Evidence for God from Science

Quote:
Genesis 11:26.32 Terah lived 135 years after begetting Abraham. Acts 7:4

Abraham departed Haran when his father (Terah) was dead. Genesis 12:4

Abraham was 75 years old when he departed Haran. Thus, after living 135 years. Abraham was only 75 years old!

Response: There are different views on this. Both of them being at least a possibility. They are as follows:
1. The order of Abraham, Nahor and Haran in Gen. 11:27 does not necessarily mean that Abraham was the eldest. For example, the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen.5:32) are given in that order yet in Gen. 10: 21 Japheth is called the elder! It appears the order is more to do with the part the people play in God's plan, than strict chronological order. This may help us understand why some parts of the Bible, Jeremiah for example, are not in what we would call order!

Gen. 11:26 means that Terah did not have any sons until he was at least 70 years. Which son was the elder we are not told. So it is consistent that Terah was 130 yrs. old when Abraham was born. (The ages also fit in with the age groups of those generations). Terah having his first son at 70 means that Abraham could not have been the eldest at all. Abraham appearing some 60 yrs. later.

We conclude that Terah was 130 when Abraham was born. Abraham was not the eldest son and he received the first command from God to remove from Ur when he was mature, shall we say? and all the family went with him, indeed it seems that Terah took the initiative ( Gen 11:31 ). Then when Terah died (aged 205yrs). Abraham received a second command (aged 75yrs.) and then left for Canaan. The question that naturally arises is: how long was Abraham in Haran? That we are not told , and speculation is useless.

2. It is possible this could be a mistake of the copyist. The oldest complete Torah manuscript in the world (the Samaritan Text) has what seems to be the correct number which is: “75 years” instead of 135 years which would make Abraham exactly 75 years old. Admittedly, there has been little care in all of the translations up to the modern day texts. One must search the antiquities for better knowledge.

I believe that possiblity # 2 is correct. The Samaritan Text is the oldest section of the Torah in the world. It is even older than the LXX.

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Skeptic:
Exodus 20:15 Stealing forbidden.

Exodus 3:21-22 Commanded.


Response:
This is obviously not a contradiction when reading the LXX. The text reads like this:
21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and whenever ye shall escape, ye shall not depart empty. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbour and fellow lodger, articles of gold and silver, and apparel; and ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters, —and spoil ye the Egyptians.

The Egyptians were afraid and many turned against the Pharaoh and favored the Hebrews. They knew by the obvious signs and plagues that this was the True God. They gave the articles to the Hebrews.
The word spoil here is simply to gather and not to steal without asking.

Did Jacob worship at the head of the bed or leaning on a staff?
Genesis 47:31 and Hebrews 11:21
1.Head of bed(Genesis. 47:31) - "And he said, "Swear to me." So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed."
2.Top of staff(Heb. 11:21) - "By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff."

In the Septuagint, Genesis 47:31 reads as follows:

31 And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. And Israel did reverence, leaning on the top of his staff.

This is in full agreement with Hebrews 11:21

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Skeptic:
Leviticus 11:6 The Bible maintains that rabbits chew cud, like cows.


Response:
The verse actually reads in the LXX (English Translation) as follows: 5 And the rabbit, because it chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you. 6 And the hare, because it does not chew the cud, and does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you. This is not actually a contradiction. When we read the words “chewing the cud” like a cow, we think of the eating of plants and the way it is chewed, but the Septuagint Greek word for chewing the cud actually means “to ruminate, ruminating. In other words, it states that the rabbit ruminates like the cow, but its hoof/foot is not cloven. This rumination is somewhat different though. Rabbits will eat their own feces during the night while still moist immediately after defecating.

Exodus 1:5 in the Masoretic text says 70 people went into Egypt while Stephen said “75” in Acts 7:14.

The Septuagint states in Exodus 1:5 states that “Seventy-five” people went into Egypt. The Dead Sea scrolls also support this number by saying “Seventy-five.” Stephen was quoting the then known Old Testament (the Septuagint).

2 Sam 8:4 (1,700 horsemen)
4 And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots.

1 Chr 18:4 (7,000 horsemen)
4 And David took from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots


LXX: agrees with both. It reads:

2 Sam 8:4 - 4 And David took a thousand of his chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all his chariot horses, and he reserved to himself a hundred chariots.

1 Chr 18:4 4 And David took of them a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand infantry: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but there were reserved of them a hundred chariots.

Ki 5:16 (3,300 foremen)
16 besides Solomon's three thousand three hundred chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

2 Chr 2:18 (3,600 foremen)
18 Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make the people work.

LXX reads:

1 Ki 5:16 besides the rulers that were appointed over the works of Solomon, there were three thousand six hundred masters who wrought in the works.

2 Chr 2:18 And he made of them seventy thousand burden-bearers, and eighty thousand hewers of stone, and three thousand six hundred taskmasters over the people.

LXX , no contradiction

2 Sam 24:13 (7 years)
13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

1 Chr 21:12 (3 years)
12 either three years of famine; or three months of devastation by your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days of the sword of the LORD, pestilence upon the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me."


The LXX reads:

(3 years) 2 Sam 24:13- And Gad went in to David, and told him, and said to him, Choose one of these things to befall thee, whether there shall come upon thee for three years famine in thy land; or that thou shouldest flee three months before thine enemies, and they should pursue thee; or that there should be for three days mortality in thy land. Now then decide, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

(3 years) 1 Chr 21:12 either three years of famine, or that thou shouldest flee three months from the face of thine enemies, and the sword of thine enemies shall be employed to destroy thee, or that the sword of the Lord and pestilence should be three days in the land, and the angel of the Lord shall be destroying in all the inheritance of Israel. And now consider what I shall answer to him that sent the message.

Notice in Luke 3: 36 that Cainan is within the lineage of Christ. But if you go back to the lineage in the Old Testament (in Genesis 11:12), Cainan is not in the lineage.

Response: The Septuagint does include Cainan and agrees with the book of Luke on the ancestry. It reads:
Genesis 11: “12 And Arphaxad lived a hundred and thirty-five years, and begot Cainan. 13 And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Cainan, four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Sala; and Canaan lived after he had begotten Sala, three hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters, and died

In the book of Job, his children are killed in chapter 1 vs. 18-19, yet later in the book, it appears his children are still alive in Job 19:17 (KJV) “My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body. 18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.”

Response: Many modern English translations falsely try to re-translate this into “the brothers or my mother” but that is not in the Hebrew Text. It is simply changed to make sense for modern readers. (See Strong's Definitions).
The LXX makes it clearer because it specifies that the children were actually his concubine's sons and not his children from his wife. LXX: 17 “And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines. 18 But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me. 19 They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.”

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Difficulty: Some have charged that the Bible shows a contradiction in identifying the place where Aaron was buried.

In Num. 20:27-28; 33:38-39 and Deut. 32:49-50, it is said Aaron was buried on Mount Hor, while Deut. 10:6 places it in Mosera.

One poster in a biblical studies list charges that explanations like Gleason Archer's are unsatisfactory, that Moserah was likely the name of a district in which Mount Hor was located, since in the itinerary of Numbers 33:31 the Israelites left Mosera(h) and made seven stops before arriving at Mount Hor. (The Hebrew word for Mosera is the same, he says, in Deut. 10 and Num. 33.) Furthermore, Mount Hor is identified in v. 37 as being "in the edge of the land of Edom."


Answer: The oldest text we have (the Septuagint, written in 250 B.C.) reads differently than the modern texts. (For more information on the Septuagint and the accuracy, please see the following site: http://www.geocities.com/bkitc/BibleHis ... 4376984%20

For example: Numbers 33:31 in the Septuagint does not name the same place as most modern Bibles do. Instead of reading “Mosera(h)” It reads: “the mountain of Gadgad”. This means that somehow, the more modern translations have changed the original location and name. Since “Mosera(h)” was not the actual location listed in Numbers 33, there is no contradiction.
Numbers 33:38-39 And they departed from the mountain Gadgad, and encamped in Etebatha. 34 And they departed from Etebatha, and encamped in Ebrona. 35 And they departed from Ebrona, and encamped in Gesion Gaber. 36 And they departed from Gesion Gaber, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin; and they departed from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in the wilderness of Pharan; this is Cades. 37 And they departed from Cades, and encamped in mount Or near the land of Edom. 38 And Aaron the priest went up by the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year of the departure of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. 39 And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old, when he died in mount Or. 40 And Arad the Chananitish king (he too dwelt in the land of Chanaan) having heard when the children of Israel were entering the land— 41 then they departed from mount Or, and encamped in Selmona. 42 And they departed from Selmona, and encamped in Phino. 43 And they departed from Phino, and encamped in Oboth.
In the Septuagint, the word Misadai (Greek) is used in place of “Moserah” (Hebrew). As mentioned earlier, the Septuagint does not state that they left “Misadai” (Moserah) in Numbers 33:38-39 but Mt. Gadgad which means it was another place that they departed.
Another point is that Mount “Or” is definitely a different mountain than the “Mount Hor” mentioned in Numbers 34 7-12 which is far north. It reads: 7"And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward Zedad; 9the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border. 10"You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; 11the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth; 12the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries."'

The Septuagint differentiates “Mt. Or” from “Mt. Hor” in it's texts.
Conclusion: Modern tradition and texts have corrupted the original name and location given in the oldest texts we have today.

Quote:
Skeptic: Jeconiah was cursed and called “childless”
Jer 22:30 Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.
Yet he is an ancestor of Jesus in the new Testament. (Matthew 1:11-12)


Response: The oldest text (The Septuagint) does not say “childless” but reads “outcast.” This is not a contradiction. He can be called an outcast and still have children that continue the lineage but not sit upon the throne of David as a royal “prince”.

(LXX version) Jeremiah 22: 29 Land, land, hear the word of the Lord. 30 Write ye this man an outcast: for there shall none of his seed at all grow up to sit on the throne of David, or as a prince yet in Juda.

In the Masoretic Text (and our modern Bibles today) Exodus 12:40 reads:

40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Note: In other areas of the Masoretic text itself it shows that it was much less (half the time).

Footnotes:

Josephus, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint read "Egypt and Canaan" for 430 years which appears to be correct.

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Who was the father-in-law of Moses?
Reuel? Exodus 2:18 or
Jethro? Exodus 3: 1


Reuel is Proper name of the father-in-law of Moses. Jethro is the priestly title. The word “Jethro” means “His Excellency” or “Reverend” in both Aramaic and Hebrew.

It is used much like the words "Pharaoh" and "Herod" or "Ceasar" along with the name of the person.

Josephus states he was called by both.

There is no contradiction.

Skeptic: Genesis 1:20 says that the fowl were created out of the waters, but Genesis 2:19 states that the fowl were created out of the ground.

Response: Genesis 2:19 does not actually say the fowl were created out of the “ground.” It reads 19 And God formed yet farther out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the sky…… Here, the word “earth” is not used simply as the soil, although that is included. Even when God created the animals out of water, it was considered from the earth. In Genesis 1:1 it states “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. 2 But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water.
So before land/soil existed as we know it today, the planet was still considered “earth” even as it was covered by water.