The Bible debates with... The Bible

Judges 1:1-2:9

Luke 21:29-22:13

Psalm 90:1-91:16

Proverbs 13:24-25

Much as it's tempting to comment on Adoni Bezek with his 70 kings with no thumbs and big toes (Don't human beings have most amazing imagination when it comes to torture and humiliation!) I think the much more interesting bit in the Old Testament passages to refer to are the two psalms put back to back.

Psalms 90 and 91 show how the Bible sometimes engages in debate with itself over issues such as the suffering of God's people.  Both Psalms start in a similar way with the statement that God is our home or refuge but then they diverge very sharply indeed.  Psalm 90, one of the Psalms of Moses (was being a poet compulsory for being an Israeli leader?) moves on from that statement to present what feels like a very harsh and distant view of God as the one who lives forever but sweeps human beings aside like dry grass in his anger.  Moses speaks with a voice of faith but pleads for God's anger to be lifted.  Maybe this the voice of someone who has put up with wilderness wandering for far too long.

Psalm 91 carries almost the opposite message.  This speaks of the God who rescues us from every trap, every plague, every hopeless looking battle.  In this psalm the impression is given that if only we had the faith of Moses then everything would be OK and we would be always striding boldly onwards in the power of God.

The truth is that both messages speak to different aspects of our walk with Jesus.  Sometimes it feels like Psalm 90, sometimes like Psalm 91.  God is always there whether our sins weigh us down or our victories make us soar.  It shows us the honest nature of the Bible that it reflects both of these realities even though they contradict one another from our perspective.  This offends some people who do not want to see contradiction or debate in the Bible because they have swallowed a Modernist view of inspiration that says that scripture cannot be inspired if it contradicts itself in places.  But life is contradictory!  As it says in Ecclesiastes there is a time for one thing and there is also a time for it's opposite or contradiction even sometimes side by side in two neighbouring Psalms.