Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible: Chapter 2

8/14/2019 Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible: Chapter 2

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CHAPTER II.DESIGN OF THE DISCREPANCIES.

WHY were the discrepancies permitted to exist? What goodend do they contemplate?

1. They were doubtless intended as a stimulus to the humanintellect, as provocative of mental effort. They serve to awakencuriosity and to appeal to the love of novelty.

The Bible is a wonderful book. No other has been studiedso much, or called forth a tithe of the criticism which this haselicited. "No book, not nature itself, has ever waked up intellectual activity like the Bible. On the battle-field of truth, ithas ever been round this that the conflict has raged. Whatbook besides ever caused the writing of so many other books?Take from the libraries of Christendom all those which havesprung, I will not say indirectly, but directly from it, - thoseWl'itten to oppose, or defend, or elucidate it, - and how wouldthey be diminished! The very multitude of infidel' books is awitness to the power with which the Bible stimulates the intellect, Why do we not see the same amount of active intellectcoming up, and dashing and roaring around the Koran?" 1

The discrepancies of the sacred volume have played no insignificant part in this incitement of mental action, Though but asubordinate characteristic, they have prompted men to "searchthe scriptures," and to ask: How are these difficulties to be 1'0-solved? Things which are "hard to be understood," presentspecial attractions to the inquiring mind. Professor Park 2 ob-serves, in an admirable essay on the choice of Texts, "Sometimes a deeper interest is awakened by examining two 01' more

1 President Hopkins, Evidences of Chlistianity, p. 144.2 Bib. Sacra, Oct. 1873. pp. 717, 718.80 .


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31passfI by exam-ining are eagerto Ie;; and force of a nf which isJohn TTy Father Ihave made known unto you,' and the other part is John xvi.12: 'I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannotbear them now.' Why did our Lord utter the second part ofthis text after the first part, yet in the same hour with it? TheBible rouses the mind from its torpid state by declaring thatman and yet lives fOT'T" is a worm

is made little 10wT'" ;;;;gels; thatyet hate his fath;'" sister;

that bear his own each on8bear his brethren; that TV;ll be raisedfrom the grave, and yet not the same body; that Christ wasignorant of some things, and yet knew all things; that he couldnot bear his own cross, and yet upholdeth all things by the wordof his power. ,Vhen two classes of passages stand in apparentlyhostile array against each other at the opening of a sermon, thesomnolent hearer is kept awake in order to see how the conflictwill be raised by the his natural

i he truth to a the truth"The seeming

n ; t to be the resultin scripture

;;;;d doubtlesswere designed, not as mere difficulties to try our faith andpatience, but as furnishing the most suitable mode of instructionthat could have been devised, by mutually explaining andmodifying or limiting or extending one another's meaning."

Elsewhere, urging the same thought, he observes: "Instruc-tions ;'Te evidently mo;" more likelyto ar;;T"thatlasting

in Writings of St.

;'ircumstanceto make a

f


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82 DISCR1'lPANCIES OF THE BIBLE.Again, illustrating, as beautifully as suggestively, by thll

case of the mariner who steers midway between certain landmarks, he adds: "Even thus, it will often happen that twoapparently opposite passages of scripture may together enableus to direct our faith or our practice aright; one shall be calculated to guard us against certain errors on one side, and theother, on the other side; neither, taken alone, shall convey theexact and entire truth ; but both taken in conjunction mayenable us sufficiently to ascertain it." He also ingeniouslycompares the colliding texts to several mechanical forces orimpulses, acting upon a body to be set in motion; their resultantimpelling it in the direction required, though no one of theimpulses, taken singly, is acting precisely in that direction.

The rabbies have a saying that" the book of Chronicles wasgiven for argument," that is, to incite men to investigation anddiscussion. l The history of sacred criticism demonstrates thatthe book has answered this purpose remarkably well; its discrepancies being salient points which attract attention.

Not only do these" hard" things induce men to investigate thesacred volume; but meanwhile resolving. themselves before thesteady and patient eye of the student, they unfold deep andrich meanings which amply reward his toil. This process isexemplified in the case of the scholar quoted above. He observes: " I well remember when it seemed to me that there wasa direct contradiction between Paul and James on the subjectof faith and works. I can now see that tl1ey not only do notcontradict each other, but harmonize perfectly." 2 .

Says Professor Stuart: 3 "In the early part of my biblicalstudies, some thirty to thirty-five years ago, when I first beganthe critical investigation of the scriptures, doubts and difficultiesstarted up on every side, like the armed men whom Cadmus is

1 Rashi, referring to 1 Chron. viii. 38, "And Azel had six sons," quaintlyand pithily observes: "'What the wise men have said about these 'sixsons,' would load thirteen thousand camels." Evidences of Christianity, p. 354. History of Old Test. Canon, p. 18. Revised ed. p. 16.


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DESIGN OF THE DISCREPANCIES.up. Time,

ith the originalIhe sacred booksall these douh

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In this manner, the difficulties of scripture often keenly stimulate and richly reward intellectual effort.

2. They were meant to be illustrative of the analogy betweenthe Bible and natu?'e, and so to evince their common origin.The" self-contradictions" of the Bible are produced on a granderscale IVLerever we turn the material

"'l1l."dakable traces of'file starry heav,,"

glad sunshhw,howers, the swe,',delicious odors, th"

forms of vegetation, the infinite varieties of insect and animallife, the nice adaptations and benevolent contrivances for theirwelfare everywhere visible in nature - all these proclaim theattributes and speak forth the praise of the Creator.

But, looking into the'same arena from another point of view,spectaele. V( )lTOW and

dUii!lnant in the worldvolcano,

tIllS fearful devastation is going on in a world created andgoverned by infinite wisdom, power, and love. Milton's terriblepicture 1 too often finds its counterpart. Nowhere in the Bible" 1m m crliatcly a placeBefore his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark,

A lazar-house it seemed, wherein were laid,,11 diseased, all mahd ,,'"" asm or racking torU""agony, all feverous('pilepsies, fierce

and ulcer, colicinnzy, moping melan!,i,' '


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34 DISCREPANCIES OF THE BIBLE.do we behold such a gigantic inconsistency, such an irrepressibleconflict, as in the scene before us. Let a man solve the grandproblem of the ages; let him tell us why an infinitely wise,powerful, and benevolent Creator allowed evil to enter at allhis universe - l e t him explain this contradiction, and we maysafely engage to explain those which occur in the Bible. Fornone of them - not all together - are so dark, unfathomable,and appalling as this one graud, ultimate Discrepancy. SaysOrigen: "He who believes the scripture to have proceededfrom him who is the Author of nature, may well expect to findthe same sort of difficulties in it as are found in the constitutionof nature." Bishop Butler 1 pertinently adds, that "he whodenies the scripture to have been from God, on account ofthese difficulties, may, for the very same reason, deny the worldto have been formed by him."In nature, then, we perceive mighty discords, tremendousantagonisms, which in appearance seriously involve and militate against the character and attributes of God. Nevertheless,nature is confessedly his work. Now, we find the Bible claiming the same supernatural origin, and exhibiting, among otherfeatures of resemblance, similar, though far less important,discrepancies; hence these latter afford a valid presumption infavor of its claim.

Nearly in the same line of thought, says Dr. Charles Hodge: 2"The universe teems with evidences of design, so manifold, so

And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,Marasmus, and wide-wasting'pestilence,Dropsies and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; DespairTended the sick, busiest, from couch to couch;And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delayed to strike, though oft invokedWith vows, as their chief good and final hope.Sight so deform, what heart of rock could longDry-eyed behold?" - Par. Lost, B. xi, line 477-495.

1 Introduction to Analogy, p. 70 (Malcom's edition).S Theology, i. 170.


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DESIGN OF THE DISCREPANCIES. 35diverse, so wonderful as to overwhelm the mind with the conviction that it has had an intelligent author. Yet here andthere isolated cases o monstrosity appear. I t is irrational,because we cannot account for such cases, to deny that theuniverse is the product of intelligence. So the Christian neednot renounce his faith in the plenary inspiration of the Bible,although there may be some things about it, in its present state,which he cannot account for."

I f we may credit the philosophers, even the higher walks oscience are not free from" stumbling-blocks." Kant, Hamilton,and :Mansel teach that our reason, that the necessary laws othought which govern our mental operations, lead to absolutecontradictions.l Manse1 2 observes, "The conception of theAbsolute and Infinite, from whatever side we view it, appearsencompassed with contradictions. There is a contradiction iIisupposing such an object to exist, whether alone or in conjunction with others; and there is a contradiction in supposing itnot to exist. There is a contradiction in conceiving it as one;and there is a contradiction in conceiving it as many. Thereis a contradiction in conceiving it as personal; and there is acontradiction in conceiving it as impersonal. It cannot withoutcontradiction be represented as active; lIor without equal contracliction be represented as inactive. I t cannot be conceivedas the sum o all existence; nor yet can it be conceived as apart only of that sum."

Again he says, " It is our duty, then, to think of God as personal; and it is our duty to believe that he is infinite. I t istrue that we cannot reconcile these two represenk'ltions witheach other; as our conception of personality involves attributesapparently contradictory to the notion of infinity."

It would seem that our prospect of escaping contradictionsby casting the Bible aside and betaking ourselves to philosophy,is quite unpromising. Notwithstanding the "discrepancies,"

1 Dr. Hodge, Theology, i. 362. Limits of Religious Thought, pp. 84, 85, and 106 (American edition).


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36 DISCREPANCIES OF THE BIBLE.the wisest course may be to retain the Bible for the present, andawait further developments.

3. The disagreements of scripture were beyond questiondesigned as a strong incidental proof that there was no c o l l ~ t s i o n among the sacred writers. Their differences, go far to establishin this way, the credibility of these authors.

The inspired narratives exhibit" substantial agreement withcircumstantial variation." This is precisely what a court ofjustice requires in respect of the testimony of witnesses. Shoulrltheir evidence agree precisely in every word and syllable, thisfact would be held by the court proof of conspiracy. Thewell-known" Howland will case," 1 in New Bedford, some yearssince, affords an illustration of the principle. In this famouscase some one or two millions of dollars was at stake, and overone hundred and fifty thousand dollars were expended for costsand counsel fees in two years. Upon the case were broughtto bear the resources of many of the ablest counsel in NewEngland, and the skill of the most ingenious scientific expertsof the United States. The main issue of fact raised waswhether the signature to the second page was written by MissHowland, or whether it was a forgery. The minute and exactresemblance of the first and second signatures, in all points, wasthe grand stumbling-block in the case. In a word, the signatures agreed too well.

Now, had the biblical writers agreed in all particulars, eventhe minutest, had there been no discrepancies in their testimony,the cry of "Collusion, Collusion!" would have passed alongthe whole infidel line, from Celsus and Porphyry down toColenso and Renan. We maintain, therefore, that the verydiscrepancies, lying as they do upon the surface, without reaching the subject-matter, the kernel of scripture, - and being,moreover, capable of adjustment,- are so many proofs of itsauthenticity and credibility.

As to the ., various readings," 2 in the manuscripts of the New1 See American Law Review, July, 1870, pp. 625-663.This term denotes differences iI) the spelling, choice, a ~ 4 i ! - J . T ~ ~ g e m e n t of words in the Greek text.


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DESIGN OF THE DISCRE:? ANCIES. 37worth 1 says, " being

to be, are i'idue. TheybJjen no collusion witnesses, andcopies of the llve hundred

in number, and brought to us from all parts of the world, havenot been mutilated or interpolated with any sinister design ;that they have not been tampered with by any religious S(;ct,for the sake of propagating any private opinion as the word ofGod. These discrepancies are, in f;:tct, evidences of the purityand sacred text. ilie scriptures

in our hands in century, arewhich were reci,i"i'" "hurch in the

iii'iiien by the Holy ihe" variousproofs of the suk! of our Newinspired original Greek Tes-

tament has come down to us, to all intents and purposes, un-impai1oed. Each of the five hundred manuscripts, with its slightvariations in the orthography, selection, and collocation of words,is an independent witness to this fact.

The disagreements of the sacred writers effectually bar thechar"" " on their part.

4. of the discrepancies be presumed,to leii spirit beyond icriptures, toprizi' of Christianity rat Li' Ciji'm and acci-denti.. point in the sanii For example,we have no portrait of Jesus, no authentic description of his person. No wood of the" true cross" remains to our day. I t is notdifficult to divine the reason why no relics of this kind are left tous. Suppose the original text of the holy volume had beenmiraculously transmitted, in the very hand-writing of the authors,and [.cerfect in everv letter and figure. The world woulc1 havegone Idolatry the maccun,,, ' it. Crusadesthan iecovery of the

to Greek Fonr4

disastrouswould have


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38 DISCREPANCIES OF THE BIBLE.been conducted for its possession. It would have ensanguinedand darkened the whole history of the Christian religion. Menwould have worshipped the letter in flagrant opposition to thespirit of the sacred book. Doubtless, with a view to counteractthis tendency to idolatry and formalism, the scriptures are givento us in their present condition. Our attention is therebydiverted from the external and formal features to the internaland essential elements of scripture.The numerous manuscripts with their trivial differences, theso-called" imperfections" of our present text, together with the

" self-contradictions" of the sacred books - all afford a freshapplication and illustration of the inspired saying, "The letterkilleth, but the spirit giveth life."

5. The biblical discrepancies were plainly appointed as a testof moral character; and, probably, to serve an importantJudicial purpose. They may be regarded as constituting noinsignificant element of the means and conditions of man'sprobation.

There is a peculiar and striking analogy and harmony betweenthe external form and the interiM doctrines of the Bible. Bothalike present difficulties - sometimes formidable - to the inquirer. Both alike put his sincerity and firmness to full proof.Hence, as Grotius 1 has fitly said, the Gospel becomes a touchstone to test the honesty of men's dispositions.

Our Saviour's teachings were often clothed in forms whichto the indifferent or prejudiced hearer must have seemedobscure, i f not offensive. To the caviling and sceptical Jewshe spoke many things in parables, that seeing they might seeand not perceive, and hearing they might hear and not understand.2 When he said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son ofMan, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you," 8 he intentionally used such phraseology as would be repugnant toinsincere and squeamish hearers. He thus tested and disclosed

l'De Veritate Religionis Christianae, lib. ii, 19. John vi. 58

S Mark iv. 12.


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DESIGN OF THE DISCREP ANCIES. 39men's characters and motives, and sifted out the chaff amonghis hearers. "From that time, many of his disciples went back,and walked no more with him." 1 The seeming harshness andobscurity of his sayings served to rid him of those followerswho were not of teachable spirit, and thoroughly in earnest,and who would not look beneath the surface. The indolentand superficial, the proud and fastidious, were discouraged andrepelled by the rough husk in which the doctrinal kernel wasencased.

In an analogous manner, the apparent contradictions of theBible afford "opportunity to an unfair mind for explainingaway and deceitfully hiding from itself that evidence which itmight see." 2 Our treatment of the external no less than thatof the internal difficulties of scripture bears an intimate relation

. to our moral character.Those who are disposed to cavil do, in the wise arrangementof God, find opportunities for caviling. The disposition does notmiss the occasion.

In the words of Isaac Taylor: 3 "The very conditions of aRevelation that has been consigned to various records in thecourse of thirty centuries involve a liability to the renewal ofexceptive argumentation, which easily finds points of lodgmentupon so large a surface. . . . . The very same extent of surfacefrom which abetter reason, and a more healthful moral feelinggather an irresistible conviction of the nearness of God through-out it, furnishes to an astute and frigid critical faculty, a thousandand one instances over which to proclaim a petty triumph."Or, as Pasca1 4 has beautifully expressed it, God" willing to berevealed to those who seek him with their whole heart, and hiddenfrom those who as cordially fly from him, has so regulated themeans of knowing him, as to give indications of IJimself, whichare plain to those who seek him, and obscure to those who seek

1 John vi. 66. 2 niItler's Analogy, Part ii. chap. vi.a Spitit of Hebrew Poetry, preface., Thoughts, chap. xiii. Sec. 1 and 2 (.Andover edition).


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40

see;Hght enough forrnough for those of

of the Bibleto serr'" seems by no m(rF"persons who cherish a cavilling spirit, who are bent upon misapprehending the truth, and urging captious and frivolous objections, find in the inspired volume, difficulties and disagreementswhich would seem to have been designed as stumbling-stonesfor those which "stumble at the word, being disobedient:where:"""" were appointed." :ni.hul votariesof erml" strong delusion, believe alie," 2 work out thei1" elF l::umation andruin.

" I f scripture, and tn"""' other book,'then Almighty God, who is the author of scripture, will punish usby our own devices. He will 'choose our delusions'; he will, chastise us by our wickedness,' and' reprove us by our backslidings,' and 'give us the reward of our own hands.' Ourpresumption and our irreverence will be the .instruments ofour punishment." 3 In the divine government of this world, sinnot its reward in

Wit'"" of scripturr"mind, they may

when they are dealLthey may been'""

linking to caviling scepticism its appropriateto the loss of the soul.

"'"rulous andllgencies in

penalty - even1 1 Pet. i i. 8. 2 Thess. ii. 11.3 Replies to Essays and Reviews, p. 485 (English edition).

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Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible: Chapter 2