SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1922, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

THE PROBLEM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. “Ye haLth heard that it hath been said. . - . But I say unto you.” —Saint Matt., V. 38-39. (Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) Nearly fifty years ago, when a student in college, I occasionally visited a mission hall in the south of London. The hall was situated in a working class district, and many of the people were extremely ignorant and extremely poor, just the class who fall an easy prey to the pot-house sceptics, and, as a natural consequence, the services were frequently interrupted by men who called themselves “Freethinkers.” Tee missicner was usually their match, and by lice comment on theif appearance, or by a bit of happy repartee, the objector was silenced. One night, however, an aggressive youth attacked one of the workers on the subject of the Old T?otament morality, and particularly the slaughter of the Canaanites, and asked what confidence could be put in a book that contained such things? The young mission worker was staggered, and appealed to me. I really had little difficulty in answering the objector, and he ret red a defeated, *if not a convinced, objector. The experience made little impression on my mind at the time, unless it was a certain elation at the cheap and easy victory I had gained. I am afraid I did not realise. I ought, the seriousness of the problefn confronting that lad. Certain I am that I should act very differently to-day. I should give patience and care to the removal of the difficulty, and I should not be so eager to get the best of the objector. I have learned that honest objections ought to be straightforwardly met and patiently ■ overcome, and it is in that spirit I speak I now.

REAL AND SERIOUS. The problem is very real and serious. I have encountered it scores of times, and I know that many thoughtful young people are in perplexity. My experience is not exceptional. Dr. George Adam Smith, when writing the life of Professor Henry Drummond, read hundreds of letters Drummond received from thoughtful young men all over the world, and was astonished to find hoxy many of these letters were concerning problems of the Old Testament. Just now the same question is being discussed in the columns of the British Weekly. It has to be confessed there are grave blots on the morality of the Old ,Testament. There are words, deeds, laws and lives which gravely offend against our modern ideas and usage, and their existence perplexes the minds of some and supply the stock arguments of secularist newspapers. How. it is asked, could a Holy God bless with Divine communications and use for His service, men who would be regarded as blameworthy when judged by our imperfect standards? Should not a Divine revelation be free from moral reproach? It is contended that imperfect standards of moral conduct. and low ethical ideals, are not con-, sistent with the character of one who is holy, just and true. First let me state the problem. The difficulties may be classified this way. There are words and symbols in the historic and prophetic writings which lack the delay and reserve which modern usage demands. I am not going to offend you by quoting examples, but you will understand what I mean. There are words and phrases, and in some instances there are chapters which caimot be read in public, and some would say should not be read in private. Next there are deeds recorded, and apparently commended, which make us shudder and ■creep. Take the case of Abraham offering Isaac, or Jephtha’s vow, or whole families and tribes wiped out and their property confiscated, because of the sin of one man. as in the case of Achan. or the man struck dead for taking hold of the ark to steady it from falling, or Jerusalem smitten with plague because David took a census of the people, or the wars of extermination, when not combatants alone, but defenceless women and children, were ruthlessly put to the sword. Such awful deeds would, in the judgment of any civilised nation, be pronounced a massacre which no military necessity could justify or condone. No Christian nation dare think of buildin? un an Empire by imitating the example of Israel in the destruction of the Canaanites. IMPERFECT CHARACTERS. Thirdly, there are the imperfect characters that are commended. Jacob was decidedly tricky. David, by his own confession, was guilty of deadly sin. Others were anything but models of what good men ought to be. Their faults lie on the surface, and yet they are recorded with no sign of disapproval. though we can hardly read the storv without a blush. No good purpose is served by attempting to apologise for these erimes. We err if we do not condemn the over-shrewdness of Jacob, the lie of Abraham, the lust of David. Further, it is objected that there are laws in the Pentateuch which cannot be squared with Christian laws. The vindictiveness which said “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” cannot be called Christian, and the same is true of laws relating to women and children. Judged by Christian standard they are crude and cruel. Finally there are the Imprecatory Psalms, which breathe a spirit of slaughter and revenge at variance with all Christ said and did. It is confnrino- to Christian conscience to be told that we must justify the use of these battle songs of barbarity because they lie within the covers of the Bible. It is revolting to think of Christian people defending such words as these: “0 daughter of Babylon that art to be destroyed. Happy shall he be that taketh and * dasheth thy little ones against a r °We shudder to think of the Crusaders, who were Christian in name, doing thia very thing to the children of the Saracens after the sie?e of Jerusalem. Such deeds done in God’s Name are contrary to His known character, as Jesus Christ revealed it. If we found them in any other book than the Bible we should say they are wild and wicked words. Are thev made just and good by being given a place in the Holy Book? AN HONEST BOOK. But these words, deeds, laws and lives are part of the Old Testament! Well, they are, and they present a problem.

You will do me the justice of saying I have not slurred them over. Nothing is safer than truth. Do not burk the issue. Face it. The Bible is a very honest Book, and the fact that it is so frank about these questions should inspire confidence. Let us go over thfacts again, and see what relief we can £nd. (1.) It has to be remembered that the Authorised Version is 400 years old, and that some of the offending words have been modified in the Revised Version Human language changes. Words and phrases which had no suggestion of evil m 1811 have become so in 1922, because our modern speech has been cleansed and refined. Besides, history which reflects a corrupt age is sure to contain some things objectionable. If David’s sin is recorded at all—and we should not know the man if it were not —it is difficult to see how the record could be entirely free of evil suggestion. Only let it be added that the story need not be read in public, and this also that the evil supposed to result from private reading is more imaginary than real. Depend upon it, the moral life of men does not suffer from reading the Old Testament. Turn a dog into a garden of flowers, and if there is a bit of carrion buried there he will sniff it out and dig it up. to the neglect of all the bloom and beauty! It is a dog’s way, and some people use the Bible that way.

BIBLICAL TIMES. (2) The second objection is more serious. For, if it were true, as some suggest, that the Holy One of Israel not only allowed, but commended, deeds which shock our moral sense, we should ; be faced with a sore trial of our laitn ! indeed. But we are not shut up to ! such conclusion. The deeds of violence ; and blood recorded in the Old Testament ■ should not be torn out of their historic ■ setting. The times and the men were rough. Deeds which make us shudder were every-day occurrences. The i whole plane of revelation In the Old Testament is lower than the New. Hu- ; man life was cheap, and human morals ! were crude. Nevertheless, the - Hebrew ; tribes were as far ahead of their times i as Englishmen are ahead of the dwellers in the Congo basin, and if they mistaki enlv supposed that Jehovah commended, and even commanded, these evil things, ! it only shows how imperfectly they nni derstood Jehovah. That they should so '• i> ’'conceive the Almighty is nothing i very wonderful when we still find satisi faction in driving vast hordes of dancing Dervishes at the point of the bayonet, and “improve of the face of the earth” whole native tribes! Their deeds, and oure are the result of ignorance and pride, and we can no more defend the one. than the other. To say that the slaughter of the Canaanites prepared the way for a higher civilisation is just what the Jingoes say. The theory may flatter the pride of Saxon and Semetic, out the other fellow should have a hearing! No. these wars of extermination reflect a barbarous time, and we should frankly : say so, and not claim them as examples for Christians.

WARNINGS TO MEN. (3). Concerning imperfect Bible men, two facts should bp borne in mind. First, that these blots on their character are warnings, and never examples; and, secondly, that in judging a man's true character we must judge by the whole and not simply a part. A man must be estimated by his fixed habits and not by an occasional lapse. Their fault should not blind ns to their virtue. Jacob was tricky? Well, I have said so. but was he only tricky? Abraham told a lie? Yes, he did. but is that all? Do you suppose that Jew and Mohammedan and Christian nations have agreed to honor the name of a man who was only an equivocator ? David grievously fell? Is that all? Why not add that David suffered and repented, and. like the oyster, mended the puncture with a nearl? We should condemn the moral failure, but, in all fairness, we should acknowledge their battling and their recovery. (4). The fourth objection is that certain Mosaic laws are defective when judged by Christian standards. This is true. But again the historic method must he followed. No Government can legislate too far ahead of the people. Nations have to grow a code of morals, and for that time is needed. A law that is equal to the situation for the Solomon Islands would be ruinously inadequate for the Dominion of New Zealand. “BLESS AND CURSE NOT.” (5). There are the Psalms of Imprecation. What can we say of these? W’e I should candidly admit that imprecations ’ are wrong, and their place in the Bible does not make them right. “Bless and curse not.” said our Divine Master. But we shall do the authors of these Psalms a wrong if we speak too harshly. They were oppressed and wronged almost beyond endurance, and their rough, fierce patriotism blazed out in scorching invective. Wordsworth was one day walking on the sands at Morecombe Bay, when a courier passed at a gallop. As he raced by he waved a flag and announced the fall of Robespierre, which had taken place two days before. Wordsworth was no fire-eating Jingo, but he says: “Immediately the passion seized me. a transport of almost epileptic fervor.” He reverently lifted his hat. and there, under the open sky. “shouted anthems of thanksgiving for the vindication of eternal justice,” and the civilised world shared the poet’s retributive gladness. A nation may grow too mealy-mouthed in the presence of wrong-doing. Who would care to praise the poltroon who could stand 6y ancLsee age insulted or childhood outraged? This much may be said in mitigation of our condemnation of the imprecatory psalms, but when all is said we have to confess that dark shadows lie on these pages, and we may be thankful they are so few compared with the whole Rook. Do not slur over the difficulties, but do not exaggerate. The Psalma supply some of the choicest fruits of inspiration and some of the finest aids to devotion.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE. In estimating the morality of the Old j Testament, we must remember the spirit j of the age and the moral environent of Israel: this. too. that a nation’s moral life must be judged by its highest and i final development. You do not judge New Zealand art by the comic papers or New Zealand literature by the penny dreadfuls, or New Zealand virtue by the divorce court! Go to the Bible for its best. Where else will you find such examples of firm righteousness, such noble courage, such sunny humanity, and i such growing hope? The law is “our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” a schoolmaster whose measures are simple and sometimes severe, but always effec-ti’-p and. enmnared with these, th? b’emishes are as th# spots op. th© sun which

lights and warms and makes fruitful the heart of the world. “We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, And weary seekers of the best; We come back ladened from*our quest, To find that all the sagjes said Is in the Book our mothers read, And all the treasures of old thought In God’s harmonious fullness wrought.”