Quotes about disrespectful men

Before we begin, let me say I love the Jewish people and Christians, and I consider all of them my brothers and sisters, as I do all people from all religions and walks of life. We are all God's beloved children.
I thoroughly cherish the ancient wisdom contained in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and in the sacred books of other faiths as well.
Yet over the course of several decades, I discovered numerous inaccurate teachings which I would like to review. It may not be what most people consider a "conspiracy". Nevertheless, these misconceptions must be revealed for the truth to be known.
Egyptian origins
Judaism - the Jewish religion - originated in ancient Egypt. A mixed group of people from multiple nationalities, including Egyptian, were expelled from Egypt, taking Egyptian beliefs and practices with them, including Egyptian temple designs.
This theory has been around for nearly a hundred years. Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis who lived from 1856 to 1939, wrote about Judaism's link to ancient Egypt in 1939, the final year of his life.
From Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten :
"One of the first to mention this [theory] was Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in his book Moses and Monotheism.[235] Basing his arguments on his belief that the Exodus story was historical, Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest who was forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten's death. Freud argued that Akhenaten was striving to promote monotheism, something that the biblical Moses was able to achieve.[235] Following the publication of his book, the concept entered popular consciousness and serious research.[240][241]"
In this post, I will provide my own arguments supporting Freud's proposition.
I started thinking about the link between ancient Israel and ancient Egypt many years ago during my Bible studies. I was also fascinated with the histories of ancient Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, and others.
Over the years, I began noticing some very significant overlapping beliefs that cannot be dismissed. Some of these points are already known and hotly debated; others are my own observations.
I will be brief, however. This topic is absolutely huge in scope - covering history, archeology and religion. If I were to cover the topic to its fullest extent, it would be a book. I will spare you that torture and simply give you the abridged version.
My purpose? I put this out there for debate and further research.
The exodus out of Egypt
In the late 1300's BC, a large group migrated out of Egypt in what is known as "the exodus".
The exodus out of Egypt
Who were the people who left Egypt in the exodus?
The Bible claims they were almost all Israelites who were living in misery in Egypt. But there is good reason to believe the majority were actually Egyptians, as I explain later.
Black box - where the exodus settled
The group who left Egypt eventually settled between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, forming the nation of Israel.
Three major similarities
Several similarities exist between ancient Israel's religion and ancient Egypt's religion. These similarities are so striking, I propose the Jewish religion actually originated in Egypt, and was brought out of Egypt in the exodus.
• 1) Let's start with the most glaring similarity... the temples.
Ancient Egyptian temple
Key features of the ancient Egyptian temple:
a) outer courtyard, b) two large pillars at front entrance, c) a grand hall, d) an inner shrine with statue.
Left - Moses' tabernacle / Right - Solomon's temple
Key features of Moses' tabernacle and Solomon's temple:
a) outer courtyard, b) two large pillars at front entrance, c) first hall called "the Holy Place", d) an inner sanctuary called "the Most Holy Place" where the Ark of the Covenant was housed.
The similarities between ancient Egypt's temples and Judaism's designs are too similar to dismiss. I conclude those who left Egypt in the exodus brought with them Egypt's temple designs.
• 2) Animal sacrifice is another similarity I propose was brought out of Egypt in the exodus.
"...some of the earliest archeological evidence suggesting animal sacrifice comes from Egypt." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice
• 3) Lastly, in agreement with Sigmund Freud noted above, I propose Jewish monotheism (worship of one god) was also brought out of Egypt by the migrants who left in the exodus.
Monotheism from Egypt? Wasn't Egypt polytheistic, worshipping multiple deities?
Not always. Egypt had briefly experimented with the worship of one God who was without form. And this period of monotheism in Egypt lines-up perfectly with the time of the exodus.
Egypt's brief experiment with monotheism
There was a brief period in Egypt's history when monotheism flourished. This was during the reign of Akhenaten, around the middle 1300's BC.
Prior to this, Egypt had always practiced polytheism. But Akhenaten reformed Egyptian religion, focusing on one god instead - "Aten" - who was elevated to supreme god, and "the sole god of the Egyptian state religion". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aten
There is much debate over exactly how monotheism was practiced during that time. As Wikipedia explains - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten :
"The views of Egyptologists differ as to whether the religious policy was absolutely monotheistic, or whether it was monolatristic, syncretistic, or henotheistic.[14][15] This culture shift away from traditional religion was reversed after his death."
For this post, it does not matter how narrow or how broad Akhenaten's monotheism really was. What matters in this discussion is that Akhenaten's reign was an interruption in Egypt's religious system. Akhenaten reformed Egyptian religion, which did not sit well with the traditional priestly class.
After Akhenaten died, Egypt returned to its previous religious system. Akhenaten was vilified, his images chiselled and defaced. Wikipedia adds:
"They discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors and referred to Akhenaten as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records."
This is why today he is described as "the heretic king", referencing how he was considered after his death.
The exodus was an expulsion
I propose Moses was a high ranking member of Akhenaten's court, perhaps even a prince as the Old Testament describes him. Moses likely took over the leadership of the population of monotheists after Akhenaten died.
As Wikipedia notes (already quoted above) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten :
"Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest [a priest of the god "Aten"] who was forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten's death."
I conclude these were the migrants who left Egypt in the exodus. They were Egyptians who practiced monotheism, lead by their high priest, Moses - who was also an Egyptian, and priest of the god "Aten".
The monotheists had become unwelcome in the land of Egypt which had returned to polytheism. Akhenaten's son - the famous King Tut - even changed his name to disassociate himself from his father and the monotheism he had introduced. King Tut's original name was Tutankhaten, which he changed to Tutankhamun after Akhenaten's death.
As Wikipedia explains - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun :
"The cult of the god Amun at Thebes was restored to prominence and the royal couple changed their names to "Tutankhamun" and "Ankhesenamun", removing the -aten suffix."
The suffix at the end of their names indicated whom they worshiped, or the god they were associated with. Akhenaten's suffix was "aten", taken from the god "Aten" whom he associated himself with. Tutankhamun's suffix was "amun", taken from the god "Amun" whom he associated himself with.
King Tut thus changed his name to show he was not connected to Akhenaten or the monotheists who worshipped Aten. Egypt's brief experiment with monotheism was over.
Clearly there was a lot of hatred for that brief experimentation with monotheism. What would the atmosphere have been like for the followers of that monotheistic system after Akhenaten died? I imagine there would have been widespread persecution, or at the very least, discrimination.
I propose this lead to the expulsion of a large mass of people out of Egypt in the exodus. They were the monotheists of Egypt - composed mostly of Egyptians, but likely included foreigners living in Egypt who also practiced the monotheism introduced by Akhenaten.
Moses led this group of fellow monotheists out of an angry Egypt that clearly resented the upheaval Akhenaten had brought to Egyptian life. It must have been a forced expulsion, for they were driven into the desert where they were left to roam and fend for themselves. They would not have chosen to go there on their own.
The dates match
And the dates match. Akhenaten reigned from about 1352 to 1335 BC. Moses lived from about 1391 to 1271 BC. (The Bible writers claim he was 120 years old when he died. Could be true, I suppose.)
According to the Bible's account, Moses was 80 years of age at the time of the exodus, dating it to about 1311 BC. That somewhat fits, putting the exodus some 24 years after Akhenaten's death.
Personally, though, I do not see that it would have taken 24 years to expel a group of monotheists who were no longer welcome, whose founder (Akhenaten) was vilified, defamed, and so vehemently hated. I propose the monotheists were expelled right away, perhaps a year or two after Akhenaten's death.
King Tut - Akhenaten's son noted above - was only 6 years of age when Akhenaten died in 1335 BC, much too young to rule as Pharaoh on his own. It wasn't until 3 years later in 1332 BC when Tut finally ascended to the throne at the age of 9. During this brief interval of 3 years, Egypt's rulership was in contention. There was likely a power struggle. I propose it was during this 3-year period of upheaval when the monotheists were expelled.
Another link placing the exodus at the end of Akhenaten's life is a regional plague which struck Egypt and a large part of the Middle East during the last 5 years of Akhenaten's reign.
As Wikipedia explains - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten :
"Following year twelve [of Akhenaten's 16-year reign], Donald B. Redford and other Egyptologists proposed that Egypt was struck by an epidemic, most likely a plague.[127] Contemporary evidence suggests that a plague ravaged through the Middle East around this time,[128] and ambassadors and delegations arriving to Akhenaten's year twelve reception might have brought the disease to Egypt.[129] Alternatively, letters from the Hattians might suggest that the epidemic originated in Egypt and was carried throughout the Middle East by Egyptian prisoners of war.[130] Regardless of its origin, the epidemic might account for several deaths in the royal family that occurred in the last five years of Akhenaten's reign, including those of his daughters Meketaten, Neferneferure, and Setepenre.[131][132]"
Sound familiar? The Bible's story of the exodus includes a plague which affected all of Egypt, killing even one of Pharaoh's children.
When Moses led the monotheists out of Egypt, he took with him many elements of the monotheistic system that Akhenaten had introduced. I propose this is why Moses' tabernacle looked so similar to Egyptian temples, with even more similarities showing up in Solomon's temple.
Joseph was Imhotep
Yet the Old Testament borrows more from Egypt than just its religious concepts. I propose it also borrows a very famous person... Imhotep.
Multiple similarities exist between Imhotep (a high ranking administrator in ancient Egypt) and the Biblical Joseph (who lived in Egypt before Moses). I propose, as many others do, that the Joseph of the Old Testament was based on Imhotep of ancient Egypt for 3 reasons:
• 1) Let's start with their names...
In "Imhotep", the 1st vowel is "i", the 2nd vowel is "o", the 3rd vowel is "e", followed by a "p".
The name Joseph in Tiberian Hebrew is "Yoseph", and in Aramaic is "Yosep". In both cases, the 1st vowel is "y" (pronounced as short-"i"), the 2nd vowel is "o", the 3rd vowel is "e", followed by a "p" - just as in "Imhotep".
Even the "t" in Imhotep and the "s" in Yosep use similar movements of the tongue.
• 2) Next, their status...
Imhotep occupied a very lofty position in Egyptian court. He was "chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser, possible architect of Djoser's step pyramid, and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep
Joseph, for his part, is described in the Bible as having been elevated to the 3rd highest position in Egypt.
• 3) Finally, their great works...
"Imhotep was one of the chief officials of the Pharaoh Djoser. Concurring with much later legends, Egyptologists credit him with the design and construction of the Pyramid of Djoser, a step pyramid at Saqqara built during the 3rd Dynasty. [17] He may also have been responsible for the first known use of stone columns to support a building.[18]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep
Similarly, the Bible describes Joseph as having supervised the construction of numerous large stone granaries in which to store "all the grain of Egypt".
Though granaries and pyramids differ in design, we have to acknowledge the similarity... both men were in charge of building massive stone structures.
Also, to the Israelites living after the exodus, when the Old Testament was written, the pyramids of Egypt likely looked to them like the remains of giant granaries of long ago. Thus, where the ancient Egyptians credited Imhotep with constructing pyramids, the Israelites credited Joseph with constructing the same structures - which they thought were old ruined granaries.
Yet there is one gaping hole in this theory that Joseph was Imhotep... they lived in different time periods. Imhotep lived in the 2600's BC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep), while Joseph lived in the 1800's BC.
Indeed, they lived centuries apart. But let's keep in mind that the writers of the Old Testament did not have such detailed information as archeologists have today. The writers may have placed Joseph in the wrong century, but they were right to place him a few hundred years before the exodus... just as Imhotep also lived centuries before the exodus.
The Old Testament writers were also correct in the phonetics of the name, the occupation, the works, and the elevated position of importance. I propose the Old Testament writers took Imhotep and claimed him as their own as Joseph.
Claiming Egyptians and others as their own
We can see why the writers of the Old Testament wanted to claim Imhotep as their own, as an Israelite.
Between 1550 and 1077 BC (which overlapped the time of the exodus), Imhotep was worshipped as a "demigod" - one of only a handful of non-royals ever to be deified. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep) He was the equivalent of today's superstar. To claim Imhotep as a fellow Israelite gave them a tremendous boost of pride.
They also claimed Moses as their own. As the Old Testament account goes, Moses was born an Israelite, was sent adrift on a river to escape slaughter, was rescued by an Egyptian princess, and was raised as a prince in Egypt's court.
They also claimed Abraham as one of their forefathers, a Mesopotamian who lived in the city of Ur by the lower Euphrates river near the Persian Gulf.
Noah, too, was claimed as an even more distant forefather, when in fact the story of Noah, the ark, and the flood were copied from the ancient Sumerian text "The Epic of Gilgamesh". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king Uta-napishtim survived a flood by building a large vessel which he filled with animals. As Wikipedia explains - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utnapishtim :
"The story of Uta-napishtim has drawn scholarly comparisons due to the similarities between it and the storylines about Noah in the Bible."
But why did the Israelites claim all of these people as their own?
• The ancient-Sumerian Uta-napishtim (whom they renamed Noah),
• the late-Sumerian Abram of Ur (whom they renamed Abraham),
• the ancient-Egyptian Imhotep (whom they renamed Joseph),
• and the later-Egyptian Moses?
I propose it was to give the Israelites a sense of national identity. They were about to form a new nation.
Forming a new nation after Babylon
In 597 BC, Babylon besieged Jerusalem, taking several thousand Israelites captive to Babylonia. More Israelite captives were taken during the following 10 years. In 587 BC, Jerusalem and its temple were ultimately destroyed. Israel was no longer a nation; its people were captives in Babylon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity
Nearly 50 years later, in 539 BC, Persian king Cyrus the Great and his armies conquered Babylon. As per his tradition, he benevolently released captives.
"Cyrus was particularly renowned among contemporary scholars because of his habitual policy of respecting peoples' customs and religions in the lands that he conquered." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
The Israelites were about to be freed. We can picture Cyrus' officials gathering the Israelite priests and leaders together, telling them to prepare themselves for their return back to their homeland west of the Jordan River.
After nearly 60 years in captivity, the Israelites needed to organize themselves into a new nation. They needed laws, a history, and a national identity. I propose this is when the first section of the Old Testament - the Torah - was written... in 539 BC in Babylon, just before returning to their ancestral land west of the Jordan River.
The Torah comprises the first 5 books of the Old Testament - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
What makes this significant for the Israelites living in Babylon is that these 5 books cover everything they need in forming a new nation - a national history, a code of laws, a structured religion, and a pact with God for his protection - as explained in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah :
• Of the book of Genesis:
"At God's command ... Abraham journeys from his home [in Mesopotamia] into the ... land of Canaan. ... The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God..."
This book was important, as it paralleled the journey the Israelites were about to make, leaving Babylon (which was Mesopotamia) on their way to the land of Canaan - just like Abraham had done himself some 1,200 years before. Yet they ought not be fearful, for they were the beneficiaries of multiple covenants with God.
• Of the book of Exodus:
"...modern scholarship sees the book as initially a product of the Babylonian exile, 6th century BC..."
In other words, it was initially compiled in Babylon during Israelite captivity.
"Carol Meyers, in her commentary on Exodus, suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity: memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with God, ... and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it.[31]"
In other words, the book of Exodus gave the Israelites valuable guidelines to forming a new nation.
• Of the book of Leviticus:
"...rules of clean and unclean ... the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat ... various moral and ritual laws ... a detailed list of rewards for following God's commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them."
In other words, Leviticus instructs the Israelites on matters of worship, cleanliness, and diet. Again, important information for a people about to form a new nation.
• Of the book of Numbers:
"Numbers is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers."
This parallels their situation at that time, in 539 BC, as they too were about to leave oppression in Babylon on their journey back to take possession of the same land.
• Of the book of Deuteronomy:
"One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4 ... which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one."
In other words, the Israelites leaving Babylon were reminded of their most identifying characteristic... their monotheism.
Borrowing from Babylon
Yet in preparing the first 5 books of the Old Testament - the Torah - the Israelite priests in Babylon borrowed much from Babylon itself.
They borrowed details from Babylonian creation stories, and copied the flood story from the Epic of Gilgamesh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_flood_myth
They also added a code of laws copied from Babylonian laws, as noted in Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi :
"The Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah contain numerous similarities."
Hammurabi was a king of ancient Babylon in the 1700's BC, some 400 years before Moses' time, and 1,200 years before the Israelites resided in Babylon. It wasn't really the Law of Moses, but the Code of Hammurabi - tailored, customized, and re-branded as the Law of Moses when the Torah was written in Babylon.
Preparing for the journey home
The purpose for compiling the first 5 books of the Old Testament was quite simply to prepare the Israelites living in Babylon for their journey back home.
This is why they referred to the land they were returning to as "the Promised Land", "a land flowing with milk and honey", and their "inheritance".
This is why the Torah contained examples of others who had left one land to go to another. Through the stories of Abraham and Moses, the idea of leaving behind a land they knew to go to a land they did not know was packaged and presented to the Israelites living in Babylon - who were now being asked to do the same thing themselves.
Abraham was born and raised in Ur, near the southern Euphrates river in Mesopotamia. That's the land of Babylon, the same land the Israelites were now living in. Yet he moved out of that land and went to the land west of the Jordan River, and the account tells how God blessed him for it.
In the time of Moses, a great many Israelites were born and raised in Egypt. Yet they moved out of that land and went to the land west of the Jordan River, and the account tells how God blessed them for it.
Do we see the recurring theme? After more than 50 years in captivity, most of the original captives were no longer alive. By the time of their release in 539-538 BC, most Israelites had been born and raised in Babylon. Babylon was the only land they knew. Most did not know the land to which they were going, west of the Jordan River.
But if Abraham and his family living in Mesopotamia did it, if Moses and the Israelites living in Egypt did it - that is, left a land they knew to go to a land they did not know - and it went well for them... then it would also go well for the Israelites being asked to leave Babylon, the only land most of them knew, to go to a land almost none of them knew.
And thus, I propose... The Old Testament was written to organize the Israelites exiled in Babylon into a new nation, encouraging them to pack their belongings and go to the land west of the Jordan River with zeal and courage.
This is why they took several persons from other cultures and made them their own... including Uta-napishtim (whom they renamed Noah), Abram (whom they renamed Abraham), Imhotep (whom they renamed Joseph), and Moses - giving them a sense of national identity and pride.
Many of the Old Testament's accounts, laws, and people were adopted from external sources, modified, tweaked, and repackaged to give the Israelites courage on their return to "the land of their forefathers" and the "Promised Land" - a testament and promise that God would be with them just as He was with Abraham and Moses and all the families who made similar moves so very long before.
I contend...
Yet I contend the most important piece of information was withheld from the Israelites living in Babylon... that their religion was started by an ancient Pharaoh of Egypt whom they did not even know... Akhenaten.
I contend their leader Moses was not of Israelite descent, but was Egyptian, a high priest of the Egyptian god Aten.
I contend the early Israelites were not descended from Abram of Ur of Mesopotamia, but were descended from Egyptians, monotheists who were expelled from Egypt when the founder of their religion - Akhenaten - died.
I contend the Israelites were first told they descended from Abram in 539 BC when the Torah was written, as they prepared to resettle west of the Jordan River. I further contend the only reason they were told they descended from Abram of Ur was to draw a parallel between Abram's leaving the land of Sumer (same land as Babylon) to go west of the Jordan - just as the Israelites were being asked to leave Babylon to go west of the Jordan in 539 BC.
I contend Jewish religion was shaped by Babylonian mythology, and their nation was built on Babylonian laws. I further contend had the Israelites not been taken captive into Babylon, they would not have had the law code they had, nor the same story of creation, nor the story of Noah's flood - for these were all Babylonian.
Even their temple and their monotheism were not entirely theirs, but were Egyptian.
As much as I cherish the ancient wisdom found in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, I must draw attention to the religion's origins... it originated in Egypt, with significant restructuring in Babylon.
Joseph Cafariello
PS... (June 9, 2024):
This section is to support my claim that Abraham was not known by the Israelites prior to the end of their Babylonian captivity, prior to 539 BC when the Torah and the bulk of the Old Testament were compiled.
As I explain in my post, I contend the stories of Abraham, Noah, and creation were derived from Babylonian sources, and were inserted into the Old Testament in 539 BC when it was compiled.
When preparing the Torah in 539 BC, the priests gathered together their sacred books and texts and compiled them together. These included the Book of Jasher, the Book of The Wars of the Lord, the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah, the Annals of King David, the Acts of Solomon, and many others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-canonical_books_referenced_in_the_Bible
They also gathered the books of the prophets, such as Isaiah and others, and combined them with the newly written Torah to form the first version of the Old Testament, which was later expanded after their return to their homeland.
When compiling these dozens of works into one single work, I contend the Old Testament writers added stories from Babylonian sources, including the creation story, the flood story, and adapted portions of the law code of Hammurabi. I contend this is when Abraham appears in scripture for the first time - in 539 BC, as the Israelites were preparing to leave Babylon to resettle in their homeland.
To support my claim that Abraham made his first appearance in scripture in 539 BC, we need only look at the references made to Abraham in the Old Testament, and where these references are. Let us examine them...
The vast majority of the references made to Abraham appear in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, which I have already supported in my post as having been written in 539 BC. Hence, none of the references to Abraham in the Torah refute my claim that Abraham made his first appearance in scripture in 539 BC.
Outside the Torah, there are the following references to Abraham to consider (I am using the Old Testament as it appears in the Bible):
• 2 references in the book of Joshua:
"It is not known when the Book was written... Some scholars believe it was written ... in 550 BC, at the time of the Babylonian exile, when there was a desire to remember and retell their own history." https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Joshua
I contend Joshua was also compiled in 539 BC, as multiple older texts were consulted and copied in order to establish a record of Israel's history. In either case... 550 or 539 BC, the 2 references to Abraham in the book of Joshua do not refute my claim that Abraham made his first appearance toward the end of Babylonian captivity.
• Multiple references in the books of Kings and Chronicles:
As I already noted above, numerous books and chronicles of the kings were consulted in 539 BC in Babylon when the bulk of the Old Testament was compiled. Thus, these references to Abraham in the books of Kings and Chronicles do not refute my claim of Abraham's late appearance in 539 BC.
• 1 reference in Nehemiah:
This one is easy, since the book describes the reconstruction of Jerusalem after Babylonian captivity. Hence, it does not refute my claim of Abraham's late insertion into scripture.
• 4 references in the Psalms:
"While many of the psalms contain attributions to the name of King David and other Biblical figures including Asaph, the sons of Korah, and Solomon, David's authorship is not accepted by most modern Bible scholars, who instead attribute the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. ... the book was probably compiled and edited into its present form during the post-exilic period in the 5th century BC.[5]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms
Psalms is similar to the books of Kings and Chronicles noted above, which were compiled along with other scripture in Babylon in 539 BC. And here too, references to Abraham do not refute my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
• 4 references in Isaiah:
"... there is evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later.[2] Johann Christoph Döderlein suggested in 1775 that the book contained the works of two prophets separated by more than a century,[3] and Bernhard Duhm originated the view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles:[4][5] Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1–39), containing the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah, or "the Book of Consolation",[6] (chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66), composed after the return from Exile.[7]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Isaiah
3 of the references to Abraham in Isaiah are located in chapters 41, 51 and 63. As noted in the Wikipedia reference above, these chapters are considered to have been written during and after Babylonian captivity, and thus do not refute my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
The one remaining reference to Abraham in Isaiah appears in chapter 29. This may very well be the only reference to Abraham which refutes my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
However, we must be aware that the scribes compiling the scriptures in 539 BC consulted dozens upon dozens of scrolls and manuscripts, which they made mention of by name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-canonical_books_referenced_in_the_Bible
Edits and additions were absolutely needed to make sense of the works which were all being compiled into one work for the first time. Since not all of their material was in sequential order, gaps in the record needed to be filled by the scribes at the time the works were being blended together into one single work in 539 BC. We can easily see how this one reference to Abraham could have been added to Isaiah 29 in the year 539 BC, in the interest of harmonizing such a large quantity of scrolls into one work.
• 1 reference in Jeremiah:
"It is generally agreed that the three types of material interspersed through the book – poetic, narrative, and biographical – come from different sources or circles.[16] Authentic oracles of Jeremiah are probably to be found in the poetic sections of chapters 1-25, but the book as a whole has been heavily edited and added to by followers (including perhaps the prophet's companion, the scribe Baruch) and later generations of Deuteronomists.[5] The date of the final versions of the book (Greek and Hebrew) can be suggested by the fact that the Greek shows concerns typical of the early Persian period, while the Masoretic (i.e., Hebrew) shows perspectives which, although known in the Persian period, did not reach their realisation until the 2nd century BCE.[7]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Jeremiah
In other words, the book of Jeremiah can be divided into 3 sections - poetic, narrative, and biographical - each written by different people. As the quote mentions, "the book as a whole has been heavily edited and added to".
Chapters 1-25 are likely the original portion written by Jeremiah (or others of his time) around the beginning of the Babylonian captivity period. But the 1 reference to Abraham appears in chapter 33, in the section that was added later.
How much later could these additions have been made? Two versions of the book exist - one in Greek, the other in Hebrew.
The Greek version "shows concerns typical of the early Persian period" - which is after Babylonian captivity. Cyrus the Great who freed the Israelites from Babylon was king of Persia. The "early Persian period" refers to the period shortly after Israel's release from Babylon.
The Hebrew version "shows perspectives which, although known in the Persian period, did not reach their realization until the 2nd century BCE".
Both versions of the book of Jeremiah, therefore, can be dated to after Babylonian captivity at the earliest. Thus, the 1 reference to Abraham in the book of Jeremiah does not refute my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
• 1 reference in Ezekiel:
"The Book of Ezekiel describes itself as the words of Ezekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon between 593 and 571 BC. Most scholars today ... see in it significant additions by a school of later followers of the original prophet. According to Jewish tradition, the Men of the Great Assembly wrote the Book of Ezekiel, based on the prophet's words.[16] ... it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.[2]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ezekiel
Here again we have a book with "significant additions by ... later followers". And such additions "[do] not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet". Here too, this reference to Abraham does not refute my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
• 1 reference in Micah:
"Some, but not all, scholars accept that only chapters 1–3 contain material from the late 8th century prophet Micah.[10] The latest material comes from the post-exilic period after the temple was rebuilt in 515 BCE, so that the early 5th century BCE seems to be the period when the book was completed.[14] ... Still later ... the book was revised and expanded further to reflect the circumstances of the late exilic and post-exilic community.[17]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Micah
In other words, only the first 3 chapters can be dated to the prophet Micah's century (8th BC). The remainder of the book was "revised and expanded" in the late Babylonian captivity and post-Babylonian captivity periods.
Where is Micah's one reference to Abraham? In chapter 7 - the portion of additions. Thus, here too, this reference to Abraham does not refute my claim that Abraham first appeared in scripture in 539 BC.
Of all these references to Abraham, only one could possibly refute my claim that Abraham was invented and inserted into scripture in 539 BC in Babylon at the time the Torah and other early Old Testament books were compiled.
Only one exception to my claim? For such an important figure as Abraham? The one who received the promise?
Indeed, there is only one reference that could possibly prove Abraham was known to the Israelites prior to 539 BC. Yet, as I considered above, even this one reference could have been an addition inserted at the time all these sources were consulted in the writing of the Old Testament in Babylon in 539 BC.
Given the absence of any other pre-539 BC reference to Abraham, I still must contend Abraham was "invented" and added into scripture for the first time in 539 BC, for the sole purpose of drawing a parallel between Abram's leaving the land of Sumer (same land as Babylon) to go west of the Jordan - just as the Israelites were being asked to leave Babylon to go west of the Jordan in 539 BC., as I describe in the last section of my post.

Transcript:
PIEDMONT, Mo. -- His voice gets heavy and even starts to crack when he talks about the abuse claims that have engulfed an unlicensed boarding school in his southeast Missouri county.
“I didn’t know,” Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch says, referring to former students’ yearslong allegations of physical and mental abuse at the school. “I didn’t.”
When in 2014 Finch scooped up a runaway from Lighthouse Christian Academy, the skin on his feet starting to peel away from frostbite, the teen didn’t divulge any abuse. Neither did a boy who ran away from the Wayne County boarding school three years later, the sheriff said. Same thing with the boy who ran away two years ago.
“Kids didn’t say a word,” said Finch, who has been the sheriff since 2013. “I tried to get it out of them, why they were running away. But they never said anything.”
Boys would tell him, the sheriff said, that they were forced to do jumping jacks, intense exercises and stand at the wall for hours as punishment. Or they just didn’t like the school run by ABM Ministries because staff members were mean. But nothing they shared with him, he said, led him to believe a Missouri law had been broken.
Until earlier this year.
After five boys ran away from the secluded boarding school near Piedmont over a three-week period in January, one boy told him something “I could sink my teeth into,” Finch said. And once the sheriff spoke to a former student from more than 15 years ago, “all the dominos started to fall,” he said.
Since March, he’s traveled to 10 states, interviewed about 25 former students and spoken to many others on the phone. In the coming days, he plans to speak with dozens more. Now in their 20s and 30s, many of these men and women are telling the sheriff what they’ve told The Star. They said staff members put them in headlocks and at times hit them, that food and water were withheld and they were made to exercise for hours and work in extreme temperatures.
Others described what they call “emotional torture” at the school owned by Larry and Carmen Musgrave.
“I’m going to investigate this thoroughly,” Finch told The Star in a series of interviews over the past two months. “Every victim will be interviewed. Every victim will have their say, they will be able to tell their story.
“Until the end, I am here. And if there’s charges there, those charges will be filed.”
In early March, Larry and Carmen Musgrave were charged with kidnapping and another staffer faces one count of physical abuse of a student. The sheriff said he expects additional charges.
The couple pleaded not guilty and their attorney did not respond to multiple calls for comment.
Larry Musgrave denied that students were mistreated or abused at the school, Finch said.
“Whenever we interviewed him, he laughed about it,” Finch said. “And he said, ‘That is not going on. That never happened.’”
Soon after the Musgraves were arrested, Lighthouse closed. The husband and wife were released on their own recognizance and required to wear GPS monitoring devices.
“We’re very happy and proud that (the sheriff) is standing up and saying this is wrong,” said Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who has handled many boarding school abuse cases. “We’ve never had that response from any law enforcement before.”
Indeed, when it comes to boarding schools, many say Missouri hasn’t seen a sheriff like Finch. And they hope his actions will spur real, lasting change in a state that had become a haven for unlicensed boarding schools during the past few decades.
Robert Knodell, director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, said his agency embraces the partnership with Wayne County authorities.
“It’s not always been the case everywhere we’ve had these cases,” Knodell said. “Sometimes local law enforcement is cooperative, and sometimes they’re not. … The ability to address ongoing issues is much greater when there’s full cooperation across the spectrum.”
The Star began investigating Missouri’s unlicensed boarding schools and abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Agape Boarding School — located in southwest Missouri’s Cedar County and now closed —in late summer of 2020. Former students at those schools said they had told local authorities for years about the abuse, but nothing ever happened.
Those who attended Lighthouse Christian Academy, most of whom were there before Finch became sheriff, said they hoped to draw attention to the school years ago by posting testimonials on social media. They urged families online to not send their kids there, but the pleas never gained much traction.
Until Finch started investigating.
“We’ve never had anyone pull so hard for us,” said Michael McCarthy, who attended Lighthouse Christian Academy from August 2010 to August 2012. “It feels surreal because we had tried. It’s almost like why now? … It’s almost hard to believe.”
Child advocates have also been surprised by the actions in Wayne County.
“It’s a complete 180 from what we experienced when the schools in Cedar County were revealed,” said Jessica Seitz, executive director of the Missouri Network Against Child Abuse, formerly known as Missouri KidsFirst. “The response of seeking out justice and believing kids is exactly what we would hope for.
“Law enforcement is one of the parties responsible for protecting kids from abuse.”
Concerns of conflict had surrounded the investigation at Agape Boarding School in Cedar County because the son-in-law of the late founder, James Clemensen, was a deputy with the sheriff’s department. That deputy, a former Agape student, had also worked at the school for years and on multiple occasions was sent there to respond to a call, The Star found.
When asked what motivates him in Wayne County, Finch, 62, pauses and speaks slowly.
“Because they’re victims,” the sheriff says, his voice breaking before he apologizes for getting emotional. “Because they were mistreated and because it happened in my county.
“I feel like my department let these kids down, although it wasn’t me. … They deserve better than what they got in the past. They deserve to have their story heard. And it’s just like any victim — they deserve their day in court.
“These kids, dammit, they deserve justice.”
‘Liable to freeze to death’
Finch’s cellphone rang late one frigid night in early February 2014. A call had just come in from ABM Ministries, a dispatcher told him.
A teen boy at the boarding school had run away and been gone 3 ½ hours.
The grandfather of five at the time, who had been sheriff for about a year, called in deputies and alerted the fire department. Search dogs were brought in. The frigid temperatures outside filled him and others with a rising sense of urgency.
“I got a kid out here, that’s run off, out in the middle of the woods and it’s subzero weather,” Finch said of what was going through his mind that night. “He didn’t have a coat. He didn’t have anything. We got to find this boy because he’s liable to freeze to death.”
The sheriff also alerted Union Pacific Railroad, telling officials they had a missing child and “to be on the lookout.” Finch worried the boy could be on the tracks between Piedmont and Williamsville and wanted to make sure the train wasn’t “going to come flying through.”
As the railroad crew moved slowly through the area and looked for the boy, so did Finch and all those he called to help with the search.
“I had search teams in the woods all over,” the sheriff said. “We were all over. Running the roads, running through the woods, looking in the woods.”
A couple of hours into the search, Union Pacific let the sheriff know that a crew had found the boy and was transporting him to a nearby crossing. Finch was waiting with an ambulance.
The sheriff lifted the teen, who was wearing pajamas and a fleece jacket, off the train. He didn’t have any socks on and had lost his flip flops they wore at the school. He had used his jacket to wave down the train, the sheriff said.
“His feet were, in all reality, black,” Finch said. “And the skin had peeled off of them from frostbite.”
When the sheriff first encountered the young teen, he asked why he ran away. He just shook his head, the sheriff said.
“I’m assuming he was just so cold and disoriented that he didn’t talk,” Finch said.
He would try again later at the landing zone with a helicopter waiting, and as first responders tended to the teen’s injuries.
“I was trying to get him to say, ‘Why did you run away?’” Finch said. “‘Just don’t like it. Just don’t like it.’ That’s all he would say. ‘Just don’t like it.’”
The teen was airlifted to St. Louis Children’s Hospital where he was treated for severe frostbite, and according to a news article at the time, his family was told he would face a slow recovery. That article, in the Wayne County Journal Banner on Feb. 13, 2014, quoted the mother as saying she believed her son was mistreated at the school.
“She told the newspaper that her son said the physical and mental abuse was unbearable and that he felt running away was his only alternative,” the article stated.
The teen didn’t speak to the sheriff again. But his mother told a reporter that he had given a full report to the Missouri Department of Social Services.
The sheriff’s office also reported the incident to DSS, Finch said.
In the years since, other students at ABM Ministries have run. In 2017, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department was called out again. Then again two years ago.
That’s when Finch started to look deeper and have unanswered questions.
“Something is going on here,” he said he thought about two years ago. “Something isn’t right. These kids, there is no reason for these kids to be running away. … But I had nothing to go on. I literally had nothing to go on.”
Until, he said, late January of this year.
Former students tell their stories
After Julianna Davis, of Alabama, heard about the boys who had run away from ABM Ministries earlier this year, she called the Missouri Highway Patrol.
For years, she and other former students had tried to let the public know about what they say they experienced at the school. Now, she thought, maybe someone in authority would listen.
At the southeast Missouri school, Davis said that she had been told not to trust law enforcement, that authorities wouldn’t believe her and other students because they were just troubled kids.
“We’ve tried this for 15 years plus,” she said. “I already kind of had the impression that nobody was gonna listen to us.”
But the patrol sergeant she spoke to did. And then he referred her to Finch.
Something Davis told the sheriff matched what a current student had told him. Because he doesn’t want to jeopardize the case, Finch won’t say what that is. But it did cause the dominos to fall and prompt the investigation that continues today.
“I knew that something had happened there,” he said. “I knew something illegal had happened to a child who was defenseless, who had been sent to this home for rehabilitation, so to speak, or whatever you want to call it. She was sent there by the parents to be helped.”
Davis also told Finch that Carmen Musgrave locked her in a room on her 18th birthday and she was kept at the school for months after. It was Davis’ experience that led to the kidnapping charges against the Musgraves.
“I’ve just been continuously impressed at how hard he’s trying to help,” Davis said of Finch. “But at the same time, surprised in the sense that like, we’ve tried this before, you know, and it just never got anywhere.”
After talking with Davis, the sheriff knew that more former students would reach out. He told dispatchers to expect a few. That grew to 10 or 15. Then 25 to 30.
“I got my 81st call this morning,” Finch said in early May. By the end of that month, he received another six or seven calls.
In-person interviews have lasted anywhere from minutes to hours, he said. A few of the former students attended the school in recent years, but the majority he’s talked with have been gone from ABM for 15 or so years.
“Now I know, looking back at the runaways that we had in the past, and doing this investigation, I now know why they didn’t say anything,” Finch said. “Because they were scared.
“It was instilled in them and drilled in their heads that unfortunately, I didn’t care about them, that they (boarding school leaders) have law enforcement in their back pocket. Well, that pocket has a big hole, and I slipped out of that pocket.”
The sheriff drove to Oklahoma in March to speak with Aralysa Baker, who went to ABM in 2005 when she was 13 and stayed for two years.
For seven hours, over two days, Baker told the sheriff what she was unable to tell an investigator who went to the school during her last year. Her great-grandparents had called Wayne County and asked authorities to do a welfare check. She told the officer she was OK because she feared what would happen if she said more.
Baker told Finch how her life had been impacted because of the school. The nightmares. The flashbacks. And the anxiety over food.
For all of her adult life, she’s feared that there wouldn’t be enough to eat. First, just for herself. And now that she’s a wife and mom, for her family.
While at ABM, she said the owners and staff used food as a punishment. When in trouble, she and other former students said staff would withhold food and sometimes they would go to bed hungry. Several students said they would have to sneak food or water at times.
Baker told the sheriff and The Star that she now hoards food. There are chips and cookies stashed behind her pots and pans. Stacks of canned goods, boxes of pasta, and macaroni and cheese in the garage. The trunk of an old Honda that doesn’t run is full of snacks.
“I always want something stashed away, squirreled away,” she said. “I need to be able to get to it quickly.”
Baker and Davis want people, especially lawmakers, to realize that Missouri must do more to keep abuse, both physical and mental, out of boarding schools in their state.
“I hope they take it seriously and change the laws to make it harder for people to abuse children and not have any consequences whatsoever,” Davis said. “And then, of course, I hope that there’s some sort of justice or closure for all of us. I have been hurt for so long. But I’ll be happy as long as it doesn’t happen again.”
‘They’re just being bull-headed’
Hours before Finch served the arrest warrants on the Musgraves, someone issued him a warning about the past.
Don’t forget about Heartland Christian Academy, he was told, a reference to a decades-old case that to this day haunts those who have tried to place regulations on religious-based boarding schools in Missouri.
Operated by the late millionaire Charles Sharpe, a prominent Republican who made his fortune after founding Kansas City-based Ozark National Life Insurance Co., the Christian school for troubled youth drew national attention in 2001. A call to the state hotline reported students were being forced to stand in ankle-to chest-deep cow manure as a punishment.
Several months later, after receiving two more allegations of abuse, authorities raided the northeast Missouri school and removed 115 children, prompting a series of lawsuits and challenges that took years to wind through the courts.
In the end, felony child abuse charges against five employees were either dropped or the staffers were acquitted. Sharpe and his school also were cleared of any wrongdoing and the state settled with Heartland, agreeing to pay extensive attorney fees and court costs.
Ever since, the Heartland case has cast a shadow over attempts to address concerns inside boarding schools — especially proposals that would require them to be licensed. A law passed in 1982 allows religious-based schools to claim an exemption from Missouri’s licensing requirement.
Randles, the Kansas City attorney who has represented the families of abused children, said the arguments against licensing don’t hold water.
“They’re just being bull-headed over this particular issue,” she said. “We’re not asking them to change their religious affiliation or to change the manner in which they teach their religion. As a matter of fact, I’m a graduate of Southwest Baptist University, and Southwest Baptist University is accredited, it’s licensed, it goes through all of the processes that are required.
“And it doesn’t change the way that Southwest Baptist University delivers its teaching. It’s still a faith-based Christian education university. It can be done.”
In response to abuse allegations at Cedar County schools, lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 to implement some oversight over religious boarding schools but shied away from requiring them to be licensed.
Boarding schools that are abusing children, Randles said, are not Christian institutions.
“That has nothing to do with Christianity,” she said. “And so there’s no reason that the state can’t act on these individuals who are acting well outside the law. Because they’re claiming and cloaking themselves under religious authority. There’s no religious authority that says you can beat children and make them eat their own vomit. There is nothing in the Bible that says anything of the sort.”
Carmen and Larry Musgrave moved their boarding school from the Tennessee and Kentucky area to Patterson in southeast Missouri in 2004, corporation records show. One former student said that the Musgraves loaded students into a blue 15-passenger van and drove them to the Show-Me State.
The Patterson site had previously been home to another controversial boarding school — Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy.
That school’s owners, Bob and Betty Wills, were running the Bethesda Home for Girls in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, when a former student sued Bethesda in federal court in 1982. Child welfare officials conducted an investigation, and the Willses closed the school in 1987 after a judge ordered authorities to remove students.
They headed to southeast Missouri and opened Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy. The school gained notoriety in 1996 when two students murdered another student because they feared he would reveal their plot to take over the school and escape.
In 2003, the school was sued in federal court by five former students and two sets of parents. They accused school officials of abusing and falsely imprisoning students. The school closed in 2004, and the Musgraves then opened Lighthouse Christian Academy on that property. Lighthouse later moved to its current location near Piedmont, and former students say they were forced to do much of the construction work.
Ginger Koller Joyner, the Wayne County prosecutor who formerly served as the Guardian Ad Litem for the 42nd Judicial Circuit, said seeing what’s happened at Lighthouse has convinced her that a licensing law is necessary to keep children safe in these schools.
“I think both my background in the juvenile system and this experience has strengthened my opinion that there really needs to be a legislative push to regulate these types of places to ensure that there’s uniformity and consistency of care across our state,” Joyner said. “I don’t think we want this anywhere in our state.”
The key, she said, will be for legislators to get involved.
“We can have every sheriff on board, we can have every prosecutor on board, but the bottom line is until we change the legislation about how these facilities are licensed, we’re not going to see the depth of change that’s needed to protect the vulnerable people,” she said.
DSS’ Knodell said he anticipates that Missouri lawmakers will “continue to consider whether they want to go down that road and take that approach.”
“Many other states have,” he said. “I think it’s time to take a close look at it. Absolutely.”
‘Trying to get them justice’
Before the runaways and subsequent investigation, Finch said he didn’t know much about other boarding schools in Missouri. He didn’t follow what happened across the state with Circle of Hope and Agape.
In his decade as sheriff, Finch’s department has called the state’s child abuse and neglect hotline multiple times, he said. And in January, after the runaways, several residents who live near ABM also reported the school. At least two of them said they were told they didn’t provide enough information to warrant an investigation.
After The Star reported that, Knodell said in March that DSS was looking into whether hotline calls about the school were properly handled over the years.
When asked the status of that internal inquiry and what, if anything, came of it, DSS said it was ongoing.
Finch hopes to eventually go to Jefferson City and talk with legislators and share his opinion that “every one of these schools should be licensed.” But first, he said he needs to remain focused on the case in his county.
The sheriff often meets with Joyner, the county prosecutor, to make sure the two are on the same page. He keeps her updated after new interviews with former students.
Joyner praised Finch for his dedication in making sure former students have the opportunity to report what they say happened to them. And she shares that motivation.
“Our law enforcement is committed, I am committed,” said Joyner, who first filled in as the county prosecutor in 2021 and took office in early 2023. “I realized that some of these students aren’t necessarily residents of our county, but they were in our county and we’re dedicated to protecting them and trying to get them justice.”
Many of the students who have come forward alleging physical and emotional abuse attended the school years ago, and their cases may no longer be inside Missouri’s statute of limitations.
“The prosecution piece is going to be, in some cases, difficult,” Joyner said. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to try, but you know, I have to abide by the ethics in terms of what I can prosecute. And if I can prosecute it, and believe that I can prove it, then I absolutely will.”
Early last month, Finch was preparing for another week of travel, driving to several states in his Ford F-150 to interview more former students of ABM.
“I’m headed for Colorado Springs, Vail, Colorado,” he told The Star. “And then I’m going to shoot up into Montana, Wyoming (and) come back across into Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and there’s one other one that I’m gonna hit.”
All while he’s in the middle of running for reelection.
On that trip early last month, Finch stopped in a Chicago suburb and interviewed Inesa Kolberg, who attended ABM from late 2005 to June 2007.
“He gave one of the best hugs,” she said. “His hug was so tight, and it was just full of compassion. I didn’t cry during the interview, but (at the end) it brought me to tears because it felt so comforting.
“He has a heart of gold. He is doing God’s work. He is a true example of what a Christian is.”
Finch said what fuels him on the long days and long weeks is knowing that for so long students at ABM were told they couldn’t trust law enforcement, that he and his department were on the school’s side.
“I’m going to tell you something — that’s not me,” the sheriff said. “I don’t give a damn who you are or what your last name is. If you break the law, you break the law and I’m going to come after you.
“Now, in the end, it’s up to the jury and the system. But I am going to do my job. And I am going to bring these people to justice for these kids.”
Laura Bauer, Judy L. Thomas, The Kansas City Star on Jun 9, 2024