6 passages you won’t find illustrated in children’s Bibles
Hi Dojo readers,
As an itinerant speaker, I do a fair bit of of teaching on the Bible in a number of different settings. However, most of the time my audience, class or congregation is made up of adults. I’m better in front of a group of adults than in front of a group of children. I relate to adults easier and my sense of humor (subtle, self-deprecating) lends itself better to connecting with adults than with kids.
However, when it comes to teaching the Bible, it is absolutely crucial that kids be included and that we are careful to pass on the faith to them accurately and without dumbing-down or “fable”-izing the history of God’s interaction with His people.
But the challenge we face in doing such is that the Bible is a vast ancient library that contains many things which are decidedly NOT G-rated!
Yet we are told by the Apostle Paul that “ALL SCRIPTURE” is God-breathed and useful for teaching and training in righteousness (2Timothy 3:16).
Likewise, Jesus Himself said that even “THE SMALLEST LETTER” of the Hebrew Scriptures was what He had come to fulfill (Matthew 5:18).
God even commanded Israel to teach His words to their CHILDREN (Deuteronomy 11:19).
Thus, the need to teach the Biblical story in its fullness is not limited to adults in a Bible study or weekend Seminar. It applies to families in particular…Christian parents teaching their children and instructing them in the things of God (rather than dropping them off at a Sunday school class or youth group and letting ‘the professionals’ do it!).
One of the ways that many parents and children’s ministers have sought to do this is through the use of illustrated books and children’s Bibles. From flannel-boards and Precious Moments cartoons to computer animated talking vegetables, there has certainly been no lack of products put forth to help capture kids’ imaginations in order to teach them the story of the Bible.
But all such resources (to my knowledge) are quite selective in what they portray.
Here are a half-dozen passages that (again, to my knowledge) children’s Bibles or storybooks never portray or even allude to…for obvious reasons:
Exodus 4:21-26 – A Bridegroom of Blood
“21 The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ “
24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)”
Deuteronomy 28:53-57 – Infant Cannibalism
“53 Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.
54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.
56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you–so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot–will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.”
1Samuel 18:22-29 – The 100-Foreskins Dowry
“22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.'”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.”
Judges 19:16-30 – The Raped and Dismembered Concubine
“16 That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the men of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. 17 When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
18 He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the LORD. No one has taken me into his house. 19 We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants–me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”
20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.”
21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. 22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”
23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.”
25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. 27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it said, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!””
Nahum 3:1-7 – Piles of Corpses and Naked Shame for Assyria
“Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! 2 The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! 3 Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses–4 all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. 6 I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. 7 All who see you will flee from you and say, ‘Nineveh is in ruins–who will mourn for her?’ Where can I find anyone to comfort you?””
Ezekiel 23:2-21 – A Parable of 2 Promiscuous Sisters and Their Well-endowed Lovers
“2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians–warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. 8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. 9 “Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians–governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. 13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way. 14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, 15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.
18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.”
I would venture to say that most readers are simply unaware that such things are in their Bible. The passages are simply revolting (even in the relatively tame translations such as the NIV, used above). They go against all sense of decency and turn the stomach of the reader!
Yet…
…there they are in the pages of the very same Scriptures that Jesus Himself, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, declared to be the fulfillment of. They are part of that very same Scripture which Paul declared to be Inspired by God and useful for teaching the Church and training in righteousness.
What do we do with passages like these? How do we understand them? And more than that, how do we then teach them…to children??
Rather than giving an answer at this point, I simply want to raise the subject for you, Dojo readers. I want us to feel the full weight of the issue and wrestle with it rather than giving a cliche answer or dismissing it out of discomfort. The Bible never claims to be a comfortable book. And anyone who’s read it and seriously studied it would never make that claim either.
Yet it is a repository of the Judeo-Christian historical faiths. It was held in the highest of esteem by Jesus Himself and His Apostles. So what do we do with it when it makes us nauseous?
I invite your answer to these questions in the comments section below.
From the Dojo,
JM
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Ministry, Theological issues