When Bible Meets History invites you to accompany the author on an adventurous detective trip to see what's verified in those first five books of the Bible; how actual history is cloaked in that ancient form of writing called Biblical Hebrew; and what it all means to a modern, critically-thinking mind. The book addresses the largely unresolved question of whether history is compatible with the patriarchal story or at odds with that story.
We travel down the Bahr Yussef or Canal of Joseph to see first-hand how Joseph changed the prospects for agriculture in Egypt; then look for the Sea of Reeds where pharaoh's army drowned and come to Lake El Ballah, the lake "Where "God devoured," part of a shallow saltwater system that Hebrews traversed and observe that wind and tide can expose land before rapidly reversing course.
We look at the tribe of Benjamin, or Ben Yamin - sons to the right along the Euphrates River - and discover an ancient tribe that once worshipped the moon before becoming Israelite; then visit what's left of Santhat torini Island, after the most violent volcano in tens of thousands of years blew the island apart, destroyed Crete, then delivered a blanket of ash that blocked the sun, polluted waters that chased frogs onto land, and saw swarms of flies on dead fish; then we dine on honey dew from the desert manna tree, the tamarisk, and quail (as did Moses) harvested from their annual migration across the desert.
Through this detective work, we reveal history. Then we seek a reconciliation of actual chronology and scripture - nothing less than a translation of an ancient writing style into something that enhances our understanding of history and inspires our very souls. To do this, we look to what molded the Hebrew soul and why applying that experience to Torah so changed the world. Hence we travel back four millennia to a band of outcasts that made a living on the peripheries of monarchy, accepted escaped slaves, and disdained royal edicts. They figured out how to trade with tyrants and in doing so discovered that morality and moral laws work. They deduced that hundreds of gods do not add up to God. They developed stiff resistance to blather about idols and the natural rights of the powerful. And they chose Divine leadership in it all.
