Trivial mistakes can make us realize Our ability to be Wrong
Below are some lighter, more trivial matters from the Bible you might or might not know that can show you how mistaken you can be on other “heavier” matters like we have in the series (i.e. essentials):
For the sake of brevity these items come without a lot of explanation, but they are true non-the-less.
* The Bible called no-one by the name Lucifer; the name was made up for the Latin Vulgate translation in the fourth century.
* When you see an illustration of all the animals going into Noah’s ark two by two it’s wrong. Most of the animals went into the ark seven by seven. Only unclean animals went two by two.
* The number of “commandments” written on the stone tablets by God wasn’t ten.
* God commands no-one, thou shall not kill. It’s against murder specifically i.e. the UNLAWFUL taking of life.
* The command, thou shall not steal wasn’t about pilfering someone’s goat. It was condemning the stealing of people for slaves.
* Adam and Eve weren’t booted out of the Garden of Eden for eating something but so they wouldn’t eat something.
* Where does the idea that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute come from? There’s nothing about that in the Bible.
Fun stuff isn’t it? And in the right circumstance, when you know things like that, it can make you look real smart.
Another thing is, those tiny and almost absurd details add a lot of color and flavor and make the people, places and historical events the Bible talks about much more interesting. If you’re a frequent reader of ours, you may at times run across something that seems trivial at first glance. But though they may be small in and of themselves, they can have a big and important meaning for an accurate understanding of what the Bible is actually saying. It’s those trivial details which can force the questioning of established and accepted knowledge.
The majority of readers at this website grew up in a western culture. The Bible tells its story through the eyes of an eastern culture, and an ancient one at that. We come to it with a western bias that is difficult to break free of and consequently what often makes sense and seems correct to us, in reality makes no sense historically or factually when applied to eastern thought and custom. So to help you with this you’ll find regular articles here on matters relating to the times and customs of the Bible.
Some, if not all, we’ll try to make fun at the very least (while keeping the severity of rightly dividing the word) and downright funny and facetious when we can. Other things like word studies we’ll do our best to make as interesting and informative as possible. Hopefully, it will all tie together and teach you a better way to study the Bible.