I have a confession to make: I read the Bible to my daughter.
A few years ago, at the tender age of nine, she said she no longer wanted to hear the watered-down version presented in her children’s Bible. She wanted the real thing. So she got it.
Now if you haven’t dug into the books of the Old Testament, you might be surprised at what you read. Particularly when you read them aloud to your children.
There are some things you may be tempted to omit. Not that I did. Why censor this holy book when she clearly wanted it all? This includes the seeming contradictions, the horrific deaths, and the repetition (my goodness, the repetition – what is it about Hebrew anyway?)
At times, the Bible presents a horror show of human callousness and cruelty. The so-called heroes of the Bible are shown to be exactly who they are: weak, proud, and at times hypocritical.
Remember Noah? The guy who saved the world from mass extinction? We don’t typically hear about the aftereffects of being at sea for forty days and nights. He turns to alcohol (in fact, he grows his own vineyard), passes out naked, then condemns one of his sons to slavery for not covering him up.
And how about Lot? His wife gets all the blame for looking back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, only to be turned into a pillar of salt for her disobedience. Yet he goes on to fool around with his daughters while drunk, claiming later he wasn’t aware of what happened... uh-huh, I’m sure. To think they were the ones worth saving!
If you’re worried about your kids turning into selfish jerks, you’re in good company. Even the most revered holy men had trouble keeping their children on the straight and narrow. Samuel became the last judge of Israel only because his predecessor’s sons abused their priestly status (an all too common occurrence). And Samuel didn’t do much better – his sons were quickly removed from leadership after accepting bribes and “perverting justice.”
Abraham, the father of Israel, had a child with his wife’s slave. Moses, who talked directly with God on numerous occasions, never got to enter the Promised Land because of his refusal to trust God at a key moment. And King David, the most revered monarch of Israel, committed an egregious crime (worthy of impeachment!) by sending the husband of a woman he desired to die in battle.
And then came the 33 evil kings after him... All worthy of being removed from office!
There are of course glimmers of hope in the run-up to Jesus, and they’re found in some ordinary people and prophets. The widow and son who shared their last meal with Elijah come to mind. Elijah was an extraordinary prophet, but he also lived a horrid life. He constantly received death threats, was expelled to the wilderness where he received food from ravens, and at one point begged God to let him die. As we’ve seen in the U.S., speaking truth to power is no cakewalk.
The Old Testament is often viewed as secondary to the New Testament because it doesn’t offer God’s fullest revelation in Jesus. There are fewer mass killings in the New Testament. In fact, the whole image of a vengeful God is turned on its head. “Love your enemies” was a radical message for the Jews to heed during Roman rule. It still is for Christians today.
But there’s still much to learn in the grisly elements of the Old Testament. Even when it gets thorny, my daughter rarely flinches. “Uh-huh,” she’ll respond when I ask if she’s still listening.
It’s the stories she finds appealing. All that drama and grit.
Unlike a children’s story book, or our modern interpretations for that matter, it’s not so black and white.
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