Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Sensible logic, Biblically speaking
Q: In Ezr 2:1-70 and Neh 7:7-72, how does this relate to inerrancy?
A: Some critics of inerrancy see the discrepancies between these lists as one of the most serious challenges to the inerrancy of the Bible. Actually it does no such thing. First a "red herring" that is an incorrect answer, then a common Christian answer, and finally the most probable answer.
Incorrect answer: Both lists are correct, but the lists are different because they were made at slightly different times. By the time the later list was compiled, a few more people had come, some had left, and the offerings were different.
However, the total number of additional people coming and people leaving had to match exactly, since the overall totals are identical.
Common answer: While we do not possess the original manuscripts, inerrancy [allegedly] means the two lists had to be identical in the original manuscripts. However, a combination of simple copyist errors, and a change in the alphabet around that time, which produced more copyist errors, is responsible for the differences in numbers that should have been common between the two lists. (Nothing prevents one list from having details the other list does not have.)
However, 22 differences out of 50 numbers is a large number of differences, even with the writing change that occurred about that time.
Most probable answer: Nehemiah inerrantly copied the list that was available to him (and that list had errors). It was accurate enough to give a representation of how many returned, but Nehemiah’s qualification cautions us that this list is not guaranteed to be without error. This is analogous to the Bible inerrantly recording the Pharisee’s errors, Jephthah’s rashness, and Abraham’s foolishness, without explicitly telling us whether or not we are to believe and do those things too.
Why did the Bible not tell us the precise numbers of everyone in Nehemiah’s time? Probably because it is not important. 1 Timothy 1:4 and Titus 2:9 tell us we are not to devote ourselves to endless genealogies.
I prefer the last sentence myself. Squach's answer: How many people squeezed in to an Israeli headcount 2500 years ago really doesn't have much to say about whether Christ is risen.
A: Some critics of inerrancy see the discrepancies between these lists as one of the most serious challenges to the inerrancy of the Bible. Actually it does no such thing. First a "red herring" that is an incorrect answer, then a common Christian answer, and finally the most probable answer.
Incorrect answer: Both lists are correct, but the lists are different because they were made at slightly different times. By the time the later list was compiled, a few more people had come, some had left, and the offerings were different.
However, the total number of additional people coming and people leaving had to match exactly, since the overall totals are identical.
Common answer: While we do not possess the original manuscripts, inerrancy [allegedly] means the two lists had to be identical in the original manuscripts. However, a combination of simple copyist errors, and a change in the alphabet around that time, which produced more copyist errors, is responsible for the differences in numbers that should have been common between the two lists. (Nothing prevents one list from having details the other list does not have.)
However, 22 differences out of 50 numbers is a large number of differences, even with the writing change that occurred about that time.
Most probable answer: Nehemiah inerrantly copied the list that was available to him (and that list had errors). It was accurate enough to give a representation of how many returned, but Nehemiah’s qualification cautions us that this list is not guaranteed to be without error. This is analogous to the Bible inerrantly recording the Pharisee’s errors, Jephthah’s rashness, and Abraham’s foolishness, without explicitly telling us whether or not we are to believe and do those things too.
Why did the Bible not tell us the precise numbers of everyone in Nehemiah’s time? Probably because it is not important. 1 Timothy 1:4 and Titus 2:9 tell us we are not to devote ourselves to endless genealogies.
I prefer the last sentence myself. Squach's answer: How many people squeezed in to an Israeli headcount 2500 years ago really doesn't have much to say about whether Christ is risen.
