Wiseman Hypothesis or Tablet Theory Regarding the Book of Genesis

Many have their own doubts about the Book of Genesis on how it got preserved and passed down from one generation to the next generations. So in this post, we are going to cover one interesting theory about this topic which is known as the “Wiseman Hypothesis” or more commonly known as the “Tablet Theory”.

The person behind this theory is a British scholar, Percy Wiseman. Hence, he named his theory after his last name.

The main reason why some individuals prefer to call Wiseman’s theory as the tablet theory is because his theory suggests that the Scriptures of Genesis were originally written or engraved on clay tablets. Thus, the Scriptures in these clay tablets got passed down starting from the very first generations of man which was Adam. Then followed by Noah, Shem, Isaac, Jacod, and finally Moses who compiled them.

Before Noah's flood, the theory claims that these ancient tablets were carefully passed down into the care of several generations until Noah’s time. Before the flood was about to occur, Noah took these clay tablets and safely kept them inside his ark. Thus, the clay tablets never stopped from being passed down to the next generations.

When Moses finally got the clay tablets in his hands, he compiled them and even used them as reference materials. We can read the references in the Book of Genesis from the words that composed of “these are the generations of.”

There are a total of 10 generations where these words were used which you can check in your own Holy Bible.

The Generations Of

By studying it closely, Adam was the very first man who could probably recorded the second tablet. The theory suggests that he may even have done the first as well. Then, the next generations who held the clay tablets were again Noah, Shem, Terah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, and down to Moses.

The clay tablet theory is indeed quite interesting. However, the problem is that there is not enough evidence to support its existence. The Holy Bible actually does not contain any of its Scriptures that these objects did exist in the past. Nor, any archaeological evidence that got uncovered or discovered. It is simply a mere hypothesis which is considered as one among the many possibilities of explaining the event.

If you are going to think more about it, the tablet is not actually necessary for the Holy Scriptures to be passed down from the earliest generations to the next. It’s because God can always use his divine powers, particularly the Holy Ghost to directly communicate to Moses which guided him in documenting the Book of Genesis. We can actually read this as described in Book 2 of Peter 1:21.

Peter 1:21

The Scripture states that no “human will” or personal thoughts of man were introduced into the Holy Bible. It is clearly stated that God had chosen someone or the right person to deliver His message to the world. And, they were able to fulfill it through the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Thus, this had rendered the ancient clay tablets useless or not necessary.

Moreover, what’s really important is that God’s Words were accurately preserved and recorded up to this current or present period of time for us to read. And His Words are now commonly compiled into one Book which we call as the “Holy Bible”.