The Bible Says So!

From Simple Answers to Insightful Understanding

Edwin D. Freed, Jane F. Roberts

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781845531645
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317491170
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Is it possible to apply teachings from the Bible to our world today, given the vast differences between biblical times and ours? Biblical passages are often taken out of context and interpreted to support a particular viewpoint or justify a particular action. 'The Bible Says So!' examines the origins of well-known biblical stories - from Adam and Eve, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel, to the birth of Jesus, his resurrection and the writings of St Paul. The book argues that the meaning of these stories becomes apparent when we read between the lines, using the techniques of biblical scholars. 'The Bible Says So!' explores the original intentions of the biblical writers in their particular context and examines key biblical values. The book does justice to the origins of the biblical text, whilst also affirming the relevance of the Bible today.

Part I
OVERVIEW OF BIBLICAL STUDY

Chapter 1
THE BIBLE: WHAT IS IT?

Introduction

“What is the Bible?” is a question that might seem almost insultingly simple. In reality, however, the answer is far more complex than any single reply and raises yet other, even more challenging, questions. Is the Bible the “Word of God”? Is it the most sacred book in the world? Is the Bible obsolete in today’s world, or does it still provide relevant guidance and inspiration? Some people might say that, since they are Christians, it is the holy book that dictates how they live and what they believe. It is the source they turn to for answers about moral issues, perhaps supporting their conclusions by declaring “The Bible Says So!”

We will see that any one response to the seemingly simple question that is the focus of this introductory chapter really does not do justice to it. The Bible is a virtual library of books comprised of many literary types or genres written by many different authors who had diverse religious viewpoints, used various sources, and reflected diverse circumstances in different environments. Not only is the Bible regarded by Christians and Jews as a holy book, it has, in fact, also influenced the thought, literature, institutions, values, and mores of Western culture for many centuries. Yet, to understand the Bible insightfully is a daunting task. After spending my entire adult life dedicated to biblical study, at the age of 87 I remain amazed at its complexities and challenged by continuing unanswered questions and new insights.

Rarely is it possible to say “The Bible Says So!” as a definitive answer, because what the Bible says depends upon what specific passages are being cited and from what particular version. The Bible has been translated into more than 370 different languages and dialects and, among the English translations alone, there are more than 60 different versions. Adding to this complexity is the question of whose specific interpretation to accept. Our search for insightful understanding will include some references to the Hebrew and Greek words of the original texts of the Bible, and the meanings, though often difficult to transpose into our present use of language, will offer clues for scholarly and meaningful interpretations.

The Basics

The word Bible is derived from the two Greek words biblion, meaning “book,” and biblos, used for Egyptian papyrus or the paper made from that reed-like plant. Biblos also means “scroll” or “book.” While these words gradually acquired the connotation of holiness or sacredness, no writing in the Bible was regarded as holy or sacred until long after it was composed. By the time the New Testament (NT) was written, its writers considered the Old Testament (OT) to be sacred, as is evident in Luke 3:4: “As it is written in the book [biblos] of the words of the prophet Isaiah” (see also Matthew 1:1; Acts 1:20). But writings became incorporated in the Bible because of their content, not their sanctity.

From about 200 BCE–200 CE some Jewish writers referred to literature they considered holy or sacred as “Scriptures” (from the Latin scribō, “write”). The author of First Maccabees writes: “We have as encouragement the holy books (ta biblia ta hagia) that are in our hands” (1 Maccabees 12:9). The Jewish historian Josephus (c. 37–100 CE) writes about receiving a gift of “sacred books” (Life of Josephus 418).

Christians also regarded the Hebrew Scriptures as sacred, and they were “the Bible” of the early Church. However, most Christians did not use the Jewish Scriptures in their original Hebrew language but used, instead, a Greek translation known as the Septuagint (from the Latin “seventy”). According to ancient tradition, 70 Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Torah (the first five books of the OT) into Greek. That tradition says that each scholar worked independently, yet all came back with identical translations. Later the whole Old Testament plus the Apocrypha (books not in the Hebrew Bible) came to be included in the Septuagint, abbreviated LXX in scholarly works.

Christians eventually composed and assembled a collection of sacred writings that they called the New Covenant, because they believed Jesus had initiated a new covenant – or agreement – with his followers (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6) as the prophet Jeremiah had predicted (Jeremiah 31:31-34; see also Romans 11:26-27). Christians believed that their covenant replaced the ones made by God with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-21) and Moses (Exodus 6:2-9; 34:10-28; Acts 7:8).

The word “testament” is derived from the Latin testamentum, for which the equivalent Greek word is diathēkē, meaning “covenant.” Christians, obviously with a sense of pride and prejudice, called their sacred writings the New Testament. And, after Christianity separated from Judaism, Christians referred to the Hebrew Scriptures as the Old Testament. However, writers of the NT did not write to replace or supplement the Jewish Scriptures but to provide proof for their views of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection; to support theological beliefs and moral exhortation; and to explain special events in early Christian history.

What the Bible Includes

The word “Bible” does not always bring to mind the same group of writings to all people. Although many Jewish scholars use the word Bible when referring to the Hebrew Scriptures, many prefer the term Tanak. It is actually an acronym in which the consonants represent the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures: Torah (Law), Nebiim (Prophets), and Kethubim (Writings). The Torah is comprised of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Nebiim include the Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings; Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; and the Twelve (Minor Prophets): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The Kethubim include Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

Arranged in a slightly different order, these books are called the OT by Christians. But even among Christians, the word Bible sometimes signifies different things. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestants include additional writings in the OT. These extra writings are called “deuterocanonical,” meaning “secondarily canon,” because they were added to the other books that are referred to as “canon.”

Canon comes from the Hebrew word qaneh, meaning “reed,” which was properly prepared and used as a writing material. The Greek noun kanōn was used for a carpenter’s rule, and the word acquired the meaning of “norm” or “standard.” The biblical canon, then, is the sacred literature of Jews and Christians regarded as authoritative for worship, study, teaching, doctrine, and moral life. Protestants have generally regarded the deuterocanonical works as “apocryphal,” or of doubtful authenticity. However, many scholars have long recognized the importance of those writings for understanding the literary and religious developments of Judaism after the biblical period, so they are often included in modern translations of the Bible.

The Bible as History

Trying to understand the Bible insightfully is difficult because thousands of years separate us from the past we try to recover. Often we must even work with documents written centuries after the reported events occurred. Such accounts were frequently idealized to enhance the present by bringing the past into it or to enhance the past by reading present ideals or viewpoints back into ancient narratives. In much biblical literature the line between history, legend, and myth is very fine, and it is often difficult to distinguish among fact, faith, and fiction.

If we think of history as the record of past events as they actually happened, then there is little in the Bible. Although today we often learn about things as soon as they happen or even before, it was not that way in the ancient world. No persons recorded or even reported orally what was going on at the time things were happening. Documents discussing past events were not written until cultures advanced enough for citizens to become aware of their ancestors’ past existence. But that consciousness was expressed as recollections or memories, not as historical facts. Recollections are often only partial, inaccurate, and imaginative, and they are also often consciously or unconsciously selective, recalled, or forgotten.

The word “history” comes directly from the Latin historia, which came from the Greek historia or historiē, meaning “inquiry,” “knowledge,” or “information” obtained through research. The root form of the word is the verb historeō, meaning “inquire into or about” a person or thing. “History,” then, in the Greek understanding is the “written account of one’s inquiries,” which is why Herodotus, the Greek historian (fifth century BCE), has been called “the father of history.” He was the first to use the scientific method of asking questions, seeking pertinent information, and then drawing conclusions from the data collected. In trying to answer questions about the wars between the Persians and the Greeks, for example, Herodotus sought information through his travels and evidence from archaeology.

Old Testament writers certainly did not begin their accounts with questions about the persons and events of concern to them and then seek answers through formal research. In fact, there is no biblical word equivalent to the word “history,” nor was there a word for “history” in Near Eastern literature. That does not mean that there is no “history” in the Bible; rather, biblical writers did not do careful research beforehand to verify their accounts. The word in the Hebrew Bible sometimes translated as “history” is dabar, but its primary meaning is “word,” whether spoken or written. Among the many meanings of dabar are “saying,” “speech,” “news,” “thing,” “incident,” “cause,” and, rarely, “history.” In the NRSV it is translated as “history” only in 2 Chronicles 9:29: “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon… are they not written in the history of the prophet Nathan?” Dabar would be rendered better as “record,” as it is in 1 Chronicles 4:22, 29:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15, 33:19; and Esther 6:1. Such an understanding accords well with the fact that such records were kept by officials in the courts of Hebrew kings. Jehoshaphat was the recorder for David and Solomon (2 Samuel 8:16) and Joah, for Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:18).

Ancient historians like Herodotus were concerned not only with the events they were recording but also with the reasons for them. Writers of both the OT and NT believed that their God was behind the persons and events they wrote about, even if their convictions appear in confusing or contradictory statements. A main purpose of the writers, in fact, was to judge whether their characters’ actions followed God’s will, whether each one did what was right or evil “in the sight of the Lord.” For example, “Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 11:6); David and Hezekiah “did what was right in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:5; 2 Kings 18:3); “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 6:1). Both Zechariah and Elizabeth “were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines “history” as a “chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes.” Given that definition, the writings from Joshua through Ezra-Nehemiah qualify, at least in part, as histories, with the exception of the short story, Ruth. Those writings give chronological accounts of Israelite “history” from the conquest of Canaan after 1250 BCE through the mid-fifth century BCE with the works of Ezra-Nehemiah.

Understanding the Bible for What It Is

There are various ways of understanding the Bible. Some persons approach it from an extreme fundamentalist point of view that the Bible was verbally inspired by God, whose actual words were transmitted by human hands. For such persons the Bible is “the words of God.” They regard it with extreme reverence as infallible and believe that it is valid for both faith and life. However, it is impractical or impossible to observe many of the laws in the OT. For example, accepting what is written at face value would mean that it is wrong for men to shave their faces, menstruation is dirty and unclean, and children who curse their parents should be put to death. Some material is clearly antiquated, such as sections in Leviticus regulating animal sacrifices.

For many morally/ethically sensitive Jews and Christians, some passages in the Scriptures seem offensive, even abhorrent. See, for example, the stories of Lot, who offered his daughters to sexually crazed men (Genesis 19:1-17); the rape of Dinah by a non-Israelite from Shechem, with its aftermath of bloody killing, plundering, and taking wives and children as prey by the sons of Jacob, brothers of Dinah (Genesis 34:1-31); Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute in order to entice Judah, her father-in-law, to have sexual intercourse with her so that she could bear a child (Genesis 38:6-26); Saul, David, and the foreskins of Philistines (1 Samuel 18:20-30); and David, who had Bathsheba’s husband killed so that he could marry her (2 Samuel 11:2-27).

In the OT there are pa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part I: Overview of Biblical Study
• Part II: The Old Testament
• Part III: The New Testament
• Part IV: Biblical Values