Context Clues – Polytheism Pt 1

Sometimes I find myself reading a passage of Scripture and wondering, “What was that about?” If I’m not careful, I can be tempted to scratch my head and walk away with a resigned shrug.

Maybe you can relate?

This certainly happens when I’m reading in the New Testament, but if I’m being honest, it happens a lot more often when I read in the Old Testament. 

Sometimes these are amusing passages – stories or images that just don’t make sense, but sometimes the passages can be disturbing or even theologically problematic. I’m reminded of the “conquest narrative” outlined in Joshua and surrounding works. These are the passages that recount Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Many of the details are gory and vengeful, even dehumanizing at times. 

As a historical narrative, this isn’t particularly troublesome, even if it is a bit… gratuitous. People often do terrible things to people (murders, theft, affairs, genocide, slavery, and so on), so while the historical narrative is sometimes disheartening, it’s really just a description of things that have happened. “Such and such group of people went in and slaughtered such and such group of people, and when they were finished, they gave credit for the bloodshed to their god or gods.”

So far so good.

But then we reach some of these passages where the God of Israel seems to be the One condoning, or even commanding these heinous acts.

What the heck?

For those of us who’ve read the Bible, this jumps out to us like a jarring, distorted portrait of God – the Creator. This is jarring because it looks nothing at all like Jesus, who is “the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature.” (Heb. 1:3)

So if it doesn’t look like Jesus (i.e. God), then is it really God? Or is there something else going on here?

A lot has been written on the subject, and I’m not looking to resolve the myriad of complex layers and nuance in a single blog post. If this topic bothers you, consider reading Greg Boyd’s The Crucifixion of the Warrior God, or something similar. In my opinion, Boyd does an excellent job of thoroughly identifying and examining the violent depictions of God in the Old Testament. He then outlines what he calls the “Cruciform Hermeneutic,” which encourages readers to interpret all of Scripture through the lens of Jesus, and specifically through His act of self-sacrificial and saving love through the events of the Passion (the arrest, trials, crucifixion and resurrection). 

You may find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with his conclusions, but I think it’s a valuable read nonetheless.

So then, if I’m not looking to provide a comprehensive solution to this problem (which really deserves thousands of pages of scholarly research, at least), then what am I trying to accomplish here?

What I’m hoping to accomplish here is: a starting point.

As with most conundrums, a challenging passage or series of passages can benefit from an exploration of context.

There are many types and forms of context (cultural, historical, geographic, literary, textual, etc.), and each one of these can help us to better understand a given text, situation, or conversation (yes, context an essential component of effective communication – you’re welcome).

There are any number of context clues we could study in order to better understand the Scriptures, and most of these have a mountain of information that’s been written about them. One such example is the subject of polytheism.

Developing a clear understanding of Biblical and historical polytheism will help us to peel back some of the troublesome layers of ancient Israel’s history and literature. 

I hope you’ll join us over the next several weeks as we begin to explore these subjects, and in so doing, building our stockpile of helpful context clues.

• Context Clues – Polytheism Pt 1
• He’s Already in the Next Storm
• Here I Am, Lord
• Wisdom and Mysteries
• When a Thrill of Hope becomes Hope Deferred