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Suzerain-Vassal Treaties & the Books of Moses: Joshua Berman
I had the privilege of interviewing Jewish scholar Dr. Joshua Berman, professor of Hebrew Bible at Bar-Illan University in Israel, on the fact that the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, follow the late second Millennium BC format of a suzerain-vassal treaty. This fact strongly supports the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and, hence, the existence of genuine and unavoidable predictive prophecy in the Bible, and, thus, the Bible’s Divine authorship. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the suzerain or great King, and Israel is the vassal, the subordinate dependent on the suzerain.
When my wife and I visited Egypt last year as part of a faculty tour of Egypt led by evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Berman in Luxor, Egypt, on the issue of suzerain-vassal treaties (he prefers to be called “Joshua.”) Joshua Berman explains the issue quite clearly and effectively, so if you find the terminology “suzerain vassal treaty” scary, watch the video below of the interview, and I suspect you will both understand the issue and see the value of it for Christian apologetics.
I have posted about apologetics videos recorded on this trip to Egypt in previous posts on this blog, such as this one on the famous Merneptah Stele.
Ironically, when I debated president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker, on the Old Testament, Mr. Barker claimed that “The Israelis over in Israel … the archaeologists are throwing up their hands saying, ‘No, there’s nothing. None of these stories has any archaeological evidence at all.’” Barker’s assertion was always ridiculous, as was demonstrated within the debate itself, but the interview with Dr. Berman provides even more evidence for the foolishness of Mr. Barker’s argument.
After the interview with Dr. Joshua Berman, other scholars, including Kenneth Kitchen (On the Reliability of the Old Testament), James Hoffmeier (The Archaeology of the Bible), and Meredith Kline (Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy) are also quoted. You can learn more about archaeological evidence for the Old Testament here.
So please watch the video below. You can watch the embed below, or view it on faithsaves.net here, or on Rumble by clicking here, or on YouTube by clicking here.
–TDR
Hebrews Made Mudbrick for Egyptian Storage Cities in the Time of the Exodus
I have posted another video relating to the evidence for the exodus from Egypt. In and before the time of the Exodus, archaeological evidence indicates that Habiru foreigners were making mudbrick for the store cities of Pharaoh. The evidence is discussed in situ at the Ramasseum near Luxor, Egypt by Egyptologist and evangelical scholar Dr. James Hoffmeier. I also have some discussion in my work on the archaeological evidence for the Old Testament here.
Watch on YouTube by clicking here. Watch on Rumble by clicking here.
–TDR
Piankhy (Piye) Victory Stele & Isaiah 18
The video below about the Piankhy (Piye) Stele, commented on by leading Egyptologist and evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier in situ at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, forms the topic of this post. I have already posted Dr. Hoffmeier’s discussion of Darius I Hystaspes’ Suez Inscription and Hoffmeier’s discussion of the famous Mernephtah Stele.
The Piankhy (Piye) Victory Stele or Stela narrates Nubian King Piankhy’s victory over both Upper and Lower Egypt. It is the foremost historical inscription of the Egyptian Late Period. Some modern scholars have concluded that the king whose name was traditionally read as “Piankhy” was really “Pi” or “Piye.” It is possible that the Nubian form was “Pi” or “Piye” while the Egyptians understood it as “Piankhy.”
The Piankhy Victory Stele Validates Isaiah 18, which describes the actions of King Piankhy:
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! (Isaiah 18:1-2)
Watch the video on YouTube by clicking here. Watch on Rumble by clicking here.
I make further comments on the stele in my expanding “Evidence for the Bible from the Land of Egypt” post as well as in the Rumble and YouTube descriptions at the links above.
Lord willing, I will continue to post Dr. James Hoffmeier’s discussions relevant to validating the truth of the Bible from our fantastic trip to Egypt with Tuktu Tours.
–TDR
Egyptian Evidence for the Bible: The Merneptah Stele (Pharaoh Mer-ne-Ptah) by Egyptologist James Hoffmeier
The video below about the Merneptah Stele, commented on by leading Egyptologist and evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier in situ at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, forms the topic of this post. Last week I posted Dr. Hoffmeier’s discussion of Darius I Hystaspes’ Suez Inscription. The Merneptah Stele or Stela is powerful and early corroboration of Israel’s presence in Canaan. In the words of agnostic Egyptologist William Dever:
“The Merneptah Stele is … just what skeptics, mistrusting the Hebrew Bible (and archaeology), have always insisted upon as corroborative evidence: an extrabiblical text, securely dated, and free of biblical or pro-Israel bias. What more would it take to convince the naysayers?” (Source cited here and more information)
I would encourage you to watch this video. Then you can tell skeptics who doubt the historicity of early Israel’s presence in Canaan that you have seen the stele mentioning them in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. If you want to see the Merneptah Stele with your own eyes, going to Cairo with Tuktu Tours and Dr. James Hoffmeier in person is a great way to do it. You can also see a nice picture of the Merneptah Stele in the PDF of my work on the Old Testament and archaeology here.
View the video on YouTube by clicking here, or on Rumble by clicking here, or watch the embedded video below:
If you want to know when more of these go live, please subscribe to my YouTube and Rumble channels. You can also comment on and “like” the videos and share them with others, including on social media like Truth Social, Twitter, and Facebook (if you have accounts on them–I don’t, nor do I intend to get any), actions which will boost their visibility to search engines. Thank you.
I intend to place all these videos on FaithSaves.net as well as they are prepared.
–TDR
Evidence for the Bible from Egypt: Darius I Hystaspes’ Suez Inscription (James Hoffmeier)
Last year my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting Egypt on a tour led by the great evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier, who has written books defending the historicity of the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings that have been published by Oxford University Press. The tour was organized with Tuktu Tours, and Tuktu did a great job. I would definitely recommend their organization if you want to visit Israel, Jordan, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, or elsewhere. Dr. Hoffmeier, who grew up in Egypt, was amazing; not too many tour guides are not only fluent in Arabic and the Biblical languages, but can also read hieroglyphs on ancient temple walls like they were English, is recognized by other scholars when one visits archaeological digs, can get one into special places that are otherwise closed to the public, and so on.
While we were in Egypt, Dr. Hoffmeier graciously allowed us to record a goodly number of videos relating to archaeological evidence from Egypt that validates the truth of the Bible or illuminates Biblical history. We have just started getting these live, and, Lord willing, they will all go online over time.
This first video relates to Darius I Hystaspes. He is mentioned in Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:5–7; 6:1, 12–15; Haggai 1:1, 15; 2:10; Zechariah 1:1, 7; 7:1.His role in Biblical history is clear from, e. g., Ezra 6:1-12:
Then Darius the king made a decree … for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed. (Ezra 6:1-12)
He authored an inscription found in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo about attempting to do what the Suez canal did in linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. You can watch the video on YouTube by clicking here, on Rumble by clicking here, or on the embedded video below:
Rumble:
If you want to know when more of these go live, please subscribe to my YouTube and Rumble channels. You can also comment on and “like” the videos and share them with others, actions which will boost their visibility to search engines. Thank you.
I intend to place all these videos on FaithSaves.net as well as they are prepared.
–TDR
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