When the Bible Doesn’t Give You History
“If you can’t trust the Bible on one thing, you can’t trust it on anything.” This sentiment is popular among many Christians and is the measuring rod by which they evaluate the Bible. They impose specific standards on the Bible, demanding that it behave in accordance with their expectations. The Bible is either facts or it is fairy tales — there allegedly cannot be any other categories./em>
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash.
But what if the Bible doesn’t line up with history? Was Abraham really a camel herder when camels weren’t domesticated until several centuries after he would have lived? Did a literal two million Israelites leave Egypt without leaving a trace of evidence? Did Jesus die on the day of Passover, as Mark’s Gospel says? Or did Jesus die on the Day of Preparation, as John’s Gospel says?
I remember facing these questions years ago and having an onslaught of anxiety, feeling the need to force the Bible to fit into my assumptions of how it ought to be. However, I realized that if my understanding of the Bible was hanging on how the previous questions were answered, I wasn’t allowing the Bible to speak for itself and be what it is.
In the ancient near-eastern world, history was viewed differently than it is today. Instead of compiling lists of facts, people took history and reshaped it for didactic (or teaching) functions.
I believe there is a historical core behind the Abraham stories, but he was probably a herder of donkeys, and the stories of Abraham were probably written down after camels had been domesticated.
I affirm a historical core behind the Exodus narrative, but in the time it was written hyperbolic inflation of numbers was commonly used to express the significance of an event, so, in my opinion, the Hebrews who left Egypt did so, but in a smaller number.
Mark likely presented Jesus’ death on Passover to illustrate that Jesus was starting a new Exodus, in which people would be led into a new way of life under God’s rule, whereas John wrote about Jesus’ death taking place on the Day of Preparation because this is the day that Passover lambs were killed, and John claimed that Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
The way the Bible is written often doesn’t fit into the categories that we, as post-Enlightenment people, would like, but this doesn’t mean that it is useless. Instead of asking “Did this literally happen the way it is described or not?” we should ask “Why did anyone feel the need to write this down in the first place?”
One of the best examples of this approach can be found in a popular passage that is often referred to on Good Friday. Mark 15:6-15 says that it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner. Jesus is one prisoner that Pilate offers to release and the other is a man named Barabbas, who was a murderer and insurrectionist.
A popular understanding of this text is that the guilty man goes free, while Jesus, who is innocent, is condemned to death. This interpretation aligns us with Barabbas: even though we are guilty of sin, we are allowed to go free because of Jesus’ sacrifice. This is a beautiful and powerful understanding that is deeply meaningful for many people. However, it is almost certainly not why the author included passage. As it turns out, there is no evidence to indicate that there was an annual custom for Roman authorities to release a prisoner each year at Passover. So why did Mark include it?9
Mark was probably written between 66 CE and 70 CE. This is significant because, during the year 66, a sect of Jews named the Zealots had launched an insurrection against the Roman Empire, hoping to overthrow them and become independent once more. They had a short run of success, but eventually, in 70 CE, Roman military forces completely destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and claimed many lives.
Mark’s Gospel was written during this uprising, and, as conflict escalated, those who followed Jesus knew that violence only begets violence. It seems that Mark included this episode of Barabbas and Jesus to say “You are choosing the way of violence, and you are rejecting the way of peacemaking that Jesus has shown you.” The writer of Mark goes to great lengths to put Pilate on the side of Jesus, trying to release him, but the crowds insist that they would rather have a murderer than Jesus.
Mark included this literary invention in his Gospel as a microcosm of what was happening at the time it was written, but, in doing so, he also gives us a timeless bit of wisdom. When we choose to fight fire with fire, and combat violence with more violence, we end up rejecting the way of Jesus.
Did these events literally happen? No, I do not believe so. But is this passage telling us something true? Yes, it absolutely is. Therefore, we ought to challenge our assumptions about how we think the Bible should behave, loosen the grips of our “fact fundamentalism,” and let the Bible be what it is. When we do this, we can hear the voices of our spiritual ancestors and meet God in the pages of our sacred book.
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I frequently get criticism of the Bible... or Christianity... or me... because there are some self-styled Christians who consider the Bible to be inerrant. These critics seem to feel that for some reason all Christians must justify those nutzoid inerrantists, which (if you think about it) implies that the critics are also considering the Bible to be inerrant!
Here's one person's more reasonable approach to the Bible.
Dear Friend Bob: This is a most interesting article.
Literal is only one option for interpreting Scripture.
Scripture isn't a high tech manual.
Those are written to be read 100% literally.
Scripture, many, myself included opine is not.
I write an article entitled, "Scriptural Orchard".
It appears in scholarly journals in English, Hebrew, German, Spanish, Ladino and Yiddish in various academic publications about the globe. If you want to read it,. kindly send me a private note with your personal email. I will shoot it off to you.
If you would like, we can co-author a joint article, what I wrote and your ideas from the perspective of your heritage.
Will be fun. You and I haven't yet had the chance to collaborate on an original work here.
This could be the start of something big.
Peace and Abundant Blessings.
Enoch.
"Scripture isn't a high tech manual.
Those are written to be read 100% literally.
Scripture, many, myself included opine is not."
There is no reason why life lessons cannot be learned from parables and allegories.
There is no reason why life lessons cannot be learned from parables and allegories.
Can you think of a good reason how the murder of an entire planet makes for good allegory? It's literally the most evil thing that can be imagined, done by the entity the loves us unconditionally.
When it comes to religion, you are as bad as Trump's Unthinking Faithful TM ! I have told you dozens of times that it is literarily, historically and theologically erroneous to confound OT and NT.
You know this now... but you insist on reanimating your tired zombie arguments. You are the Paul Ryan of Biblical exegesis.
So when you generically talk about scripture, you are specifically referring to the NT?
Not necessarily. It depends on context. If the topic is NT, then "scripture" is NT. Or in another context, it may be OT or both.
I kinda count on the intelligence of the people I'm addressing...
Just wait until Christians get to heaven and learn that God is responsible for the proliferation of homosexuality, because he's trying to save humanity from overpopulation.
A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
I've heard that story before, but read it again...and then again. LOL
...and then again.
But Buzz is right. It's a good story: funny and thoughtful at the same time.
I just noticed that the text got messed up somehow when I posted it, not sure what happened there but it is a great parable.
I'm curious though Bob, do you have any thoughts on a loving god doing what he can to prolong humanity's existence on the jewel he created? Earth is a finite space, and her resources are even more finite. Overpopulation is a very real situation that is inevitable, exacerbated by religionists who have been taught that their god wants them to go forth and multiply. Think Duggars.
We have two possibilities: free will or predestination. I can't see any third option.
If all is predestined then not only is God a monster for imposing suffering on the world, but He is doubly monstrous for trying to make us believe we can do anything about it.
OTOH, if we have free will... then what happens in the world is our doing, not His. Christ gave us the (very simple) key: love one another. That wouldn't stop earthquakes... but would greatly accelerate assistance.