The Faults of Biblical Heroes - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Chronicles 5:1,

"The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright...)"

In Genesis 35:22 we read. "While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it." Reuben, the oldest of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel) had sex with one of the four women that gave birth to the twelve sons that made for the twelve tribes of Israel. That is, he slept with his brothers' - Dan and Naphtali - mother. We would view it as Reuben having slept with this step mother, although the domestic arrangements would have been other than what we are familiar with in our day. Nonetheless, it was a wicked thing to do and cost him his rights in that culture as the firstborn.

From time to time we hear those who mistakenly believe the Bible is a collection of literature that men of power put together to keep the masses under control. An invention to keep thought and discourse under the thumb. As such it was written to inspire total devotion and adherence to its teachings. This is an argument advanced to object to the Scripture's own teaching that the Bible is inspired by God himself, as co-author with the various prophets who produced the sixty-six books that comprise it.

The big gaping hole in that argument, however, is the observation that its heroes are presented to us as anything but models of moral perfection and sinlessness, something you might expect if the Bible was written to influence and dominate the masses.

Abraham, Issac, Jacob, the sons of Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, Peter... it seems all the heroes of the faith have accounts in the Scriptures that document their weaknesses, their sinfulness, their shortcomings.

Obviously, a work of literature that was intended to manipulate people would not be forthcoming about any weaknesses of those that literature provides as its heroes.

Why does the Bible contain these accounts of the shortcomings of those held up to us as its heroes? It is simply because the Bible is exactly what it claims to be. It is the inspired word of God and provides us what he wants us to know. It accurately describes the people and events it covers.

One of the things we learn from Scripture is that, although faith brings us into God's family, faith does not make us perfect in this life - just read the stories and find out for yourself. Obviously those who hold to the false ideas about the origin of the Bible spend less time reading it as they do telling the rest of us what is wrong with it. Perhaps if they spent a little more time in its pages, they might come around to what the rest of us know to be true.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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