Moreover, according to the text of the Hebrew Torah, from
the creation of Adam until Noah's flood the elapsed time is recorded as one
thousand six hundred and fifty-six years, while in the Greek Torah the interval
is given as two thousand two hundred and sixty-two years, and in the Samaritan
text, the same period is said to have lasted one thousand three hundred and
seven years.
Reflect now over the discrepancies among these three Torahs.
The case is indeed surprising. The Jews and Protestants belittle the Greek
Torah, while to the Greeks the Hebrew version is spurious, and the Samaritans
deny both the Hebrew and the Greek versions.
Our purpose is to show that even in Scriptural history, the
most outstanding of all histories, there are contradictions as to the time when
the great ones lived, let alone as to the dates related to others. And furthermore,
learned societies in Europe are continually revising the existing records, both
of East and West. In spite of this, how can the confused accounts of peoples
dating from before Alexander be compared with the Holy Text of God? If any
scholar expresses astonishment, let him be surprised at the discrepancies in
Scriptural history. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Tablet of Wisdom questions and answers’,
translated by Baha’i World Centre, published in ‘Ethel Jenner Rosenberg, the Life and Times of England's Outstanding
Bahá'í Pioneer Worker’, by Robert Weinberg)
