If we see inspiration of scripture in terms that it resulted in a book that is God's exact words written by his prophets and thus inerrant (historically, scientifically and morally), then we will have to deal with examples and descriptions of violence as historical fact. That means that Israel's God, Yahweh, commanded and/or condoned the execution of both small and large groups of people, not only those directly guilty of crimes, but those who were apparently deemed "guilty by association" (i.e., the spouses, children and slaves/servants of those who were directly guilty).
What do you believe inspiration means? Probably most who are reading this blog are part of a Christian denomination that holds to an understanding of inspiration that is best described and explained by the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. At a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) and held in Chicago in October 1978, more than 200 evangelical leaders formulated this statement:
http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf
The following statements are taken directly from this document:
- The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God's written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.
- Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.
- Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.
- Article X states: We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original. We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.
Article X is of particular significance. We do not possess the original texts which the ICBI claims were "wholly and verbally God-given." In fact, the manuscripts we do possess, and upon which all modern committee translations are based, date many of hundreds of years after the so-called autographs were written. That seems to be logically problematic, but the ICBI claims that "the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy...We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs."
But, in fact, that is a pretty hard claim to prove, factually. We literally do not know when the texts that became the books of the Hebrew Bible were written, except that they were written some time prior to the manuscripts we possess. We also do not know how they were transmitted throughout the generations and what if any changes were introduced along the way.
Even if one holds to the claim that the original autographs were "wholly and verbally God-given" one must also believe that God providentially watched over, and somehow guided, every scribe who copied these texts, ensuring that the only errors they made were simple and obvious to all. For only in that way could we today determine with almost 100% precision what the "original autographs" actually said. While it is true that there is a lot of manuscript evidence for most books of the Hebrew Bible, they are not as uniform and free from revisions, as well as errors, as we have often been led to believe.
Whatever we believe about inspiration, it is a faith decision. However, some views of inspiration are more difficult to square with the manuscript evidence as we have it today. iIn my opinion, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, is one of those views that is the most difficult to square with the facts. Is there another way to understand inspiration that not only allows for the facts, but also helps us understand the contents of the Hebrew Bible in a way that does not contradict God's nature as revealed in the life and message of Jesus? I believe there is.
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