| Home > The Bible > A Birds eye view of a bird Old testament ? |
A Bird's Eye View of the Old Testament
by Brother A. D. AJIJOLA (Bar at Law)
The Modern Christian leaders and preachers have to a large extent lost contact with the revelation of God in the Old Testament. The highest they do is to pay lip service to the Old Testament by occasionally including passages of it in their lectionary and by using the Psalms in their worship. Since the Christians themselves have rejected the Old Testament, I shall have to refer briefly to it.
In examining the Old Testament , one discovers that it suffers many defects, interpolations and changes in form, as well as content. These defects , are such that there is hardly anyone who accepts the authenticity of the Old Testament as true and exact divine revelations to the holy prophets of Israel. Admitting that the Jews, Christians and the Muslims agree that God really spoke to the Prophets of Old Testament , both external and internal evidence no longer support the views that the records of the Old Testament as we possess it today . constitute the words of God as they were first revealed.
From the history of Israel , we learn that in the time of Nebuchadnezzar the books of Israel were burnt and destroyed. They were written by Ezra and on close examination , there is a good deal of internal evidence to show that the books have been interfered with :
" So Moses the servant of the Lord dies there in the Land of Moab according to the word of the Lord .And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth - Peor but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day unto this day" (Deuteronomy 34 : 5 -6 )
These verses show clearly that they were composed and added hundred of year after the time of Moses .It does not stand to reason that God ever addressed Moses ,saying ' Nobody knows about your sepulchre unto this day' since such words cannot be addressed to a living human being.
On reading the Old Testament , one finds many contradictions for example :
" Therefore Micheal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death " (11 Samuel 6 : 23 )
" And they give sons of Micheal the daughter of Saul , whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Bazillai the Meholathite " (11 Samuel 21 :8 )
The book contradicts itself by describing Micheal as childless in one place and the mother of five sons in another.
Furthermore , the Old Testament consists of many savage teachings such as the following :
" And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee ; thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them , thou shalt not make covenant with them nor show mercy unto them" (Deuteronomy 7 :2 )
To put to death all one's enemies after their defeat ,not to enter into any understanding with them and to refuse to show any mercy to them are more of the practice and conduct of cruel earthly Kings then of any divine teachings. They cannot be attributed to the Beneficent and Merciful God. Certainly such teachings must have been incorporated in the Old Testament after Moses . Such an interpolation has made the holy book become rather foul.
The Old Testament also contains many irrational teachings as can be seen from the following :
" But his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19 : 26)
This seems more like magic .it is reminiscent of stories told to children about ghosts and fairies and therefore has no place in the book of God. The account which the Holy Qur'an has given of this incident is more acceptable since it is devoid of any form of superstitious act or belief :
"She ( Lot's wife ) was of those who stayed behind " (Holy Qur'an 7 :84 )
In other words, she was not converted into a pillar of salt or any such thing : rather she refused to go with Lot and sacrificed the love of God for the love of relation.
The Old Testament also defamed many Prophets of God , in Genesis we read "
" And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain , and two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar : and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters .
And first born said to unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
Come ,let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father
And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first born went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first born said unto the younger, Behold , I lay yesterday night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
And they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger arose , and lay with him ; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father" . (Genesis 19:30-36)
No comment is necessary on this terrible report. Suffice it to say that it offends our sense of morality and decency. But the present Old Testament does to hesitate to attribute this to a prophet. From this we have to conclude that the Old Testament , as we know it today is not the Old Testament revealed to Moses. It must have been composed by Jewish scholars at time when they had developed hatred for the sons, real or supposed of Lot, Moab and Ammon. A faith of these Jewish scholars had become so weak , their hearts had become so hardened that to defame Moad and Ammon they did not hesitate to attribute to the Prophet Lot conduct which is reprehensible in the extreme : the attribution of such conducts to any prophet is most revolting and untenable. One wonders if the Christians and the Jewish world today is prepared to accept atrocious practices attributed to the Prophets of God ?
If the Old Testament , as it today , is accepted by the Christians as a divine revelation form God , the question one would like to ask is , what spiritual benefit can accrue from the atrocious teachings of such a book which seems to have become mutilated and has been changed out of recognition from its original form ? To regard a book which has suffered in this way as the very word of God is to invite ridicule against God and religion ; one wonders what faith or trust can such a book inspire in its readers .These defects of the Old Testament clearly points to the need of perfect book which should be free from these defects for the guidance of man and that book is the Holy Qur'an
(ICRA)