Moses Was a Fake!
In the spirit of our Seminarian Wager, I thought I would discuss a theory of the composition of the Old Testament that may challenge both our faith and our doubts. This particular challenge will compare the narratives of Moses, as well as a man named Sargon. Most of you are familiar with the Biblical character Moses, but I am guessing that most of you (like myself) were previously unfamiliar with Sargon.
When reading these stories side by side, one notices extraordinary similarities. Both Sargon and Moses were born and hidden, placed on a river in a basket sealed with pitch, discovered and raised by another, rising to greatness, etc.
So if you hold to Christian belief, you may be asking, “If these stories are so similar, did the author of Exodus copy the birth story of Sargon and simply insert Moses’ name? If Moses’ birth narrative is fabricated, how can I possibly believe the rest of the Exodus narrative?” If you hold to an agnostic/athiest belief, you may reach the same conclusions and regard this as evidence for your disbelief in the biblical accounts.
Now that we have analyzed the potential challenges to the faith, let’s challenge the assumptions behind our doubts. One assumption is that because the language of Moses birth mirrors that of Sargon’s, one must be a copy of the other, thereby making the story a fabrication.
Why must that be so? I would posit that the mere presence of similarities between the stories isn’t enough to credibly believe this assumption. A connection must be found between the origination of the two accounts (as well as the respective cultures from whence these stories originated) to hold to this possibility. Anything less is a foggy assertion utilizing flimsy evidence.
Let’s presume I’m hiking through the woods in Canada, and telling you about it after the fact. While on a mountainous trail, through a clearing I see a bear resting on a ledge in full sunlight! I proceed to humorously describe the bear as laying down in his favorite “thinking spot.”
I have purposely described a true story in language that evokes the fictional story of Winnie the Pooh. I may have many reasons for doing this, in this case humor. But my use of this language from a work of fiction does not detract at all from its truthfulness.
In the case of Sargon and Moses, given the Jewish belief regarding the supreme power of their God and the divine appointment of those elected to lead them, one likely reason for the mirroring of the language is to indicate to anyone familiar with both narratives that someone greater than Sargon has come. The similarity in language does not conclusively mean the story is fabricated. If anything, it means the storyteller was highly educated and able to tell a true story in a way that bore deep theological and social significance, simply by drawing a polemic comparison between two main characters.
This is just one example of many illustrating why it is important to critically evaluate any assumptions and doubts we have regarding scripture1.
- Thanks to Dr. C. John Collins for the inspiration of this post [↩]
Posts
One could also see the same comparision between Moses and Jesus - in Matthew’s gospel…which does show this type of thinking can exist in the bible.
I would have to read them both side by side - since I have not - I am not that great a judge of the subject at hand. I tend to think Moses was a real person (an opinion) because the acts of Moses - including festivals - are still celebrated…and the Exodus is treated as an actual event (Moses being the figurehead person of the story).
Is Moses real - good question.
SocietyVs,
“One could also see the same comparision between Moses and Jesus”
Absolutely. One of the really neat things that Matthew does in telling the actual events of Jesus life is tell them in a manner that connects the Jewish mind to the telling of the actual events of the exodus/giving of the law by Moses. Two real events, couched in similar language. Good call SocietyVs.
“Is Moses real - good question”
I should very plainly assert that I do believe that the events depicted in Exodus are actual historical occurrences with true historical characters.
Are the stories within Exodus true? Absolutely.
Did a few million people escape Egypt through the Red Sea by miracle historically speaking? Probably not.
But that’s just considering the archaeology we have available. Something LIKE the Exodus could very well have happened. But the proportions, the sheer numbers given in the Biblical account seem to be greatly exaggerated, perhaps to emphasize the enormity of the theme, that is, God’s claiming a people through salvation.
I agree with Chris here… the Exodus more than likely happened, just not in the numbers provided. The Rabbi who taught me in my jewish interpretations class often claimed the the numbers in any given biblical story are “suggestion and not to be taken litereally.”
Seems kinda silly calling Moses a fake. That’s like saying Napolean was a fake. It is not a fairy tale, it is history backed up by hundreds of manuscript. It’s sad that people in this world can’t believe things written in an obviously inspired book with over 40 authors written over 1600 years time and all in perfect harmony, yet they’ll believe stupid theories such as evolution because people find bones and make up stories to match them.
The WHOLE bible is God’s inspired masterpiece and has held up over time tried and true unlike most “science” that changes every 150 years.
Chris T.,
While I agree that the events depicted in the Bible are true, the point of this article is that it is important for Christians and non-Christians to critically evaluate their beliefs. Doing so actually provides a deeper and richer faith.
So, in the case of this article, when we examine literary evidence from the time period of Moses, we find this story about Sargon that parallels the language in ways that necessitate borrowing. Part of the inspiration you speak of (which I agree with) is the choice by Moses to couch his birth language that parallels this well known story as a means by which to say “One greater than Sargon has come.”