The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 4 (1794-1796): The Age of ReasonPaine, Thomas
Religion
The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 4 (1794-1796): The Age of Reason
Paine, Thomas
Philosophy and religion; Political science; Rationalism
I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there
was no such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and
consequently, that Moses could not be the writer of the book of
Genesis, where this account of pursuing them unto Dan is given.
The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the
Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this
town, they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who was
the father of that tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham.
To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to
chapter xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there said
(ver. 27) that “they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that
were quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword
[the Bible is filled with murder] and burned the city with fire; and
they built a city, (ver. 28,) and dwelt therein, and [ver. 29,] they
called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, their father;
howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.”
This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it
to Dan, is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of
Samson. The death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. 1120 and that
of Moses B.C. 1451; and, therefore, according to the historical
arrangement, the place was not called Dan till 331 years after the
death of Moses.
There is a striking confusion between the historical and the
chronological arrangement in the book of judges. The last five
chapters, as they stand in the book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put
chronologically before all the preceding chapters; they are made to be
28 years before the 16th chapter, 266 before the 15th, 245 before the
13th, 195 before the 9th, 90 before the 4th, and 15 years before the
1st chapter. This shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the Bible.
According to the chronological arrangement, the taking of Laish, and
giving it the name of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death
of Joshua, who was the successor of Moses; and by the historical order,
as it stands in the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of
Joshua, and 331 after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from
being the writer of Genesis, because, according to either of the
statements, no such a place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and
therefore the writer of Genesis must have been some person who lived
after the town of Laish had the name of Dan; and who that person was
nobody knows, and consequently the book of Genesis is anonymous, and
without authority.
I come now to state another point of historical and chronological
evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses
is not the author of the book of Genesis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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