The goat herders who weren't
Article author: Jay Zeke Malakai
Article editor: Rob Rose
Intro
It seems modern day skeptics have an axe to grind with anything and everything Biblical, up to and including its human authorship. According to modern myths, the Bible was written by "primative goat herders" who told stories around a campfire. Skeptical stories even differ on who these "primatives" were, some even disputing the existence of some of them, and the dates on which the Bible was written. Thankfully, the shameful display of bad scholarship and old wives tales from the skeptical side is matched and overthrown by extensive studies that allow us to have a reasonable background of at least some of the Biblical writers. Does the belief that they were primative goat herders stand up to scrutiny? In this article, we will look at some of the Bible authors and show that they actually came from a range of different backgrounds, and that none of them, in fact, were goat herders with a soft-spot for campfire stories.
Divine inspiration
2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21 both tell us of the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us that no prophecy came about by man's interpretation, but that men said what God commanded them through the Holy Spirit, and 2 Timothy 3:16 even goes as far as to call all scripture "God breathed". However, the Lord himself did not put pen to paper. The physical existence of the words we call "The Bible" is owed to around 40 human beings, each from very diverse backgrounds, over the course of around 1,500 years, beginning from Genesis (written by Moses approximately 1,400 B.C.) and culminating in Revelation (written by the apostle John approximately 90 - 95 A.D.). Obviously I do not intend to give huge amounts of details of the lives of all 40+ authors of the Bible from Moses to John, but I do intend to show the diversity of their cultural and professional backgrounds in order to dispel the myth that they were all just goat herders, and even refute some myths that dispute their authorship.
Amos
The first author I will briefly look at is Amos. It might seem quite strange to begin this article with
Amos. Chronologically, his is the 30th book in the Bible, putting his book about half way into the canon. More to the point, the very first verse of his book identifies him as a shepherd! Surely it is counterproductive to start with him? In starting with Amos, I would like to make two points. First, in all of history, Amos is the only Biblical author that could be considered to be anything like a goat herder. As a shepherd, he is the closest any Bible author ever came to the stereotype cast upon Bible authors by modern skeptics. My second point is that the prophets' professions don't even really make a difference. Though he was "just" a shepherd, Amos' was speaking in the name of God. In 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, we see that God actually uses the weaker things to shame the strong and the foolish to shame the wise. In other words, if God really did use a bunch of goat herders to deliver his message to the Earth, that would make it even worse for those who opposed him. It would be like a bunch of school children demonstrating that their teacher had made a grievous error (and I know from personal experience that this can happen, and is particularly embarassing to bear witness to). However, Amos is the only shepherd, besides David, known to have actually written a portion of the Bible.
David
Everyone who has ever been to Sunday School knows the story of David and Goliath. It is a story so famous that the name Goliath lends itself to many large creatures of our day. At the time when David killed Goliath, he was indeed a shepherd tending to his father's flocks. However, while it's possible he wrote some of his Psalms during the early days, David eventually became the king of Israel, leaving his sheep herding days behind him. Once again, there is no evidence to suggest that he ever herded goats.
Solomon
Solomon was the son of David, and as such he inherited David's kingdom, and he was actually anointed king while David was still alive. As a man born into royalty, and promised the throne of Israel, Solomon would obviously have had access to numerous resources from his youth. But of course, aside from that, Solomon was well known for his wisdom. In fact, he was the second smartest man ever to walk the earth, rivaled only by Jesus himself. When the Queen of Sheba visited him, she asked him many riddles and was amazed by how he was able to answer them all. Solomon's wisdom made him very famous indeed. This is yet another Bible writer who did not herd goats.
Moses
The most famous author, and the one with the most disputed books, is Moses. Moses wrote Genesis through to Deuteronomy, with the obvious exception of the end of Deuteronomy, which records his death. Jewish tradition holds that Moses' successor, Joshua, added these passages after the death of Moses. Jewish tradition also holds that Moses was the writer of Job, the oldest Biblical book, but this is unverified. According to Acts 7:22, Moses was well educated "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was part of the intellectual elite: A group of people capable of building huge architecture which even our own generation is incapable of replicating. This is an interesting concept, as Moses' culture was in favour of an Old Earth, at least 155,000 years old. They even claimed that they had understood astronomy for 100,000 years. Yet the genaeologies in the Bible give the Earth an age of only 6,000 years. Though he went against his culture in favour of the one true God, Moses certainly wasn't illiterate or uneducated. In fact, more Egyptian words are found in the Torah than anywhere else in the Bible, meaning Moses was bilingual! He certainly wasn't in illiterate goat herder telling stories around a campfire.
In addition to doubting the truth of the Torah, modern skeptics also like to dispute its very origins. According to modern myths, the Torah (and a lot of the Old Testament) was written by at least four seperate authors over 900 years after Moses, if he even existed, actually lived. This is known as the Documentary hypothesis, also known as the JEDP hypothesis. However, this theory has absolutely no basis in the facts. It's not even open for debate! The entire hypothesis is based on the faulty premise that writing had not been invented at the time of Moses. Joshua even identifies Moses as the author of the Torah in Joshua 1:7-8. The Documentary Hypothesis is riddled with too many errors to be mentioned in this box.
Matthew
Matthew was a multilingual tax collector, who was well accustomed to recording monetary transactions, and without the use of a calculator. He quotes the Old Testament over 60 times in his Gospel, which is more than any of the other three Gospel writers. That sure wouldn't have been an easy task, as there were no verses or chapters in his day, nor did he have access to BibleGateway. Matthew was no less intelligent than modern day accountants, and was certainly not a goat herder.
Luke
Luke, as a medical doctor and a historian, was by far the most fastidious Biblical writer, and his writings (Luke and Acts) make up 1/4 of the New Testament. In the opening verses of his book, he states his purpose in writing it as being "to write an orderly account" for Theophilus, so that he can be certain that what he had been taught about Jesus was true. Luke was among the intellectual elite of his day, and is even highly respected by modern, secular scholars. Luke was not a goat herder.
Paul
The infamous pharisee, Paul, was a well trained Jewish Rabbi. He had been educated in the scriptures from his youth, and was a force to be reckoned with prior to his conversion. What's most interesting about Paul is that he did not start as a Christian, like the other apostles. Instead, he spent a long time trying to wipe Christianity from the face of the Earth by brutally slaughtering those who would not renounce their faith in Christ. However, on his way to deliver an order against Christians, Paul was confronted by the one and only Jesus Christ of Nazereth in his glorified form, which lead to his conversion to Christianity. Paul is now one of the most famous New Testament authors. Surprise surprise, no goats.
Conclusion
With the possible exception of Amos, none of the known Biblical authors were goat herders. They came from a range of different backgrounds at various points on the intellectual spectrum. Some were rich, some were poor. Some were wise, some not so much. Whatever the case, the belief that they were all "Bronze age goat herders telling stories around a campfire" is blatantly false, and is actually based on circular reasoning. It automatically assumes the Bible is false (and that Evolution is true) by assuming people in Biblical times were somehow primative. The reality of it is, there is absolutely no reason to assume human beings have ever been intellectually inferior to modern man. Ancient technology, architecture and knowledge often matches, and sometimes exceeds our own. Ultimately, our apparant superiority is due to the accumulation of information brought to us by our ancestors, not to our own increasing intelligence. As Isaac Newton put it, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
But the ultimate Bible author IS a goat herder. Or, more accurately, he is a good shepherd. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the days of the earth are over, he will divide humanity into two categories: The "sheep", and the "goats". The sheep are those who heard his words and responded to them with faith. Their sins are forever forgotten, imputed onto Christ at the cross and erased as if they never even occurred. The goats, however, did not accept the free gift of eternal life. Their sins are not forgotten, and they will recieve due punishment for them. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I humbly invite you to become a "sheep" and inherit the eternal life that has been offered to you by the glorious author of the Bible. God bless you all, amen.