As every Bible reader knows, there are many aspects of scripture which are difficult to understand. Some of the problems are cleared up once we know all the facts about the Bible or sometimes simply about life and history. Other difficulties, however, seem to be there deliberately, as if the author intends that those with a certain mental outlook never will understand the book.
In looking at Bible problems and the veracity of scripture, we will consider first examples which are cleared up once all the facts are known.
Apparent Contradictions
Prophets versus sacrifices
Most university courses on the Bible teach that it is a book of human origin recording Israelitish myths and the words of Hebrew seers. Invariably they point out the alleged demeaning views the prophets had of the ordinances of sacrifice.
They regularly cite Jeremiah 7:2123 as a case in point:
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”
The critical argument holds that these verses prove the prophets were against sacrifices. Scholars postulate the laws regarding offerings probably were introduced during the kingdom period under David and Solomon.
Additional proof for the prophet’s disdain of the sacrificial system is often cited from Isa. 66:3:
“He that killeth an ox [is as if] he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, [as if] he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, [as if he offered] swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, [as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.”
Micah 6:7-8 is also used:
“Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil…He hath showed thee, 0 man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
The scholars thus postulate the sacrificial system was a later addition to Israel’s national worship that was generally opposed by the prophet class.
Careful reading gives the answer
The problem of the laws of sacrifice is easily solved by considering what Jeremiah means by the phrase, “In the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” He uses this phrase in three other places — 11:4,7 and 34:13. In each case, it is clear that he means the day that God delivered to them the 10 commandments and the book of the covenant (Ex. 2023). This was the day that the nation entered into covenant relationship with God, promising, “All that the Lord hath said will we do” (Ex. 24).
It was only after this relationship was established that God finally gave to Israel the various laws of sacrifice and burnt offering. This order teaches that they first had to behave in a godly manner before sacrifice had any meaning at all. Jer. 7:22-24 is thus seen to be a powerful exhortation of God’s schedule of priorities.
With Ex. 20-24 in mind, Isa. 66 and Micah 6 are readily understood as well. If the offerer was deliberately and continually disobedient to the basics of God’s covenant command, sacrificing an ox was like killing a man. Sacrificing a lamb as ineffectual as cutting off a dog’s neck. Sacrifices without right living were worse than nothing. They were a mockery! Certainly they were easier to offer than justice, mercy and faith, but they were useless without obedience to the terms of God’s covenant relationship with Israel.
The Bible versus fact
In the passages concerning clean and unclean animals, rabbits could not be eaten “because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof.” This passage may seem quite innocent to us unless we happen to know something about rabbits or hares. It is a scientific fact that neither of these animals chew the cud. A cow has a special stomach for regurgitating portions of the food it has eaten for further chewing. The hare has neither a special stomach nor does it regurgitate its food for chewing. What are we to think? Is the Bible found to contradict natural fact or are we missing something? As it invariably turns out, we are missing something.
Rabbits and hares are special creatures. They are one of the few animals that eat a proportion of their own droppings. These contain an essential vitamin that they must have to live. Rabbits kept in wire cages where the droppings fall through and are not available to eat need a supplement in their food or they will die. Thus, while it is true that the hare does not chew the cud in the same manner as a cow, it effectively does the same thing in rechewing food that it has swallowed and thereby falls into the category of such animals.
Difficulties That Reflect God’s Character
There is another kind of Bible problem that is not cleared up by getting all the facts: the variety of extant manuscripts, the Bible’s use of parable, figure and symbol and the problem of translation from Hebrew and Greek. If God wanted everybody to readily understand His message, why use symbols which are subject to misinterpretation? Why use figurative language which might be meaningful to the original audience but are obscure to people in different cultures? And why not have one original manuscript which is repeated by an angel in every person’s native tongue?
Many manuscripts
Consider the manuscript problem. Why do we have so many manuscripts of both Old and New Testament with variations in wording and none of them dating back to the time they were first written? Granted, they were transmitted by men who make mistakes. But shouldn’t we expect that with God as the author, He would have made sure His divine word would have been kept free from copyist’s errors and that later generations would have only one version of that word? Now, as we know, the differences in the manuscripts are not sufficient to obscure the first principles of truth. But why are there any differences at all, considering the record is the word of God?
We end up having to exercise a measure of faith. Based on fulfilled prophecy and the resurrection of Christ, we are confident the Bible is the word of God and that He is actively concerned with saving sinners. If His word was so distorted, no one could do what He wants, and His revelation and saving effort would be totally wasted. Thus we believe the Bible, as it has been preserved, is sufficiently accurate that the man of God can be rightly instructed unto godliness. There is an element of faith required regarding the very text of the Bible itself.
Obscure language
If someone sits down to read through even one book of the Bible, they very quickly conclude it is going to take some study. And after some study, they conclude, if they want to understand it, this will take a lot of study. So the very way the Bible is written requires extended, careful, frequent reading if we are to understand and retain its message. This feature is intensified when translation is involved from one language to another. While this process may render a given verse incomprehensible, the points can be understood if a person makes a thorough study of the book. Usually a difficult passage is clarified by both its context and other relevant passages. But make no mistake, some Scripture opens up only by a slow and painstaking process of careful study.
Honor for God and man
As we consider the implications of these problems, we begin to see a pattern emerging: the difficulties, whatever they may be, are entirely in keeping with the character of God and His criteria for salvation.
Proverbs 25:2 makes this very point: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.” Interestingly, the words “glory” and “honor” are derived from the same Hebrew word! In other words, God derives the same glory in concealing a thing as kings do searching it out.
Note the main point of the verse: God does conceal things, not in such a way that they are impossible to decipher, but in such a way that they can, by diligent searching, be understood. God derives glory in the concealing; man derives the same thing in putting forth the effort to do the searching. It is a sharing of glory in the hidden things of God.
Confusing the unbeliever
Many times a year we read Christ’s explanation of why he spoke in parables: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13:11-17). Jesus did not speak in parables to hold the attention of his audience or to illustrate deep points by easily understood illustrations. He spoke in parables so that unbelievers, “shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.”
Since many people did not want to understand, Jesus deliberately hid the message from them by speaking in parables. In light of the Master’s statement, should we expect to find God’s word easy to understand for those who do not want to listen?
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