Are parts of the Bible boring?
I’ve recently undertaken the project of reading the Bible from start to finish. This is not out of religious devotion as I am an atheist. Rather, I want to read the Bible from cover to cover because of its indisputably great historical, cultural, and literary value.
When I mentioned my plan to my youngest brother, who is a devout Christian and teaches a Sunday School class, he warned me against trying to read the Bible straight through! “Some parts of the Old Testament are boring,” he explained. He advised me to read specific parts of the Bible rather than attempting to go from the start of Genesis to the end of Revelation “because some parts of the Old Testament are tough going.”
He’s right, at least at first glance. For example, there are the passages given over to long series of “begats.” There are many chapters devoted to detailed rules about diet and equally detailed descriptions of how worship is to be conducted.
However, these “boring” parts may come alive when the reader thinks of these Old Testament sections as a record of a society and culture in the very process of formation. The “begats” establish that the young society is continuing. That “begat” is a synonym for “sired” rather than “had” underlines the truth that members of this society attempted to tie children to fathers.
Of course, it is also true that, thousands of years before DNA tests, fatherhood was to a great extent a cultural construct since it could not be definitively established as a biological reality. For that reason, the traditional definition of a Jew was someone who had a Jewish mother since the mother is biologically obvious.
In much of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, early Hebrew society attempts to deal with perceived threats. In Leviticus, the lengthy chapters 13-15 are about leprosy, at the time a disease that was, with reason, deeply feared. We are told that if “the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean.” Much time in the text is spent on how to decide if someone is afflicted with this disease, ways to prevent the afflicted from transmitting it, and how to determine if a person who formerly had leprosy might be free from it and thus allowed to return to the society.
Leprosy has long ceased to be a major threat but these passages may hold interest for the way they show a society trying to protect its members from infection with a dangerous disease and attempting to be fair to those afflicted or formerly afflicted by establishing guidelines for a “cleansed” state.
Leviticus also prescribes the death penalty for blasphemy (Ch. 29:16) as well as for murder (Ch. 29:17). It also makes male homosexuality a capitol offense (Ch. 20:13) but that is a subject for another essay.
Many Biblical passages go into great detail about what places of worship must be like. Exodus 26:1-4: “Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.”
Why is such exactitude necessary? In my opinion, this is because this is an ancient people who, unlike other groups, were prohibited from making any “graven image” of their deity. As a result, they had to be able to get the idea, feeling, and ambience of “the sacred” through the atmosphere of their worship and the creation of that atmosphere was especially important.
The detailed dietary regulations can be viewed as a young culture attempting to protect the health of its members and at the same time trying to find ways to distinguish itself as a society from those cultures around it.
Even for the most devout Jew or Christian, parts of the Bible can initially be tedious and eye glazing. However, all of its pages may fascinate even the most hard-core non-believer when the reader tries to imagine just what it meant to the people living in its early, pivotal time period.
| More from Denise Noe
Stumble It!
June 17th, 2007 at 7:12 am
That is great news Denise. Although you stated you are an atheist I appreciate that you will actually read the bible in its entirety. MANY who do not believe in the bible never even read it???????? It’s like at the VERY least at least read it for yourself.
The boring parts are like the liniage parts, etc. One underlying them you will see throughout the bible is the different dispensations or Gods attempt to re-establish his relationship to man. No matter how often man failed him, and how not following Gods ways of doing things brings great trouble for all involved.
The dispensations are very interesting.
A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture. Cmt. on Ge 1:28, note 5.
5 And God blessed them
The First Dispensation: Innocency. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man deliberately. 1Ti 2:14 God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion Ge 3:24 See, for the other dispensations;
Conscience Cmt. on Ge 3:23
Human Government Cmt. on Ge 8:21
Promise Cmt. on Ge 12:1
Law Cmt. on Ex 19:8
Grace Cmt. on Joh 1:17
Kingdom Cmt. on Eph 1:10
June 17th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Here are all seven dispensations: Very fascinating.
The First Dispensation: Innocency. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man deliberately. 1Ti 2:14 God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion Ge 3:24 See, for the other dispensations;
The Second Dispensation: Conscience. By disobedience man came to a personal and experimental knowledge of good and evil–of good as obedience, of evil as disobedience to the known will of God. Through that knowledge conscience awoke. Expelled from Eden and placed under the second, or ADAMIC COVENANT, man was responsible to do all known good, to abstain from all known evil, and to approach God through sacrifice. The result of this second testing of man is stated in Ge 6:5 and the dispensation ended in the judgment of the Flood. Apparently “the east of the garden” Ge 3:24 where were the cherubims and the flame, remained the place of worship through this second dispensation. See for the other six dispensations:
The Third Dispensation: Human Government. Under Conscience, as in Innocency, man utterly failed, and the judgment of the Flood marks the end of the second dispensation and the beginning of the third. The declaration of the Noahic Covenant subjects humanity to a new test. Its distinctive feature is the institution, for the first time, of human government–the government of man by man. The highest function of government is the judicial taking of life. All other governmental powers are implied in that. It follows that the third dispensation is distinctively that of human government. Man is responsible to govern the world for God. That responsibility rested upon the whole race, Jew and Gentile, until the failure of Israel under the Palestinian Covenant (Deu 28.-30.1-10) brought the judgment of the Captivities, when “the times of the Gentiles” (See) Lu 21:24; Re 16:14 began, and the government of the world passed exclusively into Gentile hands Da 2:36-45; Lu 21:24; Ac 15:14-17. That both Israel and the Gentiles have governed for self, not God, is sadly apparent. The judgment of the confusion of tongues ended the racial testing; that of the captivities the Jewish; while the Gentile testing will end in the smiting of the Image (Da 2.) and the judgment of the nations Mt 25:31-46.
The Fourth Dispensation: Promise. For Abraham, and his descendants it is evident that the Abrahamic Covenant Cmt. on Ge 15:18 made a great change. They became distinctively the heirs of promise. That covenant is wholly gracious and unconditional. The descendants of Abraham had but to abide in their own land to inherit every blessing. In Egypt they lost their blessings, but not their covenant. The Dispensation of Promise ended when Israel rashly accepted the law Ex 19:8. Grace had prepared a deliverer (Moses), provided a sacrifice for the guilty, and by divine power brought them out of bondage Ex 19:4 but at Sinai they exchanged grace for law. The Dispensation of Promise extends from Gen 12.1 to Ex 19.8, and was exclusively Israelitish. The dispensation must be distinguished from the covenant. The former is a mode of testing; the latter is everlasting because unconditional. The law did not abrogate the Abrahamic Covenant Ga 3:15-18 but was an intermediate disciplinary dealing “till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made” Ga 3:19-29; 4:1-7. Only the dispensation, as a testing of Israel, ended at the giving of the law.
The Fifth Dispensation: Law. This dispensation extends from Sinai to Calvary–from Exodus to the Cross. The history of Israel in the wilderness and in the land is one long record of the violation of the law. The testing of the nation by law ended in the judgment of the Captivities, but the dispensation itself ended at the Cross.
(1) Grace is “the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man. . . not by works of righteousness which we have done” Tit 3:4-5.
It is, therefore, constantly set in contrast to law, under which God demands righteousness from man, as, under grace, he gives righteousness to man Ro 3:21; 8:4; Phm 1:25. Law is connected with Moses and works; grace with Christ and faith Joh 1:17; Ro 10:4-10. Law blesses the good; grace saves the bad Ex 19:5; Eph 2:1-9. Law demands that blessings be earned; grace is a free gift De 28:1-6; Eph 2:8; Ro 4:4-5.
(2) As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ Ro 3:24-26; 4:24-25. The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation, Joh 1:12; 3:36; Mt 21:37; 22:24; Joh 15:22,25; Heb 1:2; 1Jo 5:10-12. The immediate result of this testing was the rejection of Christ by the Jews, and His crucifixion by Jew and Gentile Ac 4:27. The predicted end of the testing of man under grace is the apostasy of the professing church: See “Apostasy” Cmt. on 2Ti 3:1 2Ti 3:1-8 and the resultant apocalyptic judgments.
(3) Grace has a twofold manifestation: in salvation Ro 3:24 and in the walk and service of the saved Ro 6:15.
The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This, the seventh and last of the ordered ages which condition human life on the earth, is identical with the kingdom covenanted to David. 2Sa 7:8-17; Zec 12:8
June 17th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Well I for one am glad you cleared all that up for us Joi. It isn’t a pretty picture – and I guess, Denise, not so boring after all.
So Big G supposedly all knowing and unbounded by time, gave us all these ‘tests’ knowing full well we would continually fail or refuse at the jump and have to be whacked with a big stick, or swept away even, but did it anyway. He has a lot to answer for. Imagine for a moment if a mere human being acted like such a complete arsehole.
I am not an atheist but I am glad I have a rather less condemning view of Big G than the early folk did.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Hey, Denise, I’m really glad you’re reading the Bible all the way through. Whether it’s boring or not actually depends upon your attitude, and yours seems to be a good one. As a Christian, I pray that you will find God and truly understand Him. That’s not easy to do, and many “devout” Christians don’t know God as well as they think they do. But it’s all there in the Bible, if one reads it with an open mind.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
The bible is not boring if you have the understanding . The bible is a map really on how you should use it to your life . Theres alot people that can learn from it ,reading it from front to back is ok but . Knowing what it means is something much more . As a few have stated most that believe in the bible don’t read much of it . So it is great that you are reading it shows you are intrested in knowing god . And i will pray for you that you have the understanding in the word .
June 18th, 2007 at 12:17 am
The Old Testament was extremely archaic to me, especially parts that seemed to use words that conveyed little discernible meaning to me in the English translation. It turns out there is a lot going on underneath the surface, much that never made it through the translation to English. There is even a lot that is misinterpreted by people who even directly read the original Greek and Hebrew, according to one Biblical scholar named Michael S. Heiser. I don’t know if his interpretations are dead-on accurate, but some of the truths he discovered are absolutely mind-blowing, such as information about the Divine Council mentioned in Psalm 82. He goes into great detail about the original text, even explaining individual Hebrew characters, cultural context, parallel texts (Ugaritic), history of the time, as well as basic logic. He has a few PDFs on his Web site that are good reading, even if only for education. Michael Heiser made the Old Testament come alive for me, and infused it with a sense of mystery and undiscovered secrets. Check this out:
http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/
http://www.michaelsheiser.com/
June 18th, 2007 at 8:04 am
John Dias wrote: “The Old Testament was extremely archaic to me, especially parts that seemed to use words that conveyed little discernible meaning to me in the English translation.”
Hi John, I assume you mean the archaic English in the King James Version 1611 bible? If you did I’m glad you brought that up since many have had difficulty with this type of Shakespeare English. Here is the solution:
The Defined King James Bible available at http://www.biblefortoday.org
http://www.biblefortoday.org/PDF/dkjb_sample.pdf
John D wrote: “much that never made it through the translation to English.”
Everything “made it through” to the English and other language translations. The only thing the Protestant bible does not have which the Catholic bible does would be the Apocrypha books.
The Apocrypha is a collection of uninspired, spurious books written by various individuals. The Catholic religion considers these books as scripture just like a Bible-believer Protestant believes that our 66 books in the King James Version are the word of God, i.e., Genesis to Revelation. = 66 books.
Some other interesting facts:
LORD (Heb. Jehovah)
(1) The primary meaning of the name LORD (Jehovah) is the “self-existent One.” Literally (as in Ex 3:14), “He that is who He is, therefore the eternal I AM:”
But Havah, from which Jehovah, or Yahwe, is formed, signifies also “to become,” that is, to become known, thus pointing to a continuous and increasing self-revelation. Combining these meanings of Havah, we arrive at the meaning of the name Jehovah. He is “the self- existent One who reveals Himself.” The name is, in itself, an advance upon the name “God” (El, Elah, Elohim), which suggests certain attributes of Deity, as strength, etc., rather than His essential being.
(2) It is significant that the first appearance of the name Jehovah in Scripture follows the creation of man. It was God (Elohim) who said, “Let us make man in our image” (Ge 1:26); but when man, as in the second chapter of Genesis, is to fill the scene and become dominant over creation, it is the Lord God (Jehovah Elohim) who acts. This clearly indicates a special relation of Deity, in His Jehovah character, to man, and all Scripture emphasizes this.
(3) Jehovah is distinctly the redemption name of Deity. When sin entered and redemption became necessary, it was Jehovah Elohim who sought the sinning ones Ge 3:9-13 and clothed them with “coats of skins” Ge 3:21 a beautiful type of righteousness provided by the Lord God through sacrifice Ro 3:21-22. The first distinct revelation of Himself by His name Jehovah was in connection with the redemption of the covenant people out of Egypt Ex 3:13-17. As Redeemer, emphasis is laid upon those attributes of Jehovah which the sin and salvation of man bring into exercise. These are:
(a) His holiness Le 11:44; 19:1; 20:26; Hab 1:12-13
(b) His hatred and judgment of sin De 32:35-42; Ge 6:5-7; Ps 11:4-6; 66:18; Ex 34:6-7
(c) His love for and redemption of sinners, but always righteously Ge 3:21; 8:20-21; Ex 12:12-13; Le 16:2-3; Isa 53:5-6,10 Salvation by Jehovah apart from sacrifice is unknown to Scripture.
(4) In his redemptive relation to man, Jehovah has seven compound names which reveal Him as meeting every need of man from his lost state to the end. These compound names are:
(a) Jehovah-jireh, “the Lord will provide” Ge 22:13-14 i.e., will provide a sacrifice;
(b) Jehovah-rapha, “the Lord that healeth” Ex 15:26. That this refers to physical healing the context shows, but the deeper healing of soul malady is implied.
(c) Jehovah-nissi, “the Lord our banner” Ex 17:8-15. The name is interpreted by the context. The enemy was Amalek, a type of the flesh, and the conflict that day stands for the conflict of Ga 5:17 the war of the Spirit against the flesh. Victory was wholly due to divine help.
(d) Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord our peace,” or “the Lord send peace” Jg 6:24. Almost the whole ministry of Jehovah finds expression and illustration in that chapter. Jehovah hates and judges sin Ge 2:1-5. Jehovah loves and saves sinners Ge 2:7-18 but only through sacrifice Ge 2:19-21 see also Ro 5:1; Eph 2:14; Col 1:20.
(e) Jehovah-ra-ah, “the Lord my shepherd” (Psa 23.). In Ps. 22 Jehovah makes peace by the blood of the cross; in Ps 23. Jehovah is shepherding His own who are in the world. Cmt. on Joh 10:7
(f) Jehovah-tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness” Jer 23:6. This name of Jehovah occurs in a prophecy concerning the future restoration and conversion of Israel. Then Israel will hail him as Jehovah-tsidkenu–”the Lord our righteousness.”
(g) Jehovah-shammah, “the Lord is present” Eze 48:35. This name signifies Jehovah’s abiding presence with His people Ex 33:14-15; 1Ch 16:27,33; Ps 16:11; 97:5; Mt 28:20; Heb 13:5
(5) Lord (Jehovah) is also the distinctive name of Deity as in covenant with Israel Ex 19:3; 20:1-2; Jer 31:31-34.
(6) Lord God (Heb. Jehovah Elohim) is the first of the compound names of Deity. Lord God is used distinctly:
(1) of the relation of Deity to man
(a) as Creator Ge 2:7-15
(b) as morally in authority over man Ge 2:16-17
(c) as creating and governing the earthly relationships of man Ge 2:18-24; 3:16-19,22-24 and
(d) as redeeming man Ge 3:8-15,21
(2) of the relation of Deity to Israel Ge 24:7; 28:13; Ex 3:15; 4:5; 5:1; 7:6; De 1:11; 4:1; 6:3; 12:1; Jos 7:13,19; 10:40,42; Jg 2:12; 1Sa 2:30; 1Ki 1:48; 2Ki 9:6 See other names of Deity,
Cmt. on Ge 1:1 Cmt. on Ge 14:18 Cmt. on Ge 15:2 Cmt. on Ge 17:1 Cmt. on Ge 21:33 Cmt. on 1Sa 1:3
Margin: Lord God Deity (names of God) Cmt. on Mal 3:18