The Plain Truth
July, 1965 

Abraham ... a Scientist? 

 

by Lynn E. Torrance


Read this astounding, yet brief, PROOF from history. You'll be shocked to find WHY facts of history have been suppressed -- WHY the Bible has been falsely labeled "unscientific."
 
 
DID YOU KNOW that the Abraham of your Bible was a skilled scientist, astronomer, and mathematician?


     And that for nearly 4,000 years the world has sought to hide this astounding fact?

     Today vain, would-be scientists ridicule the Bible. The world in which Abraham lived is made to appear backward and ignorant. Abraham is labeled, falsely, "a mythological hero"!

     But the plain, irrefutable record of history proves this modern claim just another fable! The world of Abraham's day was enlightened, had already discovered physical knowledge which it took modern science nearly 4,000 years to rediscover.
 
There Were Scientists in Those Days
 
     The American historian Draper, writing of Abraham's world, now admits: "They had correct views of the structure of the solar system, and knew the order of emplacement of the planets."

     Archeologists have found in recent decades clay tablets written by the ancient Babylonians. These tablets prove the ancient world of Abraham "knew the cause of eclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle called Saros, could predict them" (Draper, "Conflict between Religion and Science", p. 13).

     The most startling proof of the scientific ability of the ancient Chaldeans -- Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees -- was revealed when the world conqueror Alexander the Great captured Babylon. Callisthenes, the Greek philosopher, "obtained in Babylon a series of Chaldean astronomical observations ranging back through 1,903 years; these he sent to Aristotle" (Draper, p. 13; see also Israel Smith Clare, "The Standard History of the
World", Vol. I, p. 140).

     History records one shocking truth after another. The historian Hutton Webster writes: "One map even represents the world -- a round world with Babylon near its center" (Hutton
Webster, "History of Civilization Ancient and Medieval", p. 145). 
 
     But even more astounding, ancient historians report that the Abraham of your Bible was the outstanding scholar of his day!
 
Abraham, Outstanding Astronomer and Mathematician
 
     Now read what the ancient Babylonian historian Berosus recorded, "In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial science" (Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews", Bk. i, chap. vii, sec. 2). Who was this man? Josephus, the Jewish historian of the First Century A.D., said Berosus was speaking of Abraham! Josephus also spoke of the Greek writer Hecataeus who prepared an entire book about the accomplishments of the Abraham of the Bible.

     But this is only the beginning of the proof of history.

     Other historical sources also say Abraham was a famous scholar in his day. (See Spence's "Myths and Legends, Babylonia and Assyria", pp. 51-56 and Sir Walter Raleigh's "The History of the World", Chap. II, Sec. 2, p. 172 and Chap. III, Sec. 4, p. 176.)
 
Abraham Published Proof of a Creator
 
     The name of Abraham was well known in Ur of the Chaldees. He was noted for being a skilled astronomer and mathematician. And for publishing proof there was one Creator God.

     According to Josephus, Abraham analyzed the "phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies" as proof there is one Creator God (Bk. i, chap. vii, sec. 1).

     The existence of God, wrote Paul, the apostle, can be understood by the things that are made (Rom. 1:20). Abraham saw that Creation was proof of a Creator. He saw that a creation which was subject to law was proof a Creator had made it so.

     Abraham's proof of one Supreme-ruling Creator God attracted widespread attention. No wonder. The Chaldeans had long been teaching the masses that the sun, the moon, and the planets were gods.

     But Abraham declared, "If the sun, the moon, and the planets were gods, they would regulate their own motion and not have to follow laws which had been set in motion by a Creator God" (See Josephus, Bk. i, chap. vii, sec. 3).

     Abraham, the scientist, proved to his generation that the moon, the sun, and the planets were mere bodies of matter which had to react according to the physical laws which had been set in motion by the Creator. But the leaders of that day didn't want the truth of God's laws made known. That is why Abraham, who dared to publish that "the creation is proof of a Creator," was driven from his country.
 
Chaldeans Knew Abraham's Proof of God Was Truth
 
     Abraham was not the only one who recognized that the heavenly bodies were made of matter which had to obey God's physical laws.

     The Chaldeans themselves knew. They publicly taught the masses to believe the moon, the sun, the stars and the planets were gods. But, privately, they knew how to predict for centuries in advance just when the eclipses of the moon would occur. They also knew just how to calculate where the planets could be found in the sky at any given moment of the future (Israel Smith Clare, "The Standard History of the World", Vol. I, p. 140).

     These Chaldeans well knew that if these heavenly bodies were gods, as they had deceived the masses into believing, then of course man could never predict in advance where their positions in the sky would be. For it was just as obvious to these intelligent men as it ought to be to you that if the moon, the planets and the sun be gods, they have minds of their own and can go wherever they want to go at will!

     But the educated Chaldeans predicted in advance the position of the moon and the planets in the sky. They also knew these heavenly bodies were subject to the physical laws of God. But they hated God's laws -- like most people do today. Therefore they also knew these heavenly bodies were not gods.

     Your Bible proves they deliberately rejected Abraham's proof of one Supreme, law-giving Creator God. So also did the later Greek philosophers. "As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind" -- a mind void of judgment (Rom. 1:28).
 
Why Chaldeans Chose to Teach the People Religious Lies
 
     What excuse did the Chaldeans give for rejecting Abraham's proof of God? The answer has remained hidden for centuries.

     When Abraham published the proof of a Creator God -- proof they could not deny, these Chaldean priests had to make a choice: whether to continue to teach the same old lies, or whether to repent, and begin to teach the truth about the Creator God. These deceivers decided the praise and reward of men was better than the praise and reward of God. Human beings, then as now, didn't want to obey God. They knew that if God set physical laws in
motion to regulate the physical universe, then He must have set spiritual laws also in motion regulating man's spiritual relationship with the Creator. THAT law they DIDN'T want to obey.

     Having made the choice to please men rather than God, these religious hypocrites continued to deceive the masses into believing the traditions of their ancestors. Today, physical scientists are willing to teach physical laws -- laws of chemistry, mathematics and physics -- only because they also teach that these laws just evolved. They refuse to let God the Lawgiver into their thinking!

     Because Abraham dared to teach the people of Chaldea what the priests called the dangerous doctrine of one Lawgiver, these hypocrites, wrote Josephus, "raised a tumult" against him.
 
Why God Called Abraham Out of Chaldea
 
     The priests would have tried to kill Abraham for publishing the truth had not God intervened.

     Now understand why God told Abraham, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. 12:1).

     According to Josephus, after Abraham began to publish his proof, the "Chaldeans ... raised a tumult against him" (Bk. i, chap. vii, sec. 1). These Chaldeans did not intend to allow Abraham to teach the people there was one Creator God.

     Abraham knew that natural law which regulates the universe is proof of a Lawgiver. He knew a Lawgiver strong enough to establish control over the entire universe had to be God.

     Unlike the priests of Chaldea -- who chose to teach a lie in order to receive the praises of men -- Abraham chose to obey that God.

     That God appeared to Abraham. "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house," He said, "unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. 12:1). Abraham left the land of Chaldea and went to the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:5). He;
did as God commanded.

     We read in the only truly reliable history book, the Bible, that after Abraham had moved to the land of Canaan, a famine occurred which forced him to move his flocks to Egypt until the famine was over (Gen. 12:10).

     While in Egypt, Abraham left another record in history. According to Josephus, Abraham taught the Egyptians "arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy." For as Josephus records, before Abraham came into Egypt, the Egyptians were unacquainted with arithmetic and astronomy (Bk. i, chap. vii, sec. 2).

     Why did the Egyptians have Abraham teach the science of arithmetic and astronomy? The answer is simple. They had heard about how great a scientist, astronomer, and mathematician Abraham was. As soon as he arrived, Egyptians asked him to teach them about arithmetic and astronomy, which he did. 
 
     After the famine in Canaan was over, Abraham went back to the land God had given him. That knowledge, meantime, prepared Egypt for world rule and made Egypt the one land in which the nation Israel could grow to maturity -- as it did 400 years after
Abraham.
 
Obedience Pays Off
 
     After Abraham obeyed God's command to come out of Chaldea, your Bible reveals God made him "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen. 13:2), and in flocks and herds, in
menservants, and maidservants, and camels and asses (Gen. 24:35).

     God not only made faithful, obedient Abraham fabulously wealthy. Because Abraham was obedient and faithful above all men of his day, God also promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation and a company of nations (Gen. 35:9-12).

     If you do not have it, send for the free booklet "The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy," and read for yourself documented proof the United States and the British Commonwealth are the world's wealthiest peoples because God promised Abraham that He would not only reward him personally, but He would even give great wealth to his children and to their children's children to many generations.
 
Are You, Like Abraham, a True Scientist?
 
     Are you, like Abraham, seeking the approval of God, rather than the praises of men?

     Are you, like Abraham, honest enough to acknowledge that the creation is proof of a Creator? You can have the proof in the free booklet, "Does God Exist?"

     Then after having acknowledged that God is God, will you, like Abraham, let The Almighty God lead you into a true knowledge of why the universe was created? It's made plain in the free booklet, "Why Were You BORN?"

     God can say of you -- if you let Him -- as He said of Abraham, "And he believed in the LORD; and he (God) counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen 15:6).