WHICH IS TRUE: ‘TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH’ OR ‘MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK’? I love the book of Proverbs. It’s an example of WISDOM LITERATURE and is mostly two-line sayings about ordinary life. When I’ve taught it, I’m surprised how little people dip into it, because it’s great fun, and of course, very pithy and witty too. One of my favourite proverbs is:

Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. (Proverbs 26:9)

Proverbs need good handling – whether old ones or new ones. There’s always a context and it’s often vital.  I’ve asked about the two modern proverbs above (‘too many cooks’ etc), because it illustrates the point well (I might have used Proverbs 26:4 & 26:5). At times we really need more help, and at other times we just need people to get out of the kitchen!

There’s a spectrum of possibility when we are doing something. At one end of the spectrum we need no more help at all. At the other end we need as much as we can get. So, in some situations, encouraging people to go and help is just what’s needed. In other situations, it is totally the wrong thing. It all depends … The key is being able to discern. That’s wisdom.

The Bible can be like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand. Misapplied teaching can be very destructive. We’ve probably all come across dodgy teaching from the Book of Revelation and its prophesies, sometimes creating great turmoil. Thoughtless teaching about healing (misusing Bible passages) can be incredibly damaging. In the temptations of Jesus, the devil quotes Scripture but abuses it.

There are, of course, the timeless truths such as many churches proclaim in a Creed (a statement of belief), be that a traditional one like the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, or a shorter ‘modern’ one. But how we live as disciples of Christ and as his ambassadors is much more context-driven and it’s not surprising that issues crop up which are harder to agree on. We are totally committed to the big principles of love, justice, forgiveness, mercy, the fruit of the Spirit etc. but how to apply and embody those values in each time and place and culture is often not straightforward.

A SPECTRUM OF TRUTH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

• ISRAEL AND SURROUNDING NATIONS.

On the one hand: Israel is called to be holy, set apart from other nations. And ethnically pure. NOT to mix with surrounding nations, though they are to treat the foreigner among them kindly. But they are NOT to intermarry because they may be led astray.  In an extreme application of this, Ezra insists that all foreign wives are divorced and sent away after the exile (Ezra chapter 10).

On the other hand: The book of Ruth celebrates the story of how Ruth, a Moabite widow marries an Israelite man and becomes the great grandmother of the iconic king David.

On the one hand: Most prophets prophesy punishment for foreign nations and the ultimate triumph of a repentant Israel (e.g Joel and Nahum). It’s pretty much the job of a prophet in Israel to prophesy against the nation’s enemies.

On the other hand: Isaiah records God’s punishment but also his love for other nations and how they too (Egypt, Assyria and Sudan in particular) will share in future peace and blessing, worshipping God as his people alongside Israel. In chapter 45, Cyrus the Persian ruler is called Yahweh’s ‘Anointed ‘ i.e. Messiah.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, Yahweh calls the king of Babylon his servant, and tells the exiles taken from Jerusalem to Babylon to pray for Babylon’s peace and prosperity.

The book of Jonah recounts the faithful repentance of Israel’s arch-enemy Nineveh (Assyria), and the shame of the Israelite prophet who simply wants them destroyed. Yahweh says: “Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

Thus, although hatred for enemies and ethnic purity are dearly held doctrines in Israel, there is a spectrum of responses to other nations in the OT.

• SACRED WORSHIP OR SOCIAL JUSTICE?

On the one hand: the details of sacred worship (construction of the Tabernacle and the Temple, rules about vestments, sacrifices, festivals, ritual laws etc.) take up a huge part of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and several other books including the later chapters of the Book of Ezekiel as it looks forward, post exile, to a vision of renewed worship in a new temple in Jerusalem.

On the other hand: prophets like Isaiah, Amos and Hosea prioritise social justice and morals above formal worship and say that Israel’s worship has become a burden to God. He desires mercy, not sacrifice. He longs to see justice. God is even said to hate their assemblies, their sacrifices, prayers and incense, demanding action on behalf of the poor, the oppressed, the widows and the orphans.

• THE GOOD WILL PROSPER AND LIVE LONG?

On the one hand: The dominant message of the OT is that leading a good life will bring prosperity and long life. This is an assumption throughout the OT for the whole nation (obedience = blessing), and most baldly stated for individuals in the Book of Proverbs.

On the other hand: The Book of Job presents a good person (Job) who is innocent but nevertheless terrible things happen to him. The book is a protracted argument between the innocent sufferer and his ‘comforters’ who are (wrongly) convinced his suffering must be the result of his unconfessed sin.

Like Job, The Book of Ecclesiastes is also a full-frontal attack on any connection between goodness and prosperity, and therefore on the view that we can see God’s fairness in our experience of life. “All is vanity” is its characteristic refrain.

• THE KING.

On the one hand: When the Israelites demand a king (1 Samuel 8) to lead them so they can be like other nations, Yahweh says (to Samuel) it is a sign that the people have rejected him (Yahweh). And forgotten their calling to be a holy nation, different to all the other nations. But God tells Samuel to agree to their request and anoint a king for them. So, Israel gets its first king, Saul.

On the other hand: Moses, in the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 17 (before Israel enters the land), foresees Israel eventually asking for a king and there’s no problem just a bit of advice for the king and Yahweh will choose one for them.  God will later promise the second king, David, that a descendent of his will always reign in Jerusalem (if the nation is faithful). David becomes a revered figure and an icon of the future Messiah. So, it turns out to be a good thing that Israel did the wrong thing and asked for a king!

• HISTORIES OF DAVID AND SOLOMON TOLD VERY DIFFERENTLY

On the one hand: the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings tell the stories of Israel’s first kings Saul, David and Solomon in some detail. There is a readiness to show all three in a critical light. Compared to the Book of Chronicles it’s a ‘warts and all’ approach.

On the other hand: The Book of Chronicles uses large chunks of the books of Samuel and Kings, but it omits everything that might detract from David’s halo. It presents him as a hero of the faith. There’s much left out, most notably David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. It never refers to David’s weakness, as in later years when he faced the rebellion of his son Absalom, and the political machinations leading up to Solomon finally getting his father’s blessing to succeed him on the throne.

One the one hand: in 2 Samuel 7, David wants to build a Temple in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant, but Yahweh tells him that it’s not his job to do that, but he will give him a son to succeed him on the throne and his son will build the Temple. We hear no more about it in David’s reign. The Temple is planned and built in Solomon’s reign.

On the other hand: In the Book of Chronicles (1 Chronicles chapters 22-29), David directs the preparation for building the Temple and plans the work of the priests and especially the Levites for their role in leading worship in the temple. Thus, the Temple worship (and role of the Levites) gets the great king David’s stamp of approval in this version of events.

On the one hand: According to 1 Kings 11, it is Solomon’s idolatry which causes the kingdom to divide in two. Yahweh tells Solomon that after his death he will tear 10 tribes away from Solomon’s descendants because of his unfaithfulness (leaving just Judah and Benjamin).

On the other hand: In Chronicles, Solomon is glorified alongside David, and can do little wrong. There is much about his wealth and wisdom, and nothing about his hundreds of foreign wives and descent into idolatry. Most of the blame for the rupture of Israel falls on Jereboam who leads the rebellion against Solomon’s son Rehoboam and becomes northern Israel’s first king. Thereafter the northern kingdom is ignored by the Chronicler although the Book of Kings tells the stories of its kings up to their defeat and exile enforced by Assyria in 722 BC.

• THE PSALMS. Perhaps no book in the Bible reveals the spectrum of truth better than the Psalms. This is because the spectrum of truth is not about what is true and what is false, but about how truth varies with the context. And the Psalms take us through the whole gamut of life’s experiences, saying how totally trustworthy God is, or complaining about how he has gone back on his promises; celebrating his saving help or complaining that he has forgotten us; finding creation a magnificent and trustworthy place, or a scary one because God may withdraw his blessing at any time.

• John Goldingay, brilliant author of the ‘Old Testament for Everyone’ commentaries (my former OT teacher), writes in Theological Diversity and the Authority of the Old Testament (1987 p.13): “Israelite faith changes with the changing world; theology is a historical affair.”