If one wishes to demonstrate that the Bible does not merely contain some information that is likely to be accurate and of historical value, but that it is inerrant, then one needs to demonstrate not merely that this or that event happened, but they all happened largely as described in the Bible. And that is a daunting task, because it would require not merely expertise about all the relevant Biblical claims, but also information from other historical sources. It is meaningless to discuss an Exodus purported to occur in the Ramessid period, for instance, if we have a significant number of writings from the Egypt of that era, produced not simply under the auspices of Pharaoh but by more ordinary individuals, which cover the sweep of that era and give no indication of being affected by severe personal or communal tragedy.
When it comes to the purported conquest of Canaan, individuals like Bryant Wood have strenuously tried to relocate Ai and redate the fall of Jericho’s walls. But even if we grant him the benefit of the doubt, can we find a period of about 100 years during which all the cities said to have been destroyed in the Book of Joshua were in fact destroyed in something like the way that book claims they were?
If not, then historicity is still a possibility – hypothetically speaking, there may have been multiple waves of invasion over multiple generations, for instance. But inerrancy in any meaningful sense is not.
My primary field is New Testament, and so I invite readers with expertise in the Hebrew Bible, archaeology, and the Ancient Near East to discuss the question: Is there any single period of approximately a century during which we find all the relevant cities mentioned in Joshua to have been destroyed in something like the way the Book of Joshua indicates?
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In