It isn"t that they were bad or stupid, they just lacked a lot of information for putting things together any different than they did. Clifford discusses this:.

             Here a problem must be faced. How can the Exodus, a historic event, be regarded as an act of creation in the Bible? If creation were defined in modern terms (the emergence of the earthly and astral universe), it could not be called an act of creation. The Bible (and the Ancient Near East), however, conceives creation differently than does the modern West. The major differences between ancient and modern conceptions are three: the product of creation, the process of creation, and the manner of reporting. (7) The product of creation in antiquity was a populated universe, a society, not (as is customary today) the earth and planetary world as such. Because what emerged from the act of creation was a people (typically with kingship, marriage customs, temple, etc.), the emergence of the people Israel could be interpreted as creation. The use of the category would be impossible if one were to use a modern definition of creation, but very possible if one uses the ancient definition. (Clifford) .

             Furthermore, at this time in history and for about 4000 years before, great waves of male-god worshiping nomads, like the Hebrews had been conquering all of Old Europe and the early societies of the Middle and Near East. In the process of imposing their worship and social values they wiped out many peaceful, agrarian societies that based their worship on a Goddess as the central divinity. To be sure that the Goddess didn"t come back, so to speak, many laws were needed, by a group as small as the Hebrews were, to guarantee growth and survival. Laws were also needed to guarantee that any issue by any woman was only the issue of her lawful husband. .

             What does this mean to modern day Christians reading the Old and New Testament for guidance in their everyday lives? For those who want and need absolutes, it means following the words the way they are written without variance.