KJB Textual Technology

  • To Readers: The website is subject to ongoing revision to optimize the language
  • Home page: Summarizing the primary content of the present website
  • About Dr Bednar
  • Books available
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  • Unscholarly & uncivil internet criticism of the KJV-Only position
  • The nature of modern English versions: An introduction to the topic
  • Introducing the case for inerrancy preservation: The role of scholarship
  • Inerrancy preservation in the KJV illustrating the Divine Hand on text history
  • Refuting claims by scholars of error in the KJV, based on items from the essays
  • Essay 1 -Our guide to eternity: God's Word or text-tinkering of scholars?
  • Essay 2 - Inerrancy & Greek-manuscript variance: An Introduction to the topic
  • Essay 3 -Is there evidence of tampering by Gnostics in Alexandrian Greek texts?
  • Essay 4 -Outstanding accuracy of the Greek Received Text
  • a- 1 John 5:7,8 -Establishing the authenticity of the Johannine Comma
  • b. -Acts 20:28 - The Blood of God, or the blood of his own: Our unique Savior
  • c -Col.1:14 -Redemption through the blood of the Savior
  • d- 1 Pet. 4:1 Jesus did not have any sin of his own to suffer for
  • e- Order of Resurrection Morning events in the gospels
  • f -John 8 -The adulterous woman & the missing man: Proving passage authenticity
  • g- The Received Text -No support given to works or universal salvation
  • h- The Received Text -No renderings based upon conjecture
  • i -R.T. Inerrancy: Exact equivalence preserves it; textual evidence reveals it
  • j -Evidence that the Received-Text ancestor is older than Alexandrian texts
  • k. The Biblical Christmas story: Identifying the star & the wise men
  • l -Jude 25 "God our Savior" is a correct indirect reference to the Trinity
  • m -The authenticity of the concluding doxology of the Lord's Prayer
  • n. -Which is correct, the Sermon on the Mount, or the sermon on the plain?
  • Essay 5 -The KJV preserves the accuracy of the Received Text: Various examples
  • a- Acts 12:4 -"Easter" is correct: One case where "passover" does not apply
  • b -The KJV: Distinguished by never teaching salvation by works to its readers
  • c- The Holy Spirit and the use of the pronouns "it" and "itself"
  • d -Is Jesus or Joshua referenced in Hebrews 4:8 and Acts 7:45?
  • e -The KJV never teaches abuse of the body to its readers
  • f -Mt.2:1-12 The KJV wise men vs. modern-version magi
  • g -The love of money really is the root of all evil, not just some evil
  • h -Which rendering is correct, devils or demons? The nature of evil
  • i -Hebrews 10:23 "Faith" or "hope?" Which one is the correct rendering?
  • j -Matthew 23:24 Is the right reading "Strain at a gnat" or "strain out a gnat?"
  • k -Saved or always being saved? Is there a sense in which salvation is ongoing?
  • l. Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit: Is there just one correct name or two?
  • m. -1 Pet.3:20-21 "Saved by water" is not salvation by water
  • n -Exact equivalence in traditional KJV editions preserves inerrancy
  • Essay 6 -Uniqueness & total accuracy of the Masoretic Hebrew/Aramaic Text
  • a- Ps.12 -God preserves His Word for His godly people; Also the ben Chayyim text
  • b. The Bible Rightly Designates animal species: Exposing the evolutionist agenda
  • c -No contradiction of numbers, names, etc. - Chronicles Amplification
  • -- 1. The years that king Asa reigned: Adding a figurative sense to the literal
  • -- 2. Age of king Jehoiachin: Did this king begin to reign at age 8 or 18?
  • -- 3. Was Ahaziah 42 years old or 22 years old when he began to reign in Judah?
  • -- 4. The great price of a sin of David: Does 2 Samuel contradict 1 Chronicles?
  • -- 5. Syrian horsemen & footmen slain by David: Do the numbers properly add-up?
  • -- 6. Horsemen, horses, stalls & chariots for king Solomon
  • -- 7. Amplification variance: How king Saul died: 2 Samuel amplifies 1 Samuel
  • d -Pattern Amplification: Clarifying patterns of Hebrew-text expression
  • --1. The number of years king Saul reigned in Israel - 1 Samuel 13:1
  • --2. 2 Sam.15:7 Did Absalom need 40 years or 4 years to overthrow King David?
  • e -Suggested other types of contradiction in scripture are refuted
  • --1. The number of Hebrews returning from the exile in Babylon
  • --2. Why king Saul fails to recognize David during the incident with Goliath
  • --3. The role of Hebrew-text qere marginal notes: Isa.9:3 - Joy or no joy?
  • -4. Was Nineveh in Jonah's day much larger than major modern-day cities?
  • f -Key Hebrew-text history: The Dead- Sea scrolls & the Samaritan Pentateuch
  • g - Exodus 25:31 - Is the Menorah a "she" or "he" or an "it"
  • Essay 7 -The KJV preserves the total accuracy of the Masoretic Text
  • a- Dan 3 Aramaic -Christ in theophany: The Son of God, not a son of the gods
  • b- Who killed Goliath -David or Elhanen? The unique nature of the name Goliath
  • c -YHVH -Gods sacred name that is never to be spoken by sinners
  • d -True science in the KJV: Identifying the "firmament" in the Creation account
  • e. -Why mythical creatures are presented in the KJV: Following correct Hebrew
  • f. -Is The correct rendering "Lucifer" or "Morning Star"? A danger of confusion
  • g. -Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill" or "You shall not murder?"
  • h. -Proverbs 18:24 Showing ourselves friendly, or coming to ruin?
  • Essay 8 -God's spoken Word in written form: The case for Dictation Inspiration
  • Essay 9 -The KJV as a true agent of text inerrancy preservation
  • Essay 10 -Problems with application of textual criticism of the Bible
  • Essay 11 - The uniqueness of God's Word: Perspectives of Bible-believers
  • a -One unchanging bible speaks inerrantly to ancient and modern people
  • b -Mk.16:16-18 -Significance of early miraculous signs & Christian baptism
  • c -The Resurrection of Christ and His people: A reality that extends to eternity
  • d -Christians are not called to be slaves: "Servants" fits all contexts
  • e -The Crucifixion hour -Did the Crucifixion occur at the 3rd hour or the 6th?
  • f -The authenticity of the big-fish experience of Jonah & the supportive science
  • g -Giant dinosaurs and their sea-going relatives are in the biblical book of Job
  • h. -Ps 22:16,8 Pierced my hands & my feet, or like a lion my hands and my feet?
  • Essay 12 -100 erroneous criticisms of the KJV & its textual basis
  • Essay 13 -KJV classical language of emphasis: Acts 5:30, Titus 2:13, 1 Chr. 5:26
  • Essay 14 -KJV older English glorifies God & favors study: Dayspring from on high
  • Essay 15 A Translation that God approves: Replenish the earth, John Baptist, etc
  • Essay 16 -Should faith in text accuracy be vested in scholar opinion?
  • Essay 17 -Refuting claims of dynamic equivalence in the KJV
  • Essay 18 -Biblical doctrine: a. Did Moses persuade God to change His mind?
  • b. -Why God questioned Adam & Eve about eating forbidden fruit
  • c. -Sermon on the Mount: Is it for churches? Did Christ teach works salvation?
  • d. -Mark 10:17,18 -Why callest thou me good? Christ did not deny His own deity
  • e. -Was God unfair in judging Egypt & Pharaoh after hardening Pharaoh's heart?
  • f -Does the Old Testament teach soul sleep in Sheol? Saul & the woman of Endor
  • g. -Can Old Testament institutions be restored in the Millennium?
  • Essay 19 -Topics on creation vs evolution: Which one is technically correct?
  • Associated organizations with goals related to those of this website


Essay 1              

                                                 Our Guide to Eternity:

                             God's Word or Text-Tinkering of Scholars?


                                               by Dr. L. Bednar, Textual Consultant


Training specific to scholarship goals begins at the high-school level

Today we find that recent graduates of the public high schools may lack even basic academic skills, and the present writer was reminded of this in a recent experience at a local pharmacy. A young clerk, whose youthful appearance was indicative of the age of a recent high-school graduate, thought that 2/10 milligrams of a medication was a greater amount than 3/10 milligrams. I was stunned, and only stared in open-mouth disbelief at this person, who reacted as if I were the ignorant one, and summoned the pharmacist to correct “my error.” The pharmacist assumed I was the one who said .2 mg. was greater, so I informed him of the facts. In reflecting on the incident, it dawned on me that the clerk must have thought that, since the fraction 1/2 is greater than 1/3, then 2/10 mg. is greater than 3/10 mg. The clerk’s total confidence was indicative of total indoctrination by a teacher whose education was woefully lacking in the most basic math skills. Such teachers are turning out students who will become physicians, pharmacists, airline pilots, lawyers, politicians, military leaders, Bible scholars, etc., and the grave implications for our nation’s future are a matter of great concern.



                 Modern Scholarship: The Absurdities of Humanism


The state of modern scholarship in the science community

Poor scholarship abounds in the world of science as evolutionists teach that people are just animals so that human life would have no value, and animal-like behavior would be normal. They've long taught that we evolved over millions of years, from inanimate slime to a bacteria-like stage, on to higher forms of life. They can't devise a theory on how life can derive from non-living slime, but they offer a few theories on subsequent stages of life. One of these latter involves "constructive" mutations that somehow take life from single-cell microorganisms with no brains, hearts, livers, lung-respiration, blood-circulation etc., to the extreme complexity of human life. However, constructive mutations are so rare, if they exist at all, that they’re unproven, and how could these that are so unlikely to occur just once, occur millions of times in succession without interruption, to produce just one perfect complex organ of one human body? (Are hemophilia, 6 fingers on each hand or 3 legs on a torso constructive mutations?) There is no basis for the slightest confidence in evolutionism, yet many people think that to disbelieve it is ignorance since “experts” have spoken, and proven that it's a "fact." But evolutionists are so fixed in their belief that they ignore all evidence contradicting their belief, accepting only that which seems to be supportive of it (see Creationism vs. Evolutionism). And their dogma affects much more than earthly welfare, having grave implications for the soul. Anyone who accepts their teaching is committing his eternal destiny to them, taking an incredible gamble that invented illogical theory based on mere bias of men is correct. The kind of thinking behind evolutionism spills over into other aspects of academia, and has further effects on the eternal welfare of the soul. 



The state of modern scholarship in the biblical-studies community 

Many people trust bible scholars who think the Bible text has not been preserved by God over the centuries, and that arriving at a useful text requires their choices & their opinions. We might wonder how confident we can be in text critics whose opinions affect the content & interpretation of the Greek & Hebrew/Aramaic of the Bible, or modern translators whose work determines text wording that controls understanding of great multitudes on instruction of scripture for guidance in life.


About 15 years ago the present writer spoke with a translator on the committee of a popular modern English version, and the man had to follow the Greek with his finger to read properly, indicating his ability to read Greek was notably less than his ability to read English, which contrasts starkly with the very advanced language skills of the KJV committee (see The Learned Men, Article 25. Trinitarian Bible Society - e.g. the KJV translator John Boys at age 7 was fluent in Hebrew, a language differing from English in the extreme, and Lancelot Andrews was an expert in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic & 18 other languages, ancient & modern). But it was most interesting to learn that this modern translator had never realized that Alexandrian manuscripts, lost to churches for ~1400 years and serving as the main basis of modern critical Greek texts, cannot possibly be part of God’s preservation plan. Indeed, use of Alexandrian texts suggests God lacked the ability to preserve His New-Testament Word for ~1400 years, and the text had to be restored by modern scholars. Now conservative scholars try to avoid this suggestion by saying God preserved a true text piecemeal, scattered among the manu- scripts, and scholars can identify & restore it. This doesn’t change anything, for if scholars are final arbiters of the content of the Word, the true text is still uncertain. Mere men can never know how to separate true scripture from any false portions, for they have no inherent knowledge of the mind of God, and are mere sinners who often exercise bias & other limitations of mankind, presenting a potential for extreme error of all types, as illustrated on the present web site.


Westcott & Hort begin modern textual-criticism error: These 19th-century critics promoted a supposed superiority of a long-lost text recovered by them. They saw the sacred text as no different from the secular ones; Hort said, For ourselves, we dare not introduce considerations which could not reasonably be applied to other ancient texts, supposing them to have documentary attestation of equal amount, variety and antiquity (which means they had no faith in God's power). They had a low view of text quality, yet denied any tampering, saying, Even among the numerous unquestionably spurious readings of the New Testament, there are no signs of delib- erate falsification of the text for dogmatic purposes. (1)


              1. The New Testament in the Original Greek. Vol. 2. London. MacMillan. 1881. p277-82


Some text critics eventually reject Westcott and Hort. Most scholars will not abandon the Westcott/Hort text-type, and are on a course of disillusionment, as seen by conclusions of some notable text critics who were early followers of Westcott/Hort theory, but became so disgusted with it that they publicly denounced it. They also spoke of widespread text falsification for dogmatic purposes, and their text criticism event- ually led them to discredit all texts, a likely end for all those lacking faith in God.


A. J.R. Harris: He said the New Testament text wasn’t settled, calling it, more than ever, and perhaps finally, unsettled. (2)


B. Harris also said all manuscripts, including Vaticanus and Sinaiticus were actually reeking with dogmatic falsifications. (3)


C. Kirsopp Lake: In spite of the claims of Westcott and Hort and Von Soden, we do not know the original form of the gospels, and it is quite likely that we never shall. (4)


D. F.C. Conybeare. The ultimate text, if there ever was one that deserves to be so called, is forever irrecoverable. (5)


2.  Harris, J.R. Side Lights on New Testament Research.  London. James Clarke & Co. 1908.  p3

3.   Harris R.  Bulletin of the Bezan Club. Nov. 1926. p5

4.  Lake, K. & S. Family 13 (Ferrar). Phil. U. of PA Press. 1941. pV11

5.  Conybeare, F.C. History of New Testament Criticism. London. Watts & Co.1910. p129


Such cases illustrate that substituting man's notions for traditional scripture texts that have endured the test of time can result in an end of trusting scripture as God's Word, leaving people with no guidance for life & eternity, and leaving instructors in bible colleges & seminaries stubbornly clinging to the text-type of Westcott & Hort, refusing to admit the obvious error. Such instructors & their students are those that the public trusts just because they are deemed to have the necessary educational background. People tend to believe that scholars know what they are doing when they reject the traditional Greek text, and assemble one based on their theories on which manuscripts are suitable and which are not. But did God really not preserve His Word entirely so that today we must rely on mere sinful men to identify truth with certainty in matters that are vital, yet inherently unknowable by means of the intellect of men, matters like the true method of salvation, the nature of eternity and standards of our earthly living acceptable to God?


The Only Path to Truth

We are wise to heed the words of Christ the Creator who is infinitely superior to men, and He said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mt.4:4). Now inerrancy characterizes all words from the mouth of God, and their inerrant state must be preserved for us if we are to live by them. Further, the Word of God preserved from the beginning for His people will be found only in traditional texts, and those of the KJV and its textual basis are the traditional ones in our culture & related ones. Finally, if we're to live by every inerrant word from God, they must be preserved in the language that we understand, and the proof that the KJV preserves it in English is strong, as illustrated by subjects of the present website. The traditional KJV and its Greek & Hebrew/Aramaic textual basis prove to be totally reliable, yet are discredited by scholars today, revealing the folly of trusting in men.


Evidence of God’s Hand on the traditional texts: Inerrancy preservation.

The wisdom of heeding Christ’s word becomes evident as we examine passages that reveal God’s Hand on traditional texts through inspiration by His dictation of the text words to human writers to ensure inerrancy. Among English translations, only the KJV consistently preserves inerrancy produced by this dictation-type inspiration.


1. Job 26:7: Job dates to ~2000 B.C. (This dating can be deduced – see the final item below). Job 26:7 presents modern technical knowledge in saying of God, He…hangeth the earth upon nothing. Earth hangs upon nothing as part of a universe that hangs upon nothing, all bodies being positioned relative to each other by interactive gravity counteracted by relative motion. Now hangeth refers to no support under the earth, and this combines with upon nothing referring to no support from above the earth, thus picturing earth as suspended in space without any support, and this provides accurate modern science in the oldest bible book, written ~4000 years ago. By contrast, men in such ancient days thought of the earth as a great weight resting on giant animals or giant pillars (what the latter rested on wasn’t too clear ( note: the NIV suspends the earth over nothing is extremely poor since suspends means no support under the earth, and over nothing simply repeats the same sense so that there is no reference concern- ing support from above. This can imply that the earth is suspended over empty space by a support from above, like a giant rope attached to the earth on one end, and to a "sky hook" on the other end, lending support to ancient ignorance about some type of material support of the earth in space). God alone knew modern science so early in history, and thus dictated knowledge of this matter to the human writer, and the KJV properly preserves a true modern-science concept.


2. Bethlehem birth of Jesus Christ: God dictates peoples' acts undetected. Mary, Jesus’ mother, was great with child in Nazareth (Lk.2:4,5). If she and Joseph knew Micah 5:2 prophecy on a Bethlehem birth, in the hardship of the final pregnancy stage, she would dread a donkey ride of ~80 miles to Bethlehem. Joseph would dread hazards of labor pains, a miscarriage or a premature delivery in a deserted place along the way. God had to handle such details, but how would He get her to Bethlehem? He would stir up Caesar Augustus, a pagan with no interest in Christianity, to see a need to finance the empire in ways better than resented harsh taxes (Lk.2:1-5). There likely was much fear of a tax rebellion at this time (Acts 5:37 speaks of a tax rebellion later when Cyrenius was the Roman governor of Syria, (1) and this may be the taxing which sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem - Lk.2:2, but Cyrenius ruled in Syria in a post like that of a governor earlier when Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, so there could have been an earlier taxing at that time). (2) God would move Caesar to require that empire residents enroll for taxation at their native cities to establish each one’s tie to family assets by local authorities (the publican private-contractor system was likely altered by the use of locals like Matthew Levi & Zaccheus). All empire residents would pay accord- ing to their ability, the richer ones paying their share, and the masses not being afflicted enough to incite a rebellion (that occurred later). Caesar introduced a graduated prop- erty tax (Thompson tells us the enrollment for the taxing began at the time of Jesus' birth, as is logical, for it accords with his Pax Romana, a time of relative prosperity, peace & tax reform). (2) It was indeed appropriate that a just system of taxation would appear at the coming of the Just One, the Savior (The modern-version census, in lieu of taxing, overlooks a contextual implication regarding the motive for enrollment since a census can be for reasons other than taxing). This business moved Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem, Joseph's city of origin as a descendant of David, and the summons was timed too close to the birth to allow enough time for delivery of the Child before both had to begin the trip. Thus God dictated His will to a vast empire without anyone realizing it, and the final proof of this is presented in the fact that all necessary details of events that reveal this dictation are found only in God's book.

 

                      1. King James Bible Commentary.  1999.  Nashville.  Thomas Nelson.   p1343.

                      2. Thompson, J.A. 1962. The Bible and Archaeology.  Gr. Rap.  Eerdmans. p375-77

 

3. Review & added commentary on the home-page discussion of Ps.22:8. We can indeed know God's will for us in matters inherently unknowable to men if God personally dictates words of scripture to human writers. Dictation is truly unique in that a writer can retain his faculties & writing style, as supervision of his writing by the Holy Ghost by-passes his awareness. Consider words spoken by David in Ps.22:8, words of persecutors who taunt him saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him…As he speaks of his persecutors, David prophesies words of persecutors of Jesus at the Cross ~1000 years later. In Mt.27:43, priests, scribes & elders taunt Jesus saying, He trusted in God; let him deliver him.* In a spirit of free-will malice, Jesus’ worst enemies fulfilled David’s prophecy on His behalf to authenticate Him as the Son of David, God’s Messiah, the last thing in the world they would willingly do. If they had known this meaning of their words, they would never have spoken them. This is dictation by-passing speaker awareness, and making use of irreverent speaking style, free-will word choice and literal word meaning. It’s said they deliberately mocked Jesus with David’s prophecy, but they revered David, and would never identify with those who vilified him. And they would never relate the words of David to Jesus, lest they themselves represent the words as fulfillment of prophecy to authenticate Jesus’ Messianic claim. Actually, they wouldn’t see the verse as prophecy useful for a feigned mocking fulfillment, since of itself, it says nothing about prophecy, speaking only of David’s history.


*Scholars say the initial Ps.22:8 clause should be the imperative, Commit yourself to the Lord (as in the NASV), not He trusted on the Lord, but that would nullify Mt.27:43 fulfillment of the Psalm prophecy. Hebrew grammar indicates an imperative or infinitive, but an imperative links a 2nd person command (Commit yourself to the Lord) directly to a 3rd person declaration (let Him deliver him) in one thought in absurd syntax & grammar; the scholars try to justify this, saying the clause after the imperative is an aside, taunters speaking to each other and indirectly to Jesus. Now declarative clauses in different persons can link in poetic/prophetic Hebrew to vary perspective (e.g. Is.52:14 & 61:7), but linking a command to a declaration, with a difference in person, all in one thought, requires extra words not in the text. Scholars try to justify the notion of an aside after the imperative by separating the two with a semicolon to indicate a pause, but that would require a Hebrew disjunctive accent after Lord, and the actual conjunctive accent indicates a continuing thought without a pause, which is why the KJV correctly inserts that after Lord. If the NASV rendering were correct, the Hebrew text would read, Commit yourself to the Lord that he would deliver him, an absurd mixing of second & third persons in one thought. The only proper pronoun mixing is that of first & third persons to  illustrate God dictating the scripture text to writers.


The infinitive expressed as perfect tense (He trusted) appears in the inerrant New Testament. Ps.22:8 relates to Mt.27:43 where priests, elders & scribes address the people, but aim their talk at Jesus on the Cross to taunt Him (indirect taunting is distinguished from direct taunting of others in Mt.27:40,44). Words of indirect address aimed at Jesus, but spoken to others, are those of earlier indirect address aimed at David but spoken to others. The imperative applies to direct address (e.g. Ps.37:5, Pr.16:3), and there's no verb form for the indirect. The form needed will correlate with a jussive verb sense (wish) ending the verse, as the infinitive expressed in perfect-tense form does (He trusted in the Lord…let him deliver him).


Now would the Holy Ghost work in priests, elders & scribes right after they were used by satan? In Mt.27:42 they said of Jesus…let him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe him, which indicates satan controlling them in his effort to nullify salvation for mankind. One possible alternative to a Spirit role is that God put just the right men of just the right mentality in just the right circumstances to fulfill His will in just the right way at the Cross. With the prophecy made ~1000 years before the Cross, this would mean God logistically or genetically controlled millions of people in 40-50 generations over 1000 years of time to fulfill His will. He would intervene in natural processes & human interaction to connect results of free-will decisions in a way that fulfills His will. Mt.10:29,30 supports this saying, Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing (small value)? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. One way or another, God made evil men in control of their faculties & speaking style, speak words He wishes, doing so contrary to their will, without their awareness, and without any appearance of dictation.


Thus the Holy Ghost can certainly dictate to obedient servants, using their intellect & writing style, without any appearance of dictation. This is thought motivation, God’s still small voice by-passing writer awareness. We consider Luke 1:1,3 where Luke says …It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write…He seems to write at a whim by memory, but the Spirit moving on his mind without his awareness explains why he said, It seemed good to me…to write, which explains his perfect understanding of all things (experienced in the ministry), for perfect understanding is impossible without Spirit empowerment. Luke would write according to his intellect & style, but the Spirit would supervise his writing, motivating his thoughts and permitting or negating his word choices in a word-editing type of process (i.e. Keep this word Luke, not that one). God can dictate each word, using Luke's intellect & style to avoid all appearance of dictation. Such Inspiration is suggest- ed in 2 Pet.1:20,21 that says…the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The sense here is that of a writer borne along in his mind in a process occurring apart from his conscious will, his words being willed by the Spirit.


4. Other examples of dictation: This website offers more clear examples of God’s dictation of the text to the human writers in Essay 8, including Crucifixion details in Psalm 22:1, the betrayal of Christ by Judas in Zec.11:1-9, the technical principles of wind generation in Job 38:24, and Jonah’s big-fish experience in essay 11f.


Addendum: God began composing the dictation-inspired text

~3900 years before the bumbling textual criticism of Westcott & Hort

Job 26:7 illustrates dictation inspiration in a book written ~2000 B.C, preceding the Pentateuch by more than five centuries. It doesn’t mention Israel, and it shows the man Job personally administering animal sacrifice, as did Abel and Noah long before the priestly-administered one of Moses. It says nothing of Abraham, the greatest man of his time, and Job was greatest of all the men of the east (1:3), so the Job book was written before Abraham’s time, at ~2000 B.C. The name Uz, Job’s land, is extremely old, dating to Noah’s great-grandson (Gen.10:21-23). Job preceded Abraham, the life span of Job being the 140 years he lived after his trials (42:16), plus preceding years in which he grew to manhood and begat ten children old enough to sin (1:1-5), for a likely total of ~200 years. This is close to the 205-year age of Abraham’s father Terah, and greater than the 175 of Abraham, the 147 of Jacob and the 110 of Joseph. This places Job close to Terah in history as the life-span steadily decreased from the near -1000 year level of pre-flood times.


Other indicators that Job is first are a description of ancient dinosaurs, and a logic that places Job first in that it deals with the foremost human dilemma, the hurt & evil that always dominate life, and it presents the solution, the Savior (Job 19:25-27).


Now we must account for links of names of Chaldean & Sabean tribes and the tribe of the friend Elihu to descendants of Abraham & Nahor. The name Chaldean preceded Abraham’s time, his first homeland being Ur of the Chaldees (Gen.11:31), and the name Sabean traces to Seba, Noah’s great grandson (Gen.10:1-7). The Naamathite tribal name of Job’s friend Zophar traces to the name of Cain’s great granddaughter (Gen.4: 22). The links likely are later repeat uses of very early names.


We must also account for Job’s friends Eliphaz & Bildad who had personal and/or tribal names identified with descendants of Abraham (Esau, Shuah, Jokshan - Gen. 25:2) and his brother Nahor (Gen. 22:20,21). Inexact genealogy correlation indicates that names in descent lines of Abraham and Nahor are repeat uses of names in Job. For example, Eliphaz in Job is called a Temanite, while 1 Chron.1:36 says a Teman in Abraham’s line was a son of Eliphaz; a father doesn’t continue a clan of which his son is the patriarch, so Eliphaz in Abraham’s line is a different Eliphaz. Further, Elihu the Buzite of Job has a father Barachel not noted in the line of Nahor, father of Buz and Huz (Gen. 22:21), and Job’s Ram in the line of Buz isn’t in Nahor’s line, the one other Ram in the Bible being in Abraham’s line (1 Chron.2:9 - Aram in Nahor’s line & Ram are different names). And Nahor’s Huz & Buz are names likely derived from Job’s land Uz, reflecting a trend in Nahor’s clan in that his name derived from the name of his town, and the name of his brother Haran derived from the district of the town of Nahor. Job could be the son of Jacob’s son Issachar (Gen.46:13), placing him around 1800-1700 B.C, but this is likely another Job, for nothing ties this man to Job’s great- ness in the Job book.


Repeat use of names in descent lines of Job & friends, even if the order were similar to some degree, would be no surprise. Children have long been named for figures in the Bible. As Abraham was the greatest man in his age, Job was in his, and children would be named after names in Job, this being the only Bible book at Abraham’s time and for the next 500 years. Similar order would reflect honoring of the first Bible book, and descendants of Abraham & Nahor would want their children’s names to reflect the Job book due to the great faith in God common to Job & Abraham. Inaccuracy in repeating names in a line would be due to conflicting human preferences, limited availability of the biblical text so early in history, and an uncertain nature of early record-keeping. Accurate record-keeping evidently began later in the book of Numbers, and developed in Chronicles, Nehemiah & Ezra.