Human Nature
The Bible maintains one view of human nature from beginning to end.

Man is not only mortal, a creature destined to die after a period of years, but he is morally weak as well. Endowed with the most remarkable powers of intelligence and reason, conscience and will, he is also subject to the pressures of his own desires to please himself. He is constantly under pressure to be self-indulgent, covetous, and above all to defend his own pride. Knowing what he ought to do, he so often fails to do it. In the terms of the Bible, even when men know the will of God, in general they prefer to do their own will instead.

The testimony of the Bible is emphatic and unanimous. Passing judgement on the generation before the Flood because of their "deceit and violence", God declares: "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 6:5). In other words he is born with that tendency. Writing 600 years before Christ, the prophet Jeremiah declared that "the heart (of man) is deceitful and desperately sick" (17:9, RV). As a result he declared: "I know, 0 LORD, that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (10:23). Man, in other words, does not know what is best for him. He needs the guidance of God.

There is first the mystery of their sudden emergence as a nation in the land of Canaan (now Israel) about 1400 BC. They have left Egypt as a multitude of considerable power; are soon found, all twelve tribes of them, united in their acknowledgement of one God and submitting themselves unanimously to one Law, called now the Law of Moses. It was a rigorous regime which governed every aspect of their lives. It decreed their life of religious worship: the weekly sabbath (still observed), the three main festivals, including the Passover (still observed), the tabernacle with its priests and obligatory offerings, and detailed laws governing their relations with one another in all aspects of their daily lives. The Ten Commandments have become famous as the brief summary of their individual obligations, but there were many other regulations concerning cleanness and uncleanness, foods to be eaten and others prohibited, reparations to be made and judgements - including death - to be carried out in certain circumstances. And all males had to submit to the rite of circumcision (and still do).

Now this was no "easy law". It was very burdensome. It imposed obligations, demanded sacrifices both of wealth and personal convenience, and required the preservation of an attitude of reverent worship towards their God. It is emphatically not a Law which any people would have chosen for themselves of their own free will: it is too intrusive and too demanding. It is most difficult to get a large group of people to come to one mind on important religious, personal and political issues at the same time. How then did the whole twelve tribes of Israel come unanimously to accept this Law for themselves?
The answer is to be found in a series of dramatic events which occurred at this special turning-point in the nation's history. The Bible tells us how Israel were brought out from slavery in the land of Egypt by miraculous demonstrations of divine power on their behalf. Pharaoh king of Egypt did not want to let them go and persisted in his obstinate resistance through ten plagues that came upon his nation; ending in the destruction of his army in the Red Sea. In these events the God of Israel carried out judgements on Egypt's elaborate pagan system, demonstrated that He alone was God - "there is no other" - and confirmed Israel in the promise that they were His people.

Now if these great events actually occurred as the book of Exodus says they did, then we can better understand how it was that Israel came unanimously to accept this Law, first in the wilderness and then in the land of Canaan, and why devout ones among them still do to this day. But without this demonstration of divine power, their existence as a nation, unanimously accepting the Law of Moses, is well-nigh impossible to explain.

A Disobedient People
The nation of Israel is unique in preserving comprehensive records of the first 1,400 years of its existence. The detailed and precise records in the historical books of the Old Testament give names, dates of events, and significant political developments, involving other nations of the Middle East. They agree well with what is known from other sources of the circumstances of the period 1800-400 BC. No other nation on earth has a record remotely approaching this.

The remarkable thing is, however, that these historical records - the books of Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah for example - all go beyond the normal functions of historians, for unanimously they pass moral judgements on the characters involved and on the whole nation itself. They record not only that a certain king reigned for so many years, but that "he did evil in the sight of the LORD" or, less often, "he did that which was right . . ."

The portrait of the nation which emerges is that of a people constantly abandoning the true worship of their God and adopting the corrupt idolatrous practices of their pagan neighbours, with the inevitable immorality. The writings of the prophets without exception contain substantial passages exposing Israel's failure to obey their God, and prophesying the judgements which would come upon them, if they did not mend their ways. Those judgements were fulfilled in successive invasions by surrounding nations.

By this time, the nation that had been ruled by Saul, David and Solomon became divided into a Northern kingdom, retaining the name Israel; and a Southern kingdom, called Judah. Each in turn lapsed from the true worship of God who, through His prophets. first appealed for them to turn from their evil ways, and then. when they took no notice, warned of the inevitable judgements that would come upon them. The following are typical of the doom-laden words of the prophets;

To Israel, about 740 BC:
"Notwithstanding they would not hear ... They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah (idol), and worshipped the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars), and served Baal (god of the Canaanites). They caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil, in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight . . ." (2 Kings 17:13-18, RV)

So the Assyrians invaded the land, captured Samaria, and overthrew the Northern Kingdom about 720 BC.

To Judah, 130 years later:
"Moreover all the chief of the priests and the people trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the heathen ... and the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers (the prophets) because he had compassion on his people ... But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy . . ." (2 Chronicles 36:14-16)

So the Babylonians came and finally, about 590 BC, captured the city of Jerusalem, burnt down its temple, and carried away captive the most influential of the people. Israel's existence as a state came to an end.

Now the question requiring an answer is this: How did Israel come to preserve records which expose in such forthright terms their faithlessness, depravity and corruption? There is no other nation which has such extensive records in the first place, but even if such existed, they would have consigned such uncomplimentary writings to the rubbish heap and would never nave preserved them as national treasures. It has been well observed that if Israel's historical records are not true, then they constitute one long libel on the Jewish people. Why then have they preserved them to this day.

How did such Writings arise?
The related question is equally searching: how did a people manifesting in general the characteristics of all the other nations - national pride, corrupt kings, self-indulgent desire for power and possessions, readiness to adopt other nations' idolatries, allied with a persistent rejection of the enlightened commandments of their God - how did such a persistently wayward people ever produce the elevated moral teaching found in the Psalms and in the Prophets, with its emphasis on personal conduct in truth, mercy, consideration for one's neighbour, and above all reverence for the God of heaven and earth? No other nation did this. How did a morally trail nation like Israel come to produce it?

On human grounds it cannot be explained. But if the record is true, if it really is expressing the will of God and not just of men, then all becomes understandable. There must have been a Mind behind the writings of the Bible greater than the mind of man. On no other principle could the tenor of its teaching have been maintained over so many centuries. And that is why Israel have preserved this book and dared not cast it aside. They know its message came from God.