tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-149001142009-12-06T19:24:33.537-08:00A lay Christian's honest response to perceived flaws in the Bible.Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-25391105378749534992009-10-02T23:59:00.000-07:002009-10-03T14:43:59.467-07:00

Not really a post here, but a link to a guest post in Dwindling in Unbelief.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-91548282864119901982009-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-10T08:00:01.290-08:00

Chapter 7 is extremely significant, and the reason it is significant is also the reason that the SAB is wrong about failed prophecy in this particular case.David comes to be speaking to the prophet Nathan one day, and he says that he feels bad that the ark is kept in a tent while he lives in a palace, hinting that he would like to build a temple. Nathan thinks this is a great idea, and encourages

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-10815191385922766892009-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-09T08:04:57.876-08:00

In chapter 6, David decides that it's time to send for the ark and bring it to Jerusalem. This prompts a question of timing of this event, about which I have already given an opinion.Now, the manner in which this happens is important. As the Philistines did when they had the ark and wanted to get rid of it, the Israelites get a new cart, load it up, and bring it along. This is a problem. When the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-74712489963335571922009-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-06T08:00:00.607-08:00

Finally in chapter 5, David becomes king over all of Israel, and remains king for 40 years. This prompts the SAB to see a possible contradiction in certain events that occur in the reign of David, particularly the eventual rebellion of Absalom. I don't think I buy the logic here; if anything, it almost seems worse than the SAB is insinuating. 2Sam. 15:7 says "And it came to pass after forty years

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-11797957520682056392009-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-05T08:00:00.760-08:00

In chapter 4, we learn of the odd story of how Ishbosheth becomes worried and weakened when he hears that Abner is dead, and so two of his captains come into his house when he's resting in the middle of the day, and they kill him. They take his head and bring it to David, which really seems like an obviously stupid thing to do given the way David has reacted so far to people who take it in their

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-14430316653442924412009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T08:12:14.515-08:00

In chapter 3, David gets busy being king and having lots of kids. David has six sons, each by a different wife, and for some reason the retelling of David's family in 1Chronicles 3 gives one name different. It might be a nickname or something like that, but I really have no idea what the story is here.A really strange story here is the story of Abner and his turning his allegiances to David.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-11666967195631125792009-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-03T08:00:05.192-08:00

So in chapter 2, David finally becomes king officially. However, at apparently around the same time, Abner decides to declare Saul's son Ishbosheth the king. No doubt Abner, being a close relative of Saul, would prefer to keep the monarchy in the family.This does present a problem for the SAB though, in that according to 1Chronicles 10, "all [Saul's] house died together" during the battle that

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-32198495775777505482009-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-02T20:42:05.170-08:00

As 2Samuel (which, as I think I said earlier, was not really a separate book originally) begins, we have yet another story about Amalekites. An Amalekite comes to David and claims that he has killed Saul, prompting the SAB to ask how it could be possible for an Amalekite to exist, given the history of various attempts throughout the reign of Saul to obliterate them. Note however that right here

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-84823472183803834402008-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-02T21:07:23.104-08:00

Here in the final chapter of this book, the SAB has only one question: "How did Saul die?" The page pointing out the apparent inconsistency gives four possible answers. Now while one can easily dismiss the account of the Amalekite as a lie (after all, he had no witnesses, and apparently assumed that telling David that he had killed Saul would curry favor) I don't think it's necessary, and besides

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-48541183646627834922008-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-22T08:00:01.578-08:00

Amalekites, don't they ever quit? Apparently not in chapter 30. Now I'll say that I'm fine with standing on what I had said before, but here there may be yet another possibility as to what's going on. It might be that the story in chapter 27 is a telescoping of several events into a single story, and the time that David wiped out the Amalekites in that chapter was actually an out-of-order version

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-13735171172060299742008-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-19T08:00:00.568-08:00

Back to David in chapter 29, we find him in the uncomfortable situation of marching to war with the Philistines against his own country. Some of the leaders of the Philistines aren't happy and insist that David go away.The SAB notes that the word in the Hebrew used of David is "Satan", but I'm not sure what's noteworthy about this. I think most people who know anything of Hebrew (well, I guess

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-54442461837840529772008-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-18T08:00:00.342-08:00

There's an interesting point to bring up about the story in chapter 28 and the nature of figurative speech. In verse 3, it says, "And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." The story than goes on to talk about a woman with a "familiar spirit" in the land. The SAB does not mark this as a contradiction, I assume because it is understood that nobody

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-81433759742201295672008-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-17T08:00:00.975-08:00

In chapter 27, David flees to Gath, figuring that if he goes among the Philistines, Saul will not follow. Indeed, it is noted here that Saul gives up.While in this area, he and his men make some raids, completely wiping out the Geshurites, Gezrites and Amalekites, because these apparently were among the people that God wanted wiped out back in the days of Joshua.Why is David fighting Amalekites

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-27918573656941530552008-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-16T08:43:03.180-08:00

Chapter 26 has no notes from the SAB, but perhaps it's a good time to pause for a moment and consider a few points that could have been brought up in earlier chapters, but I didn't yet bother with. With this chapter carrying a bit of a repititious story, it's a good time to comment.Once again, Saul comes after David to kill him, and once again, Saul is caught in a position where he is entirely at

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-35548292518683868122008-12-15T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-15T08:03:53.364-08:00

Here in chapter 25, Samuel dies, but for some reason, we're only given a short note on the matter.So then we come to the matter of Nabal and Abigail. Nabal is sort of an odd character, mostly because of his name, which means essentially "fool" in Hebrew. It's unlikely that anyone would actually name their son "fool", but the possibility exists (especially since Nabal is a Calebite, which makes

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-15725706868174274072008-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-12T08:00:01.742-08:00

Chapter 24 has no notes from the SAB, but it's an interesting little story. In the midst of Saul and his men hunting for David, Saul happens to corner David in a cave, but doesn't realize he's done it.Saul comes into the cave where all of David's army is, "to cover his feet". (He's covering his feet with his clothes, i.e., he's dropping his pants to take a dump.) David's men see this as a golden

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-30781728844289778162008-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-11T08:00:06.871-08:00

Chapter 23 is pretty standard fare for the most part. David has decided to do something about the invading Philistines, despite the fact that he's more or less in hiding from Saul. This of course leads to claims of violence, etc. from the SAB; insert stock answer here re self-defense.It is a little odd that David "enquired of the LORD" twice, my thought on that is that the first time was more

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-50325876554576441482008-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-10T08:00:04.380-08:00

So David and his family flee to Moab, and after David sees to it that his family is taken care of, he returns to the land of his tribe, Judah, now with a small army to protect him.Saul meanwhile is very unhappy with, well, pretty much everyone and everything. The fact that David is against him, and Jonathan, his own son, is a friend of David has caused him to become paranoid. He gives a speech to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-45884783319124369312008-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-09T08:00:01.355-08:00

As we move into the final part of Saul's story here in chapter 21, the part of Saul's life where he spent much of his time chasing David around, we're going to come across a handful of related problems, all of which are at least in part tied to the first verse of this chapter. I'm getting ahead of myself in including some of this before the SAB does, but it seems clear that there's something

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-49767498488798050182008-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-08T08:00:02.557-08:00

Chapter 20 is sort of weird because it largely involves David trying to convince Jonathan that Saul hates his guts. The fact that Jonathan is unaware of this is more than a little strange, seeing the events of the chapters leading up to this. Jonathan doesn't think he could possibly be unaware of anything going on with his father, and tells David that he'll prove it.So David and Jonathan come up

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-35299643082065935952008-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-05T08:00:00.825-08:00

There's not much new in chapter 19. We're really seeing the SAB pick up on issues that we've seen before in this book.Was Jonathan "totally gay" for David? Lacking better evidence for the claim, I say no.Is David violent and intolerant for killing the Philistines? Well, they were an invading army; what was he supposed to do?What's the deal with Saul and his "evil spirit"? I don't know, but I've

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-32754953328422443102008-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:48:48.807-08:00

In 1Samuel 18, we are finally introduced to the close relationship between David and Jonathan. The SAB takes the approach that so many do, assuming the implication that Jonathan and David were lovers. Now, whereas it's certainly possible, of course the conservative assumption among both Christians and Jews is that this is not the case. The fact is, there really needs to be a stronger case made if

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-37189641066429328702008-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-03T08:00:01.007-08:00

So here in chapter 17, we come to the infamous story of the giant Goliath. The Philistines and the Israelites are camped on opposite sides of the valley of Elah, and out comes Goliath, a man about ten feet tall. Now I've mentioned it before, but this is the most appropriate place to bring it up, so I'll repeat myself: while ten feet seems unlikely, it's not completely outside of the realm of

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-85299000344310934082008-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-02T10:52:24.671-08:00

So in chapter 16, God says it's time to move on, and look for the new king. Samuel is nervous, because he thinks Saul will attack him if he tries to choose a new king, which was probably an accurate assessment.God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem, and there give a sacrifice, inviting Jesse and his family because one of Jesse's sons is destined to be the new king. Everything appears to be going

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-86463262594545171292008-12-01T08:00:00.001-08:002008-12-01T08:15:36.186-08:00

Now whereas I usually feel there is an easy response to challenges of violence and intolerance (most of what has been seen in this book so far has been violence in self-defense), chapter 15 presents us with the first example of God-ordered genocide with no immediately obvious purpose. Sure, back in Joshua it was a matter of establishing the nation in the land of Canaan, both for the benefit of

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com15