A Scientist's View of the Bible and More

Contents of A Scientist’s View of the Bible

Introduction

Aaron’s Sons and Taberah

Absalom’s Hair

Adam

Adam’s Apple

An Eye For An Eye, And A Tooth For A Tooth

Ananias and Sappira

Ark and the Philistines

Ark of the Covenant’s Construction

Army Horses of the End Time

Babylon the great

Babylon the great Falls

Balaam’s Donkey

Barjesus

Beastly Future of 666

Brass Serpent

Burning Bush

Cures by Jesus

David’s Altar

Eagle

Eden

Elijah

Elisha

Erosion

Evaporation and Boiling

Eve

Exodus Numerology

Feeding Thousands

Gemstones

Genealogies to the Split Kingdom

Gideon’s Wool

God on Mount Sinai

God’s Name

Goliath

Hezekiah’s Recovery

In the Beginning

Jerusalem’s End Salvation

Jerusalem’s Rescue

Job’s Disease

Job’s Fire

Job’s First Sons

Joel’s Prophecy

Jonah

Jordan River Crossing

King Asa’s Feet

King Jehoram’s Bowels

Leviticus Foods

Locusts

Magog Mayhem

Manna and Quail

Marah’s Waters

Metallurgy of the Bible

Meteorite!

Methuselah

Moses’ Rocks

Moses’ Signs

Noah’s Flood

Organizations and Christians

Paul’s Calling

Paul’s Miracles

Peter Cures

Plagues of Egypt #1-6

Plagues of Egypt #7-9

Plague of Egypt #10

Proof of God

Quails Alone

Resurrections and Jesus

Samaria Under Siege

Samson’s Hair

Sarah’s Child

Sodom and Gomorrah

Solomon’s Wisdom

Sons of God

Stilled Sun

Stilling of the Storm

Strange Books

Temple Dedication

The Creation of Life

The Crucifixion

The Exile

The Palestinians

The Parting of the Red Sea

The Pillar

The Seven Vials

The Seventh Day

The Sixth Seal

The Star of Bethlehem

The Temptation of the Wilderness

The Tower of Babel

The Transfiguration

The Walls of Jericho

Tongues

Virgin Birth

Walking on Water

Walking Through Doors

Wine from Water

Zacharias

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

This work is a collection of thoughts and observations regarding passages from the King James Bible of 1611 as made from one scientist’s viewpoint. It does not attempt to cover theology as that is beyond the realm of scientific analysis. This work is approached from a solely secular science viewpoint. It is a Bible study from a scientific perspective. No theological teaching or interpretation should be inferred. No blaspheming or heresies should be inferred or is intended. The thoughts within are the author’s own. The ideas within are not written with the intention of being accepted as automatically correct although the author certainly hopes that at least they might be scientifically plausible. The author can only hope that those of the Christian faith have their convictions strengthened by the words within this book. The author hopes those who are not Christians have their imaginations fired up by this text.

The author wishes to emphasize that he is no prophet. The author is neither a preacher nor even a particularly ‘good’ Christian. He is a competent scientist who wishes to record his scientific impressions of the text he has read within the Bible. None of the words should be thought of as theological teaching.

The author wishes to acknowledge that he is aware that he is not the first to have considered the Thera eruption as a timing event for the Exodus. The author does not know identity of the originator(s) but has arrived, from independent assessment of the text and data, at a similar conclusion.

It is perhaps a pointless exercise to attempt this work. One must remember the words of King Solomon.

Ecc 1:2

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

The author feels that there is good in this study. In his opinion, it is always profitable to thoughtfully consider texts of the Bible. If all the author’s words turn out to be results of an over active imaginations realize the following fact. We are all figments of God’s imagination. All things are figments of God’s imagination.

Aaron’s Sons and Taberah

Two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu had followed inappropriate procedure with fire and incense while within the tabernacle. As a consequence, they ignited and were burned to death.

Lev 10:1, 2

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

This was not the only time fire occurred. A fire also consumed parts of the Israelite’s camp at Taberah.

Num 11:1

And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

It happened a third time with the rebels after the Israelites learned there generation was not going into the Promised Land.

Num 16:35

And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

This last fire may have been the consequence of the earthquake that absorbed the rebel leader and associates. The reader should remember the fire that accompanied the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The quake of chapter sixteen of Numbers may have been related to the Thera eruption. That eruption created a small archipelago between Rhodes and the southern tip of mainland Greece whose largest member is the island of Santorini. Crete is south of it.

Num 16:32

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

Fire is a combustion type of chemical reaction called a combination or an oxidation. Chemists often have different terms for describing the same phenomenon. Specifically, it is a reaction with oxygen. In the reaction, oxygen chemically combines with whatever is burning. The result is an actual increase in mass. Much of the products rise up as particles of smoke. Fires can quickly make a volume of space difficult to see within unless an individual is below the smoke. Since the atmosphere is 20.9% O2(g) by dry air volume, fire safety is of extreme importance. The observation here is that one should always take diligent precautions to prevent burning. Fire alarms are a big help with modern fire safety.

Absalom’s Hair

King David’s rebellious son used to get a yearly haircut.

2 Sam 14:26

And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight.

A shekel equaling 180 grains of barley is not a reproducible standard; however, 11.4g is a good approximation. Absalom’s undoubtedly had oiled and perfumed hair and a beard. A mass of 2.28kg (5.03lbs) for cut hair is considerable despite the additives. It can be concluded that Absalom had a lot of hair on his head. His probable excellent diet would have assisted with his hair growth.

Hair, by the way, is made of a protein called keratin. This material is the same as that which comprises fingernails and it is also a large component of skin. Proteins are, themselves, strings of amino acids. Amino acids used to construct proteins by bodies are alanine, arginine, asparagines, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. They are often written with three letter abbreviations. Several are called essential amino acids since they are required in the human diet. They are found in human breast milk, eggs, fish and meats. Diet should, as a consequence, be closely monitored. After all, you are what you eat, or more generally, you physically are what you consume.

Amino acids in humans have the structure +H3NCHRCO2-. The positive and negative parts of the structure make an amino acid into what chemists call a zwitterion. R represents an organic, i.e., C and H containing molecular fragment. Each amino acid has its own specific R group of atoms. When two amino acids chemically combine, they release water, H2O(l), and an amide linkage, RNHCOR. The same type of reaction forms many plastics. In digestion, the reverse is caused to occur.

Adam

Adam’s creation is described in the second chapter of Genesis.

Gen 2:7

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The words are the Lord God’s as given to Moses since no human being witnessed the event. It is important to realize that fact. Moses did not personally see the creation.

If it is assumed that a great deal of time on Earth is represented, then Adam was created slowly. In this case, life originated from ground dust. It would have likely washed into water or have already been in water. A mechanism for life’s spontaneous appearance is unknown at the time of this writing. The author’s scientific training leads him to be of the opinion that it simply will not happen. Such an event seems a violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Living organisms are highly structured and well organized. Natural chemicals are not. They are instead, usually found as mixtures. To this scientist, it seems a miracle is required for life’s spontaneous appearance. One might wonder that if life appeared by itself long ago, then why does it not appear spontaneously now? After all, the raw materials for living organisms abound in our present world. In any event, the author has mixed many chemicals in laboratories and has never noticed anything alive forming from such a mixture. Nor is the author aware of anyone else mixing or cooking up something alive from an inanimate mixture.

If the creation was a direct miracle, a question arises. Why do studies in embryology, paleontology, and DNA all indicate stepwise changes tempered by environmental influences causing different species to appear and disappear down the millennia to the present? People appear to be a result of evolution. The answer is provided by the words of Jesus.

Mt 12:39

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

If humans were formed directly without internal past organism influences, then faith would not be required to believe. Our Creator seems to desire trust and faith in this matter. Also, it is logical for God to create Adam using the same techniques He used for all of the plants and animals. After all, why should He change methods that have worked perfectly?

Adam’s Apple

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has often been portrayed as an apple tree. The text does not actually indicate the tree’s species.

Gen 2:17

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

It must say plenty about the nature of human beings when Adam and Eve partake of the tree that is the only one they are forbidden to eat of.

Gen 3:6

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Note that the Lord God stated that they would surely die upon eating of the forbidden tree. Indeed, Adam and eve have long since reached and surpassed their expiration dates. Their physical deaths were not immediate however.

What of the tree’s name? The fruit itself does seem to have made a change in Adam and Eve’s brains. After all, they began to clothe themselves with fig leaves.

Gen 3:7

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Why did they sew fig leaves? Perhaps it was all that was readily available. Then again, it may have been figs that they ate. A fig tree would then have been right there next to them. After all, Adam was with Eve when she ate the forbidden fruit.

It is apparent from the above that food intake does affect the brain’s function. This only makes sense as our bodies have certain nutritional requirements. It is an interesting observation to note that as populations became more technologically advanced during the twentieth century, the intelligence of the average inhabitant increased. At least it seems that way based upon I.Q. data. Better nutrition and better education, appear the cause. This trend has become referred to as the Flynn effect.1 The United States government does have a list of optimal nutritional intake values for foods, minerals and vitamins. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences prepared the list. They are called the recommended daily intake, or RDI, values. It is logical that following those guidelines should result in a person’s optimal brain function level to be realized.

(1) Herrnstein, R. J.; Murray, C., The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, The Free Press: New York, 1994.

An Eye For An Eye, And A Tooth For A Tooth

The text of the Bible includes many well-known phrases. One such example is that of the heading. The following verse contains a phrase that is often repeated

Ex 21:24

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Tooth enamel is a very useful chemical. The enamel of teeth