Plagiarism In The Old Testament (Part 2)

Another form of Old Testament plagiarism is the strange phenomenon of self-plagiarism, where multiple successive verses—sometimes entire chapters—are repeated, either verbatim or near-verbatim, either in another book or often right within the same book. This reveals a very sloppy, haphazard editing job, where multiple manuscripts were compiled together without taking the time to ensure that there was no redundancy. It also reveals a total lack of “divine oversight” in the writing and assemblage of the Old Testament. Here are some examples:

• Exodus 6:10-12: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.’ But Moses said to the Lord, ‘If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?’”
• Exodus 6:28-30: “Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, ‘I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.’ But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?’” 

Notice how this self-plagiarism is right within the same chapter, where the exact same part of the same story is told a second time.

• Exodus 23:19: “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
• Exodus 34:26: “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” 

This repeat, as you can see, is verbatim.

• Joshua 15:14-19: “From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites—Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, the sons of Anak. From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). And Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.’ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage. One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What can I do for you?’ She replied, ‘Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.’ So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.”  
• Judges 1:10-15: “They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). And Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.’ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage. One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What can I do for you?’ She replied, ‘Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.’ So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.”

Once again we have almost a flawless mirror-image echoing here. This repetitiveness is becoming almost as nauseating as the begat chapters in the Bible. Are we to believe that “God” inspired such redundancy?

• 2 Chronicles 36:22, 23: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”
• Ezra 1:1-3: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.’” 

The variations here are only slight. 

This next example is too lengthy to quote here, but the reader is encouraged to take the time to look the passages up. Chapters 18 through 20 of 2 Kings are later repeated in Isaiah chapters 36 to 39, the only difference being that some of the individual verses are arranged in an alternate sequence. 

• “And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.” - 2 Kings 25:13-15. 
• “Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.” - Jeremiah 52:17-19.

Here again the plagiarism is almost a carbon copy.

• Psalm 105 and 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 are perfect matches, as are 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37.
• Psalm 14 is identical to Psalm 53, except that verse 5 in the latter Psalm is a bit more extended. 
• Psalm 40:13-17: “Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me. May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’ be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, ‘The Lord is great!’ But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.”
• Psalm 70:1-5: “Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me. May those who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’ turn back because of their shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, ‘The Lord is great!’ But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.” 

Though the wording varies ever so slightly, particularly at the beginning, we are obviously dealing with the exact same script being repeated. 

Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” 
Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”  

Proverbs 19:5: “A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will not go free.” Proverbs 19:9: “A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish.” 

Here we have almost a precise match, but only four verses apart. 

• Proverbs 19:25: “Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.”
• Proverbs 21:11: “When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.”  

While slightly different, there is still a clearly discernable duplication going on with these two verses. This is not “divine inspiration” at work here. 

• Isaiah 2:2-4: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” 
• Micah 4:1-4: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.”  

Should we not conclude in this instance that Micah plagiarized from Isaiah?

Chapters 15 and 16 of Isaiah match up perfectly with Jeremiah 48.

Other examples of this type of plagiarism could be cited, but enough have been shown to serve our purpose here. Clearly something is wrong with the perception that so many people have of the Bible being “divinely inspired.” 

The problems we have discussed in this Part have essentially dealt with passages in the Old Testament that should not be there—passages that bear the foul stench of thievery which, once again, void the Bible’s claim to being “divinely inspired.” But in the last closing remarks of this chapter, our attention will be turned to a few examples of a slightly different phenomenon—that of passages (or whole books) that technically should be in the Old Testament, but are not. These are books that were rejected for being “uninspired,” and yet they are actually mentioned reverentially in the Bible, which strongly denotes that they should indeed have been included as part of the Old Testament canon. The first rejected book we will consider is the book of Jasher. This work is alluded to in two Old Testament passages:  

1. Joshua 10:13: “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”
2. Second Samuel 1:18: “(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher).”

These texts drive the point home loud and clear that the book of Jasher was held in high esteem by Joshua and the author of 2 Samuel. So how is it that this book remains excluded from the Old Testament? 

There actually are good reasons why Jasher was left out, as it tends to be quite antagonistic to some of the stories related in the Torah (the alleged books of Moses): Jasher tells us that it was not Moses who was the spiritual leader of the tribes that crossed the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, but was instead Miriam. The book of Jasher further tells us that Miriam posed such a problem for Moses in his attempt to create a new environment of male dominance that he imprisoned her. As a result of this, says this apocryphal book, the children of Israel rose up against Moses with their armies to secure Miriam’s release. 

So let us contemplate the crisis that Bible enthusiasts are faced with here: If the books of Joshua and 2 Samuel are right about Jasher being inspired, then the Torah is wrong, and therefore it should be extricated from the Old Testament. But if the Torah is right, then not only is Jasher a false book, but so are Joshua and 2 Samuel, which technically should be eradicated from the Bible. Either way, Bible believers are left out in the cold.

The second rejected book we will ponder here is the book of 2 Esdras. Like the book of Jasher, it too should have technically been included in the Old Testament. As fate would have it, the endorsement it gets came from the highest source that a Christian could hope for—from Christ himself, in the New Testament. In Matthew 23:37, 38 Jesus is quoted as having said to the Jewish leaders of his day: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.” Though Jesus did not mention the book of 2 Esdras here by name, it turns out that he was quoting from it, almost verbatim. Here is the original passage: “I gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But now what can I do with you? I will banish you from my sight; and even when you offer sacrifices to me, I will turn away from you….I sent to you my servants, the prophets, but you killed them and mutilated their corpses. I will make you pay for murdering them.” - 2 Esdras 1:30, 32. So why is 2 Esdras not included in the Old Testament, since Jesus thought highly enough about it to have quoted from it?

The last example we shall examine of a rejected book that should have wound up in the Old Testament is the book of Enoch, which is also referenced in the New Testament, this time more directly, in the book of Jude: “In the seventh [generation] from Adam Enoch also prophesied these things, saying: ‘Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners spoke against him.’” - Jude 14, 15. This is a direct quote from 1 Enoch 1:9: “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Since the book of Jude is believed to be “inspired,” and since it quotes from the book of Enoch, would this not make the Book of Enoch inspired? So, why is this book not included in the Old Testament, along with Jasher and 2 Esdras? There really is no end to the snags in the Bible.

Still another related snag involves references in the Old Testament to “sacred books” that are now lost to us, and thus failed to find their way into today’s Old Testament, as they should have. Here we list a sampling of these references:

• “Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, what he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon…” - Numbers 21:14. 
• “Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer…” - 1 Chronicles 29:29.
• “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet [already mentioned], and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?” - 2 Chronicles 9:29. Here is a related passage: “And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?” - 1 Kings 11:41. How could records so important as these have gotten lost, if Yahweh is supposed to be on the watch? 
• “And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.” - 2 Chronicles 13:22.
• “Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.” - 2 Chronicles 26:22. Surely this must have been an important book, having been written by the prophet Isaiah. But where is it today? Why was it not preserved by Yahweh for posterity?
• “Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. Wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book of the annals of King David.” - 1 Chronicles 27:24.
• “Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.” - 1 Samuel 10:25. 
• “Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.” - 2 Chronicles 12:15. 
• “Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.” - 2 Chronicles 20:34. The “Book of the Kings of Israel,” it might be argued, could simply be a reference to 1 and 2 Kings in our current Old Testament, but how can we know for sure? 
• “His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.” - 2 Chronicles 33:19.

There is even a missing New Testament book: “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.” - Colossians 4:16. 

Speaking of Yahweh’s dereliction of duty in preserving lost “holy books,” 2 Kings 22 contains a story that is of great interest at this juncture: “And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’ And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king [Josiah], and [said]:…‘Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.’ And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, ‘Go ye, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us’” (verses 8-13). Here we see that the “book of the law” (apparently the Mosaic law code) had been completely lost and forgotten about, seemingly for generations. How could this have happened? Did Yahweh take an extended vacation? He left his people without his “holy word” to guide them for all that time? But it gets worse, because notice how King Josiah said, “great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book…” In other words, Yahweh was upset with the current generation of Israelites because their forefathers, who did have the book of the law, neglected to obey it. How could this be, when the rebellion of the forefathers had nothing to do with the then-current generation of Israelites? Does this sound like “righteous indignation” to you? As unfair as this is, though, wait until you see what lies ahead in future Parts.