Writers -- Ordinary Men?

Were the writers of the Bible just ordinary men or were they (as they professed), inspired by an all knowing God? This lesson will attempt to show how the critics of the Bible actually assisted in confirming the fact that the Bible’s authors were speaking the truth of God when they declared within their writings that they were recording God’s infallible word.

Throughout the last several hundred years, critics have worked diligently to discredit the Bible; yet those that seriously study the scriptures are still waiting for these skeptics to establish and prove their numerous accusations. It would seem logical to believe, that if the Bible were merely one large book, compiled over sixteen hundred years by forty ordinary men, that there would be numerous contradictions and errors. Yet this hasn’t been the case.

Critics have, upon numerous occasions, stated that the Bible cannot be true because it is not in harmony with the principle thoughts and practices of known science. From the times of Solomon, Isaiah, Job, Jeremiah, the Apostle Paul, and others, men of science claimed that these men were neither educated nor inspired writers. However, all the statements made by the writers of the Bible prior to the advent of modern science have now been proven true by the very sciences which early critics accused them of contradicting.

In the past the Bible has been involved in many battles with scientific critics; and, over true science, the Bible has always won. In the world today are many scientific theories and men of science will substantiate many of them as true, but only as long as they (the theories) are not at variance with the scriptures. All scientists of generations past have lost their battles against God’s word, as will all present and future scientists.

Likewise, critics of history have endeavored to discredit the Bible by pointing outs its would be historical errors. There was of course a time when historians were unaware of numerous ancient historical facts. They didn’t know the Egyptians harvested grapes (Genesis 40:10-11) and possessed much silver and gold (Exodus 25). Historians knew nothing about the past existence of great nations, such as the Hittites (Genesis 15:20). They were unaware that nations used different standards for calculating talents of silver and gold (II Kings 18:14), or that the art of writing was known by Moses and his contemporaries (Exodus 24:4). Historians knew nothing about Belshazzar (Daniel 5:1-21), King of the Chaldeans, yet the writers of the Bible recorded statements of facts and events which proved that they possessed an accurate knowledge of these ancient historical facts (Genesis 36:1-43).

Of course critics of the Bible denounced all these historical accounts previously recorded by "unlearned" men. They claimed them to be nothing more than historical blunders; however, after some of their "learned" colleagues began unearthing records of old, and others deciphered ancient hieroglyphs, proving the claims true. God’s truth again prevailed over the knowledge of man. Modern scientists and historians are proving their predecessors wrong, and helping substantiate the inspiration of the writers of the Bible. Dr. Davidson, a renowned scholar, best sums it up with the following statement. He said, "As regarding the Old Testament, every fresh discovery about the world’s early civilization and each significant tablet or cylinder brought forth from its resting places of thousands of years, seems to do something more toward the strengthening and deepening of our belief in the genuine inspiration of the written word of God".