A PERFECT WORK OF HARMONY? A PERFECT WORK OF HARMONY? Farrell Till In the second issue of

A PERFECT WORK OF HARMONY?

















A PERFECT WORK OF HARMONY?

Farrell Till


 In the second issue of TSR (Spring 1990, p. 14), we raised the
question of harmony in the Bible in a short article with the same
title as this one. A frequent argument that bibliolaters use in
their vain attempts to prove the inerrancy doctrine is that the
Bible is so harmonious in content that only divine inspiration
could explain its remarkable consistency. In his article "Why
I Believe in the Inerrancy of the Scriptures" (Autumn 1992),
fundamentalist minister Dave Miller said that "the Bible
has been consistently... demonstrated to possess the unequaled
characteristic of internal consistency" (p. 3). _In
Christian_Courier_, editor Wayne Jackson rhapsodized the
achievement of "some forty different persons" who had
written "in three different languages" over a span of
"1,600 years" and yet had "produced a volume of
sixty-six books that is characterized by such an amazing unity
and beautiful continuity as to be inexplicable on the basis of
human origin" ("The Holy Bible--Inspired of God,"
May 1991, p. 1).

If this often repeated claim were true, it would constitute formidable
evidence for the divine inspiration of the Bible, but, as objective
students of the Bible know, it is a claim that doesn't even come
close to being true. Biblical apologists like Gleason Archer,
John Haley, William Arndt, and George DeHoff have published volumes
of far-fetched, how-it-could-have-been explanations to what they
sanctimoniously call "alleged Bible discrepancies,"
the implication being that the discrepancies aren't real but only
"alleged." In his _Encyclopedia_of_Bible_Difficulties
_, Archer listed in the index over 2,000 "difficult"
scriptures that he had addressed in the book, and there would
be no way to estimate the number of independent periodicals and
bulletins like _Christian_Courier_ that devote much
of their publishing space to defending the harmony of the Bible.
Inerrantists, however, apparently can't see the absurdity of preaching
the "amazing unity and beautiful continuity" of a book
that has required the publication of so many volumes and periodicals
to defend and explain its harmony.

The truth is that the Bible, rather than being remarkably consistent
and harmonious in its themes, is a book riddled with discrepancies
and divergent theological views. Although unity of theme, as I
noted in my response to Miller's article (Autumn 1992, p. 5),
was undoubtedly a criterion considered by the councils and conferences
of rabbis and clerics who arbitrarily made canonical decisions,
the selection processes were nevertheless imperfect in that they
failed to produce a Bible free of discrepancies.

An excellent example of divergent political and theological philosophies
is the one that I presented in my original article on this subject.
The writer(s) of 1 and 2 Kings obviously believed that Jehu's
massacre of the royal families of Israel and Judah was sanctioned
by Yahweh, the tribal god of Israel. As early as [ref001]1 Kings 19  
, Yahweh commanded the prophet Elijah to anoint Jehu king
of Israel (v:16). The actual anointing did not occur, however,
until Elijah's successor Elisha sent a "son of the prophets"
to Ramoth-gilead with instructions to anoint Jehu king of Israel.
In executing the command, the prophet said this during the ceremony:

Thus, saith Yahweh, the God of Israel, I have anointed thee king
over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite
the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my
servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh,
at the hand of Jezebel ([ref002]2 Kings 9:6-7  
). Jehu then led an armed force against Jezreel and massacred
Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, who at the
time was visiting his kinsman Joram [ref003](2 Kings 9:21-24  
). After having Jezebel, Joram's mother killed, Jehu then
ordered the decapitation of Joram's seventy sons ([ref004]10:6-8  
) and the execution of all principals in Joram's government
([ref005]10:11  
), as well as 42 servants who had attended Ahaziah on his
royal visit ([ref006]10:12-14  
). As if this were not enough bloodshed, Jehu later deceived
all the prophets, priests, and worshipers of the god Baal into
gathering for a sacrificial ceremony during which he sent a force
of 80 armed men into the house of Baal to massacre everyone in
attendance.

After all of this blood had been shed, the writer(s) of 2 Kings
said this of Jehu's actions at Jezreel:

And Yahweh said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing
that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house
of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy sons of the
fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel (
[ref007]10:30
emphasis added).



This statement is plain enough that anyone should understand it.
Whoever wrote it clearly thought that Jehu had done Yahweh's will
in the Jezreel massacres. The writer even went on to chronicle
the reigns of the four generations of the house of Jehu who succeeded
to the throne of Israel after Jehu.

All four of these were described as kings who "did that which
was evil in the sight of Yahweh" ([ref008]13:1-2  
; [ref009]13:10-11  
; [ref010]14:23-24  
; [ref011]15:8-9  
), yet the clear implication of the writer was that Yahweh
had permitted them to reign to fulfill his promise to Jehu that
ended the passage cited above. So when Zechariah, the fourth generation
of these kings, was overthrown in a rebellion, the writer said,
"This was the word of Yahweh which he spake unto Jehu, saying,
Thy sons to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of
Israel. And so it came to pass" ([ref012]15:12  
).

There can be no doubt, then, that the author(s) of 2 Kings approved
Jehu's actions in the massacre at Jezreel and considered him an
emissary of Yahweh, who had been sent to execute judgment against
the house of Ahab. A century later, however, the prophet Hosea
had a different view. He opened his book with a pronouncement
of judgment upon the house of Jehu in the latter days of Jeroboam,
the third-generation of Jehu's descendants mentioned above:

(F)or yet a little while, and I [Yahweh] will avenge the blood
of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom
of the house of Israel to cease. And it shall come to pass at
that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel ([ref013]1:4-5).



Fundamentalists have made their usual how-it-could-have-been attempts
to explain what Hosea meant, but the fact still remains that the
author(s) of 2 Kings approved the Jezreel massacre and Hosea,
a century later, pronounced judgment on the house of Jehu for
"the blood of Jezreel." Why would a divinely inspired
prophet pronounce judgment on Jehu's descendants for something
that another divinely inspired person had praised in terms of
having "execut[ed] that which is right in mine [Yahweh's]
eyes" and having done "according to all that was in
my [Yahweh's] heart" ([ref014]2 Kings 10:30  
)?

The only reasonable answers are that (1) neither writer was actually
inspired, and (2) the two writers simply had divergent political
and theological views about the Jezreel massacre. The second of
these alternatives certainly explodes the myth of "amazing
unity and beautiful continuity" in the Bible. Another biblical
disagreement concerned the importance of sacrificial ceremonies.
Almost from the very beginning, the Old Testament took a very
serious view of sacrifices. The first murder resulted when Yahweh
had respect for the bloody sacrifices of Abel but rejected the
"fruit of the ground" that Cain had offered. In an ensuing
argument, Cain killed his brother Abel ([ref015]Gen. 4:2-8  
). After the Ark had landed on dry ground, at a time when
(if the story is true) every animal on earth was an endangered
species, Noah built an altar, took "of every clean beast
and of every clean bird," and offered burnt-offerings to
Yahweh ([ref016]Gen. 8:20  
). This gesture must have pleased Yahweh who "smelled
the sweet savor" ([ref017]v:21  
), for he promised "in his heart" that he would
not "curse the ground anymore for man's sake" or "smite
anymore everything living" as he had just done in sending
the flood ([ref018]v:21  
). All through the rest of Genesis, we read how the patriarchs
found favor with Yahweh through their animal sacrifices ([ref019]12:7-8  
; [ref020]15: 8-11  
; [ref021]26:25  
; [ref022]31:54  
; [ref023]33:20  
; [ref024]35:1-7  
).

When Yahweh established his covenant with Israel (as the story
goes), he included animal sacrifices as a part of it. After his
face-to-face meeting with Yahweh on Mt. Sinai, Moses gave the
Israelites instructions on proper procedures for the offering
of sacrifices ([ref025]Ex. 34:25-26  
). These laws were expanded later ([ref026]Num. 6: 13-17  
; [ref027]7:84-88  
; [ref028]15:1-14  
). The book of Leviticus contains little more than detailed
instructions in proper ceremonial procedures, many of them pertaining
to the offering of animal sacrifices. These instructions were
given with the solemn assurance that they were what "Yahweh
had commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded
the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto Yahweh in
the wilderness of Sinai" ([ref029]Lev. 7:38  
). That these ceremonies were considered serious business
is indicated in the story of Nadab and Abihu, both sons of Aaron,
who tried to offer sacrifices in a manner not specifically prescribed
by Yahweh. Their punishment was fire that came forth from Yahweh
and devoured them ([ref030]Lev. 10:1-2  
). All of this indicates that the author(s) of the Pentateuch
considered animal sacrifices not just important but a Yahwistic
command that had to be executed according to the letter. Why then
did some of the prophets who lived centuries after the exodus
and wilderness wanderings take a different view of sacrificial
ceremonies? Yahweh said through the prophet Hosea, "For I
desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings" ([ref031]6:6  
). Inerrantists, of course, will argue that Hosea was speaking
of sacrifices offered by those who were disregarding the importance
of inner purity in their personal lives; however, a psalm attributed
to David, a man after God's own heart ([ref032]1 Sam. 13:14  
), who had done that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh
"all the days of his life" ([ref033]1 Kings 15:5  
), said this of sacrifices: "For thou delightest not
in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering"
([ref034]51:16  
). To want goodness more than sacrifice from the ungodly is
one thing, but why would Yahweh, who was so pleased with Noah's
sacrifice that he promised never to destroy man again, not delight
in sacrifices from a man after his own heart? This is hardly unity
so amazing and consistency so beautiful that they could be explained
only by divine inspiration.

The prophet Jeremiah took the matter of sacrifices even further
and denied that Yahweh had even commanded them:

My people, some sacrifices you burn completely on the altar, and
some you are permitted to eat. But what I, the LORD [Yahweh],
say is that you might as well eat them all. I gave your ancestors
no commands about burnt offerings or any other kinds of sacrifices
when I brought them out of Egypt. But I did command them to obey
me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people.
And I told them to live the way I had commanded them, so that
things would go well for them (
[ref035]7:21-23,
Good News Bible).



I have quoted this passage in a modern English version so that
the meaning will be clearer than it is in the versions that use
17th century English. According to Jeremiah, Yahweh plainly said
that he gave no commands concerning burnt offerings and other
sacrifices when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and that
flatly contradicts passages already cited in this article and
others too numerous to list. Animal sacrifices were the very foundation
of the religion that Yahweh allegedly revealed to the Israelites
through Moses. In his typically far-fetched fashion, Gleason Archer
explained the problem posed by Jeremiah's statement by claiming
that the prophet meant only that "no sacrificial requirements
were made by God to the Israelites" until after they were
out of Egypt (_Encyclopedia_of_Bible_Difficulties_,
p. 272). In other words, Archer limits Jeremiah's statement to
the time that the Israelites were in Egypt proper and therefore
contends that the prophet was not alluding to sacrificial commands
that Yahweh later gave to the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness.

If ever an inerrantist stretched credulity to the limits to explain
away an "alleged Bible discrepancy," Archer has done
so here. For one thing, the territory of Egypt at that time (as
it does today) stretched into the Sinai region, so when the Israelites
were in the wilderness, where the writer of Exodus claimed that
Yahweh gave commands concerning sacrifices ([ref036]20:24-26  
), they were still in Egypt. It is therefore more probable
that Jeremiah was referring to an era or a period of time that
involved both the exodus and the wilderness wanderings.

This interpretation is more consistent with the original text.
In Hebrew, Jeremiah literally said, "I did not speak to your
fathers nor command them in the day that I brought them out of
the land of Egypt about the matters of burnt offerings and sacrifices"
(Hendrickson's Interlinear Bible). The expression "in the
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt" is in the
KJV, ASV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NAS, RBV, NAB, AB, and other versions
including the Holy Spirit's favorite, the Septuagint. It is customary
to use the word day in the sense of an era rather than a literal
twenty-four-hour period. Determining if Jeremiah meant the word
in this sense should be as simple as examining other places where
he used the expression "in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Egypt."

A good place to begin would be [ref037]chapter 11  
, where Yahweh said through Jeremiah, "Cursed be the
man that heareth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded
your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land
of Egypt" ([ref038]v:3-4  
). According to Archer's logic, this statement would have
to mean that Yahweh made his covenant with the Israelites on the
very day (twenty-four-hour period) that he brought them out of
Egypt, but in fact the covenant was not made until the events
recorded in [ref039]Exodus 20  
, the very chapter that Archer referred to as the time and
place in the Sinai wilderness when Yahweh first spoke to the Israelites
concerning sacrifices. Later in the same chapter, Yahweh, speaking
through Jeremiah again, said, "For I earnestly protested
unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the
land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting,
saying, Obey my voice" ([ref040]v:7  
). We find no such protest recorded in Exodus that Yahweh
made on the very day or even before the Israelites left Egypt,
but Yahweh made many such protests to the Israelites in the wilderness
([ref041]Ex. 15:26  
; [ref042]19:5-6  
; [ref043]23:20-22  
; [ref044]Dt. 11:27  
; [ref045]27:10
; [ref046]30:1-2
). "In the day that I brought them up out of the land
of Egypt," then, must have referred to an era associated
with the journey from Egypt to Canaan rather than to the actual
time it took the Israelites to leave Egypt proper. In [ref047]Jeremiah 31:32
, Yahweh again referred to the covenant that he made with
the Israelites "in the day that I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt," and again in [ref048]34:13
, Yahweh said, "I made a covenant with your fathers in
the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage." As noted above, however, Yahweh's
covenant with the Israelites was not made on the very day that
they left Egypt but later when they were in the Sinai wilderness.
So twice again, the prophet Jeremiah obviously used the expression
in question to mean the period of time associated with the exodus
and the wilderness wanderings. Why then must we believe that he
was referring only to the time that the Israelites were in Egypt
proper when he said that Yahweh did not speak to the Israelite
fathers about burnt-offerings and sacrifices in the day that he
brought them out of the land of Egypt?

Another flaw in Archer's theory is his claim that Yahweh made
"no sacrificial requirements" of the Israelites while
they were in Egypt. Recognizing the flaw, Archer dismissed the
passover instructions given to Moses on the eve of the exodus
on the grounds that the passover "had nothing to do with
offerings on an altar" (Ibid). Nevertheless, the passover
was considered a sacrifice and was so designated in the instructions
that Moses gave to the Israelite elders and in his renewal of
the instructions in the wilderness: And it shall come to pass,
when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's passover (
[ref049]Ex. 12:26-27
, emphasis added). And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto
Yahweh thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which
Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.... Neither
shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificest the first day at
even, remain all night until morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice
the passover within any of thy gates, which Yahweh thy God giveth
thee; but at the place which Yahweh thy God shall choose, to cause
his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover
at even, at the going down of the sun... ([ref050]Dt. 16:2-6
, emphasis added).

So even if Archer is right in his interpretation of what Jeremiah
meant by "in the day that I brought them [the Israelites]
out of the land of Egypt," he is wrong in claiming that God
made "no sacrificial requirements" of the Israelites
while they were in Egypt. To argue that Jeremiah was referring
only to sacrifices that involved altars is a resort to arbitrariness,
because he included no such qualification in his statement. He
said (without qualification): "I spake not unto your fathers,
nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land
of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices." If he
had intended this as a reference only to altar sacrifices, then
why didn't he stop with burnt-offerings? The fact that he went
on to say "or sacrifices" must mean that he had in mind
more than just altar sacrifices. So Archer's resolution of this
problem turns out to be just another futile attempt to preserve
the inerrancy doctrine.


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[ref001] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?I+Kings+19
[ref002] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+9:6-7
[ref003] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+9:21-24
[ref004] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+10:6-8
[ref005] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+10:11
[ref006] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+10:12-14
[ref007] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+10:30
[ref008] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+13:1-2
[ref009] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+13:10-11
[ref010] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+14:23-24
[ref011] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+15:8-9
[ref012] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+15:12
[ref013] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+1:4-5
[ref014] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?II+Kings+10:30
[ref015] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+4:2-8
[ref016] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+8:20
[ref017] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+8:21
[ref018] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+8:21
[ref019] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+12:7-8
[ref020] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+15:8-11
[ref021] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+26:25
[ref022] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+31:54
[ref023] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+33:20
[ref024] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Genesis+35:1-7
[ref025] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+34:25-26
[ref026] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Numbers+6:13-17
[ref027] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Numbers+7:84-88
[ref028] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Numbers+15:1-14
[ref029] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Leviticus+7:38
[ref030] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Leviticus+10:1-2
[ref031] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Leviticus+6:6
[ref032] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?I+Samuel+13:14
[ref033] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?I+Kings+15:5
[ref034] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?I+Kings+51:16
[ref035] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Jeremiah+7:21-23
[ref036] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+20:24-26
[ref037] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Jeremiah+11
[ref038] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Jeremiah+11:3-4
[ref039] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+20
[ref040] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+20:7
[ref041] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+15:26
[ref042] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+19:5-6
[ref043] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+23:20-22
[ref044] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Deuteronomy+11:27
[ref045] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Deuteronomy+27:10
[ref046] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Deuteronomy+30:1-2
[ref047] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Jeremiah+31:32
[ref048] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Jeremiah+34:13
[ref049] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Exodus+12;26-27
[ref050] http://www.calvin.edu/cgi-bin/bible?Deuteronomy+16:2-6