Judges 16:1 says Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute and went in to her. The point is that a judge of Israel is shown in this light with no word of rebuke at that spot.
Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
Judges 16:1
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).
In Ruth 3:4-15 Ruth, on her mother-in-law’s advice, goes at night to the threshing floor and lies down at Boaz’s feet. The argument reads the scene as improper and cites it among the passages it finds unsuitable for family reading.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
Ruth 3:7-8
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).
1 Kings 1:1-4 tells how the aged David could not keep warm, so a beautiful young woman, Abishag, was found to lie beside him and attend him. The argument lists it as David in bed with a young virgin. Note that the same passage says the king “knew her not”. (The reference given in the printed source, 1 Kings 11:1,3, is a passage about Solomon, so it has been corrected here.)
Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.
1 Kings 1:1-4
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).
Proverbs 31:6-7 advises giving strong drink to the one who is perishing and wine to those in bitter distress, so that they may drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. In the New Testament, 1 Timothy 5:23 tells Timothy to stop drinking only water and to take a little wine for his stomach and his frequent illnesses.
The note sets these beside the many warnings against drunkenness, such as Proverbs 20:1, and asks how the Bible’s advice about wine fits together.
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;
Proverbs 31:6
Source: see Credits and references (no. 4, p. 6).
Deuteronomy 13:6-10 deals with a person who secretly urges others to serve other gods, even a close relative or friend. In the verses that follow, the hearer must show no pity, must not spare or conceal the person, and must strike the first blow.
The passage is a plain command with a plain penalty. The critical question is how it was meant to work as law in ancient Israel, and how later readers, Jewish and Christian, have treated it.
you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.
Deuteronomy 13:8
But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
Deuteronomy 13:9
Source: see Credits and references (no. 5, p. 6).
Several prophetic texts speak of Arabia and of Kedar, and this note gathers them. Isaiah 21:13 opens an oracle concerning Arabia (the Hebrew word for oracle can also mean a burden). Isaiah 42:11 mentions the villages that Kedar inhabits, and Kedar was a son of Ishmael, so these verses concern Ishmael’s line. Ezekiel 27:21 lists Arabia and the princes of Kedar among the traders in lambs, rams and goats.
Two verses in Deuteronomy are harder. Deuteronomy 33:2 has the LORD come from Sinai, dawn from Seir and shine forth from Mount Paran, with ten thousands of holy ones. Deuteronomy 32:21 has God provoke Israel to jealousy with a people who are no people, a foolish nation. A critical reader has to ask who these peoples are, whether the text itself identifies them, and how much later interpreters have read into the verses.
The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
Isaiah 21:13
He said, “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
Deuteronomy 33:2
They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
Deuteronomy 32:21
Source: see Credits and references (no. 1, p. 4).
Two points are made about Abraham. The first concerns marriage. When Pharaoh rebukes Abram in Genesis 12:19 for saying “She is my sister” so that he took her as his wife, and Abraham admits in Genesis 20:12 that Sarah really is his sister, his father’s daughter, who became his wife, the Bible is shown telling this without embarrassment. Genesis 16:3 adds that Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham “as a wife”. These are the patriarchs held up as models of faith, and their household arrangements are told plainly and without comment.
The second point is a promise that did not come true as stated. God promises Abraham and his offspring all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession in Genesis 17:8, and says the same in Genesis 13:15 and Exodus 32:13. Yet Acts 7:5 says God gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length. The question put is how an everlasting gift can be said to be given to a man who never owned any of it.
Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
Genesis 20:12
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Genesis 17:8
Source: see Credits and references (no. 2, p. 4).
The first of a list of passages the argument calls absurd: a donkey speaks to Balaam, Numbers 22:27-28. The point is that a story of an animal holding a conversation with a man is hard to accept as sober history.
When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
Numbers 22:27-28
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).
Leviticus 11:20 calls winged creatures that go on all fours detestable. The objection is that it describes flying creatures as walking on four legs, which is not how birds are made.
“All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you.
Leviticus 11:20
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).
Leviticus 12:1-5 makes a mother unclean for seven days after a son, but for two weeks after a daughter. The complaint is that the birth of a girl is treated as a double defilement, which sits badly with the claim that the book comes from a just God.
“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.
Leviticus 12:2
But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.
Leviticus 12:5
Source: see Credits and references (no. 3, p. 5).