Not quite Jewish, not quite Christian … totally commited to Torah and Messiah Yeshua.
Monday, August 24th, 2009
One of the amazing things about the Exodus is that the Children of Israel were more likely, when they left Egypt, to be found with a cache of loose diamonds on them, rather than with, say, a bunch of swords.
That’s what makes their victory in escape such a testimony to God. After all, without the L-RD, they would have been sitting ducks, rather than a people who crossed a sea bed on dry ground. That’s pretty amazing, which is what the L-RD wanted it to be: a testimony to His existence.
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Even though it’s been out for over a decade now, I enjoy Lennart Moeller’s book, The Exodus Case, more than ever. The book argues convincingly for an Exodus accurate to the Biblical account and verifiable by archaeology – with the main problem being that folks have simply been looking in the wrong places before.
I know TV producer Simcha Jacobovici, star of The Naked Archaeologist on History International, has proposed a more recent and trendy theory and is not in favor of Jabal al-Laws as the mountain of Moshe, but frankly Jacobovici’s record for being accurate is a bit shakey and nowhere nearly as deeply-founded in research as Moeller’s theory.
As we enter the part of the Torah cycle where we read once again through Exodus, I am reminded of again of Moeller’s book and just how well-done it actually was. It still stands, for me, as a standard by which to measure other books on the Exodus topic – even though it is the book of Sh’mot itself that is the final authority.
One thing’s for sure, Moshe and the children of Israel were not the beneficiaries of any modern travel deals in their flight from Egypt, although the provision of haShem certainly covered every eventuality.
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Rather than believing that Moshe wrote the five books of the Torah, the popular trend among so-called “serious” Bible scholars is to believe in fractional ownership of the Torah, with certain parts being attributed to between three to five authors – none of them Moshe himself. Of course, far be it from Bible scholars to posit any belief in the truthfulness of the document they claim to be experts in.
I’ve read their theories and ramblings, and I’m sorry, but I’m just not convinced. While they may be brilliant and creative minds, they’re just a bit too brilliant and creative for their own good. Considering all the evidence in light of the unique unity of Adonai’s written Word, the Torah, it is far easier for me to believe in an historic Moshe who wrote all, or at least 99 percent, of the books attributed to his authorship.
While scholars can imagine fanciful alternative scenarios, the bottom line is that there’s no solid proof for their theories any more than there is for the traditional line of thought that leads to Mosaic authorship. I think I’ll stick with the theory that’s stood the test of millenia, and not some Bible brainiac’s trendy theory, thanks.