We do not actually need firsthand namings of the patriarchs in ancient records; plenty of other historical characters are in the same case. The tombs of Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Canaan have yielded countless bodies of nameless citizens of Canaan; but their anonymity (no texts!) does not render them nonexistent. (K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2003], 372.)Whether events were written down they still happened. We, as mortals, are still accountable for our acts whether or not anyone wrote down a record.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
On History and Records
K. A. Kitchen notes:
