Evidence of Hebrew ancient writing discounted, but …

Altar on Mount Ebal (photo by zstadler)

According to Jesus, Moses wrote scriptures:

46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. (John 5:46)

Yet, many doubt that. Many have doubts about Jesus, but those can be dispelled (see, for example, our free online book: roof Jesus is the Messiah).

Many have doubts about the Bible.

Some claimed experts doubt that Moses even had the ability to write.

Does archaeology help prove or disprove that the Bible is the word of God?

Last Spring, Israel365News reported the following about finds on Mount Ebal:

Joshua’s Altar – How Archaeology proves the Bible

March 22, 2023

In 1982, a young secular Israeli archaeologist by the name of Adam Zertal started excavating an ancient archaeological site on Mt. Ebal, near the Biblical city of Shechem in the region of Samaria, Israel. …

Zertal did not believe that the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Joshua describe real historical events, but he was intrigued by this mysterious heap of stones and the surrounding enclosure wall. …

Zertal tried to find the origin of this mysterious structure and was not able to find any architectural parallels in the Canaanite and surrounding cultures. One day an Orthodox Jew showed him a sketch of the Second Temple Altar…the similarity was striking.

Zertal understood that he’d found an Israelite altar on Mt. Ebal. In his book “A Nation Born” he describes how he looked at the Orthodox Jew and said, “This has to be the altar that Joshua built according to the commandment of Moses. There is no other possibility. If this is Joshua’s Altar, then Joshua existed, and Moses existed and the Exodus really happened…” From that point on, Zertal believed in the historicity of the Biblical account.

https://www.israel365news.com/368740/joshuas-altar-how-archaeology-proves-the-bible/

Of course the Bible is true, and we did a video related to the above (watch Did Joshua of the Bible Exist?).

Now notice something that Israel365News just posted about Mount Ebal the following:

Critics Dismiss Ebal Tablet…

December 8, 2023

When the discovery of a small lead “curse tablet” was announced last year, it was hailed by many as one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in recent times. But since the announcement, many have come out to shadow the discovery in skepticism. …

In December 2019, Dr. Stripling, Director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, led the expedition from the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) to Mt. Ebal to wet sift the discarded material from Zertal’s excavation and discovered the small (2 x 2 centimeter) folded lead tablet.

The earliest Hebrew writing previously found—the Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon found in the dig at the ancient fortress city near the central Israeli town of Beit Shemesh—was dated from 1000 BCE, making the inscription on this tablet 200 to 400 years older. Its use of the Hebrew word for God also predates the oldest previously found in Israel by 500 to 600 years. If the dating of the tablet is accurate, it may add to the evidence that the exodus from Egypt was earlier than previously believed.

The discovery had implications for the study of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and was controversial from its announcement. It could also indicate that the Israelites entered the Land of Canaan hundreds of years before it is commonly held that they did so.

It could also indicate that the Israelites were already literate at that time, meaning they could have written parts of the Bible when the depicted events were taking place, instead of generations later, as was previously accepted among some scholars. …

A recent article in the archaeology section of Haaretz written by Ariel David presented the views of skeptics, one of whom claimed the small lead tablet was nothing more than a fishing weight and the inscriptions were random scratches.

This was followed by an article in the Times of Israel by Gavriel Fiske reporting on three peer-reviewed academic articles published this week that attempted to cast doubt on the authenticity of the tablet.

“Detractors claim that the soft metal object is simply dented and marred, and no script can be discerned from the released photographs or images,” the TOI article stated, citing Dr. Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, a co-author of one of the new papers, as saying that the level of documentation Stripling and his team provided is “below par,”. …

Dr. Stripling also corrected the TOI article noting that if accepted, the 3,200-year-old “curse tablet” would indeed be the oldest known found in Israel. The TOI article wrote that it would push back the accepted date of Israelite literacy by some 500 years. https://www.israel365news.com/380315/critics-dismiss-ebal-tabletand-any-discovery-made-by-christian-scientists/

I have previously reported about this find before.

There are a couple of points of its relevance.

Notice something from the Bible:

29 Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. (euteronomy 11:29)

What looks to have been found on Mount Ebal was the following curse:

The inscription was a curse, written in Hebrew, with the name of the Lord engraved in it:

You are Cursed by the God YHW, Cursed.

You will die Cursed – Cursed you will surely die.

Cursed you are by YHW – Cursed. 03/22/23 https://www.israel365news.com/368740/joshuas-altar-how-archaeology-proves-the-bible/

(For more details about it, check out the following: ‘Joshua’s Altar – How Archaeology proves the Bible’.)

So, the Bible points to a curse on Mount Ebal and Dr. Stripling believes he found an inscription there with a curse in ancient Hebrew.

The other point is that, even if the curse was not engraved on that stone, yes, some type of early Hebrew writing has to be older that what many critics believe.

As far as the Exodus goes, it was about 200 years earlier than many claim–and many who claim the later date of 1250 BC also claim there is no evidence that it happened. Since the Exodus was around 1446 BC, this means that Moses had to have been writing no later than 40 years after that as he died about forty years after the Exodus. If the Mount Ebal stone contains ancient Hebrew, that would be proof that it existed near the time of Moses.

Now, obviously some form of writing did, as Jesus was telling the truth about Moses writing.

That said, as far as ancient Hebrew writing goes, here is some information from our free online book :

The first five books of the Bible were mainly written by Moses. Notice the following:

⁴ And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord … (Exodus 24:4a)

²⁴ … 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 (Deuteronomy 31:24b-26)

After writing, Moses wanted them protected. …

Secular scholars, however, generally do not believe that Moses wrote the books. They basically claim that ancient Hebrew (sometimes called Paleo-Hebrew) did not exist before the 10^th century B.C.E., hence it was not possible. Those of us who believe the words of Jesus must agree that somehow Moses did write what Jesus said he did, hence there was some type of written ‘Hebrew’ language.

Some less secular scholars believe that Moses wrote in something like Proto-Sinaitic, also referred to as Proto-Canaanite (Aschmann R. When Was Hebrew First Written? © Richard P. Aschmann. Last updated: 25-Apr-2019), a language that was related to Phoenician which had 22 consonants and no vowels, like ancient Hebrew did (Sáenz-Badillos A. A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 16-17).

Some others, like Dr. Doug Petrovich, assert that the alphabetical Hebrew language essentially was derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics and was the earliest prototype of modern languages, perhaps initially developed by Israel’s son Joseph (Petrovich D. The World’s Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew As The Language Of The Proto-Consonantal Script. Carta Jerusalem, 2016, pp. 28-33; Berkowitz AE. Did Moses Really Write the Bible? Breaking Israel News, February 28, 2019). This is consistent with a finding from Yale’s Egyptologist John Coleman Darnell about the timing of the earliest alphabetic writing (Darnell JC. Egypt Carvings Set Earlier Date for Alphabet. The New York Times, Nov. 14, 1999).

Furthermore:

Proto-Sinaitic texts discovered in the ancient Egyptian turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem in Sinai—are generally dated to the 19^th century B.C.E., … are thought to have been written by Canaanite workers, adapted Egyptian hieroglyphs to serve as written symbols for distinct alphabetic sounds. (Early Alphabetic Writing Found at Lachish. Biblical Archaeology Society, April 20,2021; Goldwasser, O. How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs.” Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2010)

According to Dr. Petrovich’s translation of certain inscriptions found in Egypt, one dating to 1842 BC., includes the phrase, “Hebrews of Bethel, the beloved.” He also asserts there were three inscriptions naming three biblical people. These, he said, were Asenath, the wife of Joseph (Genesis 41:45), Ahisamach, the father of one of the craftsmen who would build the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:34), and Moses. Dr. Petrovich says that the Moses related one dates to 1446 BC, a possible year of the Exodus.

Some critics claim Dr. Petrovich misunderstands aspects of Hebrew grammar, and have denounced his conclusions.

That being said, Dr. Petrovich wrote:

Sinai 115 … called the Renefsheri Stele … Sinai 115 … indeed mentions six Hebrews, as has been argued here, the oldest extrabiblical reference to Hebrews/Israelites (ca. 1842 BC) …

Sinai 377 is a rock inscription … Sinai 377 holds the honor of being the oldest extant, fully Hebrew, proto-consonantal inscription yet known. Dating precisely to 1840 BC, thanks to the accompanying ME inscription (Sinai 46) …

Hebrew has the distinction of being the world’s first alphabet, the one from which Phoenician and every other alphabetic script in the history of the world has been derived. (ibid, pp. 15, 28,29,35,192)

Whether or not Hebrew was the world’s first alphabet, the dates of Sinai 115 and Sinai 377 were several centuries before Moses was born (cf. Genesis 50:24-25; Exodus 7:7; 12:40-41, 13:19)—which would have been around 1526 B.C. (based on an Exodus date of c. 1446 B.C. and Moses being 80 years old at the time per Exodus 7:7).

Consider that Moses was considered the educated son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10). Stephen the martyr declared:

²²And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. (Acts 7:22)

Since Moses was educated in Egypt, he would have been able to read hieroglyphics, but likely also was trained in other scripts, like perhaps some proto-Canaanite or proto-Phoenician and/or proto-Hebrew.

Either way, Moses did write the books in some type of Hebrew or proto-Hebrew/Phoenician script that Jesus and biblical writers said he did, irrespective of scholarly disputes (cf. Romans 3:4). Those books were preserved by the Levites and the Jews (cf. Deuteronomy 31:25-26; Romans 3:1-2).

When faced with supposed scientific criticism of the validity of anything in the Bible, what should you do?

You should, “Believe God” (1 John 5:10).

Or as the Apostle Paul wrote:

4 … Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3:4)

Throughout the centuries so called experts have claimed to have science disprove aspects of the word of God.

The Apostle Paul had to warn Timothy about that:

20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21, KJV)

Jesus confirmed the above when He told Philadelphian Christains:

11 … Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. (Revelation 3:11)

Do not let critics or so-called experts dissuade you from believing the word of God.

The find at Mount Ebal looks to confirm aspects of scripture.

But even if it does not, remember to “let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

UPDATE 12/10/232: We just uploaded the following related video:

14:14

Bible Writing Evidence?

Although Jesus said that Moses wrote scripture and the Book of Deuteronomy states that Moses wrote scripture, could Moses even write anything? Many mainstream “scholars and experts” disagree. Is there archaeological evidence that supports whether or not Moses could possibly write? What about proto-Hebrew? Could the Exodus have been 1446 or 1250 BC? What about what Dr. Scott Stripling and the Mount Ebal curse stone? Did Dr. Adam Zertal end up concluding that Moses and Joshua existed as the Bible teaches? What about Sinai 177 of the Renfsheri Stele and Sinai 377 rock inscription dating to the 19th century BCE. What about the conclusions of Dr. Doug Petrovich? When faced with that which is falsely called science that disagrees with the Bible, what is a Christian supposed to do? Is there evidence that the Bible could have had writings from Moses? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these matters.