Biblical "Science" and "Math"
According to the Bible:
Hares chew the cud. (Leviticus 11:6).
A hare does not divide the hoof. (Deuteronomy 14:7)
Camels don’t divide the hoof. (Leviticus 11:4).
The bat is a bird. (Leviticus 11:13,19; Deuteronomy 14:11,18)
Some fowls are four-footed. (Leviticus 11:20-21)
Some four-legged animals fly. (Leviticus 11:21)
Some creeping insects have four legs. (Leviticus 11:22-23)
The earth rests on pillars. (I Samuel 2:8)
The earth won’t be moved. (I Chronicles 16:30)
The earth has ends or edges. (Job 37:3)
The earth has four corners. (Isaiah 11:12; Revelations 7:1)
I Chronicles 3:19-20 says there were five children of Zerubabbel, but lists
seven males and one female.
Joshua 19:2-6 describes 13 cities of an inheritance, but lists 14 cities.
Joshua 15:21-32 says 29 cities belonged to the tribe of the people of Judah
in the extreme south, toward the boundary of Edom, yet lists 36 cities.
I Chronicles 3:22 says there were six sons of Shemaiah, but lists only
five.
I Chronicles 25:3 makes the same mistake in listing the six sons of
Jeduthun.
Joshua 15:33-36 speaks of 14 cities in the lowland, yet lists 15.
Ezra 2:64 says 42,360 returned from the captivity. The number of people in
each tribe that returned from the captivity, however, are listed from Ezra
2:3 to Ezra 2:60. They add up to 29,818.
Nehemiah 7:66 also says "the whole congregation together was 42,360." Yet
the figures listed between Nehemiah 7:8 and Nehemiah 7:62 add up to 31,089.
Ezra 1:9-11 mentions 5,400 vessels of gold and silver, yet the figures given
add up to 2,499.
Numbers 3:17,22,27-28,33-34 list the numbers of Levites, and they add up to
22,300. Numbers 3:39, however, says there were 22,000 Levites.
I Kings 7:23 describes a molten sea ten cubits in diameter and 30 cubits in
circumference--a physical impossibility, given that pi is 3.14159.
II Chronicles 21:20 says Jehoram began to reign at age 32, and reigned for
eight years before dying at age 40. According to II Chronicles 22:1-2, his
youngest son, Ahaziah, was then made king, and was 42 when he began his
reign. The son was two years older than the father!
I Kings 16:23 says Omri began his reign in the 31st year of Asa’s rule, and
that he reigned for twelve years. I Kings 16:28-29 however, says Omri died
and his son began to reign in the 38th year of Asa’s rule. This would mean
Omri reigned for only seven years.
I Chronicles 22:14 describes David’s expenditures for the house of the Lord
as 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000 talents of silver. This is the
equivalent of $3 billion in gold and $2 billion in silver. Are we to believe
David had more bullion than was held by the Roman empire at the height of
its power? The Romans received $22.5 million from their Asiatic provinces. I
Kings 10:14 describes Solomon receiving 666 talents in gold per year. This
is the equivalent of $20 million--close to what Rome took in.
In Ezra 1:2, Cyrus, the king of Persia, says God has given him all the
kingdoms of the world. Cyrus never ruled over the entire world, or even what
was then the known world.
II Chronicles 13:17 records 500,000 Israelites slain. Is this figure
accurate? This is ten times greater than the number of American casualties
in Vietnam.
I Kings 6:1 says there were 480 years between the time the Israelites left
Egypt and the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. Yet the Bible also states,
"...He gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the
prophet." If judges ruled in Israel for 450 of the 480 years between the
Exodus and Solomon’s reign, then Saul and David could only have ruled for a
total of 30 years. Yet II Samuel 5:4 records David reigning for 40 years.
Exodus 23:19 says, "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt
bring into the house of the Lord thy God." Yet God had no house before the
construction of the temple in 1004 BC--some 447 years after Moses. When
David proposed building a house for God, He forbade it and said He had never
lived in a house since they left Egypt. "Whereas I have not dwelt in any
house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt,
even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle." (II Samuel
7:6)
Numbers 14:33 says, "Your children shall wander in the wilderness for 40
years." If "wander" means "lost", how could they be lost for 40 years in an
area only 400 miles wide in its widest part?
II Chronicles 13:3 describes a conflict between Abijah and Jeroboam. The
conflict took place in Palestine, a nation about one-fourth the size of New
York. Yet 1.2 million soldiers were put to battle. This suggests a
population of 10 to 12 million, which is absurd. At best, Palestine would
have supported 2 million.
Exodus 1:15-16 describes the king of Egypt commanding Shiphrah and Puah to
kill all Hebrew male children. Shiphrah and Puah are identified as Hebrew
midwives.
Would the pharaoh have entrusted these midwives with an order to kill their
fellow Hebrews, especially if the safety of his kingdom depended upon the
order being carried out? The names Shiphrah and Puah are Egyptian. The
Jewish historian Josephus says they were Egyptian. (Antiquities B2, Ch. 9:2)
Genesis 11:26 says Terah was 70 years old when Abram was born. Genesis 12:4
says Abram left Haran at age 75 after his father Terah died. (See also Acts
7:4) This means Terah lived to be 145. Yet Genesis 11:32 says Terah lived to
be 205 and died in Haran.
Genesis 11:1-9 says the earth was of one language and one speech, and God
confounded mankind at the Tower of Babel by dividing them into many
languages. Yet Genesis 10:5 says, "By these were the isles of the gentiles
divided in their lands; every one after his tongue." Genesis 10:20 and 10:31
also say "after their tongues." How could different languages be created at
the Tower of Babel when Genesis 10 shows they already existed?
Genesis 5:32 says Noah was 500 years old when he begat Shem. Genesis 7:6
says Noah was 600 years old at the time of the Flood. This means Shem was
100 years old at the time of the Flood. Yet Genesis 11:10 says Shem was 100
years old, and not 102, when he begat Arphaxad, 2 years after the Flood.
II Chronicles 21:12 describes Jehoram receiving a letter from Elijah the
prophet. Yet II Kings 2:11 says Elijah went to heaven, while II Kings 8:16
says it was not until the 5th year of Joram that Jehoram began to reign. How
could Elijah send Jehoram a letter when Elijah went to heaven before Jehoram
appeared?
Exodus 12:40 says the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in
Egypt lasted for 430 years. Paul, however, in Galatians 3:16-17 says, "Now
the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring…This is what I
mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward (after the promise) does not
annul a covenant previously ratified by God."
If Paul's words are true, then Abraham got the Covenant at the same time the
Israelites entered Egypt. This is impossible. Some try to solve this problem
by quoting the Septuagint, which says, "...they sojourned in Canaan and in
Egypt 430 years." If this account is to be believed, it would require 430
years from the time Abraham entered Canaan until the Exodus from Egypt.
Abram was 75 when he left Haran. (Genesis 12:4) Abram was 99 when the Lord
appeared to him and God said Isaac would be born the following year.
(Genesis 17:1,21) This means there were 25 years from Abram's entering the
land until Isaac’s birth.
Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born. (Genesis 25:26) Jacob was 130 when he
entered Egypt. (Genesis 47:9) Adding 25 + 60 + 130 yields 215 years, which
would leave 215 years for the actual sojourning in Egypt; not 430 years.
Acts 7:6 reads: "And God spoke to this effect, that his (Abraham’s)
posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave
them and ill-treat them 400 years."
However, Paul says in Galatians 3:16-17: "Now the promises were made to
Abraham and to his offspring...This is what I mean: the law which came 430
years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God..."
How could they have been in Egypt for 400 years if the law was given 430
years after Abraham received the covenant? This implies all the events
between Abraham receiving the covenant and the Jews entering Egypt occurred
within a span of 30 years.
Exodus 12:40 says the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in
Egypt was 430 years. Jacob's grandson Kohath lived 133 years. (Exodus 6:18)
Kohath’s son Amram lived 137 years. (Exodus 6:20) Amram’s son was Moses
(Exodus 6:20) who was 80 years old when the Israelites left Egypt. 133 + 137
+ 80 = 350 years. This means the Israelites could not have been in Egypt
longer than 350 years.
I Samuel 17:54 says David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to
Jerusalem. Jerusalem, however, was a Jebusite city. The battle between David
and Goliath occurred in 1062 B.C., while the conquest of Jerusalem occurred
in 1047 B.C. II Samuel 5:6-7 describes the conquest and occupancy of
Jerusalem by the Israelites as having occurred years later. How could David
have taken Goliath's head to Jerusalem when David’s people did not conquer
the city until much later?
Daniel 5:2 calls Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar. But Nebuchadnezzar
was not the father of Belshazzar. The Modern Language Version of the Bible
concedes this point and calls Nebuchadnezzar his grandfather...
In 1929, when a rabbi wrote to Albert Einstein and asked him if he believed
in God, Einstein replied that he believed in the God of Spinoza (pantheism).
Einstein identified God with nature. On one occasion he admitted, "Through
the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that
much of the stories in the Bible could not be true."
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