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What about contradictions and ambiguity in meaning and intertextual contradictions.I was watching something about the Dead Sea scrolls and Psalm 22 today and the debate on what Psalm 22:17 in the Hebrew text or 16 in most English translations say.Does it describe a lion attack or does it say my hands and feet were pierced.
כִּֽי־סְבָב֗וּנִי כְּלָ֫בִ֥ים עֲדַ֣ת מְ֖רֵעִים הִקִּיפ֑וּנִי כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י יָדַ֥י
וְרַגְלָֽי:
Here it says ” That dogs have surrounded me and a group of evildoers have closed in on me,like a lion,my hands and feet”
Somewhat hard to understand but this sounds like an attack of lions and dogs ,if you read the full Psalm 22 there is a lot of reference to animal attack here.The big word in question is this one ka’ari כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י meaning as or like a lion and the Jewish Masoretic text is .clear it does say like or as a lion ,no question.The Septuagint(meaning 70) a 3rd century BCE Greek translation of the Tanakh or Old Testament yields this as “piercing my hands and feet” as do most English Bibles.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.(KJV)
That is a King James version and there is a Hebrew word Karah that means to dig as in a mine,pit,grave or well.Karah כָּרָה you can see the spelling is different and also karah means digging as in a hole with a shovel not cutting or stabbing with a knife.There is a argument that a finding in the dead Sea scrolls does use some form of the word karah.I have seen the scroll in question online but I can not replicate it here because I would have to post a Youtube video I’m not going to do that in a blog.Honestly to my eyes the text is not readable and the word shown looks like this כארו and is very faded anyway ,it looks the same as the ka’ari mentioned above but ending in Vav instead of Yod.Again it’s to faded to lock down and it being so faded it won’t be known for sure.I try to stick to history and not delve into theology or religion I want this blog to be resource to anyone who cares for the Bible.I don’t think Christians should worry if the original meaning does not say pierced ,don’t make your faith about one line in Psalms.
However there is another word כרת karat which means cut,cut down or a conjuction of this word was used in Kings 11:16 to mean kill.So what if the original text did say “cut” instead of k’ari ,so it is possible the original intended meaning was to say “hands and feet were cut or pierced” and it was talking about Christs death.Before the Masoretic text there were other texts in existence that had very slight variance.We will do a future blog on how the Masoretic text came about.
What about other contradictions that are commonly talked about?
A popular one used by skeptics is the Exodus 20 “sins of the fathers remembered or visited on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God”
And then this in Deuteronomy 24
16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
The Answer in simple ,”the sins of the fathers on the sons” is talking about how sin itself and the curses that go with sin are handed down from generation to generation.
Deut 24:16 is talking about not imposing actual punishment to the father on the son or vice versa.It is saying if in day to day life if the son say steals something, then the father is not punished for that.Or in Gods final judgement every man and woman will be judged for their own sin and not any other persons.And the sins of the fathers remembered on the sons does not mean literally punishment for someone elses sin.Patterns of bad things running in families which is commonly known to modern medicine is not the same as putting the son in jail because the father stole something.I knew someone who was stabbed and lived but the person who stabbed them,their father killed thier mother in a stabbing.That sounds kind of like the sins of the father being visited on the sons however each person served their own prison time for their own crime.Direct punishment in real life is not the same as generational curses.Can we agree that there is no contradiction there!
The Shabat/Sabbath day,I took this supposed contradiction from an atheist website.
We all know that the Ten Commandments says to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.But Romans 14:5 says not to esteem one day over another.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” KJV
First things first the Torah was given to Israel and only a few of the mitzvot or commandments apply to gentiles and Shabat observance in not one of them.These are the commandments applicable to gentiles.
Commandments concerning idols gods and abuse of Gods name
Not to murder,steal or engage in sexual immorality
To set up law courts and not eat flesh from a living animal.All and all it’s estimated only 50-65 of the 613 commandments in the Torah effect gentiles so Paul in the letter to the Romans he is speaking to an audience that has no obligation to observe the Sabbath or Shabat or Shabbas.Matter of fact the Talmud actually says the gentiles should never observe the Sabbath and the Torah never says they should.The letter to the Romans if for gentiles.
Also the observance of the Sabbath does not necessarily mean esteeming one day over another,taking a day of rest does not mean you are saying one day is better than the next.Can we put to bed forever that this is a contradiction?Yes!
Also from am atheist website.Luke 14:26 KJV
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple”
What about the Torah saying”honor your parents so your life will be longer”
For you have look at all of Luke 14 in context and it’s talking about giving up what you want to serve God.It is talking about if your family or friends disown you for following your faith ,follow your faith anyway and be prepared to give up everything for faith.It is not saying hate your family in that sense.The New Testament uses metaphors and parables to express things ok and Luke is not telling you hate anyone!
The story of Yiftach (Jephthah) Vs. the commandment’s against murder and human sacrifice.If you do not known the story then read all Judges 11 and maybe 12 (to much text to quote verbatim in a blog for word space reasons)
Lev 18:21 (Tree of Life version)
21 “You are not to give any of your children in sacrifice to Molech, and defile the Name of your God. I am Adonai“(The Lord)
This is clearly against human sacrifice and it’s and obvious given that the Bible says not to murder.One thing striking is that the story is not explicit in saying she was killed and the more literal reading that she was condemned to life long celibacy .Here is a Jewish source on the issue:
“Jephthah’s daughter is the victim of her father’s vow to sacrifice a person in return for victory in battle, although the text does not explicitly state that he killed her. Furthermore, the narrative is not clear about the purpose or the daughter’s knowledge, and why no one else in the story, including YHWH, intervenes. Women are critical for the survival of the family; therefore, Jephthah’s willingness to lose his daughter indicates that the text is trying to display the disorder and depravity of Israel before the institution of monarchial rule.”
Maybe the lesson is watch out what you wish for and the danger of selfish prayers and it appears God struck a medium and the daughter lived but was to live without a husband.If you pray for selfish things they may come true in an ironic way that may not make you happy.It must be remembered to if one prays is is not only God that may hear ,the evil spirits may hear too ,just because a prayer in bad faith is answered does not mean God was the respondent also.It may be true that witches heal people but if you go to a witch for healing it could negative side effects you may regret.
It sounds like the moral of the story is if anything against what Yiftach/Jephtah did and God intervened to mitigate the damage and his daughter would live but never marry.Can we agree there is no contradiction here?Yes!
Circumcision Gen 17:9-10 (Tree of Life version)
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, My covenant you must keep, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant that you must keep between Me and you and your seed after you: all your males must be circumcised”
Galatians 5:1-2 (Tree of Life version)
5 For freedom, Messiah set us free—so stand firm, and do not be burdened by a yoke of slavery again. 2 Listen—I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Messiah will be of no benefit to you”
This is simple again ,the Abrahamic covenant with Israel of Circumcision was for Israel and Paul is again speaking to gentiles to whom it does not concern.Again people don’t do there research before claiming a contradiction.
Incest and Abraham
In Genesis 20 it is revealed that Avraham/Abraham and Sarah are half sisters.Of coarse we know incest is clearly forbidden and is cited in Leviticus and deuteronomy.
This one is super simple ,Abraham lived 400 years before the Torah was given to Moses on Mt Sinai 400 years later about 1350 BCE whereas Abraham lived in about 1800 BCE.At the time of Abraham this was not yet forbidden at that point.God’s relationship with man was and is progressive and in Abraham’s time a marriage with his half sister was yet as big of a problem.My grandfather was a police officer in a small New England town and in those times they dealt with drunk driving by taking away their car keys and letting them sleep off the alcohol.Today anyone operating under the infuence would be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor crime.Adam and Eve were commanded only to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil,they were not given many complex laws.Cain and Seth married their sisters unless you believe in the theories that other races existed at that time but there is not evidence of that.
Clearly the sons and daughters of Shem, Cham and Yefet/Japheth married sisters/brothers ,who else was there to marry or at the very least married cousins but Genesis genealogies don’t indicate that the lines of Shem,Ham and Yefet/Japheth intermingled.In early times the human genome was different and inbreeding maybe was not as problematic.God’s relationship with man has been interactive and progressive as the human race itself progressed.
Genesis 32-30 or 31 in the Hebrew text.This is also from the American atheists website on the list of Biblical contradictions.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved”(KJV)
“No man hath seen God at any time…”– John 1:18
Exodus 33:18-23 (Tree of Life)
18 “Then he said, “Please, show me Your glory!”
19 So He said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass before you, and call out the Name of Adonai before you. I will be gracious toward whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will be merciful.” 20 But He also said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.”
21 Then Adonai said, “See, a place near Me—you will stand on the rock. 22 While My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and cover you with My hand, until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen.”
The purposed contradiction is not between the “John New Testament” and Exodus because in Exodus Moses only sees part of the back side of God.But what about Jacob and the angel he wrestled with that is phrased as God.Here I show Exodus 33:21 in Hebrew to show the use of the name of the Lord where it says you you can see my part of my back side but not all of me a still live.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ה הִנֵּ֥ה מָק֖וֹם אִתִּ֑י וְנִצַּבְתָּ֖ עַל־הַצּֽוּר:
Above; The second word in, from right to left is YHVH the holy name (the Lord) Remember this ,this will be important later.The Lord says you can not see all of me and live as per Exodus 33:18-23.
Now let us talk about Jacob and the angel, here is Genesis 32:25-31 which will be Genesis 32:24-30 in an English translation accept the Tree of Life version which is in step with the Hebrew text.In the original Tanakh or Old Testament there was no chapter and verse so don’t worry about the difference, chapter and verse did not show up until Catholic Bibles in like the year 400 CE or something.The oldest Torah scrolls had no spaces between words.
| כה וַיִּוָּתֵ֥ר יַֽעֲקֹ֖ב לְבַדּ֑וֹ וַיֵּֽאָבֵ֥ק אִישׁ֙ עִמּ֔וֹ עַ֖ד עֲל֥וֹת הַשָּֽׁחַר:25 |
| כו וַיַּ֗רְא כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָכֹל֙ ל֔וֹ וַיִּגַּ֖ע בְּכַף־יְרֵכ֑וֹ וַתֵּ֨קַע֙ כַּף־יֶ֣רֶךְ יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב בְּהֵאָֽבְק֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ:26 |
| כז וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שַׁלְּחֵ֔נִי כִּ֥י עָלָ֖ה הַשָּׁ֑חַר וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א אֲשַׁלֵּֽחֲךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־בֵּֽרַכְתָּֽנִי:27 |
| כח וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו מַה־שְּׁמֶ֑ךָ וַיֹּ֖אמֶר יַֽעֲקֹֽב:28 |
| כט וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל:29 |
| ל וַיִּשְׁאַ֣ל יַֽעֲקֹ֗ב וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ הַגִּֽידָה־נָּ֣א שְׁמֶ֔ךָ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה תִּשְׁאַ֣ל לִשְׁמִ֑י וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹת֖וֹ שָֽׁם:30 |
| לא וַיִּקְרָ֧א יַֽעֲקֹ֛ב שֵׁ֥ם הַמָּק֖וֹם פְּנִיאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־רָאִ֤יתִי אֱלֹהִים֙ פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים וַתִּנָּצֵ֖ל נַפְשִֽׁי:31 |
Gen 32:25 “Yaakov/Jacob was left alone and fought with a man until the break of dawn”
In the intro of the situation Jacob perceives he is fighting a man and the Hebrew word “ish” (meaning man) is used.If Jacob was wrestling with the almighty Lord God do you think he’d perceive he was fighting a mere man?Doubtful right and no word for God is in verse 25/24 depending on your translation.
Verse 26 is not important here but read if you like and it’s likely verse 25 in your trans.
Verse 27
“And he said send me away because dawn is breaking,and (Jacob) said, I will not be sent away unless if you bless me”
Two people talking but no reference to God still!
Verse 28 not important but please read it on your own.
Verse 29 “And he said (the deity) you shall no long be called Jacob/Yaakov but your name is Yisrael/Israel because you prevailed over the divine and man and won”
If you see the word for god or deity is Elohim and sometimes Elohim means God the Lord but sometimes it does not.If you remember my blog on Psalm 82 then you know Elohim can mean the Lord God,idol god,an angel,an evil spirit or any higher power.The Hebrew word for Lord was never used in this discourse but Elohim and in this context it means angel and I believe the whole story proves that from verse 25-31 or 24-30 in other Bible’s.And as I pointed out earlier in the Exodus interaction between Moses and God,God is called the Lord not Elohim but in the Genesis 32 discourse the only word for deity used is Elohim which can mean God,gods,idol god,angel,angels or even evil spirit.So clearly context indicates an angel here if you read it all carefully.
Verse 30 is not super important but feel free to read it on your own,so onto verse 31.
“And Jacob called the name of the place P’niel because I saw the deity face to face and soul was preserved”
Although it is clear Jacob felt the sh’khinah (holy spirit) the divine presence and felt God but whom Jacob fought with is clearly an angel.An angel that manifested in human form because Jacob first thought he was seeing a man.And although the use of the word Elohim instead of malakh(angel) is hard to understand but I do think from context that Jacob in no way saw the actual face of the Lord God but felt his spirit through an angel.
That will do it on contradictions please put further question you may have in the comments.
Truth in Mikra 
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