Moses & History (part 2)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Romans 15:4

In part 1, we began answering a student’s questions regarding what was being taught in her college class about Moses and the Bible’s history. She informed us that the “professor has mentioned several times that those pieces of the Bible may not be historically accurate, but are just told to depict a characteristic of God.” We addressed the most serious implications of this in Part 1; it would mean Jesus and the entire New Testament were in serious error when they referred to Moses and the Pentateuch as legitimate history. The Old and New Testaments are both predicated on the fact that Genesis through Deuteronomy are perfectly inspired and divinely recorded history.

HISTORICITY

Regarding the historical accuracy of the Old Testament, having done my undergraduate and graduate work in history, I can tell you with full assurance that there is nothing like it in antiquity. No other literary source has the record of transmission from generation to generation, nor the authenticity of manuscripts, nor the confirmation of historical details like the Old Testament. The ONLY ancient literature that rivals it in those categories is the New Testament.

Record of Transmission

On the CTF Genesis Timeline below (available at creationtruth.com/store), you will see the overlap of the Genesis patriarchs. This is important regarding the passing of family records from one generation to the next. Throughout Genesis, one will find the phrase, “This is the book of the generations of…” The Hebrew word for these records is toledoth; it is used 13 times. This means Genesis is a compilation of 13 divinely inspired family records. I personally believe the first one (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) is God’s record/toledoth, probably given to Moses sometime at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:8-11). Moses then compiled these inspired and divinely preserved records into one book – Genesis.

How faithful was the transmission of those records to Moses? Look at the overlap of the lifespans of the Genesis patriarchs. The records up to Noah would have to be preserved through the Flood. Noah could have known 6 ancestors who personally knew Adam, providing incredible confirmation of the family record. Then, to get them and the history that followed to Abraham, everyone from Noah’s son Shem to Abraham’s dad Terah could have known Noah. Additionally, everyone from Arpachshad through Isaac (10 generations) could have known Shem, who lived through the Flood! Or consider it this way: from Adam to Lamech is one direct connection, then Shem (who knew Lamech) to Isaac is just the second link in faithfully passing along the Genesis record! There is no record of antiquity like this!

From Isaac, the record passed to Jacob, who then passed it to his sons for preservation. To get to Moses, we then go from Jacob’s son Levi, to his son Kohath, to his son Amram, to his son Moses. Kohath would’ve known Jacob, and Jacob would have known Abraham, so we can cut out two more in the direct links. Therefore, we can have the Genesis record of over 2,500 years of history faithfully (and divinely) passed down to Moses by the inspired eyewitnesses in just 7 links:

Adam → Lamech → Shem → Isaac → Jacob → Kohath → Amram → Moses

In the scheme of history, that is an incredibly short gap from Adam to Moses, which only strengthens the reliability of the Genesis account, Mosaic authorship, and the inspiration of the Scriptures.

Accuracy / Authenticity

One of the weakest arguments against the Genesis record is that there are somehow gaps in the genealogies. Those making the argument can never point to where the gap is or who is missing. Rather, the Bible confirms the Genesis genealogies in I Chronicles 1:1-24 and Luke 3:33-38. In fact, the Bible specifically tells us in Jude 14 that there are no gaps; the genealogies are complete, “It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied”.

Rather, the Genesis genealogies and the lifespans recorded within them demand a historical, not a mythical, origin. How else can one explain the exponential decay curve in the lifespans? Who, when composing these “legends,” would think up an exponential decay curve? The entire notion is preposterous and not worthy of serious academic debate.

Regarding the preservation of manuscripts and their faithful transmission, please consult our articles “Divinely Dependable” and “Why These Books?” on our website:
https://www.creationtruth.com/divinely-dependable
https://www.creationtruth.com/why-these-books

Archeological Confirmation

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September/October 2025 Printed Newsletter

October 2, 2025

Flooded Marine Reptile

By Matt Miles • October 2, 2025

The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat. Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.

Our God Whom We Serve Is Able

By Ryan Cox • October 2, 2025

14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms.