Searching For Truth Seekers!
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Truth seekers: a question. Do you know that the Hebrew Bible writers depended on external written resources to write their narratives?
I have a question for "Truth Seekers." Did the writers of the Hebrew Bible use external writings to craft their own writings?
T
TruthDefender
Guest
“endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6 NKJV
Under the OC, they were told:
“And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”
Exodus 25:40 NKJV
““Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,”
Acts 7:44 NKJV
Under the NC, we are told:
“Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.”
Philippians 3:17 NKJV
The One is in the NC/ NT. The others won’t match, and are named after something/ someone else other than Jesus Christ.
Indeed, it would, and my suggestion for a comprehensive creed is the following for your consideration:
A crisis that threatened a Philippian jailer with death prompted him to ask Paul and Silas the most important question in life: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30) This question is most important, because—as sinful and mortal souls—we need saving from corruption, both moral and physical. We need saving from physical death if we value or enjoy life, and we need saving from immorality or evil-doing if it results in unhappy existence, especially after this lifetime.
Jesus expressed GRFS succinctly by saying “Repent” (Matt. 4:17) and “Ask… seek… knock…” (Matt. 7:7, Heb. 11:6, Isa. 45:19), implying that God gives every sinful soul the ability to repent and seek salvation (cf. 1Tim. 2:3-4, 2Tim. 2:25, Ezek. 33:11), which might be why Paul said sinners are saved “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9, Tit. 2:11). Seeking God is the beginning of saving faith, and not repenting or rejecting God’s salvation in Christ is the essence of evil atheism or faith in I-dolatry (Rom. 3:11, 1:18-23).
The reply of Paul and Silas to the jailer was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 16:31). This is GRFS in a nutshell: “Accept Christ Jesus as Lord” (as also in 2Cor. 4:5 & Col. 2:6). The main points of Christian orthodoxy implicit in this statement can be explained or elaborated as follows:
- There is a/one all-loving and just Lord or Creator God (Deut. 6:4, John 3:16, 2Thes. 1:6), who loves sinful humanity (Rom. 5:6-8, John 3:16) and who is both able (2Tim. 1:12) and willing (1Tim. 2:3-4, Ezek. 33:11) to provide all morally accountable human beings salvation or heaven—a wonderful life full of love, joy and peace forever.
- Human beings are selfish or sinful (Rom. 3:23, 2Tim. 3:2-4, Col. 3:5), miserable (Gal. 5:19-21), and hopeless (Eph. 2:12) or hell-bound at the judgment (Matt. 23:33 & 25:46) when they reject God’s salvation (John 3:18, Rom. 2:5-11).
- Jesus is God’s Messiah/Christ and incarnate Son, the way that God has chosen (John 3:16, Acts 16:30-31, Phil. 2:9-11) of providing salvation by means of his atoning death on the cross for the payment of the penalty for the sins of humanity (Rom. 3:22-25 & 5:9-11), followed by his resurrection to reign in heaven (1Cor. 15:14-28).
- Thus, every person who hears the NT Gospel needs to repent and accept God’s grace or justification in Jesus as Christ/Messiah the Lord or Supreme Commander (Luke 2:11, John 14:6, Acts 16:31), at which moment God’s loving Holy Spirit of Christ indwells/baptizes the believer into the church (Rev. 3:20, Rom. 5:5, 1Cor. 12:13).
- Loving Christ Jesus as Lord (Luke 2:11), God the Son (Matt. 16:16) or God in the human dimension (Col. 2:9) means reflecting divine love (DL) as empowered by the Holy Spirit, thereby obeying His command to love one another (Matt. 7:21, 22:37-40, John 13:35, Rom. 13:9)—forever (Matt. 10:22, Psa. 113:2), which will eventually achieve spiritual maturity on earth and heaven after Christ returns at God’s resurrection (John 14:6, 17&26, Rom. 8:6-17, Gal. 6:7-9, Eph. 1:13-14, Phil. 3:12-16, Heb. 10:36, 12:1, Jam. 1:2-4).
Anything you would add as being essential to believe at least implicitly for salvation?
In order to answer your question, it would be helpful to know which external writing that has been proved to be a source you have in mind.
I like you effort if not your conclusions based on the limited scriptures you note. The easiest thing to do for anyone with a fixed Creed to defend is to be highly selective in the choice of "proof texts." As we all know, the use of "proof texts" is the foundation for the shattering of Christian unity. Each Christian sect has their "Magic Salvation formula" based on selected texts that d"totally validate" their predetermined creed. As an example, you only quote a portion of the Paul-Silas-Jailer story. On purpose? If one were to consider the "rest of the story" one would find that the saving faith of the jailer required baptism as it immediately followed a confession of faith. Is that because a claim of faith that rejects obedience is the desired and most easily accepted idea? Is our desire for our Christianity to just be an "Idea" held in our mind or is saving faith always followed by validation, in this case baptism. I know that fat old Monk declare that repentance and baptism are anathema thus settling the issue for some branches of Christianity more closely following him than anyone in the New Testament. Paul when on trial for his life described what he preached was "Repentance and the acts demonstrating repentance." That story, I'm sure gave Martin Luder his famous hemorrhoids. While we love to stake our salvation on the creedal statement we are saved by faith through Grace alone.... The same man who said that said if you don't have the same love in you as in God, your claim of "faith" is just noise. But I don't see loving like God loves in your credal statement.
I see a reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit but it leaves one comfortably dry. In Matthew 3: John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus told his followers that after His death to await the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. On the next Pentecost, the Apostles filled with the Holy Spirit commanded salvation by repentance and water baptism when the crowd called "what must we do to be saved?" I don't see water baptism in your creed. Paul told the Galatians, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Jesus instructed his disciples to go and baptize. esus states, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." Ananias tells Paul, "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" In case the argument is that references to baptism are only baptism of the Holy Spirit, I recommend Acts 8:14-17. Those who had been baptized had not yet received the Holy Spirit so Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, laid hands on them, only then did they get the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I reject that salvation is only based on "what you believe." Our call is to pick up our cross daily. If what we call "faith" does not involve our hands, feet, knees and heart then we can make no claim to have sufficient faith to be converted. Much of what goes around in Christianity today is counterfeit belief masquerading as faith. If faith is not what we do, what we prioritize, how we live, love and serve, it is not faith. At best it is just hope. We hope that our faith claims do not require conversion, commitment, sacrifice and life change. We want to nod our head to a 60 second pulpit prayer and hope we have a free pass to heaven. What Jesus is describing in the entire 25 chapter of Matthew is His definition of what faith is. It makes our pseudo-faith look self-serving, convenient and heartless.
The Book of Jasher, Book of the Wars of the Lord, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, the Book of Jasher, Book of the Wars of the Lord, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, (both mentioned over 30 times), Book of Shemaiah, Story of the Prophet Iddo, Book of Statutes, Acts of Solomon, Annals of King David, Book of Samuel the Seer, Book of Nathan the Prophet, Book of Gad the Seer, Book of Anijah, Book of Jehu, Acts of Uzziah, Vision of Isiah, Sayings of the Seers, Laments of Josiah and Chronicles of King Ahasuerus.
You said that you disliked the creed I suggested, but you did not suggest a better one and cited fewer Scriptures. You seemed to want water baptism (WB) added as required for salvation, but you did not explain why. Just because it was practiced does not make it required. Then you veered into criticizing Martin Luther.
Finally I see that you wanted me to add "loving like God loves" to the statement, but it is already in #5.
Then you mentioned Spirit Baptism (SB) as though it should be wet and cited what happened on Pentecost as indicating that WB is required, but when Paul described the Galatians as being baptized into Christ, surely he was referring to SB. Mark 16:9-20 is not in the most reliable manuscripts and also says the signs of belief include surviving snake bites and drinking poison.
I agree that WB was perceived to be required in early Acts, but not by the end of Acts and in the epistles, indicating that a transition in understanding occurred, concluding with the realization that SB is required and WB is recommended as a rite signifying that spiritual event, which is what it means in the Baptist denomination my family was raised in.
Regarding the connection between what you believe and picking up your cross, it is true that saving faith and SB are manifested by loving/godly works (Eph. 2:8-10, Gal. 5:6 & 22-23). I am unaware of any denomination that denies that in their creed.
The Book of Jasher is quoted briefly in Joshua 10:13, and 2Sam. 1:18-27 quotes "the lament of the bow" from it.
The Book of the Wars of the Lord is quoted briefly in Num. 21:14-15.
...and so forth.
So to answer your question, yes, this TSer was aware of these references, although I had not compiled a list,
so thanks for that information.
It is always important to understanding the evolution of the writers of Hebrew Bible. From their very first ability to write literary Hebrew around 780BC through the centuries as the Hebrew concept of their God evolved from El to El Shaddi, Elohim and YHWH. Their earliest writings were songs and poems. In the North, Israel evolved first. They were recounted by foreign kings for their cooperation or battles. They were first to consistently refer to their God as YHWH. They only lasted about 200 years, but as they were the bigger and most populated of the two states Israel and Judah. Just before the Assyrian army reached their capital of Samaria, perhaps 10's of thousands of Israel migrated to Judah. That led to a period in which the biblical literature was modified to incorporate the perspectives of Israel immigrants around 720BC - 700BC. It is believed that the Israelites were more educated than the Judahites but at best only 2% of the population was literate and these were the elite and often priestly courtiers of the kings. It would be over 400 years until the population of Israel had any knowledge of or lived in compliance with the Torah.
The Kings, Prophets and Judges that lived before the invention of literary writing include:
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua
Kings of Judah - Southern
Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Jehoash
Kings of Israel – Northern
Jeroboam I (founder), Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash (Joash)
Prophets – North and South
Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Jonah, Hosea, Joel, Isiah & Mica lived on the cusp of literary Hebrew
Judges (saviors)
Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli, Samuel, Joel, Abiah, Amariah and Zebadiah, Abimelech
The Kings, Prophets and Judges that lived before the invention of literary writing include:
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua
Kings of Judah - Southern
Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Jehoash
Kings of Israel – Northern
Jeroboam I (founder), Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash (Joash)
Prophets – North and South
Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Jonah, Hosea, Joel, Isiah & Mica lived on the cusp of literary Hebrew
Judges (saviors)
Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli, Samuel, Joel, Abiah, Amariah and Zebadiah, Abimelech
My understanding of history is that The Code of Hammurabi was written around 1754 BCE in ancient Babylon. It had 282 laws, covering topics like trade, family, and criminal justice that were inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform on a 7-foot-tall diorite stele,
so it is possible that Moses could have written the Torah circa 1200 BC.
I also am aware that Messianic messages in the prophets were ignored by Ezra when he instituted a legalistic religion after the return from captivity that gave rise to the Pharisees including Paul.
Probably the most shocking thing to those who don't know is this. There is evidence that nobody outside perhaps King Josiah and his court knew anything about the books of Moses, the Torah. The disciplines called for in the Torah were not practiced by the public in Israel until the Hasmonean Dynasty in the 3rd century BC. The Jewish Temple in Elephantine Egypt was constructed to support the large number of Jewish soldiers employed by the Pharaohs. They were in regular communication with the Temple in Jerusalem. They knew nothing of the 10 Commandments much less the 613 laws that eventually evolved based on the Torah. As late as 300BC, Jews in Jerusalem were not eating kosher, sacrificing as required, did not keep the Jewish holidays, did not use stone cooking utensils, they printed many graven images on such things as their coins, did not put the required Torah script on the right side of their entry doors, had no idea of the 10 commandments and until the invention of the Synagogue in about 285BC most had never heard the Torah or any other OT book being read. As Jeremiah said, the Jews had as many gods as they had towns. Until this period, the reality on the ground in Judah was they not Jewish (a name that came from the Persian province in which they lived.) They were YHWH worshipers. YHWH was the high God but most people had small statues of the lesser gods in their houses. When the Assyrians destroyed northern Israel they also destroyed all the statues and places of worship. Even the standing stones that existed at the gates of every city were destroyed. King Josiah was on the Judahite thrown and took advantage of the Assyrian destruction of the cultic place and images, by also demanding they be destroyed in Judah and "found" documents claiming YHWH could only be worshipped in the Jerusalem Temple and all other "priests" must be killed, which he happily did. That enriched the king and his courtiers, priests and levites. The scriptures "discovered" by King Josiah made the requirement that only a Davidic lineage person could sit on the throne. King Josiah was described by his writers as the most "Godly King" since King David. They wrote he perfectly practiced the law going neither left or right. It went to his head.
When the Pharaoh Necho of Egypt crossed into northern Israel to fight an enemy to the north, King Josiah, realizing that the Assyrian had left there after 100 yr domination of Judah (not in the bible) to fight battles back home. So King Josiah took his troops north to battle the Egyptians. Pharaoh Necho told Josiah that he had no beef with Judah, but Josiah, full of himself, attacked anyway and was killed.
Judah was marched into Babylonian captivity a mear 11 yrs after the death of Josiah in 597 BC. The Jews would not be an independent country again until the conclusion of the Maccabean wars and the rule of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty. Israel would not be free until the end of the Hasmonean Dynasty in 37BC. Thus, Jesus came on the scene only 67 years after the Jewish wars ended as Rome took over Judea, Sameria, Galilee and surrounding lands from the Greeks. The northern Kingdom of Israel only lasted 200 yrs. The southern Kingdom of Judea only lasted only a little over 200 yrs. All the rest of the history of these lands were dominated by other kingdoms, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The fundamental coping mechanism of Judaism of these centuries was to blame themselves. Blame their sins, which were really not specific until 700 yrs after their founding when the Torah law was finally taught and brought collective gilt into the soul of the Jewish nation.
Strangely, if the Jews had not developed such a keen sense of guilt and a passionate desire for deliverance, Jesus would have had a more difficult time bringing salvation and freedom from sin.
Evidence of Moses and the Exodus is lacking, but the Torah states that the reason for their wandering in the wilderness for 40 years was because of disobedience and faithlessness. Probably much of the Torah was known only orally. Not much is known from extra-Biblical sources about the early kings either. The first physical fact is Ahab’s successor, Omri, being shown on his knees in 841 paying tribute to the Assyrian Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk that is now in the British Museum. In the seventh year of the reign of king Artaxerxes II (404-359), Ezra the priest led an expedition from Babylon and reinstituted Judaism. He apparently ignored the messianic prophecies, which set the stage for conflict between the Pharisees and Christians. As you noted, it probably was not until the invention of the Synagogue about 285BC that most Jews learned much about the Torah and other OT books.
Rome defeated Philip V (who had supported Hannibal’s invasion of Italy from Spain in 218) in 197. Then Rome attacked the Seleucid king, Antiochus III (who had provided Hannibal refuge in Antioch after he was defeated by Scipio in 202), when he tried to invade Greece in 192, and forced him to surrender his navy and most of Asia Minor. His successor, Antiochus IV or Epiphanes (“god manifest”) tried to conquer the Ptolemaic Empire in 167, but he was intercepted by a Roman envoy, who drew a circle on the ground around Antiochus and demanded that he promise to withdraw before stepping outside of it. Antiochus promised.
Later that same year, Antiochus’ response to civil unrest in Jerusalem was vicious. He endeavored to suppress Judaism by outlawing circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, and possession of the OT Scriptures. An altar to Zeus was erected in the temple, and on it unclean animals such as swine were sacrificed. This abomination provoked a rebellion, which is described in the apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees.
Judas Maccabeus (“the hammer”) led a guerilla group that captured Jerusalem in 164, cleansing the Temple, which is commemorated by the festival of Hanukkah. His brother Simon proclaimed himself head of a Jewish state in 142, thus establishing the Hasmonean dynasty. The supporters of the Hasmonean priesthood eventually became the party known as the Sadducees, and another group (called the Hasidim or pious ones) resisted Hellenization of the Jewish culture and eventually became the Pharisees and Essenes. These two groups struggled for domination until Rome made Palestine a province in 63.
Then Jesus came on the scene, and despite the Jews' "keen sense of guilt and a passionate desire for deliverance", He had a heck of a time bringing them salvation, saying such things as Matt. 13:14-15 and 23:37.
I think some of the challenges Jesus experienced was because He was the 7th Messiah claimant in a 50 yr span. On the plus side, there were many still alive who cherished the period of national independence by the Hasmonean Dynasty defeat of an ever weakening Greek rulership only to find that they were now ruled by a vastly more powerful ruler in the Romans. Most do not know that the Romans taxed almost all the available wealth and income that the Jews had. In many cases, 80%. That drove a great deal of anger in Israel, thus the hated tax collectors. One of the subtle but incredibly important cultural realities of the time of Jesus is that almost all the educated and business people in Israel spoke and wrote in Greek and had been for 5 generations (thus the Septuagint). This enabled Christianity to easily migrate to the Greek speaking world as even educated Romans spoke some Greek and could read Greek. Many do not know that the Jews evangelized and converted many pagans around the entire Mediterranean. It is estimated that there was between 3 and 6 million Jews living outside Israel at the time of Jesus. Thus the Apostle Paul had ready make audiences for his gospel in the large number of Jewish Synagogues around the Mediterranean.
As to the historical validity of the biblical Moses there are significant historical, textual and archeological challenges. There have been many attempts by Christians to come up with a coherent narrative for the biblical Moses that works. The basis for disputing the Historicity of the Moses story focus on 4 categories. These include timing (when could the Moses story take place). Next is scope - 3 million people. Next is writing and the last is the hedgenemy of Egypt.
Timing. Christian theologians place Moses from 1,500 BC to 1,200 BC. Unfortunately, Egypt ruled Canaan during this time. For most of the period they had regular military posts scattered around Canaan with most of their settlements in the coastal lowlands with Gaza as the administrative center. This is also the time when we have the Amarna letters. These are letters on clay tablets written in cuneiform written from the petty kings of the Canaanite city states asking the Pharaoh send them a few archers to put down upstarts and petty disputes. There are 382 known clay tablets recognized as the Amarna Letters, which constitute the official diplomatic correspondence of 14th-century B.C.E. Egyptian pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. Moses and his millions had not arrived. The entire population of Canaan at that time might have been 50,000 - 100,000.
The Hebrew bible indicates that the Moses led wanderings could not have happened earlier than 1,200 BC. . In Genesis 13:17-18 “When Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them by the way to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, “Lest the people change their minds and return to Egypt when they experience war.” So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea, and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle.” The Philistines arrived on the coast of Canaan in about 1150 BC. They were a component of the Sea People who played an important role in the Great Bronze Age Collapse of about 1250- 1,150. Thus, God warned Moses to avoid these Philistines who arrived during this period.
Scope. The arrival of 3 million Egyptian former slaves into Canaan would have met with the Egyptian army. However, the Egyptians who should have known there were 3 million escaped saves headed to Canaan, did not increase their soldiers in Canaan as would have been expected. Egypt had as many as 1,000 soldiers scattered across their 3 strategic sites in Canaan at that time.
Writing. Canaan did not have a literary written language. Egypt had Hieratic as their literary written language prior to the conquests in Canaan. In Canaan/Israel early transitions between Egyptian which was an African derived language and hebrew developed which was a semitic language. The Israelites demonstrated an ability to write literary Hebrew around 800 BC. long after the events of and life of Moses.
Hedgenemy of Egypt - Egypt had conduct significant military battles across the northern part of Canaan such at Megiddo. Strategically, the only large competitor of Egypt were the Hittites of central Turkey. This Egypt kept most of their forces in Canaan near the northern border to protect against Hittite expansion beginning around 1,600 BC. Egypt regained its hedgenemy over Canaan/Israel until they were replaced by the Assyrians for 100 yrs. Then the Assyrians left and Egypt again took Israel into its empire.
Yes, the Romans were taxing, and years later the Muslims were taxing unless Jews and Christians converted. Not sure how many converted, how many were killed and how many did not convert and hated the taxers.
Yes, the Greek language, the Pax Romana and Jewish congregations in the area aided Paul's missionary efforts toward Europe.
It is unfortunate that Jesus did not commission other apostles who were as effective in the other directions, so there would not have been the spiritual vacuum that allowed Mohammed to do his thing.
Yes, Jewish history and the history of the Bible was like making sausage, with many unanswered questions, including the date of the time when Moses led the Hebrew slaves to Canaan, with 1,500 to 1,200 BC being the best bet. The ninth pharaoh of the New Kingdom, Amenhotep IV or Akhenaton (1369-1353), is noteworthy for attempting to change the Egyptian religion to monotheism, which is called the “Amarna Revolution”. (At this time records speak of Hittites gaining control of Syria and Habiru penetrating the area around Jerusalem.) Reactionary forces ousted the heretic pharaoh and began the 19th dynasty with the one-year reign of Ramses I, then Seti I (1302-1290), whose son, Ramses II (1290-1224) is thought by many scholars to be pharaoh during the Exodus led by Moses.
Certainly the Exodus would have occurred no later, because there is a stele erected during the reign of his son about 1220 that refers to a defeat of Israel in association with other Canaanites. I note that you cited the reference to the Philistines in Genesis 13:17-18 and said the Philistines (a component of the Sea People) arrived on the coast of Canaan in about 1150 BC.
Regarding the number of Hebrews who exodused, I began this computation but did not finish it:
1. Begin with 70 people who moved to Egypt at the time of Joseph, including at
least 12 couples (24 parents).
2. Second generation in year 20 = 190 (60 new couples) if each couple averaged 10 kids (+ 46 non-parents) ]
3. Third gen in 40 = 890 (600 newbies + 120 parents + 24 grandparents + 46)]
4. 4th gen in 60 = 3,720 (3,000 newbies + 600 parents + 120 grandparents)]
5. 5th gen in 80 = 15, (15,000 newbies + 3,000 parents + 600gp) ]
6. 6th gen in 100 = 93,000 (75,000 newbies + 15,000 parents + 3,000 gp) ]
7. 7th gen in 120 = ?
8. Etcetera ? [Not sure if that is 3 million.]
After losing many soldiers in the Red Sea, the Egyptian army was discouraged from chasing the Hebrews into the wilderness. I note that you said Egypt kept most of their forces in northern Canaan to protect against Hittite invasion beginning around 1,600 BC.
Moses would have had an Egyptian education and written language. I note that you said the language transitioned from Egyptian to a Semitic language by around 800 BC.
Clarification: Both Hebrew and Heirtic are very different languages. Hieratic remained partially logographic (signs representing words) and syllabic, while Hebrew moved toward a purely alphabetic system. Hebrew was part of an asiatic group of languages which evolved into Phoenician, Ugaritic and eventually into our modern languages. Hebrew remains unique. It had no vowels ( they were added 1,000 years later) While Phoenician added vowels that we used today in our western languages. Thus, there is no language family tree that contains both Hebrew and Hieratic. I often ask "what language did Moses use to write the 10 commandments? If it was Hieratic, none of the Israelites would have know what it said as slaves were not educated in Egypt. Thus after Moses died nobody would have been able to read what he wrote in Hieratic.
Islam evolved 600 yrs after Christianity, but it came from Christianity. One of the most serious controversies in the early church revolved around the numerous concepts of God & Jesus. The Holy Spirit was pretty much ignore for a few hundred more years. One of the groups that lost out once Christianity became a state sponsored religion with tight borders around what was orthodox and what was not. One widely held theologies, later called heresy, was the belief that followed the Jewish shema prayer that had be in instructed by God that must be repeated 3 times a day..."Hear of Israel! Our God is One." There were perhaps 4-5 million people who repeated this daily. The Council of Nicea in the 4th century define as orthodoxy that God is 3. For Christians who were former Jews this confronted their core beliefs. So, those holding the belief that God is One often retreated to desert monasteries where the could continue their Christianity where Jesus was the one and only son of God, but not God himself. In the 7th century an Arab arrived at one of these monasteries to study. As an Arab, Mohammad could trace his religious heritage back to Abraham and Abrahams's 12 sons with his last wife Keytruda. Thus, from this religious heritage, Mohammed too believed in one God. He thus focused on the ethical and moral teachings of Judaism and Christianity as he evolved an Arab specific mixture of these two religious traditions. Not much is known of Muhammad's writings or actual beliefs but several generations of his followers evolved and split into two major competing group Sunni and Shea. Sunni, the largest group (90%) have 4 separate divisions. Shia has 3 separate groups. Additionally there are Ibadi, Ahmadiyya and Alevi/Alawites.
The Merneptah stele you referred to clearly identified "Israel" a people group, not a political entity nor location specific residents. They claim to have wiped them out as they did on the many town and villages which they did destroy.
A few additional points. Extensive archeological surveys have demonstrated that around 1,200 BC there was a rapid growth of villages in the hill country of Judea. However, the highest total looks like perhaps a 10-20,000 newcomers settled in the hill country. This was also the peak of Great Bronze Age collapse were entire civilizations were destroyed and people across the middle east were moving to escape starvation. Almost all the major cities in the levant were burned and entire cultures were wiped out. Those immigrating into the Judean hill country in the 12th century BC showed no signs of anything Egyptian, either by pottery, buildings or artifacts. These hill country settlements with most being no more than a few hundred people in any one location. They left no know writings behind. This peaceful settlement suggests that the conquest narrative is political and ethnic fiction.
Again, any large scale immigration and accompanying destruction is not in evidence on the ground and in the suggested conquest period, Egypt was in full control of all of Canaan and up the coast as far as Ugaric. They did not encounter any army or armed invaders during your suggested arrival of 3 million people in Canaan. Extensive archeology has been conducted in this area for over 100 years often today using world class physical technology. Still there is no sign of a massive and destructive immigration into Canaan. There is no consensus among the majority of modern archaeologists and biblical scholars that a massive, nation-sized migration out of Egypt occurred around 1200 BC. Instead, mainstream academic opinion holds that the Exodus story is a "founding myth" or a composite narrative rather than a historical record, with little to no archaeological evidence for a large-scale migration. A smaller subset of scholars (sometimes referred to as the "moderate" or "biblical archaeology" camp) argues that the story may have a "historical core," suggesting that a small group—perhaps only the Levites—originated from Egypt. Egypt during the period in question left us extensive historical, religious and cultural writings none of which are aware of Hebrews, unique plagues, stange 1st born deaths etc. There is no historical evidence on either side of the Jordan river.
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