasons to have confidence in the Word of God, especially when it comes to Moses’ authorship and the transmission of the Old Testament in general. Before diving into a study of Genesis, we want to have faith in its reliability and trustworthiness. There is enough evidence for us to have reasonable certainty that what God wants us to have is exactly what we do have, and therefore the historicity and reliability of what we read in the Old Testament can be trusted.

Watch this week’s class presentation on the reliability of the Old Testament:

Overview Notes from the presentation

A Case for Genesis

***Fall 2022: Session 2, Part One – The Reliability and Transmission of the Old Testament***

Some Bible Basics:

Historical and Literary Facts About the Bible

The Bible is made up of 66 individual books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, written by 40 different authors, over a period of about 1,500 years, and from 10 different countries
The Bible has a cast of 2,930 characters depicted in 1,551 places
The Bible’s human authors (inspired by God) came from various stations of life: Kings, peasants, poets, herdsmen, fishermen, scientists, farmers, priests, pastors, tentmakers, tax collectors, doctors and governors
The Bible was written in extreme places like the wilderness, dungeons, palaces, prisons, on lonely islands, and in military battles
The authors wrote on various subjects, including the unknown future

***Amazingly the books of the Bible are so united in their historical and narrative themes, and so remarkably linked to one main storyline from Genesis to Revelation, that the Bible is considered by most scholars to be… “A Literary Masterpiece!”

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time!
There are more early manuscripts of the Bible available for verification than any other ancient document (over 25,000)
The Bible is a primary source document and contains multiple eyewitness accounts of events, including hostile witnesses
The Christian Old Testament accounts have been the accepted narratives for the Jewish people from antiquity (it is the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh) completed by 500 BC
The Christian New Testament accounts of the first century (AD/CE) life of Jesus and the early Church were written within the lifetime of the people involved in the events (eyewitnesses), completed by the mid to late first century AD/CE
Archeology and outside Biblical sources have confirmed over 25,000 people, places and events recorded in the Bible, none have ever been negated
The original languages used in the Bible are still with us today so translations can be made directly from these unique sources
The Bible is written mainly as an historical narrative with verifiable facts

He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

-Psalm 111:4

An Apologetic Tool: MAPS-S

M=Manuscripts:

Over 25,000 (and growing) early manuscripts with 5800 (and growing) in the original Greek language and the scholarly field of textual criticism finding 99.5% agreement within them indicating a match to the autograph, and with early lectionaries and quotations from the 1^st – 3^rd century leaders we can assert 100% accuracy.

*Important to remember: Bibles today, like NASB, NIV or KJV, have only been translated once from the original language.

A=Archeology:

Over 25,000 (and growing) archeology finds that have confirmed the Biblical narrative. None have been found that disprove any historical accounts in the Bible (including people, places and events).

P=Prophecy:

300 (plus) specific and incidental prophesies from the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the life and times of Jesus. If even 8 of these prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus it would be equivalent to 1 chance in 10 to the 17^th power or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000! None of the Old Testament prophecies have been disproven and many are still to come.

S=Science:

The Bible makes no claims that are considered scientific absurdities and has amazing scientific authenticity in the areas of cosmology, biochemistry, medicine, health, nutrition, geology, and the Laws of Nature vs. other so-called Holy Books. The evidence found in the “Cosmological and Teleological Arguments” also supports the Creation account.

S=Saved Lives:

Millions of saved lives are seen through the centuries evidenced by changed lives confessed by the saving work of Jesus’ death and resurrection—individual stories like yours cannot be disputed.

How did we get the Old Testament?

Major Historical Events: Timeline

The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-11 – Antediluvian Period and the Biblical Record

Creation – Fall (The Promise)/////Tower of Babel – Abrahamic Covenant

Unknown/ca. 4000 BC—(approx. 2000 years)—ca. 2091 BC

Human history worldwide began to be recorded 2500 BC

The Book of Genesis: Chapters 12-50 – Birth of the Patriarchs

Abraham ca. 2166 BC – Genesis 12-25
Isaac ca. 2066 BC – Genesis 21-27
Jacob ca. 2000 BC – Genesis 25-49
Judah ca. 1950 BC – Genesis 29-50
Joseph ca. 1915 BC – Genesis 37-50

Moses

Birth: ca. 1526 BC

The Exodus: ca. 1446 BC

Moses is the author of the Torah (Hebrew); also known as the Pentateuch in Greek: It is the first five books of the Bible’s Old Testament

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua””

-Exodus 17:14a

“Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!” Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.”

-Exodus 24:3-4

Also refer to Moses’ authorship in Numbers 33:1-2, Deuteronomy 31:9, Joshua 1:8, and 2 Kings 21:8

Most important: Jesus spoke about Moses’ authorship

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? 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 about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?””

-John 5:31-47

Three ways the Old Testament was transmitted:

1. God’s eyewitness account, direction and inspiration of the authors:

If God exists (and He does) then miracles are possible.
If miracles are possible then God can use miracles to communicate His message in the written word throughout time.
Thus, God Himself guarantees that what we are reading today is what He has meant for us to get through His inspired authors over time.
Jesus also used miracles to communicate God’s message during His time here on earth.

Old Testament Scripture references:

When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

–Exodus 31:18

Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.”

–Exodus 34:1-2

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

–Exodus 34:27

From the New Testament

Paul tells us: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

–2 Timothy 3:16-17

And, Peter tells us: So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that , no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

–2 Peter 1:19-21

2. Oral Transmission:

Oral transmission of information from antiquity was community oriented and therefore self-correcting.
In ancient cultures information was memorized and passed along in groups.
It was not like the “telephone game” where information gets changed by the time it reaches the end of a line of people because it was community oriented and transmitted in groups.
If someone passed along false information the people in the community, especially the elders, would easily recognize the error – it was self-correcting.
In ancient culture students of the Scriptures could commit the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to memory, and some still do it today.
Historians consider oral transmission very reliable up through the time of the printing press in the fifteenth century AD/CE.
What is notable is that oral transmission from Adam to Moses was only about five generations, and this is a remarkably short transmission line to get to the written Word.

The oral transmission of history was very reliable in ancient cultures:

*There were only five generations of people who knew each other from Adam to Moses—

(Adam)—Methuselah—Shem—Isaac—Levi—Amran—(Moses)

Long ages and overlapping of these individual made it possible for a short oral transmission line

3. Written Transmission:

The Septuagint

This is the Greek translation and name for the Old Testament
The Septuagint was the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament into Greek ( 300-200 BC/BCE), and this would have been the Scriptures Jesus read from in the first century AD/CE
It is the translation used by the early Jews and Christian through the second century AD/CE

Massoretic text (c. 900 AD/CE)

The Masoretes were Jewishscribe-scholars between the 6th and 10th centuries AD/CE, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq (Babylonia)
The Old Testament we have today has been translated mainly from this text family
It differs from the Septuagint mainly in grammar, spelling, and in some places word order

Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)
(c. 250 BC/BCE to AD/CE 100)

These scrolls were discovered in 1947 in the Qumran Caves of the West Bank, about a mile north of the Dead Sea
The DSS contain all of the Old Testament books (with the exception of Esther), and close the one thousand year gap, quieting the skeptics
This discovery also helped confirm the prophecies in the Old Testament, fulfilled by Jesus, were not added or altered after the time of Christ but in fact was there centuries before his birth

Scribal copying examples from the over 4000 rules…

Each scroll must contain specific number of columns, equal throughout the entire book
Each column’s length must not be less than 48 lines or more than 60
Each column’s breadth must be exactly 30 letters
The copyist must use a specially prepared black ink
The space between every consonant must be the size of a thread
The copyist must sit in full Jewish dress
The copyist must use a fresh quill to pen the sacred name of God
The copyist could copy only letter by letter not word by word
The copyist counted the number of times each letter of the alphabet occurred in each book
The copyist knew the middle letter of the Pentateuch and of the entire Old Testament
After copying the copyist counted forward and backward from the middle letter
The copyist must count all letters and spaces
The copyist must not be interrupted, even if the King walked in, they could not stop
Each manuscript would be compared and read out-loud before the people
Any mistake in any area would require the copyist to burn the copy, or tear it up, and start over

Moses wrote these words to the Israelites:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

-Deuteronomy 6:1-9

“Moses, and the other Old Testament authors, are the right ancient authors of history because they are the only ones that get it right, especially based on the historical and scientific authenticity of so many incidental statements throughout.”

-J. Warner Wallace – “Moses got it right” YouTube presentation

Going Deeper

“The Old Testament Documents, Are They Reliable and Relevant?” by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
“The Reliability of the Old Testament,” by Dr. Tom Howe, Director of Veritas Graduate School of Apologetics and Professor of Bible and Biblical Languages at Southern Evangelical Seminary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPPk0xYMHTk

Bible Study

Each week we will have Bible study following the presentation. There will be questions presented here on the weekend, and basic answers will be posted mid-week for your review (once we start the actual Bible study next week). This can also be used to make a leader’s guide for your own future studies!

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

1. Review of Class Topic: View the class presentation, then with your group, discuss the content by summarizing what you learned, commenting or asking any questions.

2. In preparation for next week’s study, do an overview reading of Genesis chapter 1 through chapter 11 (in one sitting). Jot down any questions that come up during your reading and use searchcreation.org to see if there are some articles that address your questions, or wait as we go through this class to see if your questions are answered.

Close in prayer and exchange prayer cards.

Join us next week as we continue our “Case for Genesis” with a look at the hermeneutics of the book!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in! Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15