© David Staume 2007

The Bible, the most influential book in the Western world, disintegrates with the barest breath of reason.

The most influential book in the world is probably the Bible. In accounting for its influence, three things come to mind: first, that it’s been around for a long time – some of its source documents date from around 1,500 BCE; second, the Emperor Constantine elevating Christianity from a cult religion to the one religion of the Holy Roman Empire around 310 AD; and third, that more than a quarter of the world’s population currently profess to be Christian.

What people think of the Bible varies dramatically. There are people who believe in its inerrancy – its absolute and literal accuracy – and say that it’s the written word of God; and at the other end of the spectrum there are those who believe it is a pernicious and fanatical fantasy.

I have read it thoroughly from cover to cover and have no doubt that it’s the latter, but in this article I’d like to look at three aspects of the Bible to show what an intriguing document it is: its authorship, its translation, and the difference between what we think it says, and what it actually says.

First, its authorship.

My copy of the Bible, in its voluminous footnotes, says that the first five books (that’s Genesis through to Deuteronomy) were written by Moses. It states this explicitly and without qualification. All this serves to do is make me doubt the accuracy of every other footnote, because this cannot be strictly true. Chapter 34, verses 5 and 6 of Deuteronomy say: ‘So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre (tomb) unto this day.’ Either Moses wrote this bit posthumously, or there’s at least one other author. My guess is that there’s at least one other author, and a period of time of years, decades, or centuries between them, to make the phrase ‘unto this day’ make sense. But the number of possible authors doesn’t end there.

Gary Greenberg (President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York) says that there are at least four separate source documents that make up the Five Books of Moses. The first, which makes up chapter one of Genesis, uses the word ‘Jahweh’ for God, and depicts a distant, amorphous, and impersonal God. The second source document, which makes up the second chapter of Genesis, uses the word ‘Elohim' for God, and depicts God strolling around Eden, barking instructions and curses, and directing human destiny. These two source documents, with their different names for God, their different tone and literary style, are unlikely to have been written by the same person. So we have up to four possible authors from four different source documents, maybe Moses, and then an author after Moses’ death, and that’s just the first five books of the Old Testament. The authorship of the bible … intriguing.

Second, its translation.

I’m sure that most people would have heard of the phrase ‘David and Goliath’, and many might remember the story of how David killed Goliath – a Philistine warrior and giant of a man – with his sling-shot. Well that’s how it reads, but it’s not what it says in its original Hebrew.

The original Hebrew version of First Samuel says that it was David’s brother, Elhanan, who killed Goliath, not David. Gary Greenberg says that this makes sense because Elhanan was known to be a member of a group of thirty highly trained soldiers who fought for the Israelites. The translators of the bible, however, attributed the act not to Elhanan but to his brother, David, later to become King David. Why? To elevate David as a bible hero, particularly as later prophesies stated that the coming Messiah would be descended from him. This tendency, to not let the truth get in the way of a good story, isn’t restricted to the story of David and Goliath; we encounter it in every book of the Bible from Genesis through to Revelation. The translation of the Bible … intriguing.

And third, the difference between what we think the Bible says, and what it actually says.

I guess it’s natural for the Bible to say things differently when read fully and carefully to how its stories are told in Sunday School, sermons, and movies. I had the impression that Moses was a bible hero, until I read the first books of the Old Testament carefully and came away thinking he was a deranged and homicidal monster. The story in Genesis of the flood also surprised me. I never thought of Noah as the kind of guy you’d find lying around inebriated and naked, he was after all chosen by God as the ‘only righteous man’ to repopulate the earth. I thought the animals came onboard the ark two by two, and was mildly surprised that some came on in their sevens; but of course, Noah and his family had to eat, and God had to have a few animals sacrificed to him when they found dry land. I also have no memory of the word ‘genocide’ or ‘mass murder’ used in relation to drowning the millions of men, women, children, babies, and pregnant women on earth at the time. When I heard the story in Sunday School I didn’t have the presence of mind to question why, if God killed everyone except Noah and his family, how we get all the different races of the world? But the thought struck hard on reading it as an adult.

The creation story was different to how I remember it too. I remember it as poetic and ordered, and on re-reading I found it a forced and derivative mess. I wish I had the presence of mind to question in Sunday School how God created light on the first day, vegetation on the third day, and the sun on the fourth? Still, better late than never. This peculiar order turns out to be a near-perfect match with the Egyptian creation story, with its distinctive and separate concepts of light. That the Israelites derived their creation story from the Egyptians isn't really surprising. Ancient Israel arose in a part of the world with three established cultures with older literary and historical traditions – Egyptian, Canaanite, and Mesopotamian. There is every reason to believe the Israelites would have been aware of Egyptian mythology, and natural for them to adapt it to their own monotheistic mould. Still, we don't expect to read recast Egyptian mythology when we read Genesis. The difference between what we think the Bible says, and what it actually says ... intriguing.

People influenced by Christianity – in any way – should become bible literate. The Bible is the most influential book in the world, certainly in Western society, and will remain so while ever we are ignorant of it. I encourage people to read it, not cherry-pick from it, but read it, with an adult mind. I find that it disintegrates with the barest breath of reason.

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