Hot answers tagged contradiction
9
Hosea Translation Difficulties
There are a lot of textual issues that must be dealt with when translating the book of Hosea.1
The textual problems in Hosea are virtually unparalleled in the OT.
The Masoretic Text (MT), represented by the Leningrad Codex (c. A.D.
1008), which served as the basis for both BHK and BHS, and the Aleppo
Codex (c. A.D. ...
8
I Sam 31 is written in the voice of the anonymous narrator. This narrator writes with the authority of prophecy and so his version of events is the version that we should accept as correct - Saul fell on his own sword as did his armorer.
The story told by the Amaleki kid in 2 Sam 1:8 is obviously a lie - the kid claims to David that he identified himself to ...
8
I. Howard Marshall gives a concise statement of the options for harmonization in his commentary:
It is quite possible that Matthew or Luke is simply reporting what was commonly said in Jerusalem, and that we are not meant to harmonize the two accounts. If we do try to harmonzie (sic) them, the following possibilities arise: (1). Judas hanged himself ...
7
Gesenius in his Hebrew Grammar (Kautzsch/Cowley edition, commonly GKC) spends several pages on "Agreement between Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate in respect of Gender and Number." He gives many examples of when the number of the verb and the noun disagree. This is section 145 of the book. In my edition, this is page ...
6
I don't see the problem. God as described in the bible is all-powerful and beyond human comprehension (see, for example, Job). Anything we can say about God is inherently limited because we are limited beings. (This is, most famously, the position of Maimonides, aka Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, writing in the 12th century CE.) Even if you hold that the bible ...
6
There are two plausible scenarios:
It happened as the Amalekite said.
The Amalekite embellished the story thinking he would be rewarded for helping David become king.
In scenario 1, though Saul's armourbearer presumed Saul was dead, Saul was 'still kickin' and revived when the Amalekite came by.
In scenario 2 the Amalekite came upon the scene and ...
6
Short Answer: Abram did indeed depart from Haran after his father died, as the Old Testament indicates, and as the New Testament explicitly claims. (Terah was 130 years old when Abram was born.)
Good question. (This happens to be one of the most commonly asked -- and addressed -- "discrepancies" in Scripture.)
The problem is in the modern Western reading ...
6
As the text says, Avram was 75 when he left Haran. So, either Terach was 130 when Avram was born, or Avram left while Terach was still alive.
The medieval commentator (and compiler), Rashi, argues for Avram leaving during Terach's lifetime, based on Gen 12:4:
and Terah died in Haran: [This happened] after Abram had left Haran and had come to the land ...
6
Could not the Lord have "instigated" the people to spy the land through indirect means, and therefore solve the conundrum?
For example, Satan incited David to number the Israelites in a census (1 Chr 21:1), but in 2 Sam 24:1 it is the Lord who is the subject of the Hebrew verb סוּת, and therefore in the immediate grammatical context it was the Lord who had ...
5
Ge 16:15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name,
which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
Ge 16:16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare
Ishmael to Abram.
Ge 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name
shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Ge 17:19 And ...
5
According to wikipedia, there is no name of the person who was the Roman Governor of Syria listed for the time specific period in question (4-1 BC). Is it possible that an individual with the cognomen of "Quirinius" was governor for the time in question?
Please note that...
Gaius Sentius Saturninus was governor between 9-7/6 AD
Lucius Volusius Saturninus ...
4
I don't think true contradictions are actually tolerated in Biblical Hermeneutics.
I think what we see is that God often uses teachings which appear to contradict (at first glance) to clarify things that we otherwise might have glossed over.
Example 1
In the following passage, Jesus uses two contradictory statements in the same sentence:
‘I know your ...
4
I don't think Reformed theology or any other tradition really bears on this issue so much as simple hermeneutics. Jesus spoke using many traits of ordinary language , and forcing an interpretation on the passage that does not take into account the ordinary ways that language is used and people communicate ideas only leaves people with twisted conclusions.
...
4
The word translated "child" in the verses 15 and 16 is yeled which means "boy, child, youth, offspring." It can even be used of adults to indicate they are descendants of someone else, e.g. the common phrase "the children of Israel." English can do the same thing. The word translated "boy" in the following verses is nyr which means "boy, lad, or youth." ...
4
What an excellent question!
Aaron had four sons: two died an early death with no survivors, and the other two sons survived:-- Eleazar and Ithamar. Thus the Levites who served as priests at the time of David are all descended from one of these two priestly lines.
In the Hebrew Bible, when we see the Ahimelech(father)/Abiathar(son) team, these two are the ...
4
Well, how you reconcile contradictions in the Bible depends largely on your orientation to reading and interpreting the Bible. :)
My own belief is that the Bible speaks with multiple voices, and so it is essentially disingenuous to pretend that "the Bible says" one thing about a particular topic. Different parts of the Bible express different perspectives ...
4
For context, the statements about the burial come in the middle of a speech given by Stephen during his trial before the Sanhedrin. Thus it is not the Book of Acts per se stating these things, so much as recording what Stephen said. That said, interpreters have tried to make sense of Stephen's apparent mistake here for as long as there have been ...
4
Stephen's interpretation is called "telescoping," conflating two very similar accounts into one. Telescoping was not an unusual phenomenon in the Land at the time. (Bruce, FF. The Book of Acts: New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT), pg 137, note 35). The account says nothing about Luke (the author) except that he was very careful to allow ...
4
Whatever the solution to this problem, and there are good solutions, It appears to me that Luke mentions Quirinius at least in part to connect Jesus’ birth in the mind of his original readers with the census of A.D. 6. Here’s why
The census that year sparked a major Jewish revolt. Luke knows of this event because he refers to it in Acts 5:37.
After this ...
3
This Psalm was possibly written by Jeremiah in the Captivity. The Septuagint version of the psalm has the superscription: " For David, a Psalm of Jeremias. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat; and wept when we remembered Sion."
I think the Psalm is not to be taken absolutely literally, but is poetically expressing the feelings of those in captivity. In ...
3
There have been entire books written on the concept of the Trinity and how it all works together. Milard Erikson's work on it Christian Theology is very helpful. It goes into theological depth, but you don't need a philosophy dictionary on the desk with you to read it. Also, the Catholic Encyclopedia has an excellent article on the Trinity and how the ...
3
It is not plain to me that ehyeh and Yahweh are related at all.The footnote in the NIV says something like "the two words sound the same and can be derived from each other", which always struck me as a rather dishonest comment. They certainly don't sound alike, regardless of the vocalization you choose for the tetragrammaton, and it is far from obvious what ...
3
The apparent contradiction is made plain by simply reading the passage carefully:
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two [of every sort] shalt
thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be
male and female.
Please notice that [of every sort] is not in the original language. The emphasis is that the animals will be ...
3
Background
The NET Bible notes on Genesis 21:30:
The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.
Genesis 26:33 actually says that the ...
3
The verb נֹודַעְתִּי (noda'ti) is exceptionally rare. It is conjugated in binyan Nif'il, 1st person, singular number. It only occurs twice in scripture, the other instance being in Eze. 20:9 which actually has a similar context.
In Eze. 20:9, it is written,
And I did for the sake of My name, in order to prevent it from being dishonored in the eyes of ...
3
Rom 1.18 ff tells us that God gives us what we want and permits us to wallow in the consequences when we choose against his will.
God makes his will clear. Balaam wishes to go anyway. God stops him to remind him that his choice opposes God.
When Balaam feigns a repentance, God permits him to go to teach him although Balaam thinks that he is in charge of ...
3
It isn't necessarily a contradiction; perhaps "visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the children" doesn't mean punishing the children for parental sins. The text doesn't say "punish", after all. This was explained to me by analogy with alcoholism: the children of alcoholics are more likely than average to become alcoholics themselves, so in a sense ...
3
When the Israelites entered the Promised Land the Amalekites had “tripped them up.” That is, they attacked the Israelites at their weak spot, or at their hindermost part or "tail," which was comprised of those who had lagged behind (Deut 25:17).
The Hebrew word for the hindermost part of the body is עָקֵב, which is used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the ...
3
The torah commands the Israelites not to "work" on Shabbat or on festivals (here, Pesach). The torah does not define what this means; that was expounded in the oral law, which was transmitted (orally) from teachers to students and finally written down after the destruction of the temple, probably around 200CE. The mishna attributes the arguments it records ...
3
In the former, I gather from his line of reasoning that demons cannot be cast out by Satan; in the latter, it seems as though casting out demons by Satan must be a possibility.
I think you are mistaking Jesus' reasoning. As you point out that reading would put Jesus at odds with himself in Matthew 7 where he speaks of the 'appearance' of good deeds ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
