12) Provenance Validates The Bible

Origin – derivation of a source
Source –
1. a point of origin or procurement : BEGINNING
2. one that initiates :
  1. AUTHOR
  2. PROTOTYPE,
  3. MODEL
3. one that supplies information
The history of ownership of a valued object, or work of art or literature

The Written Word Is The Final Authority

In the medical and legal professions where life and death hang in the balance, before a diagnosis like “cancer” or a verdict of “guilty” can be made, the evidence on which the determination has been made has to be documented in writing and presented as proof.

if-it-wasn-t-documented-it-wasn-t-done-l

The Bible follows, even more stringently, the same written documentation process. Significantly, the God of the Bible does not expect humans to take anything on blind trust in a revelation – even by himself.

“If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true…Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:31-39)

“we have not followed cunningly devised fables..but were eyewitnesses of his majesty…this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy…the scripture / written word.” (II Peter 2:16-21)

“I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness

against the sorcerers,

and against the adulterers,

and against false swearers,

and against those that oppress

the hireling in his wages,

the widow,

and the fatherless,

and that turn aside the stranger from his right,

and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts…

For I am the LORD, I change not…

and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name / attributes,[ i.e. Creator, Owner so the owner, sustainer, and boss of it all.]
And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels…
- Then shall ye…discern between the righteous and the wicked,
- between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” (Malalchi 3)

What is the provenance of the Bible, ergo what its God promises as rewards or punishment? Scholars and archaeologists have uncovered excellent proofs of the truth of the Bible’s historicity.

Just two centuries ago it was not believed that writing was widely known to the ancients, but today we know from archeology that ancient Mesopotamian documents go back to before 3,000 B.C., i.e. from a biblical perspective, during Adam’s lifetime.

There have been complete libraries uncovered containing tens of thousands of documents inscribed on soft clay tablets made virtually imperishable after drying or baking, many dealing with the beginning of the world and the gods’ relations with humanity.

At the top of each ancient clay tablet was an area called the colophon reserved for inscribing identifying information about the tablet.

babylonian-tablet-with-colophon

A colophon typically contained the title, source information, the name of the owner of the tablet, and the date, as well as other practical information such as the number of tablets, and disposition of this document. As still followed today.

basic-office-memo-template-1

The name was the most common element in the colophon; that is, the name of the owner of the tablet; that is, the one who was responsible for the information in the tablet.

We can therefore expect that when Moses wrote Genesis he did not invent a mythology but used existing authenticated written records, exactly as in all subsequent books of the Bible, We can therefore expect that Moses likewise referenced his sources.

In Genesis the recurring lines “these are the generations of,” or reporting the death of key figures, appear to be saying that the preceding section of the Book of Genesis was authored by that person.

One significant anomaly, proving by its irregularity the pattern of the rest, is found in Genesis 37:2 “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old…” Jacob could not author the account of Joseph’s experiences of enslavement and rise to power in Egypt, could he? This was left primarily to his sons Joseph and Judah.

Tablet	Starting Verse	Ending Verse	Owner or Writer
1	Genesis 1:1	Genesis 2:4a	God “the LORD delivered unto [Moses] two tables of stone written with the finger* of God;” (Deut 9:10)”*
2	Genesis 2:4b	Genesis 5:1a	Adam
3	Genesis 5:1b	Genesis 6:9a	Noah
4	Genesis 6:9b	Genesis 10:1a	Shem, Ham & Japheth
5	Genesis 10:1b	Genesis 11:10a	Shem
6	Genesis 11:10b	Genesis 11:27a	Terah
7	Genesis 11:27b	Genesis 25:19a	Isaac
8	Genesis 25:12	Genesis 25:18	Ishmael, through Isaac
9	Genesis 25:19b	Genesis 37:2a	Jacob
10	Genesis 36:1	Genesis 36:43	Esau, through Jacob
11	Genesis 37:2b	Exodus 1:6	Jacob’s 12 sons

Moses, 4th generation from Jacob through Levi, Kohath and Amram, was born during Joseph’s lifetime, and was therefore able to become the next author, obtaining unparalleled first-hand witness from Joseph of his experiences in Egypt, then from his father Amram and older sister Miriam about the deterioration of the Hebrews’ status in Egypt leading to the Exodus.

Exodus 1:6 – “And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.” added by Moses, after he inherited all the tablets, and compiled all these tablets into one account of beginnings / Genesis during the 40-year wilderness experience…

It is not until then, around 1400 BC, that is stated for the the first time that “the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” (Exodus 33:11) during the constitution of the Nation of Israel under the Mosaic Law.

A new model, commentary and theoretical perspective” on the Mosaic code denies divine origin and claims that the [Mosaic] Covenant Code…depends directly and primarily upon the Laws of Hammurabi. which was used during the Neo-Assyrian period, sometime between 740–640 BCE, i.e. almost thousand years after Moses, when Mesopotamia exerted strong and continuous political and cultural influence over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

That doesn’t even make sense. What was guiding the nation of Israel in the meantime, especially under Kings David and Solomon around 1,000 BC?

History is as accurate as the historian recreating it. And the accuracy of the historian depends upon the accuracy of his or her sources. This “theoretical perspective” does not rely on sources, just the commentator’s biased imagination in discounting the possibility of divine revelation from YHVH as reported by Moses while every other nation’s ruler made the same claims of their gods.

Hammurabi, [Priest-] King of Babylon instituted the Code of Hammurabi as far back in time as 1800 BC. He portrays himself receiving the laws directly from Sham-ash the sun god who as the higher authority is seated on his throne. By standing, not bowing, before the god,”face to to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” Hammurabi shows that he has a personal relationship with the god, unlike mere mortals who bow as slaves.

Hammurabi didn’t invent law, and his Code was not the only source available to Moses who is reliably reported as being “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” (Acts 7:22)

So let’s do an honest evaluation of the two codes to determine if the Jewish people plagiarized from Hammurabi.

[T]he very beginnings of Western legal history.

Through a comparative examination of the legal systems and practices of ancient Mesopotamia (including Hammurabi’s Babylon, c. 1700 B.C.), ancient Egypt, ancient Israel, ancient Anatolia (the Hittite Empire, c. 1500 B.C.), ancient Greece and ancient Rome, we will investigate the historical origins of “law” as an idea…We will look at what differentiated the resulting legal systems, and what united them. We will examine not merely the ancient “law in the books”…but also the ancient “law in action” (the performances, rituals and ceremonies that created legal rights and duties in all these proto-literate societies)… emphasis will be placed on developing a broad interdisciplinary perspective on the ancient legal cultures examined…from religion, anthropology, archaeology, literature and communication studies.

The similarities between the Mosaic Code of Law and Hammurabi’s code actually provides proof of Moses’ independence from Hammurabi and their close proximity in time: statistical prevalence and incidence of shared similarities by all nations at that time.

The difference between Moses’ and Hammurabi’s Code is what matters, and that is statistically huge:

Belief in One Almighty God or many lesser gods.
Prevalence (continuity of faith)
and incidence (new believers added as time passes).

Moses is claimed as a founder by the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Bahai as a prophet of God. His importance is substantiated by the prevalence of these religions even 3,500 years after he authored the foundational first five books of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. Over 50% of world religions base their faith on Mose’s revelations about a Singularity God.

Where are all the Hammurabians with their multitudes of gods throughout the world?

The Bible validates that monotheistic religions found throughout history present the true God of Creation and salvation in a passage written well before Christianity or even Judaism had spread “unto the ends of the world.”

“For the scripture saith…the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him...Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” (Romans 10:11-18)

Only the biblical account of Creation establishes a thorough social scientific basis for trust with: Supernatural proof of divine provenance Hundreds of prophecies coming true over long passages of time. None of its scientific or historical records ever having been proven wrong. Statistical proof by Incidence Its teachings have been accepted throughout all historical time and cultures. Statistical proof by Prevalence Its writings have been preserved for thousands of years despite many attempts to destroy them. Statistical proof via internal reliability Consistent reports in multiple documents written by multiple authors in diverse cultures separated by geography and thousands of year, Statistical proof via external validity Multiple disciplines in the physical sciences are revealing that the biblical version of creation is scientific, not imaginative. An entire literary discipline devoted to discrediting every book in the Bible from Beginnings to The End demonstrate the influence the Bible exerts over those who read it. Banning or severely restricting ownership of a Bible by autocratic governments, provides proof that this Word is more powerful than the sword.

The Bible remains the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold.

The next-best seller is Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, lagging far behind at only 1.1 billion copies, with sales strongly boosted by required purchases among a huge population of Communist Chinese.

The third ranked is the Quran at 800 million copies, which, as noted above, is based on the Bible, with cultural adaptations, primarily the preeminence of the Arabs over the Jews.

The fourth and ninth best selling books are by Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, based on ancient religious beliefs.

The fifth is The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery, a spiritualist story about the importance of looking beneath the surface to find the real truth and most importantly, the true meaning of life.

Clearly, humans are drawn to spirituality. Only the Bible reveals how to engage in a relationship with Creator God to permanently benefit from his creative power. Other religions’ writings express knowing about this Creator, but only the Bible documents the process by which we can know him.

“we know that we are of God…And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (I John 5:19-20)

Only the Bible provides a written document as a basis for trust. Religions and secret societies require their followers to place their trust in the intermediary human, AKA priest, regardless of the title he gives himself of pope, pastor, elder, master, etc.

“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts…prophecy of the scripture.” (II Peter 1:16-20)

Only the Bible provides a means of validating the truth of his claims through the accuracy of future events coming to pass as predicted, or more accurately, pre-dictated, in the past. Only the Bible demonstrates infallible accuracy over the course of thousands of years. Unlike scientific theories, more properly defined as speculations, which change constantly within a few years and are hotly debated among scientific factions.

“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 42:9)

“Mathematicians have calculated the odds of Jesus fulfilling only 8 of the [approximately 300] Messianic prophecies as 1 out of 10¹⁷(a 1 followed by 17 zeros).This is equivalent to covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars 2 feet deep, marking one of them, mixing them all up and having a blindfolded person select the marked one at random the first time –What Are The Odds?”

Creation is the only real basis for trust in the Bible’s author-ity in what it author-izes its authors to report what God did in the past, and said he will do in the future.

Every statement made in the Bible, every theological belief drawn from the Bible, derives its credibility (the virgin birth) and legitimacy (ye must be born again) from the first statement that a pure energy Being brought into being mass and the laws of physics, so can control, all substance and activity.

I encourage you to give this book a fair hearing. Ignore the patently hypocritical politicization of Christianity. Put aside what other people have said about it and find out for yourself if there is a reality to a relationship with a powerful hyper-dimensional Being.

Creation, with its unsearchable complexity and utter mysteriousness of life can be appreciated by every human being from the simplest illiterate hunter-gatherers to the most intelligent physicists and philosophers. Perhaps that is one reason the concept is rejected by elitists who insist on posing as superior to the masses.

The provenance for any religious text or belief can only be derived from its Author Being

the Origin of what it describes

therefore the Autho-rity / Sustainer to prevent degenerate into chaos over time

therefore the Sustainer of Life throughout eternity after Time ends.