Many critics of the Bible assert that the Exodus of the Hebrew people never happened, the entire story was fabricated long after the events are said to have taken place.

The entire hypothesis is based on one primary fact: Moses could not have written the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, therefore, the events described in these books, including the Exodus from Egypt, never happened.

Impeaching The Assertion That Moses Didn’t Write The Pentateuch

In the opinion of several Old Testament scholars, the reliability of the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, is in doubt. The reason is that these scholars do not believe that Moses wrote these books, because there was no workable alphabet or writing system at the time Moses is alleged to have written these books.

Today we know that this assertion is not true. There is tremendous evidence in the archeological record today that proves the Semitic people had an alphabet, and it was in use by the time Moses began to write the Pentateuch.

The premise of this assertion is called, “The Documentary Hypothesis.”

The fundamental assertion of this hypothesis is that the first five books of the Bible, is not a unified work by a singular author. The claim is that many writers penned these books and parts of these five books, long after Moses and the events he describes, took place.

The reason this hypothesis began, was that some scholars asserted that there was no writing system in place 1,450 years B.C., that Moses could have used to write these books.

By archeological discovery, The Documentary Hypothesis has been impeached.

It is interesting that in the books of Exodus, Moses writes in Exodus 17:14, that the Lord told him to write the things he recorded: “The Lord said to Moses, “Write in a book…”

When we examine the Hebrew Torah, we find that there are several references where Moses authorship is stated. These texts state that these books exist in the first place, as a result of Moses writing what God had told Him.

When we examine the body of texts in the 66 books of the Bible, almost everyone makes references back to the writings of Moses. Jesus references Moses and the events that are recorded in the first five books of the Bible, 37 times, in the four Gospels.

If Moses is a fictitious person, and He didn’t write the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, Jesus didn’t know this. I find this single reality, untenable.

For the atheist New Testament scholar, this is not hurdle to cross; they do not believe that the narratives about Jesus are true either. In these two facts of atheist New Testament Criticism, we find a basis to refute the conclusions of these individuals.

It in one thing to assert that the first five books of the Bible are lying; to assert that the entire Bible is a lie, is not possible. In order to believe the claim of atheist scholars, we would have to also accept that 40 authors conspired to write 66 books over a 1,450 year period of time, all about the same subject, all lying about their testimony and texts.

How could men who never met each other, conspire together to conduct the most far reaching hoax of all history? By its very nature as a body of 66 books, written by 40 authors, over a 1,450 year period of time, there is not possibility that these men are lying. Either we believe the writers of the Bible are honest men who are telling the truth, or we must adequately explain how they contrived such a plan of deception and carried it out for such a great expanse of history. There is no chance that this could have happened. It is one of the pieces of evidence that the Bible is the truth and the writers are telling the true events that they know happened, and that God told them to record.

Did Moses Have A Viable Form Of Writing By 1450 B.C.?

It is important to understand how the assertion that Moses had no way of writing, is relevant to Biblical scholarship.

When we accept that Moses did not write what is claimed for Him in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, the entire Bible loses its credibility and reliability.

If we believe scholars who say that Moses didn’t write these books, then we must look to these scholars to discover which parts of the Bible are true, and which parts are not. It would be impossible for any person who reads the Bible, to know if what they are reading is true or false.

This is the entire purpose of atheist scholars in their New Testament criticism, as well as Old Testament Criticism: The Bible cannot be trusted, because we don’t really know who wrote it.

Fortunate for us today, we do know who wrote these books, and we know for certain that what they wrote is the truth. The problem is that many unsuspecting people read the comments of atheist scholars, and they don’t know they are atheists, only that they are scholarly authorities. Millions of people have believed the lies of these men and women, whose goal is to stop people from believing that God exists, and the salvation declared by the entire Bible that God promised, is a lie.

The Bible is true because it originates from real history, not legends and fairy tales.

There is substantial evidence outside the Bible that demonstrates Moses wrote the Torah. It is the clear intent of the Torah that it is an eyewitness account of how Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The texts describe Yahweh revealing Himself to Moses, and Yahweh revealing Himself to the Hebrew people through Moses and the law.

It is the intent of the Torah that the whole world might know God, and the covenant that He made with the Hebrew people was the precursor to the arrival of the Messiah in the New Testament.

In all of the other religions and gods of this world, there is no other narrative like this revelation of God through Moses.

If we think about it, Sinai is truly awesome. At the heart of Sinai it  is not just the covenant, the great constitution God gave at Sinai, or the liberation of the Hebrew people coming out of Egypt, it is God’s great revelation of Himself.

The Old Testament introduces the world to a different way of knowing God. In former times, people who believed there was a God, thought they must reach up to Him. The Torah revealed that God was coming down from heaven to reveal Himself by the holiness of His law.

Exodus records that when Moses came to the people and told them all of the words of the Lord, they answered that they would do everything He commanded.

“So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.”[1]

These texts are very specific that Moses brought to the people, all the words that the Lord spoke. The assertion that Moses could not have written the Torah, because there was no alphabet to write the words of God, has been impeached by archeological discoveries.

After 3300 years, we now have new evidence that proves Moses had the ability to write the Torah.

In 1905, one of the great pioneers of archeology, Sir William Matthew Pleaders-Petrie and his wife Hilda, journeyed to the Sinai Peninsula to see if there was any evidence there of ancient Egyptian activity.

By this time in history, Petrie had already discovered the Merneptah Stele near Thebes. This was the oldest know reference to the Israeli people at that time . This discovery proved that the Hebrew people had been made slaves by the Pharaoh’s.

The Merneptah Stele 1208 B.C

It is well known that the Hebrew people under their slavery, had worked in the copper mines of Serabit el-Khadim.

At this copper mine, the Petrie’s discovered several hieroglyphic inscriptions. One of these inscriptions on the wall of the mine, did not resemble the other Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Up to this time, the text found in this copper mine, had never been seen before in Egypt. This new script was defined as “Proto Sinaiticus,” or before Sinai. These texts were a new language that Egyptologists had ever seen before.

In 1999 additional inscriptions were found by John Coleman Darnell, Professor of Egyptology at Yale University, and his wife, Debra Darnell, Egyptologist.

These inscriptions were found in a different location called “Wadi El-Hol.

Wadi El-Hol

These additional inscriptions were in the same style as those found at Serabit El-Khadim.

Inscriptions at Wadi El-Hol

The dates at the Sinai mines for the Proto Sinaiticus Scripts were confirmed to be dated during the middle kingdom, the period as the Exodus, 1450 B.C.

This confirms that this early script was known during the time that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Also important, this script was found in the same region of Egypt where the Hebrew people are documented as living in the historical record.

When this early ancient script was compared to modern Hebrew, it was confirmed as the first, and earliest form of Hebrew.

At the Griffith Institute in Oxford, England, Sir Allen Gardiner, Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar, was the person responsible for verifying these ancient texts. He is one of the worlds most preeminent experts in ancient languages.

Gardiner determined that not only was this script made by early Semitic People (the Hebrews),  it was also the world’s oldest known alphabet.

Allen Gardiner wrote: “The case for the alphabetic character of the unknown script is overwhelming… The meanings of these names, translated as Semitic words, are plain or plausible in seventeen cases.”[2]

Sir Allen Gardiner

Today we know that there were several languages in the North Semitic Family. One of these just happens to be the modern Hebrew spoken by the Israelites.

It is interesting that all of these forms of Hebrew are very similar. As they so closely resemble modern Hebrew, it is likely that Moses could have used any one of these early forms to write the Torah. This ancient form of Hebrew could have easily transitioned to modern Hebrew around 900 B.C., when the modern form of Hebrew was developed.

This early form of Hebrew has been given several names: “Proto Sinaiticus,” first, from the region of the Sinai. Another name is “Proto-Canaanite,” as it was later found in the region of Canaan. Many of these early words that were discovered, have today been deciphered as Semitic words.

One of the challenges to this theory of an early Semitic alphabet, has been the idea that the Phoenicians invented the alphabet around 1100 B.C., long after the time of Moses.

The discovery of this early Semitic script, now dated at 1450 BC, impeaches the Phoenician text theory. This evidence proves that what has existed in modern textbooks as the earliest alphabet and written language—the language of the Phoenicians—is now known to be an error.

It was the early Semites, that invented the first alphabet. Moses had a form of this early Hebrew text, and it was this alphabet that he used to write the first five books of the Bible, the Torah.

The assertion that Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are fabrications written by many authors, much later than the events these texts describe, is wrong. We have substantial archeological evidence today to prove that Moses is the true author of these five books, and the early Semitic language with its alphabet, was already in existence, and in great use, before Moses penned these first books of the Bible.

There is also substantial archeological evidence that the semitic people, who would later become the Jews, were in Egypt by 4,000 B.C.

NOTES:

[1] Exodus 19:7-8

[2] Alan Gardiner–The Egyptian Origin of the Semitic Alphabet