[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Saturday, April 20, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all, and especially a good somewhat early evening for us here in the Americas, at least its mid-evening here on the East Coast, whereas you on the West Coast are about to end your afternoon, at least as this is being written.  On the other hand, the rest of you in other parts of this world are already in your Lord's Day, and some of you have even been to divine service in your local respective Christian assembly houses.  Hope you got a good word from the Lord as imparted to you by your pastors and/or Sunday school teachers.

The article selected for you today is entitled "Careful Journalism" by Chris Sinkinson, again taken from a back issue of "Torch Times," and is rendered as follows:

Noah's ark found in Turkey! A headline like that is simply bound to gain attention.

Last April (2010) a Hong Kong-based exploration team claimed to have discovered Noah's ark, or at least several large wooden compartments, 13,000 feet above sea level on Mount Ararat.  Carbon dating of the wood was supposed to demonstrate it was 4,800 years old.  The discovery was reported in the mainstream tabloid press.

Photographs from the interior of the wooden structure even showed a scattering of straw.  Given our Christian concern for evidence and apologetics, should we have been first to promote this great new story? Absolutely not.  In fact, there are good reasons for us to give these stories a wide berth.  As far as apologetics are concerned sensational claims can quickly become an "own goal".

Reasons To Doubt

The claim to have discovered Noah's ark surfaces regularly in the popular press.  It captures the imagination like no other story.  There is something plausible about the idea of a wooden structure being revealed untouched in the melting snows of Mount Ararat.

However, there are some good biblical reasons for doubting the ark would be found.  Would the fresh timber used really have survived so many years without rotting? Would such a valuable amount of worked timber not have been immediately recycled and put to good use in the post-flood world? As for videos and photographs of such pristine wooden stalls, straw included, surely the only animal we could smell would be a rat?

So, if this report is another hoax (to add to a long legacy of hoaxes regarding discoveries of the ark), then does that put the biblical account into doubt? Only if we give too much credence to sensationalized claims.  This is particularly regrettable for us when evangelicals have contributed so much to credible, mainstream biblical archaeology.

Not So Spectacular

The work of evangelicals like Donald Wiseman, Alan Millard, Ken Kitchen and Richard Hess have all been respected in the mainstream historical and archaeological world, while also providing robust grounds for trusting the biblical record.  Of course, many of the discoveries that have been made do not seem so spectacular and might not make the pages of a red top tabloid.  But, for the honest sceptic or thoughtful enquirer, these evidences will be trustworthy and persuasive.

King David

To take a relatively recent example, we need to understand just how cynical and sceptical some historians are of the biblical record.  Among archaeologists and historians there are those called "minimalists" who (unlike "Maximalists") claim that the stories of the exodus and the united monarchy of Israel are much later legendary accounts with only minimal historical value.  The minimalists imagine that Israel emerged when unrelated tribes gradually united in Canaan and wanted to invent a common history.  King David is understood to be as historical for Israel as King Arthur is for Britain--a legendary figure embellished by later romantic notions.

Tel Dan Inscription

Between 1993 and 1994 excavations at Dan, the northernmost city of the Israelites, discovered three fragments of a victory inscription.  These were part of a very ancient Aramaic monument produced by enemies of the Israelites and probably broken up by the people of Dan.  The fragments had been reused in the walls of the ninth-century city and that helped establish that they were very old.  Archaeologists arrived at a date of approximately 850 BC for what became known as the Tel Dan inscription or stele.

The inscription makes reference to the "house of David" and "king of Israel".  It is the earliest direct reference to the dynasty of King David.  Produced within a century of the life of King David and by his enemies, it provides direct evidence for this early period of Israel's history.  Of course, critical scholars sought alternative interpretations to avoid the implications.  Claims appeared that the Hebrew consonants of the name David could be translated differently or that the inscription itself was a fake.  These claims were given little time among mainstream historians and only served to highlight how important the discovery had been.  King David and his royal dynasty could not be dismissed to the shadows of mythology.

Reasons To Trust

Of course, a find like the Tel Dan inscription is not quite as spectacular as the claim to have discovered Noah's ark.  But poorly researched and over sensationalised discoveries do evangelical witness no favours.  More significantly, apologetics is not really a tool for proving that the Bible is true.  The Word of God is its own best evidence.  What historical and archaeological studies can do is to demonstrate that there are good reasons to trust the record of the Bible.  More than that we can show alternative explanations are not at all plausible in the light of history.  We should join the sceptics in being cautious about the more sensational claims; too often these are offered for a quick bite of publicity and contribute nothing to this long term task of confirming the trustworthiness of the Bible.

And there you have what I hope is an interesting and thought-provoking article.  Before I leave you for wherever you will go, I'd like to ask a question about Noah's ark.  The Bible says that is was made of "gopher wood." What exactly was gopher wood? And, in the part of the article about the Tel Dan inscription, the Hebrew word "tel" simply means "hill." There will be a related article tomorrow at about this time, Lord willing.

And now until then may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul