Often, in the midst of debates or informal discussions with skeptics, I will defend the historicity of the Bible. I am immediately given a very common, popular, Politically Correct lecture. It goes something like this: “History is written by the victors.”
In other words, countries whitewash their own history to make themselves look good.
That is sometimes true. We know, for example, that the ancient Egyptians did exactly that. After the Hyskos were driven out of Egypt, their monuments were destroyed and their dynasty was not recorded in the writings of the succeeding dynasty. We know of the Hyskos dynasty due to the records of other cultures and some later Egyptian writings. There was also a contemporary account of their expulsion (not official from the government) written by a common soldier, which survives.
Incidentally, this may explain why there is no record in ancient Egypt of Israel’s deliverance. Nobody was going to write about an incident that gave their pharaoh a black eye and blemished Egypt in the eyes of other nations.
Having said that, history is often more complex. Let’s take another example from ancient history, this time looking at the Romans. We have records according to the official Roman version. We also have the Greek version, writers who lived under Roman suppression. We have the Jewish version, Jewish historians such as Josephus and Philo who were able to tell us how their people “enjoyed” being conquered by Rome and paying taxes to Rome. We have the writings of the Christians who were persecuted for centuries under the Romans. We have the writings of Roman cynics and satirists (Seneca, for example) who were very critical of Rome. Face facts! One couldn’t ask for a more comprehensive record of ancient Rome from the widest variety of opinions and perspectives.
This leads us to a very interesting observation about the Bible, specifically the first part which Christians call the Old Testament and Jews call the Tanakh. You could not possibly find a stronger indictment of ancient Israel than the words of the ancient Israelites themselves. They portray themselves as constantly disobeying God, breaking His covenant, and deserving of the lost battles when God punishes them by removing His restraining hand.
Take a look at just one portion from the book of Judges:
1 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, 12 and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. 13 So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
(Judges 2:11-14)
Eventually Israel repents and God delivers them. Then it happens again. It happens so much, just in the book of Judges alone, that theologians refer to this as the “Judges Cycle.” Israel sins, God allows their enemies to subdue them. Israel repents. God raises up a deliverer like Deborah or Samson. Israel sins again and so on and so forth.
But it doesn’t stop with the book of Judges. This pattern continues throughout Israel’s history until she is finally conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians. One need only read prophets like Jeremiah to understand that such invasions were allowed only because of Israel’s disobedience. And who do we learn this from? Israel. Even after she is victorious. Even after she wins some battles. Even after she returns to the promised land after 70 years of captivity, the words of the prophets are canonized for all time.
Whatever your view of history, one must admit that the writers of the Old Testament are showing remarkable integrity. This is yet another of many arguments for the accuracy of the Bible.
Share this on
