“Several other passages from Book I of Herodotus’ The Histories are worthy of mention in our study,” declared the Reverend J.A. Layman, evangelist with Sterling Ministries, before The Lay School faculty here in Clinton, Tennessee. All of the following references are documented to Sterling Ministries’ The Histories of Herodotus Color-coded.
In Book I, p24 we read:
All that is known is that Croesus believed himself to have found there also an oracle which spoke the truth. [REFERENCE: The implication of this last statement is that there were numerous oracles notorious for NOT speaking the truth.]
In Book I, p41 we read:
‘Ascalon is the most ancient of all the temples to this goddess’ referring to the goddess Venus.
Book I, p50 reports that Persians believed if anyone in their midst was afflicted with leprosy, then they must ‘have sinned against the sun.’ Exactly how is it possible to sin against the sun?
Book I, p64 records the invasion of the Persians into Babylon during which time the Babylonians were ‘engaged in a festival…dancing and reveling…’ such that the were taken by surprise by the Persian invasion. (Belshazzar’s feast, Daniel 5)
In Book I, p69 we notice that Herodotus changes his writing style capitalizing the word ‘God’ in reference to Cyrus’ belief that God had sent him a warning in a dream that Darius was plotting against him.
Miracles in The Histories, Book I:
In Book I, p32 day was suddenly changed to night.
In Book I, p35 a son of Croesus who had been unable to speak from birth ‘burst into speech’ as a Persian invader was about to kill his father, Croesus. According to the account the son retained his ability to speak the rest of his life.
Book I, p36 records that the Lydians claim Croesus prayed to the god Apollo to help quench a fire and from a clear sky, suddenly there appeared storm clouds which burst over the flames and extinguished them.
Many Christians seem to find it difficult to believe that God not only used secular kings to fulfill His will, even referring to them as ‘his servants’; appearing to them in dreams, and sometimes even speaking to them. But The Bible clearly teaches that such is the case. In 2 Chronicles 35:21 it is written that Pharaoh Necho of Egypt stated that God had commanded him to make haste and forbear Josiah, the King of Judah, from ‘meddling with God’. In 2 Chronicles 36:23 we read King Cyrus’ words that ‘the Lord God of heaven…hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem…’ referring to the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians; this second temple became known as Zerubbabel’s temple. In Jeremiah 25:9 we read the prophet Jeremiah’s words, ‘Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant…’. And who can forget the dreams of Pharaoh and Joseph’s interpretation of those dreams. If we must accept what Herodotus wrote in The Histories as historical fact, then why should we not also accept what The Bible says?”
Comments