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Everyone talks about the Bible, though few have read it cover to cover. This is not surprising—some sections of the Bible are difficult to understand without a commentary, others are tedious, and still others are boring. That is why annotated Bibles were created—to help orient readers as they read through the Bible or look into what parts of it mean. For those who have not read the Bible cover-to-cover—and even for many who have—here are some common misconceptions about the Hebrew Bible.
1. The Ten Commandments are the most important part of the Bible.
No biblical text calls them the Bible’s most important part. Various prophetic texts such as Ezekiel 18 summarize righteous behavior, but most of these do not refer to the Ten Commandments. In fact, the English term “Ten Commandments” is a misnomer from a Jewish perspective, since in the Jewish enumeration, “I am the LORD your God…” is the first divine utterance in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, and it is not a commandment at all. Thus, Jews prefer to call these the Decalogue, “the ten sayings,” which reflects the Hebrew aseret hadevarim (Exodus 24:38; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4).
2. We know what the original text of the Bible is.
Like all texts transmitted in antiquity, the Bible in its earliest stages of transmission was fluid. Scribes changed books that became part of the Bible accidentally and on purpose; this is now clear from evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
3. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament are different names for the same books.
The Jewish Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Old Testament contain the same books, but in a different order—and order matters. The Catholic Old Testament is larger than the Jewish Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Old Testament. It contains the Apocrypha—select Jewish Hellenistic [Greek] Writings such as Sirach, Tobit, and Maccabees—and in two cases, Esther and Daniel, the Catholic book is larger than the Hebrew book, containing material found in the Greek texts of these works, but not in the Hebrew.
4. We know the order of the biblical books.
Different religious groups have different orders to the Bible. Christians typically divide the Old Testament into four sections (Law [=Torah], historical books, wisdom and poetic books, prophetic books), while Jews divide the Hebrew Bible into three sections: Torah, Nevi’im [prophets] and Ketuvim [writings]. Both of these ways of ordering biblical texts probably reflect different ancient Jewish orders that ultimately helped to define Jewish versus Christian identity. In addition, Jewish manuscripts show many different orders of the final section, Ketuvim, and the Babylonian Talmud notes an order of Nevi’im that is different than the more commonly used.
5. Everything in a prophetic book is by that prophet.
Many prophetic books contain titles or superscriptions, as in Jeremiah 1:1-3: “The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the LORD came to him in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, and throughout the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.” However, we never have the autographs of individual prophets, and often their disciples and others added material to early forms of prophetic books, in the names of the prophet himself!
6. The Bible is history.
The modern concept of history, judged by whether or not it gets the facts right, is by and large a modern conception. In the past, all peoples told stories set in the past for a variety of reasons, e.g. to entertain, to enlighten, but rarely to recreate what actually happened. Archaeologists have uncovered many cases where the biblical account disagrees with the archaeological account, or with what we might know from other ancient Near Eastern texts.
7. All of the Psalms are by King David.
About half of the psalms in Psalms contain the word ledavid, “to/of David,” in their first sentence. But many do not. Some are anonymous, while others are explicitly attributed to other figures such as Asaph (50, 73-81). We are not even sure how ledavid should be translated—does it mean to attribute authorship to David, or might it mean “in the style of David”? Furthermore, none of the psalms reflects tenth century Hebrew, the Hebrew of the period in which David was purported to have lived, and several psalms refer to events long after that period (see e.g. Psalm 126:1). In fact, scholars do not attribute any of Psalms to King David. And at least in Jewish tradition, attributing all of the Psalter to David is not dogma, and several medieval scholars acknowledge the existence of later psalms.
I am not a scaredy cat. I love to hike and wade in mountain streams. I love to go to places I’ve never been and see things I’ve never seen. I like to watch documentaries on foods from other countries and want to visit those countries one day. I like to make new recipes! I’ll…
4 Comments on Hide and Go Seek — and other Things that Make me Scream, last added: 8/2/2014
Is anything as refreshing as water? A cool drink when you're dry. A refreshing splash when you're melting in the heat. A dip in a chilly lake on a summer afternoon. A life-giving drink when you're parched.
A long drink of God's gift of Living Water - Jesus Himself.
Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens
Psalm 23: 1-2
“He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters
Thank you, Carol and Linda, for leaving a comment. It is my hope that these little photo devos will lift someone's spirits and cause them to stop and worship with me.<br /><br />Blessings to you both,<br />Jean
Above is a sample picture from my wife’s keepsake children’s book collection. They are from a series called “Alice in Bibleland” which aims to educate young children about God and good behavior. We’ll come back to them in a moment.
Some children’s books, The Berenstien Bears being the biggest culprit in my mind, aim to teach a moral or lesson through their stories. Little Timmy learns to tell the truth, Silly Sarah remembers to brush her teeth and so on.
Too often, these stories are corny or, worse yet, “preachy” and kids can see right through them. Given free choice, how many kids say, “Read me ‘Tommy Turtle Learns to Respect His Parents’!” Not many. What is it that so often makes these stories fall flat? I believe that it is because these stories are not “true”.
Even in fiction, we want our stories to have a ring of truth to them even as we acknowledge that they may have never happened at all. We want stories that we believe could happen, or, given a universe where bears and rabbits talk and play poker, would likely happen in a similar fashion.
This is called the suspension of disbelief, but it doesn’t mean believing anything and everything in a story. It means allowing for the possibility and “playing along”. Let’s pretend I’m reading a story (suspend your disbelief for a moment) whose setting is in a world exactly like ours except that bears and rabbits talk and play poker. Now let’s say that the bears discover that the rabbits have been cheating and say, “Gee Whiz, Rabbits. Your cheating has cost us our entire month’s salary of honey. We would kindly like it back.” “No way, Jose,” say the Rabbits, to which the Bears reply, “Oh well, forgive and forget. Another hand?”
This story is unbelievable. Not because the bears and rabbits are talking and wagering large sums of honey, but because we don’t believe that, GIVEN all those facts, the bears would react in that manner. The same goes with a lame story about Little Johnny stealing from the cookie jar. He does so because he wants a cookie, and feels good when he succeeds in getting it. But when his mother tells him, “You shouldn’t steal from the cookie jar, it will spoil your dinner,” he wouldn’t believable say, “You are right, Mother. What a naughty boy I’ve been. I will listen to you from now on.”
We might believe if, however, Little Johnny continues to eat all the cookies, gets an upset stomach and misses out on his favorite meal, Pizza Night! Nothing sets of alarm bells in our brains more than a character who is forced to act counter to her nature by an author with an agenda.
Now, back to Alice in Bibleland. The book that particularly appealed to me was called “Psalms and Proverbs”. As moral instructions, Proverbs are very good because they represent wisdom and truisms passed down for hundreds of generations. The same goes for Aesops Fables (a good site full of these fables can be found here). Everyone knows someone like the greedy fox, or the shortsighted grasshopper and the lessons they teach from their follies ring true because we’ve observed people or situations like them for ourselves.
Whether or not you are aiming to teach your child about God, the above pages are universal. “A soft answer turneth away wrath,” and “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” They are moralistic and illustrated in AGONIZING sweetness, but they don’t read as “false”, like some other books that strongarm their stories to fit the moral or lesson.
I hope I’ve helped you put your finger on why some of those books you’ve come across (you know the ones) are so dang CORNY.
I've read some wonderful books of late and would like to share them with you.
The first is a young adult historical fiction novel titled, I AM REMBRANDT'S DAUGHTER by Lynn Cullen. (Bloomsbury, 2007) Cornelia van Rijn, Rembrandt's illegitimate daughter, tells the story of her 16 years living with the famous creative genius. At the time of Cornelia's birth in Amsterdam, however, Rembrandt had fallen out of favor with art patrons. The story recounts the struggles of the family, especially Cornelia's search for her own identity and happiness amid the turmoil of poverty and the ever-present plague threat. Both romance and resilience play parts in this tender novel.
The second wonderful book is PSALMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN by Marie-Helene Delval and illustrated by Arno. (Eerdmans, 2008) The title belies the fact that this beautiful book is a treat for all ages. 40 psalms are simplified for more easy reading and understanding. Arno follows this simplified approach with his colorful illustrations. The combination of text and pictures with the messages of love found in the psalms creates a truly powerful piece of literature.
*For another example of introducing young children to Biblical verses, check out my book--GIFTS FROM GOD.
The third book is a picture book by one of my favorite children's authors, Karen Hesse. SPUDS (illustrated by Wendy Watson--Scholastic, 2008) tells the story of a poor rural family, three children and their hard-working mother. When the mother goes to work one night--leaving the eldest child, Maybelle--in charge. The narrator--the middle boy, Jack--relates their exploits when they decide to harvest left-over potatoes from a neighbor's farm. They bundle up young brother, Eddie, pulling him in the old red wagon. They scramble in the dark to fill a bag full of potatoes, but when they return home they are in for a surprise. This is a touching story of a family working together to overcome their hardships. The illustrations evoke the 1930's setting with sweet vignettes.
The weekend is almost here. I hope you get some extra reading time in--perhaps one of these great books would be the perfect treat.
Love this post, Donna! And I love that you pray for me when the world seems scary. :)
Donna, My book “Slave to Slave Master” should be printed in November. Blessings, Jan
And I love that you pray for me! *hugs*
Congratulations, Jan!