How The Bible Was Invented 6. Israel Fights Back and becomes a Kingdom (925-870BCE)

by HowTheBibleWasCreated 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • HowTheBibleWasCreated
    HowTheBibleWasCreated

    Jeroboam I name was unlikely to be his name. More likely it is that Jeroboam the second living 200 years later made the tradition of the first king being Jeroboam since Jeroboam II was probably one of the best kings Israel had later.

    Although the text of 1 Kings is muh later at this point it likely is 50% accurate. Thus we will work with what it says.

    14:1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam
    fell sick.....
    14:18All Israel
    buried him, and mourned for him,...
    ...14:20The days which Jeroboam reigned were
    two and twenty years: and he slept with his
    fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place....
    ...15:25Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign
    over Israel in the second year of Asa king of
    Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years.
    15:26He did that which was evil in the sight of
    Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father,
    and in his sin with which he made Israel to
    sin.

    At this point most will note I am only picking out things that are likely historical.

    15:27Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house
    of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha
    struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to
    the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were
    laying siege to Gibbethon.
    So what?
    The problem is the name of the city is very much a play on Saul's city. Think about Saul as you read the next few lines.
    15:29It happened
    that, as soon as he was king, he struck all the
    house of Jeroboam: he didn’t leave to Jeroboam
    any who breathed, until he had destroyed
    him; ......
    ..... 15:31Now
    the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did,
    aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles
    of the kings of Israel? ...

    ....15:33In the third year of Asa king of
    Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign
    over all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
    15:34He did that which was evil in the sight of
    Yahweh, and walked in the way of Jeroboam,
    and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.....

    16:5Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and
    what he did, and his might aren’t they written
    in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
    Israel? 16:6Baasha slept with his fathers, and
    was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned
    in his place.
    Don't be confused. I removed 80% of later lines.
    16:8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of
    Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign
    over Israel in Tirzah for two years. 16:9His
    servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots,
    conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah,
    drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza,
    whowas over the household in Tirzah: 16:10and
    Zimri went in and struck him, and killed
    him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king
    of Judah, and reigned in his place. 16:11It
    happened, when he began to reign, as soon
    as he sat on his throne, that he struck all the
    house of Baasha: he didn’t leave him a single
    one who urinates on a wall,h neither of his
    relatives, nor of his friends. 16:12Thus Zimri
    destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to
    the word of Yahweh, which he spoke against
    Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 16:13for all the sins
    of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which
    they sinned, and with which they made Israel
    to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel,
    to anger with their vanities. 16:14Now the rest
    of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t
    they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

    16:15In the twenty-seventh
    year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned
    seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were
    encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged
    to the Philistines. 16:16The people who were
    encamped heard say, Zimri has conspired, and
    has also struck the king: therefore all Israel
    made Omri, the captain of the army, king over
    Israel that day in the camp. 16:17Omri went
    up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him,
    and they besieged Tirzah. 16:18It happened,
    when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that
    he went into the castle of the king’s house, and
    burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and
    died, 16:19for his sins which he sinned in doing
    that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, in
    walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin
    which he did, to make Israel to sin. 16:20Now
    the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason
    that he committed, aren’t they written in the
    book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

    Why does Zimri's death story sound like Saul? Likely because although Saul MIGHT have been a previous rular the stories were remember from later.

    What is more likely the HINGE of the Hebrew bible is next:
    16:21Then were the people of Israel divided into
    two parts: half of the people followed Tibni
    the son of Ginath, to make him king; and
    half followed Omri. 16:22But the people who
    followed Omri prevailed against the people
    who followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni
    died, and Omri reigned. 16:23In the thirty-first
    year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign
    over Israel for twelve years. He reigned six
    years in Tirzah. 16:24He bought the hill Samaria
    of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built
    on the hill, and called the name of the city
    which he built, after the name of Shemer, the
    owner of the hill, Samaria

    This is a known historical fact from archeology. Omri was indeed a great rular who made Isreal a Kingdom.

    .16:27Nowthe rest of theacts of Omri which he did, and

    his might that he showed, aren’t they written
    in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
    Israel? 16:28So Omri slept with his fathers,
    and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son
    reigned in his place.

    Before we deal with Ahab some Pslams were composed at this time.

  • Doug Mason
    Doug Mason

    Do you really believe that the Bible provides an unbiased literally true historical record?!

    For example, do you believe that there was a person named Moses and that there was an Exodus from Egypt, or that there were kings named Solomon and David as described in the Bible? Were the Israelites powerful or were they simply poor Canaanite hill-dwellers who made up stories?

    Doug

  • HowTheBibleWasCreated
    HowTheBibleWasCreated

    Doug as I am showing they were Canaanite hill dwellers by as archeology shows from Omri's time onwards Israel was a Kingdom. As for Solon and David many will note I missed them. I do not believe they are historical and will deal with why I think that soon.

    1 Kings is a compilation of Israelite texts from Omri's house(Later jehu's) and later Judean propoganda (Deuteronimits).... I need to seperate them but sometimes the line is hard. That is why as I am posting here drafts.

    (Moses will be dealt with later.)

  • Doug Mason
    Doug Mason

    Thanks,

    Next question: do you accept that the correct writings were canonised, and do you discuss the process involved? Do you address the differences between the Jewish and Christian canons, also the languages employed, the translations, etc.?

    If you are addressing JWs, I presume you would take into consideration that the WTS says that the original writings were inerrant (and that none is known to exist), but that the copies and translations are not without error. Although they claim these errors are minor, how do they know when there are no original writings to compare them against?

    Doug

  • Doug Mason
  • HowTheBibleWasCreated
    HowTheBibleWasCreated

    I haven't read that yet. The book is for every bible believer however as I know more about JWs I might tend to hint sometimes.

    I already addressed the LXX and the MT in the last chapter. (As well as the dead sea scrolls.) I never dealt with the Samaritian Pentatuch since it wasn't rlevent for 1 Kings. As for canons I might deal with that but this is a process that took place for Jews in the secod century CE and Christians in the 4th. Kind of early in the book lol.

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    The bible is a real mess, it looks like some of it was written while the Hebrews were in Babylon and other parts were written possibly by the Persians, then during the time of the Maccabees there were more books written and others redacted. It hard to get any real sense of it, I mean the Hebrews looks as though they started off worshiping EL then Baal-Hadad but the city of Jerusalem their main god was Shalim, possibly were Solomon comes from. Its all just a big mess, and when one learns about how the books of the bible came to be apart of the bible and all the books that were voted in and out many times over the centuries, Oh my god I can't believe anyone (me) ever believed this book came from god!!!!

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