Which God, If Any?

In Genesis, they are mentioned seven times beginning with chapter 21, verse 32 as "...the land of the Philistines," and said to be such in the time of Abraham as well as Isaac.

From this we can readily see that Moses, and, or, his "scribes" could not have written the first five books of the bible (called the Pentateuch). Whoever the writer was—or writers most likely—they had knowledge of the Philistines many centuries later than the time of the Pentateuch.

I've never heard of the Philistines mentioned in bible school, nor in the pulpit, as being around at this time. A convenient omission, or maybe unknown to the teachers or preachers? In this, the bible is damning as to its veracity or falseness; obviously it's a fiction pure and simple, and written in by those who were familiar with the Philistines, therefore most likely the Pentateuch, which includes Genesis and Exodus, were written in the days after the Philistines entered in the days within a little more than a hundred years before David, but most likely written later.

The Jewish historian and professor at The University of Tel Aviv, Dr. Shlomo Sand, in his excellent and detailed book, The Invention of the Jewish People (Verso, 2009), cites the Exodus as having to have had about three million people (page 138), a half a million more than I had previously estimated, and that didn't include the animals the bible says they also had.

Further, Dr. Sand also asserts as I previously had in other essays, that the Philistines did not appear "...in the region no earlier that the twelfth century (the eleven hundreds BCE). He further states that camels mentioned as being domesticated in the bible and used by Abraham, et.al., were only domesticated in the first millennium BCE, as do other historians and archeologists say.

Dr. Sand further states (page 118) that in the thirteenth century BCE (the twelve hundreds BCE), that Canaan was still "...ruled by powerful Egypt", as, again, many others say, as well as history. The Pentateuch, and most of the rest of the bible, is a collection of stories that are mostly fictitious.

Here's some more about falsehoods, and fictitious stories we never hear about in Sunday School, or from the pulpits, or in Christian books.

NUMBER OF FIGHTING MEN, etc.

Before reading about these numbers taken from the bible, here are some words from Israel Finkelstein (Professor of Archeology, Tel Aviv University) and Neil Asher Silberman (archeologist and historian) from their book, The Bible Unearthed (Touchstone [Simon & Schuster], 2002):

"In the years since 1967, the heartland of the Israelite settlement—the traditional territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh—have been covered by intensive surveys. ... Information on any signs of occupation from the Stone Age to the Ottoman period were recorded. ... These surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. The discover of the remains of a dense network of highland villages—all apparently established within the span of a few generations—indicated that a dramatic social transformation had taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. ... In the formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from the Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly sprang up. Here were the first Israelites." (Italics mine.)

It continues:

"Most surprising of all was the tiny scale of these settlements. In most cases they were no more than a single acre in size and contained, according to estimates, about fifty adults and fifty children. Even the largest settlements in the highlands reached only three or four acres in size, with a population of a few hundred people. The entire population of these hill country villages at their peak of the settlement process, around 1000 BCE, could not have been much more than forty-five thousand.

"We know almost nothing about burial customs, apparently because graves were simple and the dead were interred without offerings. Likewise, there is almost no indication for cult. No shrines were found in the villages, so their specific, religious beliefs are unknown.

"It is also noteworthy—in contrast to the Bible's accounts of almost continual warfare between the Israelites and their neighbors—that the villages were not fortified. ... No weapons, such as swords or lances, were uncovered—although such finds are typical of the cities in the lowlands. Nor were there signs of burning or sudden destruction that might indicate violent attack."

Shortly, they say: "The early Israelites appeared around 1200 BCE, as herders and farmers in the hills. Their culture was a simple one of subsistence."

As a last bit of information from this book, it says: "Many of the early Israelites were thus nomads who gradually became farmers. Still, nomads have to come from somewhere. Here too, recently uncovered archaeological evidence has something to say."

Finally:

"The process that we describe here is, in fact, the opposite of what we have in the Bible: the emergence of early Israel was an outcome of the collapse of the Canaanite culture, not its cause. And most of the Israelites did not come from outside of Canaan—they emerged from within it. There was no mass Exodus from Egypt. There was no violent conquest of Canaan. Most of the people who formed early Israel were local people—the same people whom we see in the highlands throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. The early Israelites were—irony of ironies—themselves originally Canaanites!" (Emphasis mine.)

They go on to say that the settlement history of Jordan in the territories of Ammon, Moab, and Edom was broadly similar to those of early Israel.

With that all said, let's look at some of the fantastical people numbers outrageously claimed in the Old Testament:

Ex 12: 37-38 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand [600,000] on foot that were men, beside children. 38: and a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. (Emphasis mine.)

We'll see more about herds of various animals and their supposed numbers in a moment. This meant that there had to be at least two and a half million people in the so-called Exodus—each warrior aged man having a wife and a reasonably small estimate of children per marriage of two, leaves two million four hundred thousand (2,400,000) plus Levites who were not counted as warriors, their families, plus older people. In addition to this, the bible says that they left with their herds. They could not have possibly moved about as they said. Again, professor Sand estimates three million people.

Ex 38:26 A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to e numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550] men.

Another impossibly large figure of pure imagination. Of course, the writers were probably writing for an ignorant and illiterate mass that they never thought could, or would, possibly question what they wrote. Among the illiterate today, that is still true in many ways.

Num 1:2-3; 46-47 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; 3: From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: though and Aaron shall number them by their armies. 46: Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550]. 47: But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.

Note the similarity of numbers provided throughout many places in the bible.

Num 2:32 These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all of those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550].

Num 11:21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand [600,000] footmen...

Num26:27; 51 And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families... 51: These were the numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty [601,730].

Judges 20:17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand [400,000] men that drew sword: all of these were men of war.

I Samuel 11:8 And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand [300,000] and the men of Judah thirty thousand [30,000].

I Samuel 15:4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand [200,000] footmen, and ten thousand [10,000] men of Judah.

II Samuel 24:1; 9 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 9: And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the kind and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand [800,000] valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand [500,000] men. [Total of 1,300,000.]

Talk about purely imaginary pieces of fiction:

I Kings 12:21 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, and hundred and fourscore thousand [180,000] chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

I Kings 20:29 And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand [100,000] footmen in one day.

I Chronicles 12:22-37 For at that time day by day there came to David to help him until it was a great host, like the host of God. And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord. [339,800]

I Chronicles 21:1; 5 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. 5: And Joab gave the sum of the number of people unto David,. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand [1,100,000] men that drew sword; and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand [10,460] men that drew sword. [A total of 1,110,460]

II Chronicles, 13: 1-3; 15, 17 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. 2: He reigned three years in Jerusalem. ... And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3: And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand [400,000] chosen men.: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand [800,000] chosen men, being mighty men of valour. 15: Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 17: And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand [500,000] chosen men. (Emphasis mine.)

II Chronicles 17:3; 12-18 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; 12: And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles, and cities of store. 13: and he had much business in the cities of Judah: and the men of war, mighty men of valour, were in Jerusalem. 14: And these are the numbers of them according to the house of their fathers: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the chief, and with him mighty men of valour three hundred thousand [300,000]. 15: And next to him was Jehohanan the captain and with him two hundred and four score thousand [280,000]. 16: And next him was Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto the Lord; and with him two hundred thousand [200,000] mighty men of valour. 17: And of Benjamin; Eliada a mighty man of valour, and with him armed men with bow and shield two hundred thousand [200,000]. 18: And next him was Jehozabad, and with him an hundred and fourscore thousand [180,000] ready and prepared for the war. [A total of 1,160,000 men of war.] (Emphasis mine.)

By comparison, Desert Storm, the first war with Iraq, awaited about 6 months to gather a coalition of nations making up 500,000 soldiers before engaging the Iraq army.

What is salient in this comparison is the vast population that presently exists in our time versus the comparatively sparse population in all of Israel and Judah, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms supposedly after Solomon died.

Out of these fabrications, along with the knowledge that Judah is very hilly country, one can't help but see that it is nigh impossible to have 400,000 men in an army of Judah as it says in II Chronicles, chapter 13 itemized above.

In fact, Israel, or the Northern Kingdom, couldn't possibly have 800,000 men. Even 600,000 men of fighting age as in Exodus is impossible.

If you believe that God said that those 600,000 men would wander in a limited desert/wilderness for 40 years until they all died so as to not enter the Promised Land, you really have to scratch your head. If that were so, where are the fossils? And not just of 600,000 men, but of a similarly equal number of women for their wives must also have died, not to mention Levites and their wives (they're not counted as fighting men in the bible), not to mention the herds and flocks that died with them.

In the desert of Chad, fossils have been found.

Even more ludicrous is I Chronicles 21:5 that states that Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had one million, one hundred thousand fighting men compared to Judah's miserly ten thousand four hundred and sixty men, though Judah's lowly figure, given the highly extravagant figure for Israel, is not unreasonable.

As a further comparison, Alexander the Great's army was estimated at approximately forty thousand men, and he conquered most of the known civilized world. With stated men of war of the sizes stated often, the Assyrians would not have had a chance of defeating the Jewish forces unless they had a general such as Alexander.

These are things you are never told in bible study, that are never mentioned or even questioned secretly in small groups of higher study. If they were, they would all know that the Old Testament was definitely not as stated—there are too many fabrications and fabrications are plain and simply lies.

Using this criteria stated early on as to truth and God's (the one of the bible) perfection, how can any believe that the God of the bible is real? The imperfections, fabrications, and more, refute that assertion, and that's using only the bible itself to do so, or so far at least, the Old Testament.

It's not only exaggerating the numbers of fighting men. Just as outrageous are some of the numbers with regard to animals. For instance:

Num 31:32-35 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was sex hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep [675,000]; 33: and threescore and twelve thousand [72,000] beeves; 34: And threescore and ne thousand asses [61,000]; 35: Thirty and two thousand [32,000] person in all, of women that had not known a man by lying with him.

Now how in the world did they know the women had not known a man sexually? These were supposed to be men who were forbidden to look upon a naked woman. Oh, boy, what a fib.

1 Chronicles, 5:21 And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand[50,000], and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand [250,000], and of asses two thousand [2,000], and of men an hundred thousand [100,000].

675,000, then 250,000 sheep? The other numbers are just as outrageous too, and no preacher has questioned them, or mentioned them. Now that's really "Holey", especially for the desert and wilderness; now where could food be found for 675,000 sheep before miraculously being fed by God as some would claim, but the bible doesn't assert?

The "warriors" number game versus facts and archeology

From the books of Exodus and Numbers, there are too often strange consistencies in the number of warriors, or men able to bear arms, of six hundred thousand (600,000) that the writers of the bible loved and even improved on by Samuel and Chronicles as shown above.

But what do the facts say?

Research, historical, archeological, and biblical tell vastly different stories. Of greatest importance here comes from the seminal book mentioned earlier, The Bible Unearthed, which tells of surveys done in the Judean Highlands that began in 1967 from which I quote (some bearing repitition):

"...the heartland of the Israelite settlement—the traditional territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh—have been covered by intensive surveys. Teams of archaeologists and students have combed virtually every valley, ridge, and slope, looking for traces of walls and scatter of pottery sherds. ... Information on any signs of occupation from the Stone Age to the Ottoman period was recorded, in order to study the highlands' long-term settlement history. Statistical methods were used to estimate the size of each settlement in each of its periods of occupation. ...

"These surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. The discovery of the remains of a dense network of highland villages—all apparently established within the span of a few generations—indicated that a dramatic social transformation had taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. There was no sign of violent invasion or even the infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group. Instead, it seemed to be a revolution in lifestyle. In the formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly sprang up. Here were the first Israelites." [Bold mine.]

They continue:

"...The typical village was usually located on a hilltop or on a steep ridge, with a commanding view of the surrounding landscape. It was set in an open area surrounded by natural forests comprised mainly of oak and terebinth trees. ... Most surprising of al was the tiny scale of these settlements. In most cases they were no more than a single acre in size and contained, according to estimates, about fifty adults and fifty children. Even the largest settlements in the highlands reached only three or four acres in size, with a population of a few hundred people. The entire population of these hill country villages at the peak of the settlement process, around 1,000 BCE, could not have been much more than forty-five thousand." [Bold and italics mine.]

Three things: Note above in the quote of I Samuel, chapter 11:8 where it says that a census of Judah numbered thirty thousand [30,000 men to fight; check it out in your bible].

Now this was in the time of Saul, the first king over all, yet Judah could not have fielded thirty thousand fighters when in most of Judah at the peak, the population when Saul was king and David was said to be king shortly afterward, in about1,000 BCE, numbered at most forty-five thousand according to Finkelstein and Silberman.