Book Review: “Hidden Light: Science Secrets of the Bible” by David Medved (Maggid Books, 2008)

Marjorie Sutherland | April 2009

There is a modern/post modern academic assumption that antiquated texts are necessarily inaccurate, and this is especially true regarding scientific knowledge.  How could early alchemists, healers and astronomers know what we know today given their limited understanding of the laws of physics and chemistry, and ridiculous lack of technological tools for the purpose discovery? This assumption has also been applied to Holy Scripture. We assume the purpose of Scripture is to record a history of God's people, His plan and His grace, and are quick to point out that is was never intended as a science text.  Dr. David Medved, author of “Hidden Light: Science Secrets of the Bible” disagrees. If Holy Scripture is the divinely inspired word of God, and God is the omniscient and omnipotent mind behind our universe, He is not only the author of all scientific truth, but has embedded this truth in his Word.

For those unfamiliar with the author, Dr. David Medved is a fascinating gentleman; chemist, radar technician, physicist, ballistic missile defense specialist, NASA project coordinator, satellite and spacecraft expert, and founding owner of the MERET corporation pioneering early work in fiber optics communication. After retiring to Israel, he initiated the Jerusalem Optical Link Technologies organization focusing on wireless optical communications and continues to work as a professor through Jerusalem College of Technology. Quite an impressive C.V.! He was also a personal friend of George Gamow of Big Bang theory fame and includes several interesting and humorous anecdotes regarding their discussions. Medved is a man with expansive knowledge over a wide area of expertise, and no shortage of opinions. In writing “Hidden Light”, he indulges his own children's desire to see their father's “speculative interpretations of the bible as viewed from a scientific perspective” in print.

The book is divided into sections regarding cryptic biblical references in the areas of cosmology, celestial “music”, mathematics, chemistry, seismology, and archeology.  Medved's writing is a quirky mix of complex theory combined with traditional meaning of Hebrew words. His assumptions regarding the truth of scripture lead him to pinpoint tangential verses that correlate to   recent scientific discoveries.  Some examples: prediction of an old age of the earth, a big bang, cosmic background radiation, expanding universe, dark matter,  “music” from the planets, ? (pi) with accuracy to six significant figures, the chemical nature of water, and lunar-solar prediction of earthquakes, just to name a few. His writing includes quotations from numerous well-known and obscure scientists, as well as an eleventh century Rabbi, Edgar Alan Poe (who apparently predicted a big bang theory 100 years prior to Gamow), Shakespeare, Robert Frost, and T.S. Elliot.  Although this is not a light read before bed, the book is delightfully varied in content and surprisingly accessible even to the theoretically “faint of heart”.  Medved invites us to journey with him from the pages of old testament scripture into the present day as we celebrate the discovery of God's “hidden light”.
    
    

Reviewed by Marjorie Sutherland, Science teacher, Woodland Christian High School, Breslau, Ontario.