Do New DNA Discoveries Really Disprove the Bible?

Dear friends and readers,

I doubt any of you are unaware that our precious Holy Bible has been under constant attack for the past several years. Mankind without the Holy Spirit cannot and never will understand what God has done for His creation by providing eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. The truth is however, mankind must either come to grips with God's Word or do everything possible to disprove it.

Yet another attempt is being made to decry the Bible but this time through the use of DNA. As I was pondering how to tackle this problem, I came across the following most excellent article by Dr. Michael Brown, a Messianic Jewish believer and renowned radio talk show host. Sometimes in life you realize that an attempt to write an article simply cannot achieve more than one already written.

This is one of those times and I am reprinting Dr. Browns article (with permission) and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

SPECIAL NOTE: Normally we include art on my blog articles but decided not to do so in this case in order that Dr. Browns article will retain exactly the theme he intended.

Click the link below to view the original article.

Original: Posted: Jul 31, 2017 11:15 AM by Michael Brown

There was a spate of headlines last week claiming that new scientific discoveries disproved the historical narrative of the Bible. Headlines included, “DNA vs the Bible: Israelites did not wipe out the Canaanites” and “Study disproves the Bible's suggestion that the ancient Canaanites were wiped out.” The problem is that the reverse is actually true: The discoveries confirm what the Scriptures explicitly state. Not surprisingly, these headlines didn’t come from obscure, Bible-bashing websites. Instead, they came from Cosmos Magazine, Yahoo.com, New Scientist (claiming that the discovery helped unravel the “true fate” of the Canaanites), and others.

As stated in the New York Times, “There is a story in the Hebrew Bible that tells of God’s call for the annihilation of the Canaanites, a people who lived in what are now Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories thousands of years ago. “‘You shall not leave alive anything that breathes,’ God said in the passage. ‘But you shall utterly destroy them.’ “But a genetic analysis published on Thursday has found that the ancient population survived that divine call for their extinction, and their descendants live in modern Lebanon.” The problem, again, is the word “But,” since there is no contradiction between this genetic discovery and the Old Testament accounts. A more accurate statement would have been, “But the Hebrew Bible tells us explicitly that Israel failed to complete this mission of extermination, and a genetic analysis published on Thursday lends confirmation to this account, finding that the ancient population survived that divine call for their extinction, and their descendants live in modern Lebanon.”

 As for the study itself, “Dr. Tyler-Smith and an international team of geneticists and archaeologists recovered ancient DNA from bones belonging to five Canaanites retrieved from an excavation site in Sidon, Lebanon, that were 3,650 to 3,750 years old. The team then compared the ancient DNA with the genomes of 99 living people from Lebanon that the group had sequenced. It found that the modern Lebanese people shared about 93 percent of their ancestry with the Bronze Age Sidon samples.” What did the team conclude? According to Iosif Lazaridis, a Harvard geneticist who did not participate in the study, “it turns out that people who lived in Lebanon almost 4,000 years ago were quite similar to people who lived there today, to the modern Lebanese.” But why should this surprise us? Or why should this discovery, assuming its accuracy, be taken as a contradiction of the Bible?

You don’t need to be a Bible scholar to figure this out. You don’t even need to read the Hebrew language. Any English Bible will do. The story is forthright and clear. After the death of Moses, it was up to Joshua to lead the people into the promised land, the land of Canaan, driving out the peoples that lived there. These included “the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” (Exod. 3:8). According to a number of biblical passages, these peoples were notoriously wicked (see, e.g., Deut. 9:4-5). Still, God told Abraham that he would have to wait 400 years before his descendants could possess their land. At that time, their guilt and wickedness would be complete (see Gen. 15:13-21). The Book of Joshua recounts Israel’s conquest of Canaan, with city after city falling before them. But was it a complete victory? Was it an absolute annihilation of the enemy? Not even close. As Joshua itself states, “Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, ‘You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.’” (Josh. 13:1). So, toward the end of Joshua’s life, Israel had hardly completed its mission. The verses that follow contain a detailed list of all the regions that were not yet taken, including, “all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians” (Josh. 13:5-6, my emphasis).

So, the inhabitants of Lebanon were not driven out, as these DNA discoveries seem to confirm. Then, in the next book of the Bible, called Judges, which continues the story after Joshua’s death, an angel of the Lord rebukes the people for failing to drive these nations out. The angel even says, speaking for God, “I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you” (Judg. 2:3). In fact, the last 17 verses of Judges 1 detail all the peoples that Israel failed to drive out. Verse 31 specifically mentions “the inhabitants of Sidon,” which was one of the major cities of Lebanon. And look at what the very next chapter states, “Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods” (Judg. 3:1-6, my emphasis).

In the centuries that followed, Lebanon remained a distinct kingdom, sometimes at war with Israel and sometimes with good relations with Israel, but never conquered by Israel. All this is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. c So, the headlines should have read, “DNA Confirms the Bible.” Why, then, didn’t these news outlets tell us the truth? Your guess is probably similar to mine.


Thank you one and all and thanks again to Dr. Brown,

God bless,

Pastor Rance
And a P.S. from me; Did you notice that the scriptures said "they shall become a thorn in your sides"? Guess who occupies a huge portion of Lebanon today? HEZBOLLAH, a terror organization with an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.

ISRAEL, the nations rage! Will they NEVER learn?

Dear friends and readers,

Peace and grace to all of you in Jesus name.

History repeats itself, often in extremely dangerous ways; King Solomon stated “There is nothing new under the sun”, “That which has been is what will be and that which is done is what will be done”!

Things and circumstances often seem new to each generation but a careful study of history will dispel that myth. The things that change are people and subtle issues of circumstance but generally speaking mankind is prone to repeat his mistakes, hatreds, loves, zeal for power, pride and folly time after time after time after-----!

This week signals more and more threats against Israel and the Jewish people. Iran, (ancient Persia), Hezbollah, Hamas, and not the least of which are several committees within the United Nations. Several countries voting in those hallowed halls to deny the Holy City of Jerusalem to Israel and blatantly proclaiming that it and several decidedly Jewish historic national sites "really belong to the Palestinian people". 

Really ?

Entire history book s are being rewritten to proclaim absolute falsehood regarding Israel's God given claim to their ancient homeland. And, the United Nations seems just fine with threats of annihilating all Jews and stealing Israel's land.

The events of Purim (book of Esther) are celebrated in the fall of the year. Normally I would not write about the miracles that surround that feast day until it comes up on the calendar. But in this case I think a reminder of what happened those long years ago may help folks to understand what is happening today. It is literally a time of history repeating itself vis-a-vis the wisdom of King Solomon.

The events of those days happened in the 5th century B.C. Or about 470 years before Christ walked the earth.

It is all recorded in the Biblical book of Queen Esther. This book is only 10 chapters long and is available in any modern version of the Bible so I am not going to  belabor the entire story. Basically this is the plight of a Jewish orphan girl that was eventually chosen by a Persian King by the name of Ahasuerus (also called Xerxes) to be his queen.

There are several main characters in this timeless story but it all basically boiled down to four personalities. The King was extremely powerful and controlled a huge portion of  what is the Middle East today. The Queen who is the actual star (Esther actually means STAR) of the Book of Esther was a very beautiful but shy lady who rose to power on the heals of another Queen's failure. 

Then we have a good guy and a very bad guy; The good man was a Jew by the name or Mordecai who had at one time saved the Kings life. He was also Esther’s relative and raised her after the death of her parents.

The bad man in this story was very bad. He was a greedy, self deceived, jealous man who hated Mordecai and because he was a Jew, actually plotted to kill all of the Jews living in Ahasuerus Kingdom. This mans name was Haman who was an advisor to the King. The usual evil plots and scheming took place until he was able to convince the King to order the destruction of all Jews in his Kingdom. In those days once a Royal decree was signed into the official records, not even the issuing King could reverse it. 

Mordecai discovered this evil plot and enlisted the help of his niece, Queen Esther. Even though she was the Kings wife she was not allowed to enter into his presence without prior invitation. Taking a chance with her own life, she did approach the King and through miraculous circumstances the entire plot was exposed, the Jews saved from death, Mordecai elevated to the Kings right hand man and Haman suffered the very death he had plotted for so many others.

This is just one time of many that nations have tried to wipe out Israel and the Jewish people only to discover that it cannot be done and never will. But they keep trying don't they? In the face of generations of history, including proof positive that it cannot be done, I call that "stuck on stupid"! 

The thing is that every single nation who tried to wipe out Israel and all the Jewish people were not ruled by stupid men. In fact they represent cultures that were each and everyone, the absolute glory on earth of their time in history. Everything from science, poetry, monumental engineering feats, literature, math, Medicine, Philosophy, language and of course modern warfare of their day were the hall marks of these great societies. Yet to a nation, they all made the very same mistake. Vainly thinking they could rid the world of Israel and the Jewish people who God called to be His own. And why did they do this? Because each and everyone of these nations worshiped false gods (another name for satan) who cajoled these strong leaders into self destruction by trying to steal something from the One True God, the Creator of the Universe. Bad mistake!

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY!

Ancient Persia is called Iran today. I am certain that anyone reading this article knows that the religious leadership of the current Nation of Iran has openly announced on many occasions over the years that his desire is to annihilate all Jews in Israel and in fact all Jews living upon the face of the earth.Todays Iran is a huge country with a well equipped modern army and is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Some experts indeed say they are very close to realizing that goal. If you doubt that look closely at North Korea who does in fact have nuclear capabilities. Modern military thinking dictates that Iran most probably received assistance with it's nuclear ambitions from North Korea.

Historically the United States has been a great supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. Things changed along that line rather dramatically during the past 8 years when the last President of the USA seemed intent upon estranging all Jews to the point of seemingly turning its (his)  back on the only free democracy in the Middle east---ISRAEL! The new current President has done an about face and seems intent upon supporting Israel but how much damage has already been done and can it now be reversed?

Into this complex mix comes the Prime Minister of Israel, a man who is a very serious confirmed Zionist. 

I should clarify what a Zionist is before moving on with our story; A Zionist (myself included) is a person who believes that the Bible is true. That God said certain things in the Bible that can never ever change. One of the core issues involved are the covenants that God gave to the Jewish people through Abraham, his son Isaac and his son Jacob. Jacob’s name was later changed by God to “ISRAEL” and he became the progenitor of the original 12 tribes of Israel. NOTE: see complete story in the first 5 books of the Bible (The Torah).

A Zionist is a person who believes that God was serious when He gave the land of Israel (eternally) to the Jewish people and no one else on this planet has a right to that land nor a right to give it away---not even the Jews themselves.

I will throw something else into the pot that I personally believe as a Zionist. We know that the modern State of Israel came back into being on May 14, 1948. However Israel was in fact founded by God Himself well over 3,500 years ago. The Jews were scattered from the land by the Roman legions in A.D. 70 and again in 135 A.D. after which they roamed the earth from nation to nation for the past 2000 years.  However there has always been a Jewish presence in the land and after this "Diaspora" (scattering of people with a common origin), God began bringing His people back home to Israel and as such the date of May 14, 1948 really represents a reconstitution of a Nation that has always been a reality in the mind and heart of God!

This is not really an article about Biblically fulfilled prophecy but the fact remains that there are very many Biblical prophecies that foretold this reconstitution of the Nation of Israel. The fact that it actually happened should be a surprise to no one who is familiar with the Bible.

During the past few weeks, this continually renewed move against Israel by the United Nations is reminiscent of a very special prophecy logged by the prophet Zechariah (chapter 12 verse 2) in the 6th century B.C.  "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem". Verses 3-9 basically go on the say, "it ain't going to happen". In fact the time will come when all the nations are called by God into the valley of Jehoshaphat (Megiddo) for judgment. This is clearly delineated in Joel chapter 3 verse 2 and the stated reason that God calls the nations to Megiddo for judgement? Because they scattered His people, God's inheritance, among the nations and divided up HIS (God's) land.

I lay no claim to being a prophet called by God. However it is pretty hard to miss the fact that this time period we are now in signals significant similarities to what happened during Queen Esther's life in the 5th century B.C.  THE THREAT OF IMPENDING TOTAL ANNIHILATION OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH POEPLE! But this time by several Nations and terror organizations of the world including in great portion the United Nations.

At the same time, the United States Government has obviously stepping back from it’s historical friendship with Israel. It does appear that this trend is reversing but I am very concerned because mixed messages seem to be coming from the White House. One day the U.S. is moving it's Embassy to Jerusalem and the next day---maybe not so soon. Perhaps this is simply a case of political posturing and "the right act at the right moment". While I cannot know exactly what is in the mind of the U.S. President, it certainly appears that he is still supporting, at least to an extent, an extremely flawed  deal concerning Iran’s goal of obtaining nuclear capabilities. I sincerely hope that is not the case. Is that because he is "stuck" with what the previous President promised? Or are things happening behind the scenes that the average "Joe" on the street does not have a clue about? 

I must ask myself what kind of signal that is sending to the enemies of Israel and for that matter the allies of the United States who are witnessing The current U.S. Government vacillating with previously expressed campaign promises.

Of one thing I am absolutely certain; Governments, Nations, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens rise and fall on the worlds prophetic stage based upon their relationship with tiny Israel. 

HISTORY ALWAYS REPEATS ITSELF!

The Jews will ALWAYS be saved from utter and complete destruction. Israel will continue to stand tall among the nations and Jerusalem will be her capital.

To even hope for anything else is to stick ones finger up God's nose! Dangerous with a capital "D".

Let us hope that good will prevail and that those with evil intent will not take a great Nation like the United States down with them.

For those of you who say something like that could never happen to the good ole U.S.A?

Well lets see what history tells us about that?

ALL of the following Nations tried in some way to destroy Israel.

1). Ancient Egypt                               GONE!

2). Philistines                                     GONE!

3). Assyrian Empire                           GONE!

4). Babylonian Empire                       GONE!

5). Persian Empire                             GONE!

6). Greek Empire                               GONE!

7). Roman Empire                             GONE!

8). Byzantine Empire                         GONE!

9). Crusaders                                     GONE!

10). Spanish Empire                           GONE!

11). Nazi Germany                              GONE!

12). Ottoman Turks                             GONE!

13). Soviet Union                                 GONE!

14). P.S. Did anyone happen to notice that the British Empire is a mere shadow of it’s former self (after siding with the Arabs and against the Jews before the events of 1948)?

IRAN                                                            ????

Russia                                                          ????

United States                                                ????
                                                
The heavenly jury is out for all these and more.

SPECIAL NOTE! For those of you Christians who are turning your backs on Israel please remember that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel. God clearly chose Israel and the Jews as His own special people. Hebrews 10:30-31 “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord. The Lord will judge His people”. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God!

This is not a good time to be aligned with the enemies of Israel.

God bless,

Pastor Rance.