Why is the Bible so hard to understand????

Why is the Bible so hard to understand when I try to read it.

1. You might be reading the King James Version. Set it aside and get a New International Version or a New Revised Standard Version.
2. It is helpful to buy Bible commentaries from a Bible store. You can get them on the entire Bible (not recommended) or each book of the Bible. You may be able to get the entire Bible and commentary on a disk called the New Interpreters Bible. (Highly Recommended)

Even then the first five books of the Bible are hard to understand because they were written by four different traditions called J. E. P. D.

J stands for Jehovah or Yahweh. I prefer Yahweh because Jehovah is a mistranslation. Jehovah or henceforth, Yahweh is rendered “LORD” in most translations. It has several meanings: Self-Existent, Eternal One, LORD of Justice, and many other meanings such as Good, Gracious, Generous, and Holy. Generally speaking it could be said that Yahweh is the Eternal LORD of Justice. Notice in the Old Testament, LORD is always all caps.

E. Stands for Elohim. When you read the name God in the first chapter of Genesis the author is using the name Elohim and it is translated, “God.” Elohim is the powerful God of Mercy. When we read Genesis chapter 1, it is the power God of Mercy creating the universe.

P. Stands for Priestly writers. They will be concerned with sacrifice. Notice in the study on Noah that when the writer uses the word God Noah takes only two of each creature. When LORD is used, Noah is told to take seven of each creature. That is so there will be spare animals and fowl for sacrifice.

D stands for deuteronomic traditions. Deuteronomy means second telling. The Book of Deuteronomy is the second telling of much that proceeds it. I would offer that those sections of the first five books of the Bible that differ from earlier writings might be D writers trying to clarify or correct.

Scholars can read the Pentateuch and tell us what tradition wrote what part. The above is hard enough to comprehend so naturally the Pentateuch is difficult to understand.

So sometime between 400 and 200 before Christ or BCE, Before the Common Era, meaning from 0 to the present (C.E. or Common Era); the head Rabbis got together, took all the traditions, and compiled them into the current Pentateuch. They argued, cried, compromised, and finally agreed on those writings that met the cannon, (measurement) of being the purest inspiration of God.

So we have four different traditions writing about the same topics and stories with four different agendas. Then a couple hundred years later a committee tore all the scrolls apart and pasted the parts they liked the best together (metaphorically speaking) to make up the first five books of the Old Testament.

It is all very complex and when you find parts you don’t understand, please don’t be too frustrated or angry because you belong to a big club. The, “What The Heck Does This Mean Club.” I believe as I mentioned before in another study that the history reflects a “Lesson Mentality.” The Hebrews only had 120 years of prosperity and power. After the kingship of Saul, David, and Solomon things went south for the Hebrews. The kingdom divided in 930 B.C.E. When the kingdom divided with 10 tribes in the North and 2 tribes in the south, or Judah, we can then historically call the people Jews. Before this time in writing, I try to remember to refer to the people as Hebrews. Assyria in 722 B.C.E absorbed the Tribes of the Northern Kingdom. In 586 B.C.E. the Southern Kingdom was carried off captive to Babylon for 50 years.

I think much of the writing of the history answered the question, “If we are the chosen people, why the heck are we having all this trouble.” The answer reflected by the stories is that the “People Of The Book,” turned away from God and the paths of righteousness. The writers often used natural disasters like floods and earthquakes to tie the LORD’s wrathful justice to a perceived wrongdoing.

It is possible that a lot of the history, the stories came from or were refined during and after the exile in Babylon. I will add again that these stories are inspired by God but they were written by men (men did almost all the writing and teaching in those times) with their own agenda belief system, and their own theology. So as we read the Bible we need to listen for the voice of God within us trying to help us know what God wants us to learn from each story or part of the Bible.

As I reflect on what I’ve written here, I realize it is as confusing as the Bible itself. So if you have any questions or if you want to share your own belief on this or any subject make a comment below.