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Is the Bible a Narrative of History Written by the Victors?

Some people assume that since there are historical accounts that adulate the winners and erase their shortcomings, the Bible should be regarded in the category of ‘history written by the victors.’  To answer this objection decisively and effectively, we need to ask two further questions. Firstly, does the Bible consistently include details that ‘the victors’ would wish to omit? Secondly, in view of multi-source attestation from independent sources and archaeology, is the Bible a reliable document? For the sake of brevity in this article, I will answer the first question. A thorough set of responses to the second question can be found here. https://messiahprophecyandhistory.co.uk/category/biblical-archaeology/

From the very beginning, details that the ‘victors’ would like to edit were in fact included. Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden and had to be banished from the garden. Cain killed Abel and he would be a fugitive and vagabond on the earth. His descendant Lamech killed a man for wounding him and his reflection was “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-seven-fold (Genesis 4:24).”

The wickedness and judgement of mankind was such that the sons of God were having relations with the daughters of men, every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was evil continually, the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. The world was flooded and only Noah, his wife and their sons and wives were preserved.

Let us now consider Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel. They were all great characters of the faith, yet they also made mistakes that were not conveniently omitted. When Abraham struggled to have children through Sarah, he went into Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant and when the Lord pronounced the sign of the covenant and that Sarah would be a mother of nations, Abraham responded, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you! (Genesis 17:8)” The Lord then explained that Sarah would bear a son and he would be called Isaac and the Lord would establish an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants. Sarah laughed at the seemingly incredulous idea that they, as a greatly aged couple, would bear Isaac.

Isaac like Abraham lied before King Abimelech saying that Rebekah was his sister rather than his wife for he was afraid they would kill him since she was beautiful to behold putting her at the risk of the king of the Philistines. Rebekah helped her son Jacob trick her other son, Esau out of his birthright.

Jacob himself was able to trick Esau his brother from receiving the birthright. Rachel took the household idols from Laban and him them under the camel’s saddle and said that she could not rise since it was the time of the month. Jacob means ‘supplanter’ yet his name was changed to ‘Israel.’

When Jacob’s daughter Leah was violated by Shechem, in retaliation Simeon and Levi, his brothers did not simply punish Shechem but instead convinced their city to circumcise their males and whilst they were recovering, took swords and slaughtered all the males.

Moses was a tremendous man of God yet because he struck the rock when he was not commanded to, he never entered the Promised Land. Now consider the Exodus. Would ‘the victors’ want to include in ‘their history’ the four hundred or so years of captivity and preserve that part of history through the Feast of Passover?

What about the Judges? Is the term ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes’ a turn of phrase consistent with biased patriotism? Yes there were some godly leaders. Would the glorious victors want to mention that Deborah greatly helped Barak to go against Sisera and that whilst Sisera slept, Jael took a hammer and drove a tent peg through his head? Some ancient historical accounts and monuments remove or deface heroines, but not so in the Bible.

The Lord helped Gideon, but did Gideon perceive himself as a mighty man of valour? Abimelech slaughtered all bar one of his brothers. Jephthah won a great victory but made a rash vow he would always regret. Samson was a great warrior but was seduced by Delilah. The remaining chapters of Judges contain many more godless actions that the victors would be insensible to include if they wished to embellish their account.

David was a man after God’s own heart and the Davidic covenant remains. Yet David had Uriah deliberately placed in the forefront of battle and had those around him retreat resulting in his death and he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Solomon wrote several parts of Scripture and oversaw the construction of the temple yet he had an outrageous number of wives and concubines and compromised with their gods.

Even a cursory reading of the kings and chronicles reveals a mixture of good kings and bad kings although there were certainly more godless kings than godly ones in Judah and especially in Israel. In other civilisations the embarrassing records of rulers are often etched out or omitted or altered, although the Bible makes no attempt to hide the mistakes that we all make.

Again, even a cursory reading of the prophets would reveal that Israel was regularly drawn away by false gods and the prophets rebuked them. Would the victors want to include seventy years in Babylonian exile in their history and that that was foretold? Consider the origins of Purim from the book of Esther and how Haman tried to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Consider the Messiah, born not even in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem. Born not in a palace, but a stable, sat not on a throne, but in a feeding trough. Think of His disciples, ordinary men, including fishermen and a tax collector. Peter disowned the Lord three times, before the Lord restored Him. Judas betrayed Him. Shortly before Jesus was betrayed, the disciples were disputing between themselves which of them was the greatest? Yet Jesus came among them as the One who served them and He would bestow a kingdom upon them that they would eat and drink in His kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Think of the Saviour who was crucified amongst criminals and the pain, isolation and humiliation and horror of the means of that death. The King of the Universe left the glories of heaven not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many. The Messiah who died that those who trust in Him might live. The only One to be found without sin became a sin offering that those who trust in Him might become righteous before God.

Think of the apostle Paul who previously went out of his way to persecute believers. Is that the typical resume of an ideal candidate for turning the world upside down? Notwithstanding, he was great in learning and raised at the feet of Gamaliel. On one occasion when the apostles were on trial Gamaliel wisely intervened stating, “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or if this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it-lest you be even found to fight against God (Acts 5:38-39).” But the Lord changed Paul from the inside and he was willing to suffer and proclaim the gospel and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit wrote significant parts of Scripture.

Considering the above and at the risk of stating the obvious, the Bible is not another case study of ‘history written by the victors.’  It shows the depravity of human nature, the wickedness of the human heart and the urgent need to be reconciled with a holy God. Our sin problem is not merely a matter of gaining education, improving our immediate environment or becoming a developed society. We have a moral problem called ‘sin’ which we cannot erase by ourselves and as mere humans, we are hopelessly inadequate to deal with it. We must seek the forgiveness of Jesus our Lord and Messiah and turn to Him, trust in Him and follow Him.