Turned out, however, that I was the one who was wrong about something! I know, I know, that never gets said over the internet, but I'm saying it. The person on the internet that was wrong was me the whole time!
"I was looking for me the whole time!"
What I was wrong about was my understanding of the dates of the Bronze Age. I thought that the Bronze Age ended in 3,000 B.C. but in actuality, it began at about 3,100 B.C. Maybe this was the source of my confusion, I really do not know. I was then told that the Bronze Age ended in 2,400 B.C. Well, that is true ... for China. It actually ended much later for the middle east where the Bible was written down. When these dates were shown to me, I stopped myself for a moment and considered whether or not I could be wrong and did some research. I found the dates of the Bronze Ages for the middle east since every civilization was different and found that the Bronze Age ended around 1,200 B.C. for the ancient near east or the Middle East as we like to call it here in the states.
Yes, I watch a lot of cartoons. I have a five year old at home!
This would mean that the first five books of the Bible (written by Moses) and the book Joshua were definitely written during what we consider to be the Bronze Ages and also much of the book of Judges up until Gideon and the book of Job. So, about 8 books are Bronze Age books. But that is something to note. The Bible is not just A book. It is a library of 66 books. There are still 58 other books that were written Iron Age or after (According to Wikipedia the all knowing, the Iron Age ended shortly before the end of the Old Testament at about 500 B.C.) So, to call the Bible as a whole a Bronze Age book is sloppy and condescending to me. I understand that the religious ceremonies of Judaism were started in the Bronze Age, but so were mathematics and Astronomy and we do not call that Bronze Age mumbo jumbo. By the same logic, we should completely disregard those because they began in the Bronze Age. But we do not, because truth is still truth regardless of when it was written down or conceived.
Then there is the claim that it was written by illiterate sheep herders. I believe this began with Dawkins statement that Genesis (not the whole Bible) was written by/for Bronze Age desert tribesmen. It may go back further to Kant's belief that religion is childish and that mankind has matured past the point of hiding behind their mother's skirts and that we should rely more heavily upon science, but the point is, the original sentiment has been distorted if only slightly to discredit the Bible. Moses lived as a sheep herder for a portion of his life (about 40 years). This is true. However, he spent the first 40 years of his life getting the best education that the world had to offer at that time in Egypt. Let's not forget, they were able to do things that we still cannot replicate to this day. To call him a naive sheep herder is misleading and untruthful. As for whether or not he existed and who he was, I intend to write another blog on that topic soon. Isaiah is another author of the Bible who worked in the royal courts. Daniel also worked in the royal courts (and was of royal blood), but in the Babylonian and then the Persian courts. Zephaniah was a Hebrew prophet that was the great grandson of an Israeli king. Solomon was the most accomplished man in the world at his time, much like the Bill Gates of his day and was considered the wisest man in the world. His writings are still reviewed for wisdom to this day. Nehemiah worked in the courts of the Persian Empire as the Emperor's food taster and was the leader who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem within 52 days (a miraculous feat of engineering and planning)! It has been said that Paul's education would be the equivalent of 4 Doctorates today and he wrote most of the New Testament. Luke was a physician and a great historian. These are but a few of the authors of the Bible. Were simple sheep herders among the authors of the Bible? Yes (Micah for one), but they were few, and the amazing thing is, their writings ended up lining up with the other well educated authors. (The truly amazing thing is that the things that they prophesied would happen actually happened after the things were written down!)
So, is the Bible a Bronze Age book? No, it is a library of books primarily written in the Iron Age or after, but it was written by authors that were inspired by a Bronze Age concept. So, what? Every scientist today utilizes mathematics and a great many of them study astronomy and none of them disregard astronomy. By the same logic that something coming from the Bronze Age must be bad, they should disregard these as well, but we do not because truth is truth. The verifiable historical events of the Bible have all largely been verified. Science is great, but there are many questions that it cannot answer. Such as why or what is the ethical approach? To assert that someone is of lower intelligence just because they do not come from the age of microwaves and cup noodles is rather arrogant and anti-intellectual and so is the assertion that the entire Bible was written by Bronze Age Goat Herders.
