Settings
Light Theme
Dark Theme

Postmodern Realities Episode 119 - The Historicity of Moses

Postmodern Realities Episode 119 -  The Historicity of Moses
Apr 11, 2019 · 32m 19s

The biblical depiction of Moses as an ancient leader par excellence, albeit a somewhat reluctant one, is wholly believable despite scholarly claims to the contrary. Some recent interpretations anachronistically analyze...

show more
The biblical depiction of Moses as an ancient leader par excellence, albeit a somewhat reluctant one, is wholly believable despite scholarly claims to the contrary. Some recent interpretations anachronistically analyze the historicity and leadership of Moses with little concern for comparative ancient data or context. One example compares him to George Washington, as a jack of all trades leader, who is essentially too good to be true. For many scholars, Moses is a mythic figure whose life accounts are not historically reliable. They are quick to point out a perceived lack of substantiating archaeological evidence. As a result, they believe the search for the historical Moses to be futile. This demonstrates two larger problems regarding scholarly treatments of Moses: 1 the failure to seek external, independent data from the ancient Near East and 2 a misunderstanding of the capabilities of archaeological data. While the Hebrew Bible remains the primary source for Mosess life, comparisons to relevant ancient texts reveal that Moses, while extraordinary in many ways, was in fact a typical ancient leader. Close examination of the biblical accounts of Mosess life reveals parallels from both Egypt and the broader ancient Near East. Such ancient data provides the only suitable and useful comparisons. From his allegedly legendary birth to his upbringing in Pharaohs palace, Moses was well suited to the role Yahweh assigned to him. The covenant Moses helped establish between his people and Yahweh has parallels from other ancient civilizations. He was an ancient leader through and through attempts to reinvent him to fit modern conceptions reveal modern mentalities, not the historical Moses. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Mark D. Janzen about his Volume 42, No. 1 feature article, Making a Case for the Historicity of Moses. To read his article about Moses, please subscribe to the JOURNAL
show less
Information
Author Hank Hanegraaff
Website -
Tags

Looks like you don't have any active episode

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Current

Looks like you don't have any episodes in your queue

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Next Up

Episode Cover Episode Cover

It's so quiet here...

Time to discover new episodes!

Discover
Your Library
Search