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THEBIBLE
Millions Read It
But Few Understand It
WHY?
by
Clayton Steep
What a paradox! No other book on earth is so widely read and so rarely believed.
T
AKE
t he b ib lical ac–
count of David and
Goliath, for instance.
Even casual readers of the
Bi ble recognize those names.
Young David used a simple
sl ingshot to defeat Goliath, a
9-foot -tall warrior.
The Bible hails David's deed
a great and-for men- an unex–
pected victory.
Can You Believe lt?
Perhaps you have read of sorne
recen ti y pu bl ished reports that
David may have found his huge
opponent a pushover. T hey con–
elude that Goliath was possibly in
bad health, suffering from multiple
endocri ne neoplasia-a glandular
disorder that caused his gigantism,
rendered him weak with low blood
sugar , restricted his vision so he
couldn' t clearly see David, and gen–
erally made poor old Goliath a
degenerate physical specimen.
Not only that, the disease, it has
been postulated, may further have
contributed to the demise of Goliath
by producing a cyst on his forehead.
When the pebble from David's sling–
shot penetrated Goliath's brain, it
killed him instantly.
The evidence for this diagnosis?
Have Goliath 's skeletal remains
Aprll 1984
been discovered, exhumed andana–
lyzed? Has sorne archaeologist
unearthed and deciphered a long–
lost medica! report by Goliath's
personal physician? Or maybe an
autopsy was performed by the local
coroner and the results have finally
been uncovered after all these cen–
turies?
No, these conclusions carne solely
by studying the only piece of evi–
dence that exists: the biblical
account of the event in I Samuel 17.
Now what does the Bible really
say? The Philistines were at war
wit h ancient Israel. Both sides were
facing each other across an open
field. Now let's give the Philist ines
sorne credit for military strategy!
They would not have sent for th as
their ultimate weapon an awkward,
overgrown, poor-visioned weakling.
Goliath had the reputation of being a
champion (verse 4). The sound of bis
voice sent shivers through the ranks
of the opposing armies (verse 11).
His bronze coat of armor probably
weighed around 200 pounds. In
addition, he had a heavy bronze hel–
met and bronze leg armor (verses
5-6). Just the head of his spear
weighed sorne 25 pounds (verse 7).
This was no weakling given to
attacks of low blood sugar! There is
absolutely nothing in the biblical
account to indicate Goliath had the
sl ightest bealth problem.
People have assumed that David
killed Goliath with a pebble. T he
Bible describes it as a stone, not a
pebble (verses 40, 49). What is
more, David didn't ki li him with it.
He only knocked him down. T hen
he slew the faJien giant with Goli–
atb's own sword (verses 49-5 1).
Here, then, is a graphic example
of how
not
to read--or study- the
Bible! The Bible means what it
says.
It
interprets itself.
" Don' t believe me; believe the
Bible," editor in chief Herber t W .
Armstrong has repeated time and
again over the years in the columns
of this magazine and on radio and
television.
'
Good advice. T ake the Bible for
what it says. Don't try to reason
around it. Don' t make excuses for
it. The stone from David's slingshot
hit its mark precisely. God doesn' t
need our help in the form of human
rational ization and interpretation to
make the biblical record easier for
t he natural mind to accept.
To one degree or another, most
people who read the Bible either
assume it says what it clearly does
not say, or they misinterpret it , or
ignore what it says altogether.
Keeping Up-to-Date
Consider this biblical example
10
the news:
Long ago t he Bible warned
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