Things the Bible Project gets wrong #1
I’ve decided to start a list.
Here’s the thing. The things the Bible Project gets wrong are not little things. In fact, it’s the opposite. On lots of little details, the Bible Project is amazingly insightful. That’s what makes them so dangerous. Because, then, when it comes to some really big things, they distort the Bible’s message. The distortions are subtle but significant, because they are very central things like who God is, what sin is, judgment and salvation. And the other problem is that the stuff they put out is such high quality. It is so well produced and cleverly explained that I completely understand why so many people would use their materials. But I am becoming increasingly concerned about the effect the Bible Project is having on the theology of our churches.
So, rather than just cast general aspersions, I thought it would be more helpful to document some actual errors. And there is a trend that emerges.
1. Sinai and approaching a holy God
In this episode of their podcast, the Bible Project guys say:
“Sinai is the place where God meets them in the thunderstorm, gives them the law. He wants them all to come as close as possible to him on the mountain. And the people choose to stand at a distance in fear when Yahweh shows up. … On the seventh day, Moses goes up on behalf of the people because the people don’t want to come close to Yahweh, which is kind of a bummer. You’re kind of like, well, he really wanted them to all come close.
Other host: “but he’s all the way up on a mountain, and there’s fire.”
“Exactly. That’s what they say.”
Let’s compare that with the actual Bible, in Exodus 19.
“10 the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain. 14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
We have a big picture question, and a detail question. First, at a big picture level, have the Bible Project guys accurately conveyed the big picture sense of this scene? I’d offer that they have left out the big theme. The big theme, repeated over and over, is that they should be very very careful in how they approach God, or they will die. This piece is not mentioned at all by the Bible Project. The danger that God, in his holiness, poses to human sinners, is completely minimised.
This raises the question of where the Bible Project guys got the idea that God ‘really wanted them to come close’. Here is the detail question. At the end of verse 13, there is an ambiguous instruction. After the long trumpet blast, “approach the mountain”. This could mean ‘come close’, up on to the mountain with Moses. Or it could mean, approach the mountain but don’t go up with Moses. How do we work out which it is? I suggest two clues:
- How Moses applies it. In verse 17, Moses leads the people and they stop at the foot of the mountain. Moses does not tell them to go closer. He thinks this is obeying God’s instruction.
- How God applies it. God does not invite them any closer. If the Bible Project guys are right, that this is a bummer because God “ really wanted them to come closer”, God does nothing to indicate this. In fact, he reiterates the importance of not coming closer.
So, I think even on the detail piece, the Bible Project misrepresent this passage. But the overall, big picture thing is even more concerning. This passage is one of the most important passages for understanding the problem between humanity and God. He is holy, and we are sinful. If we approach him, we will die.
In the Bible Project’s retelling, this becomes: God is a really nice guy who really wants to hang out with us. But the big problem between us and God is that we just don’t really want to. Both God’s holiness, and human sin, is minimised. A trend, sadly, that we will see repeated in other videos.
Now, they explain their reasoning a bit more fully in this episode. To their credit, a month later they added a conversation with a Hebrew scholar who disagrees with their interpretation — and agrees with what I’ve offered above. That is a humble thing they did, and quite admirable. However, the episodes with the error are still live and unedited. And, more significantly, they don’t seem to have changed their view of God, which I suspect is what made their wrong interpretation alluring to them in the first place.
For more, see:
- Things they get wrong #2
- this review of the Bible project — ‘brilliant but flawed’
- another critique of one of their videos I’ve written
