Christians usually argue that the Bible was written by writers who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. If this is true, then we shouldn’t find any fault within the Bible. Is this really the case? This article gives some citations by Adam Clarke, the Christian commentator where he shows that Ezra fell in some faults when he wrote the Chronicles. This can be highlighted in his commentary.
Faults of the Writer of Ezra Acknowledged by Adam Clarke
Adam Clarke tells in his commentary on 1Chronicles 7:6:
“The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher and Jediael – In Gen_46:21, ten sons
of Benjamin are reckoned; ….. In Num_26:38, etc ., five sons only of Benjamin are
mentioned, Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shupham, and Hupham: and Ard and Naaman are
there said to be the sons of Bela; ….. The rabbins say that Ezra, who wrote this book, did not know whether some of these were sons or grandsons; and they intimate also that the tables from which he copied were often defective, and here we must leave all such matters.” (Source here)
We can see here that Adam Clarke admits that there were some defective tables from which he copied. The question now is: If the Bible writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit, why were they misled by copying from a defective copy?
Then Adam Clarke continues in 1Chronicles 8:29 saying:
“And at Gibeon – This passage to the end of the 38th verse is found with a little variety in the names, 1Ch_9:35- 44.
The rabbins say that Ezra, having found two books that had these passages with a variety in the names, as they agreed in general, he thought best to insert them both, not being able to discern which was the best. “(Source here)
How can we say that Ezra or any of the Bible writers were really inspired? If the one who rewrote the Torah was a prophet who took the revelation from God, he wouldn’t have fell in that problem, and he would have been able to distinguish the defective copies.
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