All through the scriptures seemingly insignificant details are provided in the accounts, not because we need to know the details but because the writers recorded the way it was. These small details help to prove the authenticity of the accounts. If the scriptural accounts had been made up, then these trivial details would not have been provided.
Repeatedly critics have ridiculed the existence of Sodom and Gomorrah and the three cities of Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (Zoar), as mentioned in Genesis 14:2, because no archeological evidence could be found for the cities. They questioned whether there ever was an historical person called Abraham or that Moses couldn’t have written the Pentateuch because the critics felt that writing was not in widespread use during the time of Moses, if it existed at all during that time. These details in the scripture were used to discredit the authenticity of the scripture.
However in 1974 over 1800 clay tablets were found near the present city of Aleppo. These tablets known as the Ebla Tablets:
- Dated between 2500 BC – 2250 BC and made references to Abraham and the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (Zoar). These cities were listed in the same order as in the scriptures because they were a part of a common trade route at that time. The cities were destroyed around 19th century BC while Moses wrote 400 years later.
- Mentioned Haran and Ur, from which Abram left with his father Terah.
- Clearly showed that formal writing had taken place well before Moses the time when Moses was recording the Pentateuch.
Some of these cities that were not even important parts of the formation of the Jewish nation, yet Moses talked about them because that is what happened and he faithfully transmitted the accounts as inspired by God even though the cities had long since been destroyed. The Biblical details of Genesis when mixed with modern archeology helped to authenticate of the Book of Genesis.
In a personal application, God is working in the details. There are many aspects of our lives that we may not understand, yet, just as our Lord was working in the details in the past, He has a purpose in how and why He works in your life now. Be encouraged.
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