HISTORY IN THE MAKING
It has been well said that history belongs to those who write the history books and that recorded history, “…was rarely intended to present an objective view of what actually happened. More often, propaganda was clothed in historical attire with the purpose of benefiting those in power.” (Hill & Walton 210) A sad state of affairs to be sure and it makes us wonder if anything we read from the history books can be trusted. Precious little of history is truly verifiable by any objective standards, other than the books that were written about it, so who is to say that any of it is true and trustworthy? For instance, don’t ever expect to find a historical record in Egypt detailing the crushing defeat suffered by the Egyptian army, when they were drown by the waters of the Red Sea in an attempt to recapture the Hebrew slaves, it just doesn’t exist. It was either never written in the first place or it was destroyed shortly after it was written because of the political dynamite that it contained. Historians didn’t just get fired in those days; they lost their heads for making the pharaoh look bad.
Which leads us to the pressing issue for the Bible scholar and believer today; does Scripture suffer from the same spinelessness, lack of integrity, and bias that has tainted all of the other historical records? The answer is emphatically no! If the Bible were just another ordinary, man-made account of human events, as the critics claim it to be, we should find the same pattern of, “…self-serving documents whereby a king could boast of his accomplishments, embellishing the positive, ignoring the negative, and at times taking credit for the achievements of his predecessor.” (Hill & Walton 211) However, we do not find this to be the case in the pages of Scripture, quite the contrary in fact. The historical records that tell the story of the nation of Israel paint a very different picture of, not only their political and religious leaders, but also the nation as a whole, and the story that is revealed speaks of their abject failures, and the tragedies that resulted from their inability to succeed in the goals that had been established for them. Over and over again the same phrase is repeated as another king fails miserably and passes into the dusty chronicles of history, “…he did evil in the sight of the LORD.” (NKJV, 2 Kings 13:2) but the optimum phrase indicating a successful kingship, “…he did what was right in the sight of the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 26:4) is hardly ever used.
Even one of the greatest of their hero’s and the founder of Israel’s dynasty, King David, is portrayed as being deeply flawed in several areas of his life. This king who is described by God Himself as being, “…a man after His own heart…” (1 Samuel 13:14) is displayed, in graphic detail, to struggle, fail, and even sin in epic proportions. Indeed, “The narrative portrays David in all his humanity and refuses to obscure in any way his weaknesses or the punishments he received at the hand of God.” (Hill & Walton 259) Obviously David receives some ‘good press’ as well but if propaganda was the motivation for this, it wasn’t very effective because his negative publicity often cancelled out any positive recognition that he may have received.
So no matter how you interpret the historical accounts in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, they just don’t fit the same pattern that, “…focuses generally on the king and his military and domestic achievements, it is clear that Israel’s historical narratives are motivated by theological concerns.” (Hill & Walton 211) This is just one more indication that we are not dealing with a normal book that chronicles the events of human history, the Bible is of supernatural origins and it demands to be viewed in that light. Its purpose is to, “…show the ways in which the Lord has acted in history to fulfill His covenant promises and to carry out His agenda.” (Hill & Walton 211)
This is a very important distinction in respect to the day and age we live in; the ‘Me’ generation with its iPhones, iPads, My Spaces, and a pantheon of other narcissistic paraphernalia that keeps our collective focus on our agendas being carried out. But the Bible makes no attempt to insulate its kings with propaganda campaigns, shower its hero’s with self-aggrandizing applause, or pamper its religious prima-donnas with praise and positive press coverage, and it doesn’t hide the truth about us either. God’s word is brutally honest and equally accurate about the human condition, and He has gone to great lengths in His word to communicate these truths to us. We must in turn be truthful with ourselves and with Him by responding to His honesty with faithfulness and obedience to His word, acknowledging that it is divinely inspired, trustworthy, and authoritative in our lives. Otherwise, we are no better off than the charlatans of the past who fabricated their identities in the history books in order to perpetuate a deception about themselves that just wasn’t true. Sound familiar?
Works Cited:
New King James Version. Holy Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2000. Print.
Hill, Andrew and John Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 2010.
