Problem: Paul affirmed that it is against “nature” for men to have long hair (1 Cor. 11:14). But the vow of the Nazarite demanded that one not cut his hair.
Archeology
Archaeology Supports the Old Testament.
Creation. The recent discoveries of creation accounts at Ebla add evidence of this. This library of sixteen thousand clay tablets predates the Babylonian account by about 600 years. The creation tablet is strikingly close to Genesis, speaking of one being who created the heavens, moon, stars, and earth. The people at Ebla believed in creation from nothing. The Bible contains the ancient, less embellished version of the story and transmits the facts without the corruption of the mythological renderings.
Numbers 5:13–22—Doesn’t the Bible condone a superstition here?
Problem: Paul condemns “old wives’ fables” (1 Tim. 4:7). But, Moses here commands the practice of a superstition that has no basis in science. The accused wife was found guilty after drinking bitter water only if her stomach swelled. But, both the innocent and guilty wives drank the same bitter water, thus showing that there was no chemical or biological basis for one swelling and the other not.
Numbers 4:6—Were the staves to remain in the Ark or to be removed?
Problem: According to Exodus 25:15, “The poles shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.” But, in the Numbers passage it says that when the ark was moved by the Levites “they shall insert its poles.” This seems to be conflicting instructions.
Numbers 4:3—How can the age for Levitical service be 30, when Numbers 8:24 says 25, and Ezra 3:8 says 20?
Problem: According to Numbers 4:3, at 30 years of age a Levite would “enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.” However, Numbers 8:24 states, “this is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting,” and Ezra 3:8 says that Levites “from twenty years old and above” were appointed to oversee the work of rebuilding the house of the Lord. Is there a contradiction between these passages?
Numbers 1:46—Was this census made here or earlier?
Problem: According to Exodus 40:2, Moses took the census of the people of Israel the “first day of the first month.” But in Numbers, the same census, yielding the same number of 603,550, was taken on “the first day of the second month” (Num. 1:1).
Numbers 3:12—If God commanded that firstborn sons from all the tribes be given Him, why was the tribe of Levi given instead?
Numbers 1:1–4:49—How accurate is this census of the tribes of Israel?
Problem: According to the census taken in chapters 1–4 of Numbers, the newly formed nation of Israel must have numbered about 2 million people. According to Numbers 1:1, this census was taken while the people were in the wilderness of Sinai at the beginning of their 40 years of wandering. However, the dry and desolate conditions of the Sinai desert would have made it impossible for such a large group to survive. So, is the census inaccurate?