CHAPTER THREE: THE UNMISTAKABLE HONESTY OF THE WRITERS OF THE BIBLE ATTESTS TO ITS HEAVENLY ORIGIN
The title of this chapter suggests a wide field
of study the limits of which we can now only skirt here and there. To begin
with the writers of the Old Testament.
Had the historical parts of the Old Testament
been a forgery, or the production of uninspired men, their contents would have
been very different to what they are. Each of its Books was written by a
descendant of Abraham, yet nowhere do we find the bravery of the Israelites
extolled and never once are their victories regarded as the outcome of their
courage or military genius; on the contrary, success is attributed to the
presence of Jehovah the God of Israel. To this it might be replied, Heathen
writers have often ascribed the victories of their peoples to the intervention
of their gods. This is true, yet there is no parallel at all between the two
cases. Comparison is impossible. Heathen writers invariably represent their
gods as being blindly partial to their friends and whenever their favorites
failed to come out victorious their defeat is attributed to the opposition of
other gods or to a blind and unyielding fate. In contradistinction to this, the
defeats of Israel, as much as their victories, are regarded as coming
from Jehovah. Their successes were not due to mere partiality in God,
but are uniformly viewed as connected with a careful observance of His
commands; and, in like manner, their defeats are portrayed as the outcome of
their disobedience and waywardness. If they transgressed His laws they were
defeated and put to shame, even though their God was the Almighty. But we have
digressed somewhat. That to which we desire to direct attention is the fact
that men who were their own countrymen have chronicled the history of
the Israelites, and therein have faithfully recorded their defeats not to an
inexorable fate, nor to bad generalship and military failures, but to the sins
of the people and their wickedness against God. Such a God is not the creation
of the human mind, and such historians were not actuated by the common
principles of human nature.
Not only have the Jewish historians recounted the
military defeats of their people, but they have also faithfully recorded their
many moral backslidings and spiritual declinations. One of the outstanding
truths of the Old Testament is that the Unity of God, that God is One, that
beside Him there is none else, that all other gods are false gods and that to
pay them homage is to be guilty of the sin of idolatry. Against the sin of
idolatry these Jewish writers cry out repeatedly. They uniformly declare that
it is a sin most abhorrent in the sight of heaven. Yet, these same Jewish
writers record how again and again their ancestors (contrary to the universal
leaning towards ancestral adoration and worship), and their contemporaries,
were guilty of this great wickedness. Not only so, but they have pointed out
how some of their most famous heroes sinned in this very particular. Aaron and
the golden calf, Solomon and the later kings being notable examples - "Then did
Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill
that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of
Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and
sacrificed unto their gods" (Kings 11:7,8). Moreover, there is no attempt made
to excuse their wrongdoing; instead, their acts are openly censured and
uncompromisingly condemned. As is well known, human historians are inclined to
conceal or extenuate the faults of their favorites. A forged history would have
clothed friends with every virtue, and would not have ventured to mar the
effect designed to be produced by uncovering the vices of its most
distinguished personages. Here then, is displayed the uniqueness of
Scripture history. Its characters are painted in the colors of truth and
nature. But such characters were never sketched by a human pencil. Moses and
the other writers must have written by Divine inspiration.
The sin of idolatry, while it is the worst of
which Israel was guilty, is not the only evil recorded against them - their
whole history is one long story of repeated apostasy from Jehovah their God.
After they had been emancipated from the bondage of Egypt and had been
miraculously delivered from their cruel masters at the Red Sea, they commenced
their journey towards the Promised Land. Between them and their goal lay a
march across the wilderness, and here the depravity of their hearts was fully
manifested. In spite of the fact that Jehovah, by overthrowing their enemies,
had plainly demonstrated that He was their God, yet no sooner was the faith of
the Israelites put to the test than their hearts failed them. First, their
stores of food began to give out and they feared they would perish from hunger.
Trying circumstances had banished the Living God from their thoughts. They
complained of their lot and murmured against Moses. Yet God did not deal with
them after their sins nor reward them according to their iniquities: in mercy,
He gave them bread from heaven and furnished them a daily supply of manna. But
they soon became dissatisfied with the manna and lusted after the flesh pots of
Egypt. Still God dealt with them in grace.
Shortly after God's intervention in giving the
Israelites food to eat, which ought for ever to have closed their murmuring
mouths, they pitched in Rephidim where "there was no water for the people to
drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that
we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye
tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people
murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with
thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this
people? they be almost ready to stone me." What was God's
response? Did His anger consume them? Did He refuse to bear longer with such a
stiff-necked people? No: "The Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people,
and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there
upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come
water out of it, that the people may drink" (Exod. 17).
The above incidents were but sadly typical and
illustrative of Israel's general conduct. When the spies were sent out to view
the Promised Land and returned and reported, ten of them magnified the
difficulties which confronted them and advised the people not to attempt an
occupation of Canaan; and though the remaining two faithfully reminded the
Israelites that the mighty Jehovah could easily overcome all their
difficulties, nevertheless, the nation listened not but heeded the word of
their skeptical advisers. Time after time they provoked Jehovah, and in
consequence the whole of that generation perished in the wilderness. When the
succeeding generation was grown, under the leadership of Joshua they entered
the Promised Land and by the aid of God overthrew many of their enemies and
occupied much of their territory. But after the death of Joshua we read, "There
arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works
which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt,
and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them,
and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they
forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth" (Judge. 2:10-13). There is no
need for us to follow further the fluctuating fortunes of Israel: as is well
known, under the period of the judges their history was a series of returns to
the Lord and subsequent departures from Him; repeated deliverances from the
hands of their enemies, and then returning unfaithfulness on their part,
followed by being again delivered unto their foes. Under the kings it was no
better. The very first of their kings perished thro' his willful disobedience
and apostasy; the third king, Solomon, violated God's law and married heathen
women who turned his heart unto false gods. Solomon, in turn, was followed by a
number of idolatrous rulers, and the path of Israel ran farther and farther
away from the Lord, until He delivered them over unto Nebuchadnezzar who
captured their beloved Jerusalem, destroyed their Temple, and carried away the
people into captivity.
In the repeated mention which we have in the Old
Testament of Israel's sins, we discover, in light as clear as day, the absolute
honesty and candor of those who recorded Israel's history. No attempt whatever
is made to conceal their folly, their unbelief, and their wickedness; instead,
the corrupt condition of their hearts is made fully manifest, and this, by
writers who belonged to, and were born of the same nation. In the whole realm
of literature there is no parallel. The record of Israel's history is
absolutely unique. The careful reader would at first conclude that Israel as a
nation was more depraved than any other, yet further reflection will show that
the inference is a false one and that the real fact is that the history of
Israel has been more faithfully transmitted than that of any other
nation. We mean the history of Israel as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures,
for in striking contrast thereto and in exemplification of all that we have
written above, it is noteworthy that Josephus passes over in silence
whatever appeared unfavorable to his nation!!
Coming now to the New Testament we begin with the
character of John the Baptist and the position that he occupied. John the
Baptist is presented as a most eminent personage. We are told that his birth
was due to the miraculous intervention of God. We learn that he was "filled
with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15). John the
Baptist was himself the subject of Old Testament prediction. The office that he
filled was the most honorable which ever fell to the lot of any member of
Adam's race. He was the harbinger of the Messiah. He was the one who went
before our Lord to prepare His way. He had the honor of baptizing the blessed
Redeemer. Now where would human wisdom have placed him among the attendants of
the Lord Jesus? What position would it have ascribed to him? Surely he would
have been set forth as the most distinguished among our Lord's followers;
surely, human wisdom would have set him at the right hand of the Saviour! Yet
what do we find? Instead of this, we discover that he had no familiar discourse
with the Saviour; instead, we find he was treated with apparent neglect;
instead, we find him represented as occupying the position of a doubter who, as
the result of his imprisonment, was constrained to send a message to his Master
to enquire whether or not He were the promised Messiah. Had his character been
the invention of forgery, nothing would have been heard of his lapse of faith.
Indeed, this is so opposed to the dictates of human wisdom, that many have been
shocked at the thought of ascribing doubts to the eminent forerunner of Christ,
and have taxed their ingenuity to the utmost to force from the obvious meaning
of the record some other and some different signification. But all these
ingenuities of human sophistry are dissipated by the reply which our Lord made
on the occasion of John's inquiry (Matt. 11), a reply which shows very plainly
that the question was asked not for the benefit of his disciples, but because
the Baptist's own heart was harassed with doubts. Again, we say that no human
mind could have invented the character of John the Baptist, and the
faithfulness of his biographers is another proof that the writers of the Bible
were actuated by something more and something higher than the principles of
human nature.
Another striking illustration of our chapter
heading - one which many writers have pointed out - is the treatment the Son of
God received while He tabernacled among men. For two thousand years Israel's
hopes had all centered in the advent of their Messiah. The height of every
Jewish woman's ambition was that she might be selected of God to have the honor
of being the mother of the promised Seed. For centuries, every pious Hebrew had
looked and longed for the day when He should appear who was to occupy David's
throne and rule and reign in righteousness. Yet, when He did appear how was the
Promised One received? "He was despised and rejected of men." "He came unto His
own and His own received Him not." Those who were His brethren according to the
flesh "hated" Him "without a cause." The very nation which gave Him birth and
to which He ministered in infinite grace and blessing demanded that He should
be crucified. The startling thing which we desire to particularly emphasize is,
that the narrators of this awful tragedy are fellow countrymen of those upon
whose heads rested the guilt of its perpetration. It was Jewish writers who
recorded the fearful crime of the Jewish nation against their Messiah! And, we
say again, that in the recording of that crime no attempt whatever is made to
palliate or extenuate their wickedness; instead, it is denounced and condemned
in the most uncompromising terms. Israel is openly charged with having taken
and with "wicked hands" slain the "Lord of Glory." Such an honest and impartial
recital of Israel's crowning sin can only be explained on the ground that what
these men wrote was inspired of God.
One more illustration must suffice. After our
Lord's death and resurrection, He commissioned His disciples to go forth
carrying from Him a message first to His own nation and later to "every
creature." This message, be it noted, was not a malediction called down upon
the heads of His heartless murderers, but a proclamation of grace. It was a
message of good news, of glad tidings - forgiveness was to be preached
in His name to all men. How then would human wisdom suppose such a message will
be received? It is further to be observed that those who were thus commissioned
to carry the Gospel to the lost, were vested with power to heal the sick and to
cast out demons. Surely such a beneficent ministry will meet with a universal
welcome! Yet, incredible as it may appear, the Apostles of Christ met with no
more appreciation than did their Master. They, too, were despised and rejected.
They, too, were hated and persecuted. They, too, were ill treated, imprisoned,
and put to a shameful death. And this, not merely from the hands of the bigoted
Jews, but from the cultured Greeks and from the democratic and freedom loving
Romans as well. Though these Apostles brought blessing, they themselves were
cursed; though they sought to emancipate men from the thraldom of sin and
Satan, yet they were themselves captured and thrown into prison; though they
healed the sick and raised the dead, they suffered martyrdom. Surely it is
apparent to every impartial mind that the New Testament is no mere human
invention; and surely it is evident from the honesty of its writers in so
faithfully portraying the enmity of the carnal mind against God, that their
productions can only be accounted for on the ground that they spake and wrote
"not of themselves," but "as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter
1:21).