Christianity is the world’s largest religion with over 2.5 billion followers globally. There are various factors that have catalyzed its global acceptance, such as being the religion of the colonizers of the modern world. Still, the philosophy of meekness, love, and mercy could also have aided its acceptance. Despite its acceptance, it has been ridiculed by scholars owing to some inconsistencies in scripture that contradict reason, conventional history, and the scientific method. I would have to write volumes of commentaries to address some of these contradictions. Though, I chose to focus on one case; The plagiarism of 2 kings 19 and Isaiah 37.
The links to the two chapters are listed below:
A brief account of 2 Kings
The book of Kings provides an account of the falling divided kingdom. Most of Israel’s rulers are wicked and only a few good rulers govern over Judah. Finally, the kingdom of Israel is destroyed by the Assyrians and that of Judah by the Babylonians. The key themes in the book are the punishment of those who disobey God, the fulfillment of David’s promise, and the truthfulness of the prophets of God. The book’s time of writing is placed between 560 and 540 BCE. Though the writer of the book is not known, scholars suppose that it is Jeremiah who authored the book. However, Jeremiah did not travel to Babylon and it is clear that the final section occurred in the Babylonian exile.
Brief Account of Isaiah
The book of Isaiah is the first of the major and later prophets of the Old Testament. According to scholars, the book can be outlined in three parts. Proto- Isaiah (1-39) with the original words of Isaiah. Deutro-Isaiah was written by an anonymous writer in exile and Trito-Isaiah (55-66) a collection of unknown prophets. According to the book, Isaiah lived through the reign of Kings Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. Thus, the Proto- Isaiah books can be placed between (740-701) BCE.
Key Dilemma
Why are two books written by two prophets living in different time periods contain the same information in verbatim?
The most obvious answer Jeremiah copied Isaiah
Unless Jeremiah did not Author 2 Kings.
If Jeremiah really wrote the Book of 2 kings. How could Isaiah have told the story of Hezekiah whilst Hezekiah was never born?
Unless Isaiah never wrote the book of Isaiah.
Overall, looking at the chronology of kings during the times of Jeremiah and Isaiah. There is no way the two books could have been published by these authors. If one were to justify the credibility of the texts. It would only make sense if the books were written by other authors.
If that’s the case, were these authors truly inspired, since the books are based on the credibility of prophets?
Religion presupposes that we should follow the teachings of scripture without question. But such an inconsistency whether placed with intent or by mistake creates more questions than answers on the credibility of the World’s most trusted book.
Is there a fact-based defense to this discrepancy? I would really like to be enlightened
P.S. When the dilemma is solved I will continue the second section of the paper.
Current Verdict: The contents were plagiarized by “lazy” scribes, not written by inspired prophets.
The Tjay pod 