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Sunday, June 16, 2024

Bible Chronology: Masoretic Text Versus Earlier Sources

The Old Testament in almost all modern Bibles are translations of the Masoretic Text: a copy of the Hebrew Old Testament that only dates back to the 11th Century A.D. But when comparing against earlier sources such as the Septuagint, Samaritan Pentateuch, writings of Josephus, Dead Sea Scrolls, and comments or quotes from the New Testament, there are inconsistencies indicating errors in the Masoretic Text, including some of the pre-Exodus chronology. The two video, below, goes over some of these errors.

    The first video discusses how the Masoretic Text indicates that Israel was in Egypt 430 years, but that the other sources indicate that the 430 year period includes both the time in Canaan and Egypt; and, in fact that the period was 215 years for each location.

    The second video discusses some other errors including, most importantly, that 100 years was removed from most of the lives of the Patriarchs between Seth and Abraham. The producer of the video moreover argues that these errors were introduced specifically to debunk that Christ was the new high priest via the order of Melchizedek (rather than via Aaron) as stated in the New Testament. As Melchizedek had no genealogy, the Jews decided to create one by shortening the lifespans of the Patriarchs so that Seth's lifespan overlapped that of Abraham so they could, therefore, argue that Melchizedek had a genealogy because he was actually Seth.

VIDEO: "How Long Were The Israelites In Egypt?"
NathanH83 (13 min.)


VIDEO: "Were the Pyramids Built Before the Flood? (Masoretic Text vs. Original Hebrew)"
NathanH83 (32 min.)


4 comments:

  1. Why would the scribes alter the TaNaKh just to ''disprove'' one particular claim regarding Christ? Most rabbis would simply point out that the altar of incense is NOT located in the Holy of Holies as indicated in Hebrews 9:3-4 and therefore the whole Book of Hebrews is invalid. Yes, I know that there are counterarguments to that; but point being, the rabbis have plenty of other arguments; there is absolutely no reason for them to alter the TaNaKh.

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    1. I noticed when serving my mission that certain topics or proofs carried more weight with some people than others, and topics important to one person might be largely irrelevant to others. For instance, I would guess that First Century gentiles probably didn't care much if Christ was the new high priest, but it was probably a very important issue to the Jews of the time who looked to the high priest as a religious leader. And since the early Church mostly drew its membership from Jews in the first century, the Jewish leaders would have been desperate for ways to undermine Christ's claim to be the Messiah. So, if I had to hazard a guess, this stealth editing afforded an easy and effective way to undermine the claims made by Christians.

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  2. Very interesting! This Substack author makes a compelling case about the pyramids and water erosion, as well: https://open.substack.com/pub/theethicalskeptic/p/master-exothermic-core-mantle-decoupling?r=z7ibl&utm_medium=ios

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    1. Interesting. Very similar to the theory advanced by Suspicious Observers.

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