Mr. Paine now marches on into the Judges displaying his complete lack of reason which one would think uncommon to such a gifted writer. Logically thinking, one could surmise his mind is simply clouded by his hatred of Christianity.
"In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, proceeds to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the native inhabitants of the land of Canaan. In this statement the writer, having abruptly mentioned Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately after, in the 8th verse, by way of explanation, "Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and taken it;" consequently this book could not have been written before Jerusalem had been taken. The reader will recollect the quotation I have just before made from Joshua xv. 63, where it said that the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem at this day; meaning the time when the book of Joshua was written." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)
In the statements above, Mr. Paine is assuming, or either being dishonest by suggesting the book of Joshua was written all at once. This is most unlikely being it is a collected history of events. Historical accounts such as these were written over time and many times by multiple authors when the history in view surpasses one's lifetime. For more details on this see Chapter 7 and the toledoth.
In addressing the books of Samuel, he makes a montage of useless arguments similar to the one above. To take one example, In 1st Samuel 9 relating to the choosing of Saul as king, he attempts to take a phrase relating to the changing of a word meaning to prove Samuel did not write the book and that is somehow supposed to destroy its creditable.
" . . . in order to make the story understood, to explain the terms in which these questions and answers are spoken; and he does this in the 9th verse, where he says, "Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a prophet, was beforetime called a seer." This proves, as I have before said, that this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was an ancient story at the time the book of Samuel was written, and consequently that Samuel did not write it, and that the book is without authenticity, . . ." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)
1 Samuel 9:9 ISV
(9) (Previously in Israel, a person would say when he went to inquire of God, "Come on! Let's go to the seer!" because the person known as a prophet today was formerly called a seer.)
Mr. Paine in his usual beguiling manner writes in such a way to imply the language definitively speaks of ancient times so that he could remove the author from the time being related. However, as you can see in the text above in a modern translation, the word simply means previously. I know of many words within my own lifetime, that have taken on different meanings than previously known. Take for instance in my own occupation, in the beginning, I was known in the Telephone company as a CST (Customer Service Technician). Later I was known in the same position as FST (Field Service Technician).
According to Mr. Paine's reasoning, I could not be the same person, for in ancient times (Beforetimes) I was called a CST, therefore the FST must have been another person for he lived much later than the CST.
In moving on to the books of Kings and Chronicles Mr. Paine states: "In the same book the history sometimes contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. 17, we are told, but in rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of Ahaziah, king of Israel, Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is said, "And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, began to reign." That is, one chapter says Joram of Judah began to reign in the second year of Joram of Israel; and the other chapter says, that Joram of Israel began to reign in the fifth year of Joram of Judah." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)
Mr. Paine in his profound theological study came across a contradiction in the Bible, therefore, it is not authoritative nor can be considered a credible historical source. I suppose the reader is to understand that Mr. Paine had found a previously unknown contradiction and we all must now bow to his scholarship. However, all Mr. Paine found was a copiest error. The contradiction he found is most likely not in the original text, again, in his beguiling manner he would imply it was.
We find such errors often, for instance, in 1 Kings 4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. and in 2 Chron. 9:25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
Which is it? Four thousand or Forty thousand? The obvious answer with only a little research will give you an answer of four thousand, the other is just a copiest error. Some of the later English translations correct it, such as the ERV, 1 Kings 4:26 ERV (26) Solomon had places to keep 4000 horses for his chariots and he had 12,000 horse soldiers.
Copiest errors such as these are common, however, they do not present us a problem in most cases. There are so many ancient copies available for research and comparison in most cases the correct rendering can be determined. In either case, none of the so-called contradictions affect any major Christian doctrine. The faith has remained constant since its beginning. No serious student of the Bible would take Mr. Paine's arguments seriously. His logic was flawed or he was dishonest with his readers.
Mr. Paine may be a joy to like-minded readers who despise the Bible and troubling to nominal Christians who do but little study. However, when presented before a reader who is the least bit familiar with the Biblical text and has given at least some time to understand it his arguments fall to the wayside, having little to no effect.
David
No comments:
Post a Comment