A recent sermon hit a note with me when there was mention of the origin of a word or name in the Bible. It made me think about how, over time, the various versions of the Bible have relied upon different words and different phraseology in an effort to make the stories and lessons of the Bible more understandable. It’s why, when you take different versions of the Bible and compare them, some of the stories seem to be telling decidedly different tales.
It also made me think about an old game we used to play called “Telephone”. I’m sure some of you may even remember playing this game. A person leans over and whispers into the ear of the person next to them a phrase of some sort. Then the person next to the first relays the phrase to the person on their other side and so on until it comes back around to the last person in the group. That person is usually sitting or standing next to the one who started the whole thing. The last person has the dubious honor of stating the phrase out loud. I don’t think I’ve ever played this game and had the phrase sound anything like its original phrase. And generally, hilarity ensues.
Clearly, you can see where my mind went when it comes to the discussion of the origin of words and phrases in the Bible and whether those words and phrases were originally part of the story. The stories, in their written form, were not necessarily written by those who were telling them, but by others who heard these stories, often told around a table or fire, much like you might imagine other cultures or tribes of people passed down stories. Invariably, the stories were told by the elders of a group, and in the telling, much like in the game of Telephone, some things became distorted. That, coupled with the derivation of words, and the tendency to try to translate into something that makes sense “at the time” for those likely to read the story, can result in some interesting tales which may or may not have any true connection to what really happened. Then again, maybe I’m cynical after years of cross-examining people whose stories don’t make sense. You never know.
There’s an expression you often see on bumper stickers and the like: The Bible says it, I believe it, That settles it. Now, in my profession we rely greatly on what’s written in a contract or a statute. But this one is an expression I have serious doubts about given what I know about the many translations of the Bible and the stories which come out of our oral history. I tend to take such things with a grain of salt. My blood pressure doesn’t always like the amount of salt in my diet, but that’s a topic for another day.
So, as you consider your day, may you look back fondly at your experiences with the game Telephone. And may you take most things, including stories labeled “nonfiction” with varying degrees of salt.
Margarita with salt, anyone?