Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
WASTED SPACE IN THE BIBLE?
First rule in algebra — Compare apples to apples
First rule in criticising the Bible — Know the Narrative
At the time of writing this post (first week of 2023), I’ve been on Medium for a little over three months.
Ignoring those who reject the Bible (only the Holy Spirit can convict them to repent; pray that happens before it’s too late), what has been amazing has been a constant flow of advice about how the Bible could have — should have — been written better.
I have not hidden the fact that I have no Theological Qualifications except that, by the Grace of God, I could read when I’d finished primary school — as could most Boomers in my part of town.
Being unchurched when I was harvested appears to have been an advantage because I didn’t have much to unlearn. I had to start at the beginning of the Books and had to become familiar with the Story threading through the stories. The following is a selection of the things taught to me. Perhaps you will be interested; perhaps not.
This meant nothing
Deuteronomy 8:3 || So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Until this
Matthew 4:3–4 || Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
This meant nothing
Genesis 8:4 || Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.
Until this
What day is the 17th day of the 7th month? It is the 17th day of the month of Nisan, which is the 3rd day after 14th Nisan, which (in case you didn’t know) the 3rd day after Passover, which is THE DAY.
This meant nothing
Genesis 3:22–24 || Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” — therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Neither did this
Exodus 26:31–34 || “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy.
Until this
Hebrews 10:19–22 || Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The Cities of Refuge was a quaint story but a waste of space
They are mentioned in Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 4 and Deuteronomy 19. It is better you read them for yourself (you should never believe me. Always check, Acts 17:11).
In a nutshell the topic covers The Avenger of Blood, manslaughter, refuge and freedom.
Until 1 John and the Epistle to the Hebrews let it be known:-
Jesus is our refuge (Hebrews 6:18).
We have an advocate in the Council of God (Hebrews 7:25).
Jesus is His Name (1 John 2:1).
Jesus is our Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14).
We are safe from the Law until the High Priest dies (Numbers 35:28).
Jesus, our Great High Priest, lives forever (Hebrews 13:8).
More detail is contained in this post.
The Scapegoat meant nothing
It is written in Leviticus 16:7–10 that:-
- The Lord commands two male goats be brought before Him.
- He selects one upon which all the sins of Israel are imputed.
- The anonymous goats now have two working titles
° Guilty Goat ° Good Goat.
- The Guilty Goat is then taken into the wilderness and set free. Goats flourish in the wilderness.
- The Good Goat is then accepted by the Lord as a Sin Offering. He dies.
Until this
We compare Jesus and Barabbas on the Day of the Crucifixion.
Barabbas was guilty.
. . . . . Jesus was innocent.
Barabbas was doomed to die and knew it.
. . . . . Jesus took his place, therefore the punishment that was rightly Barabbas’s.
Barabbas went free.
. . . . . Barabbas did nothing to deserve his freedom except accept the gift.
WE ARE ALL WALKING IN THE SHOES OF BARABBAS
More detail is contained in this post.
When I see all this advice for the Holy Spirit (Who holds the Intellectual Rights for the World’s Best Seller) the Book of Job comes to mind. He has just gone a few dozen rounds with his mates, ALL of them showing good theology, when God Speaks.
Job 40:1–5 || Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” Then Job answered the Lord and said: “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
After that, Yehovah ignored Job and declared His Glory.
He never answers Job’s complaint.
Job’s response.
Job 42:5–6 || “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
Good advice to students
Englishman Malcolm Muggeridge, the great essayist, newspaper editor and Christian apologist of the 20th Century, spoke of Western Society educating itself into a state of imbecility. It sounded preposterous then.
When I was an undergraduate in Days of Yore, the unofficial motto of the teaching staff (who were head-hunted from industry) was, “We only teach you these things so that real Engineers won’t laugh at you.” Perhaps a slight variation on that is required in today’s seminaries.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
