Guest essay by Fred F. Mueller
While many people will agree that some of the stories recorded in the Old Testament might not be taken too literally, this book nevertheless deserves a lot of respect for the fact that is represents the collective wisdom and historical records of a nomad populace that roamed vast swathes of Egypt, Mesopotamia and adjacent regions before finally settling in what is now known as Israel.
These tribes were highly intelligent and had a remarkably good understanding of many basic rules governing their daily life. Given the hygienic knowledge and standards of these times, rules determining how to prepare kosher food certainly had the beneficial additional effect of preventing the spread of diseases such as trichinosis or salmonella infections.
The old Jews had a basic but efficient set of laws called the Ten Commandments and, by observing the Shabbat, also practiced a very early form of work hour limitation. And, over a time period probably spanning back thousands of years into the fogs of unrecorded early human history, they kept the collective memory of key weather events and natural disasters such as Noah’s flood or the (probably volcanic) annihilation of Gomorrah. A very remarkable exploit of the Old Testament is the description of the Ten Plagues affecting Egypt. One can view them as a line-up of the worst natural incidents these people ever had lived and recorded over a period of probably several thousand years. Which now brings me to the decisive point: the list does not include freezing temperatures and deep snow.
Hail, but neither snow nor subzero temperatures
While the Ten Plagues included hail storms, the records clearly limit their impact to the destruction of crops and the battering to death of cattle and humans alike. Such events are extremely violent but also very ephemeral. The Bible makes no mention of bitter cold or of lasting snowfall. Given the high intelligence and excellent observation skills of the ancient Jews, one might feel enticed to suggest that during hundreds if not thousands of years, weather events of this type simply did not occur in their habitat.
Which now brings me to the decisive point: while the proponents of the theory of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) insist that the temperatures of the planet are set to rise in an accelerating mode that we won’t be able to control least we adopt drastic climate protecting measures a.s.a.p., we just learn that in the Sinai desert, a region to the south-west of Israel, four hikers have died in a blizzard. They lost their way and sadly froze to death in deep snow at temperatures well below the freezing point. Pictures in the internet show camels knee-deep in snowdrifts.
If one pieces together this information and biblical records, one might feel entitled to draw the conclusion that such a weather event hasn’t been observed in the region for several thousand years. Not exactly an indication of runaway temperatures, at least not a rush to the northern regions of the mercury scale. And this wasn’t a singular event. Over a prolonged time period and a wide area, the Middle East might have been experiencing its worst cold snap in several hundred if not thousand years.
This certainly does not harmonize with stories about runaway temperatures sizzling our planet. If the Bible is right, the CAGW theory seems to have hit some serious snag. Maybe it would be a good suggestion to tell these people to go back to the drawing boards and proceed to an in-depth makeover of their simulation software…
[Note: some commenters questioned why this essay was posted, I simply saw it as an interesting discussion of recorded historical events, something that scholars worldwide look to document. The Roman Warm Period is well known and also much studied, and it coincides with many writings in the Bible. Wikipedia says:
Theophrastus (371 – c. 287 BC) wrote that date trees could grow in Greece if planted, but could not set fruit there. This is the same situation as today, and suggests that southern Aegean mean summer temperatures in the fourth and fifth centuries BC were within a degree of modern temperatures. This and other literary fragments from the time confirm that the Greek climate during that period was basically the same as it was around 2000 AD. Dendrochronological evidence from wood found at the Parthenon shows variability of climate in the fifth century BC resembling the modern pattern of variation.[3] Tree rings from Italy in the late third century BC indicate a period of mild conditions in the area at the time that Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants.[4]
The phrase “Roman Warm Period” appears in a 1995 doctoral thesis.[5] It was popularized by an article published in Nature in 1999.
Anyone reading anything more into this posting, or thinking that I’m endorsing the idea that the bible “disproves global warming” should think again. – Anthony]
Whereto begin? The Bible also mentions camels, which were not domesticated in the Middle East at the time the events described therein took place. The stories were written/compiled centuries later. And AFAIK there isn’t a shred of independent evidence for any presence of Hebrews in Egypt at the appropriate time, let alone the exodus from it.
I think Lenbilen maybe has put the kibosh on this blog post?
I suspect many are missing the point, driven mad by the mere mention of the Bible.
So here, for absolutely free of charge I’ll restate the point with a few clarifying words added:
Whether or not the Bible represents the word of God, or merely the collected folk tales of a people, it contains a lot of historical information, much of which has been confirmed in various ways. Although some people like to ignore ALL of it for the sake of a small number of errors or omissions or ulterior motives, it is interesting that there is such an extremely small number of references to cold weather.
In recent history, cold weather has appeared in the regions described in Biblical texts often enough that it would be safe to assume that cold weather might be happening more often now than in the era described in the Bible.
I think the video clip supplied by Jimmy sums up the reasons. Why bother mentioning something as mundane as a blizzard when there are far more dramatic inventions to catch the eye of the reader? You’d never get anyone to take your manuscript seriously.
Jesus lived during the peak of the Roman Warming Period. And before that temperatures were significantly warmer than today, 1 to 3C warmer. Overall the Holocene temperatures have been on a slow downward arc for thousands of years.
So I am not surprised to see little mention of snow or ice in the Bible. It doesn’t really prove anything we don’t already know, but I guess it provides anecdotal support to ice core temperature reconstructions.
Ah, small-minded people, for whom no truth exists except in their narrow little fields.
Hello? The Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novels, written and set in the 1930s, are works of explicit fiction, and were never identified (then or later) as “science” fiction. They also reference gas-powered automobiles, aeroplanes and radio. Must we surmise that Britain of 1934 had no automobiles because fictional works included them?
People write for people, and we write what we know even when we’re writing fiction (or especially when: well is it said, “Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense!”)
Even if the Bible is 100% pure grade-A BS, it was written by and for people who wanted to convey certain ideas. That they didn’t include blizzards strongly suggests that blizzards were not sufficiently familiar as disasters: they may have occurred, but would have been swiftly followed by melting and–huzzah!–flowing water. So, less a disaster than a transiently-inconvenient blessing. Missionaries to Inuit peoples, carrying tales of Hell as a place of eternal fire, failed to convey quite the horror that they meant to — Hell sounded quite warm and cozy to people living on the ice! “Hell” to northern peoples is cold, cold and more cold.
The epic of Gilgamesh also contains no blizzards. Ain’t nothing wrong with noting a distinct absence of certain features in the stories people told one another in that region at that time.
Moreover, the idea isn’t being offered as Definitive Proof, The Final Truth That Will Persuade All. It’s merely presented as “isn’t this an interesting notion.”
Humans are storytelling animals. At least, fully human people are.
I am of the opinion that in biblical times, agricultural productivity was the primary concern, a cold winter was not worth mentioning, unless it killed livestock. Perhaps the mass migrations were driving by longer term climate changes as opposed to a single bad year?
I imagine the knee-jerk reaction by many anti-Christians to this article will be along the lines of “But the Bible is just a fairy tale, so nothing in it could EVER be considered factual.”
Rather then simple dismiss it, a better argument is that if snow and blizzards were MORE common then today in biblical times, then they wouldn’t stand out as “plagues”.
And yes, I said anti-Christians, not non-Christians. You don’t have to believe in a religion to respect it’s beliefs. I’m non-Jewish and non-Buddhist (among many others) but that doesn’t mean I throw a hissy fit any time I run into some demonstration of those religions.
Heck, I even respect the beliefs of Atheists and Warmists. I just wish fewer of each would stop demanding that everyone must convert or be punished.
Even as an evil Denier, I regard this as a very thin story. Fighting myth with myth is a poor strategy.
You could equally well argue that they didn’t mention snow underfoot and blizzards in the same way the Eskimos don’t talk about such things — they are ever-present and hence unremarkable.
Could do better.
Snow is mentioned at least 25 times in the Bible.
Ice is mentioned also, although not as often.
Clearly, the ancients were familiar with both.
A few instances:
1 Chr.11
[22] And Benai’ah the son of Jehoi’ada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds; he smote two ariels of Moab. He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.
Job.6
[16] which are dark with ice,
and where the snow hides itself.
Job.9
[30] If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
Job.24
[19] Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
Job.37
[6] For to the snow he says, `Fall on the earth’;
and to the shower and the rain, `Be strong.’
Job.38
[22] “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
Ps.51
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Ps.68
[14] When the Almighty scattered kings there,
snow fell on Zalmon.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/r/rsv/simple.html
Ok, I’ll bite but will probably regret lending credence to this.
Exereme stuff like fallen angels, signs and wonders, deities guiding heroes to fabled golden fleeces, tales of talking snakes and people being turned into pillars of sodium chloride or global 12,000 floods inflicted by vengeful fickle deities make it into sacred texts.
Boring stuff like snowy weather in winter for instance, or getting ripped off by a gourd seller down the market generally don’t make it into literature.
Weather is very much a part of the books of the Bible. It is not far-fetched to even surmise weather pattern variations and oscillations on an epic scale. Anyone dismissing such ancient texts as a source of information when pursuing scientific objectives displays a bias. Such bias is not a part of scientific investigation.
As the Bible purports to cover a period from the big bang until the middle of the first century AD, there does seem to be a paucity of reports of snow. I’m sure snow fell more than 25 times, it just wasn’t worth reporting.
To dismiss Old Testament writings out-of-hand is a sure sign of being narrow-minded. While considering (and dealing with) the effects of countless biblical translations (and the biases of the translators), there is nothing wrong (or unscientific) with “tossing about ideas” or engaging in “what ifs” in discussions of human history. The same goes for other millenia-old writings.
The concept is called “Multiple Working Hypotheses”, i.e., you brainstorm (with others) and seek out numerous hypotheses to consider, then retiring the less-plausible hypotheses as you acquire more evidence and as interpretations mature.
The frames-of-reference of “the ancients” were different than ours and there may yet be other bits-of-evidence (puzzle pieces) to be found in the future through archeology (and other sources) as we try to decipher human and natural history. What seems odd now may be mainstream in 30 years, if we keep an open mind and allow free-and-open debates.
I would agree with the camp that blizzards were viewed as semi-common occurrence.
I have visited Israel multiple times on business visiting the area north of Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinnerat) and the Golan Heights (fantastic red wines from this area) on several occasions. I have not done so myself, but skiing in the Golan Heights is not unheard of. The melt from the Golan Heights is the source of the River Jordan.
CodeTech says:
February 25, 2014 at 5:35 am
Whether or not the Bible represents the word of God, or merely the collected folk tales of a people, it contains a lot of historical information, much of which has been confirmed in various ways.
=========
Well said. In many respects the Bible (and Torah) reads like a health manual. But instead of God, use the word “something unknown”.
Now whenever the Bible says:
Do this or God will strike you down.
becomes:
Do this or something unknown will kill you.
People thousands of years ago were not a whole lot different than us. They observed the world and when people got sick and died they searched for cause and effect. They tried to make sense of what they saw. And when they saw that illness was associated with behavior, they tried to make sense of it.
But, they has no knowledge of viruses, bacteria or parasites. They didn’t understand how disease could be communicated. So when they observed that people eating pork died, they said, if you eat pork, God will kill you. Well it wasn’t god, it was parasites, it was something unknown. But it was obviously something very powerful, because it had the power to kill. So our minds, trying to make sense of the world, used the word God to stand for something unknown with the power to kill.
In a similar fashion, sexual taboo’s came about. People that engaged in certain patterns of sexual behavior became sick and died. No one knew about STD’s. But they surely existed, and were past from person to person through sexual contact. Without the benefit of modern medicine the population learned to avoid certain practices, because to do otherwise could prove fatal.
We assume that diseases like HIV are relatively recent. But are they? Perhaps marriage practices all but eradicated the disease in human populations. Those that did not follow the taboo’s became sick and died. With the discovery of antibiotics, the fear of STD was largely lifted, a sexual revolution was born, and an ancient disease resurfaced.
The Torah also mentions men living for hundreds of years. Should we take it as evidence that people lived for hundreds of years back then?
Probably had a good diet devoid of MSG Aspartame Fluoride Asbestos X-rays etc…
I’m not anti-Christian… but this is a SCIENCE blog, and the politics of the climate debate means we MUST distance ourselves from any appearance of being lunatic bible-bashers. If you happen to BE a lunatic bible-basher, then might I suggest a science-based website about climate it NOT the place for you to discuss your ideas – you’re hurting the genuine scientific sceptics who have fought long and hard to be taken seriously by mainstream science and who are not prepared to be shot in the foot.
@ur momisugly those who pooh-pooh any idea that we might derive intellectual value from the books of old:
The idea that we can learn nothing ‘scientific’ from the ancient writings of our forebears is quite frankly a most pig-ignorant assertion. What so many men miss when haughtily playing the ‘myth & legend’ card, is access to the cummulative wisdom of ages. Do you really suppose yourself superior to these our ancestors just because we live in an age of ‘reason & science’?
Who do you think these men were? Were they not giants, men of great repute? And who the hell do you think you are, men of equal stature? Do you really suppose yourself to be equal to or greater in wisdom than Solomon? Or longer in patience than Job? Or more courageous than Joshua, and more daring than David? No? Didn’t think so. At the very least, their exploits and writings have much to teach us about intellectual discipline, about the congnition and awareness of the basic natural laws that underlie and regulate the universe we observe around us.
I’m sure many of you would agree that placing quantitative knowledge in its proper perspective necessitates an overarching qualitative framework. In other words, how can we make sense of the visible universe when we have no coherent interpretive language to comprehend the importance of what we measure and observe?
Indulge me for a moment, if you would be so kind. I like to distil the scientific method into what I call the Four IFs and WHYs: Quantify, Qualify, Clarify and Falsify. Quantification obviously entails measurement, building a data set, establishing a list of empirical reference points. Qualification on the other hand involves the interpretation of said data using a coherent foundation of caveats and preconditions, of basic assumptions, first principles and starting points – a theory, otherwise known as educated guesswork.
I as a thinking man am at liberty to apply whichever qualitative framework I wish at any given moment as long as I am clear and honest about which preconditons and basic assumptions that entails – ‘Clarify’ in the Four IFs and WHYs. If my starting point is the assumption that these particular ancient writings are trusted witnesses to historical events, and I state that position unambiguously, then I have as much right as you to derive theoretical knowledge from that position to try and make sense of the world around me. If you choose a different qualitative framework, and state its cavets clearly, I will respect your conclusions, even where I might disagree with your starting point. Fudge and muddy your basic assumptions, however, and I will have nothing but disdain and contempt for your conslusions – ‘Falsify’ in the Four IFs and WHYs.
In a nutshell, I think trying to view the physical world around us from a purely quantitative viewpoint that excludes an a priori qualitative framework can be likened to looking through he wrong end of a telescope. Perhaps we need to turn the telescope round to understand more clearly the mysterious workings of the universe. As Albert Szent-Gyorgi said: Discovery consists of seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought. Indeed!
Roger Sowell,
1 Chr.11 [22]
“….He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.”
Gulp! Snow and lions in the same sentence. We don’t immediately associate lions with snow these days. Is this Biblical evidence for global warming?
The biblical authors were well aware of a wide range of natural events. e.g.,
hail 18;
snow 20;
ice 3;
cold15;
heat29;
winter15;
summer 18;
drought 9;
famine 91;
waves 29;
flood 32;
wind 115;
grew calm 2;
lightning 45;
thunder 29;
storm 36.
On historicity, the Bible has repeatedly been validated by archeology, more than any other ancient text. e.g., see: Biblical Archaeology: Factual Evidence to Support the Historicity of the Bible
Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict ISBN 0785242198
NIV Archaeological Study Bible ISBN 031092605X
Much of the biblical descriptions occurred during the Roman Warm period, so no surprise.
DavidR says:
February 25, 2014 at 6:18 am
Roger Sowell,
1 Chr.11 [22]
“….He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.”
Gulp! Snow and lions in the same sentence. We don’t immediately associate lions with snow these days. Is this Biblical evidence for global warming?
___________________
It’s evidence that Benaiah son of Jehoiada had a set.
“If one pieces together this information and biblical records, one might feel entitled to draw the conclusion that such a weather event hasn’t been observed in the region for several thousand years.”
That, or it was so common it wasn’t even considered plague.
Sand storms are not mentioned as plagues, too.
Does this make camels the original versions of the SUV. Using up potable water resources and producing untold amounts of CO2?