A FLAT BIBLE?

A FLAT BIBLE? James Alexander, MATheol, Ph.D., TSSF

Is the Bible flat? I do not mean like old soda pop. I mean in its terrain. Is, for example, Moses on the same “wavelength” as Paul? Do Joshua and Jesus see things in the same light? Is it flat? Is it all the same? Did God inspire it all exactly the same way? Consider these examples:

Leviticus 20:9 (NRSV)

All who curse father or mother shall be put to death; having cursed father or mother, their blood is upon them.

Now I do not know about you, but in the heat of the argument, my kids have said some downright disrespectful things to me. Not frequently. But I guess I could always view the situation this way: Maybe I can let them off the hook. However, can I? Can I really let them get away with it at all? God said it! I believe it! That settles it! Perhaps, at least, we should inaugurate the practice with the really incorrigible. Maybe if we just made an example of one or two of them….

Numbers 15:32–36 (NRSV)

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to the whole congregation. The Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.” The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

If someone is fixing the car on Sunday morning, well, just stone him or her to death! That is sure to build up the church rolls. You say maybe that the guy fixing his car is not a believer; we should only stone church members. I am not convinced. Maybe this person in Numbers was not much of a believer either.

Numbers 31:17–18 (NRSV)

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Sound and moral advice! What better way to handle the whole issue of national interest than to simply kill all of the little boys (Who knows? They might become terrorists!), and get rid of all of the “spoiled women,” but keep the good ones — you know, the young virgins — for the amusement of the troops? I think the usual term for this is “rape and pillage.” God’s own plan for “holy” war?

Foolishness you say. Really? Read much of the Bible lately? It’s full of all kinds of little “goodies,” everything from not touching a woman during her menstrual cycle to a man avoiding wearing anything “pertaining to a woman” and vice-versa. A difficult injunction to enforce in a world of pants wearing women! Where would we stop? Is it okay to marry your sister (Abraham)? Did God really tell Joshua to go into the land and kill absolutely everybody?

I think any sane person would agree these ideas are ludicrous. I can think of no other appropriate word to apply to them. Isn’t it apparent an all-loving God would not dictate these things? We are still stuck when we get to the New Testament. Let me give you a few examples:

John 8:3–11 (NRSV)

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

The Pharisees were exactly right. The Bible did command the death of this woman (and her lover — what happened to him?). How could Jesus so quickly dismiss a law that, according to many, he himself had given? Doesn’t it seem curious? At least a bit? Well…what about this one:

Matthew 5:38–39 (NRSV)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also….”

You bet they had heard it said! From Moses, the guy who got the Law from God Almighty! How can Jesus just go around contradicting the Law of Moses (or maybe of God) when he feels like it? Read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount and get ready for more confusion! In that sermon, Jesus said these words:

Matthew 5:17–20 (NRSV)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Puzzling words coming from a man, who broke Sabbath laws regularly [actually very much like the person that Moses (following the laws of God) had stoned to death], redefined virtually the entire Ten Commandments, and encouraged understanding and mercy where the Bible had prescribed intolerance and punishment, hobnobbed with sinners, visited with Gentiles, treated women as equals, and at times, even made the Law tougher.

If the Bible is a “flat book” with each part equal to every other, we will be in a constant state of confusion. No matter how loudly the literalist may protest, the pieces just do not “fit together.” Not even within testaments. Consider David, the murderer. Consider David the adulterer. Why wasn’t he stoned to death? The Law commanded it. He should have been executed — at least according to the book! Why call him “a man after God’s own heart?”

I think we have abundant evidence the Bible is not a flat in the book itself:

Matthew 17:1–5 (NRSV)

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”’

Moses and Elijah were very holy men, privileged to talk with Jesus at his transfiguration. Arguably, they are Israel’s most notable prophets. It was natural Peter recommended they hold three tent meetings. What preaching there could be! The point of the story is “listen to Jesus.”

Hebrews 1:1–2 (NRSV)

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son..

The writer to the Hebrews is making a surprising and definitive claim. God did speak through the prophets, but now God has spoken the Final Word: God’s own Son. (Heb. 1:1–2) This does not imply the gospels accurately record all of the words of the historical Jesus. It does not mean some of what we have is not interpretation (or created by the author). In addition, it does not diminish the place of scholarship. Neither does it detract from the Hebrew Scriptures nor neglect the picture of Jesus as fully Jewish. It does mean that Jesus and his stories and teachings (as near as we can discern them) are the normative guide for Christians.

How then are we to understand it all?

2 Tim. 3:16 (NRSV)

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness….

Scriptures contain lessons, even if it is a lesson of how folks confused what God was saying. The Bible then becomes a story, an account of the Great Law of God as contained in the Decalogue, and in Jesus’ admonition to “love God with all of your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” It is an account of fallible, sinful, mistaken human beings living that word as best as they could understand.

Jesus becomes the pinnacle. The Bible is not flat. There are peaks and valleys, high points, and low points. However, God inspired it. In some way, mysterious to us, God moved the writers along — and always to teach us a lesson:

2 Peter 1:21 (NRSV)

…no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The prophets were “carried along,” charting unknown territory, always blazing new paths. These folks were God’s friends.

God is not ashamed to claim the prophets of old. God is not ashamed to claim us either, we also mistake the voice of God and make poor decisions. It is all there, all of the good acts of God’s people and all of the mistakes of these very human folks. God’s people of old, you see, are just like us — except more so. From their stories and lives, we fallible people find hope:

Romans 15:4 (NRSV)

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

For me, Jesus is the key to the mystery. He is the key to unlock the door of understanding for many of the mysteries that have puzzled us for so long. Just as in a hilly terrain (as we have described the Bible) some hills and mountains are higher than others are, and the highest vista gives the best view, we need to view the landscape from the vantage point he supplies.

Although Joshua rallies God’s people to holy war with swords and shields, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. We learn from the story of Joshua that God will help fight the very human day-to-day battles seemingly so intractable to us. Notice how the lesson appears. It is mythic in nature, of course. However, notice how a Christocentric reading of the story gives us a new and different perspective.

The Bible tells the controlling myth for me. Yet, I must admit that, certainly, we are fallible and errant — as are God’s friends described in the Bible. Further, those who wrote the story were fallible and errant people.

So, is the Bible a “flat book?” No. It is full of myths, stories, and parables. Even fables fill its pages. And, yes, mistakes.

To read well all of the sacred text, we need all of the creditable scholarship we can find. I am talking about scholarship that is honest, purposeful, and yet not constrained by the strictures of conventional thought. I am talking about meeting the historical Jesus without diminishing the Christ of faith. In Him, all of our myths, all of our words about God, and all of our best intentions coalesce and find their meaning. He is “God’s beloved Son. Listen to him!”