How
to Study the Bible, Lesson 5
Alleged Contradictions
Introduction
We must always remember the words of Paul, when he said "all Scripture is inspired (God Breathed)" as we approach the text of the Bible. With that thought in mind it is worth noting that we do not have any of the original documents that were "God Breathed." What we have is copies of those documents and that opens the door for many to accuse the Christian community of worshiping in religious error.
Since Christianity is a religion based on truth (John 17:17; 8:32; 14:6), we cannot ignore these difficult passages. It is also wrong to close our eyes and back over the problem "on faith." A wise man noted:
God in His wisdom allows a number of what would appear at first glance to be errors to sharpen our intellect. They are a stimulus to our powers of reasoning. The Bible is not a superficial novel. If it were we could read it through one time and learn everything. But God in His Infinite wisdom designed the Bible for the natural inquisitiveness of the human mind, and so we remember the words of the first Psalm, "Blessed is the man...[whose] delight is in the Lord and in His law he mediates day and night.
So, in these areas we follow the instructions of the Prophet Isaiah when he said "come let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18). We must use reason in these difficult passages. Now we touch on some of these problems.
Methods of Arranging
How many blind men did Christ heal in Jericho? Compare Matthew 9:27; Mark 10:46; Luke 18:35.
There are at least two answers to this so-called "contradiction." One is to remember that the Gospels are not grouped according to the subject headings (i.e. "miracles," "parables," "sayings"). Another more probable solution it this "discrepancy" comes from a better understanding of geography. There were two cities of Jericho. Old Jericho was situated near Elijah's spring and new Jericho was a short distance away at the foot of the road connecting Jericho and Jerusalem.
Point of View
Did the Samaritans accept or reject Jesus? Compare Luke 9:52 and John 4:39?
The writers of the Bible had specific audiences in mind when they wrote (this is why it is always inappropriate to mix Bible verses up from the different books). Do you remember the battle of Breed's hill in the American Revolution? We commonly call it the battle of Bunker hill, but this is technically incorrect. If we were writing to a group of High School students, we might allude to "Bunker Hill." But if we were writings to college history professors, we ought to use the name "Breeds Hill."
Methods of Counting and Computing Time
How many bones are in the human body? Such a simple question should have a simple answer but different anatomy books have different figures. Gray's Anatomy has 204 while Wilson's counts 246 and Dunglison has 240. Why the difference? Because it all depends on what you call a "bone."
In Acts 20:7, the Good News Bible correctly notes that the Christians gathered on Saturday night while most of the other translations say they gathered on the first day of the week (Sunday). Why do you think this is?
Scribal Errors
How old was Jehoiachin when he became king? 2nd Kings 24:8 says he was eighteen (18) but 2nd Chronicles 36:9 (Hebrew text) says he was eight (8).
Here is an obvious error! However it admits of a simple solution. The Hebrews used their alphabet to count with just like the Romans (the decimal system is a much later invention). The smallest number in their alphabet "yod" represented the number 10. If over the centuries a scribe accidentally skipped transcribing a little "yod" Jehoiachin is reduced from 18 to 8!
Rather than the thing being a contradiction it turns out to be a wonderful testimony to the faithfulness of the scribes. They obviously
realized what happened, but they were sworn to copy the text exactly as they received it.
Names
Who did what? Many apparent contradictions an be solved when we discover that a character had several names. For example, Gideon was also called Jerubbaal. Jacob had his name changed to Israel.
How many names did the Apostle Peter have?
Faulty Translations
Often the problem is not with the Word of God but with our English translation. Be careful to compare different translations when you are dealing with what looks to be a contradiction.